The Journey

So, I went to pick up the float tank from John's ranch in Santa Barbara last week and I am just now able to process the whole adventure and post it here (I back-dated this entry). My friend Charlie has a pick-up with a trailer hitch and came along to help me out. I really had no idea what to expect. We only knew that the tank was "sitting on a trailer" on the property. Charlie and I are not exactly well-versed in the ways of farm trailers and transporting large objects, so it was a bit of a shock when we arrived.
The ranch itself was filled with various cars, vans, buses, and other items. There had been a lot of rain, so it was quite muddy. When I saw the tank sitting on the trailer, I was a bit concerned. It was a much bigger tank than I expected. In fact, it was the biggest one I had ever seen. It looked like some kind of soviet era missile. Even more concerning was the larger and more rustic than expected trailer it was sitting on. Our original plan was to load the tank onto Charlie's truck and drive off with it. The tank proved too big and heavy for such an endeavor (not to mention that the recent rains had filled it with muddy water. Right around this time, John called to see how things were going. He quickly vibed my lack of enthusiasm about transporting the tank on this trailer all the way to San Luis Obispo. "I've towed tractors on it," he said - or something to that effect. John was nice enough to offer a refund if I decided against this adventure. In truth, I was 50-50, but finally got the "you've come this far" mentality back on board and decided to go for it.

Charlie began to strap the tank down to the trailer. If there is a procedure for strapping a float tank sitting on two pallets on a trailer, neither one of us was familiar with it and I have no advice to share on this matter for anyone in the same predicament. Just before leaving, John directed me to the pump/heater unit, which was stored in an old 1964 Corvair van (the property appeared to be a bit of a Corvair museum and I am thankful that I have gotten over my "wouldn't it be great to fix up an old car" phase of life). We loaded the heater/pump unit into the pickup bed and set off for the long ride home just as darkness fell. No doubt anticipating disaster, Charlie handed me the keys to the truck for the ride home, which turned out well, since he seemed to have a better grasp of straps. I couldn't do the ride home justice. Suffice it to say that watching a large float tank bouncing up and down on a trailer and snapping some heavy-duty tie down straps is enough to put more than a few gray hairs on your head.
The tank sits on my driveway, garnering perplexed looks from my neighbors as I try to figure out how to get it into my garage...

Logistics...

One of the biggest issues with having a float tank is where to put it. When getting out of a tank after a float, you are covered with a very highly concentrated salt water, which has a way of spreading onto the floor and just about anything you touch, drying into a white, crunchy, salt film. This washes off quite easily in a shower, but getting there can be an issue. My last tank was in a room right next to the bathroom, but it was still a messy affair and even when I wasn't using the tank (the salt seemed to crystallize and find its way onto the hardwood floor. There are only two places that I would recommend keeping a float tank in your home. The ideal place would be an out of the way basement with cement floor, that has a bathroom with a shower. If it is an oversized bathroom and had enough room for a tank, that would be the ultimate. Most of us, however, aren't that lucky.
This time around, I am going to put it in the garage. Like a pool table, I think that this is the best place to keep a tank if you live in an area that is not too cold (or you have a heated garage). The big disadvantage of the garage is a lack of a shower. However, leading from my hot water tank into the house are lines for hot water. Coneniently, there is an attachment (generally used for outdoor sinks) for both hot and cold water. I plan to attach these with an adapter to a couple of common garden hoses and attach the hoses to a portable shower head. This will be kept over a small basin, so that a person can get out of the tank, step into the basin and wash themselves off with warm water. The basin can then be dumped and ready for another use. I admit that this is a bit cumbersome and "rustic," but it's really the only way for me to keep a tank and use it regularly.
I'll work out the details of where to set up the tank and "shower", when I've had a chance to look at the tank. I traded e-mails with John today and he informs me that the tank is "round or elliptical", which is a little surprising, since both major manufacturers, Samadhi and Oasis, are rectangular. It sounds like this might be more of a "clamshell" type of unit that is no longer made. Looking at old pictures on the internet, these appear to be high quality, fiberglass units, so I really can't wait to get a look at this tank!

Getting a Floatation Tank

I had a floatation tank in Seattle and didn't make good use of it (probably due to the gloomy weather, which didn't make me want to get into a very dark tank, so I sold it off. I had been thinking of getting another now that I'm in sunny California, but a new one seemed like a bit of a commitment. By some stroke of luck, it turns out that John, from my meditation class, bought one from a local spa that was getting rid of their's a few years ago and had it sitting in storage ever since. He doesn't know much about it, other than "it looks like a white spaceship," so I don't know what the model is. It sounds like it will be a bit of a project. Some of the fiberglass needs repair and I will probably need a new pump/filtration/heating system. Nevertheless, I am quite excited about this project!