Certainly sounds like an interesting concept. I'd enjoy seeing what you finally come up with.
As to any future builds you might do similar to mine, if you use the same tote I did (which is a Rubbermaid Roughneck Hi Top by the way), just keep in mind that, for what ever odd reason, the lids on the smaller versions don't fit in the tote upside down. Must just be a weird design thing but all the totes I played with at the store simply would not fit. No matter of pressing bending or forcing would get it to go in. On the 54 gal. version though....slides right in like butter. Weird. Oh...another note on the tote, at least here in my neck of the woods, Home Depot was the only place I found that carried them and for what ever reason you cannot order the 54 gal. version from Rubbermaids website.
Oh yeah and speaking of weather stripping. On my small cloner system, I ended up running a 2nd layer of stripping around the lid in hopes it would mash up against the first layer around the top of the tote enough to stop the leaks...and it seems to have worked. I've not seen a drop come out since the modification
.