Which aux water tank?

First time out in the boondocks with it this weekend. I have the aux tank connected to city water inlet, and powered by 7-way pigtail from the trailer (source 4x G31 agm 12v batteries). It works as great as I expected, no pump noise in the trailer, and better flow/pressure. I can save the on board 20 for reserve.

Will be interesting to try the shower after campfire tonight, seldom use it due to limited water supply.

Gordon,

Having been to this movie myself....

The manufacturers do sell tanks that are "non food grade" but are food grade material - which is what you have as do I. Mine is a 60 gallon tank (which was twice the size of my TT's capacity when I originally bought it). put a 12v extension cord on the Live Well bait pump (Sureflo Livewell pirhana) to my truck connection for power and it transfers the water from the truck to 5er.

I looked at a better pump but realized that it's only moving the water downhill, so gravity would suffice but not fast nor efficient.

If I was going to do it again, I would probably go with a collapsible unit and use the pump. As someone already said, storing it is a pain, but since I've had mine for 12 years, it's not worth futzing with it.

What I can tell you is having the external water tank and the external gray water dump tank has saved all the complaining about not letting the water run - don't waste the water conversation. While it may take me some time to fill up and drain, it has made being out in the wilderness much more satisfying for the family.

I know you'll be much happier not having to move the TT everytime you need water.

FWIW, I also took a bilge pump and connect it the sewer connection (via the hose fitting on the sewer hose cap) and pump my gray water into my gray water tank so I drain out the gray when I need to fill with fresh. I had to imagineer a bilge pump into in/out via hose fittings.

Josh

No filter. FYI, I like the idea of using the pig tale 7 pin as your power source. Great idea!

My pump is 120v, AC power. But I have a 400 watt inverter I carry in the truck and can plug into it at any time if I don't have AC power.

On second thought, wiring the pump into the in-cab AUX switches would have been cool but rather pointless.

Instead I put both a male and female Bargman 7-way connectors on the pump. I can either plug it into my in-bed 7-way outlet and power the pump from the truck, or plug my RV pigtail into the pump, and power it from the RV's large battery bank.

Dutchmen, do you use a strainer (mesh filter) between the tank and your pump? My pump came with one, but it leaks awful, so I took it out.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Wow GordonThree! I'm impressed! Someone actually listened to something I suggested. What a compliment that is!

That's a pretty cool tank, isn't it! I do know I really like ours. Just for an fyi, mine has never slide around in the back of the truck bed. I keep it as near the tail gate as possible since I have a shell over the bed. It's never moved with water in in. but usually, I've got stuff packed around it too. Empty, it's slid around when I've applied the brakes hard, of course.

Even 1/3 full it was almost impossible to move into that spot. With the rubber bed mat under it, I'm sure it's not sliding anywhere. The cargo strap is a CYA more than anything else. Mass * Velocity says that 600 lb tank is going to be 1000's of pounds in any sort of emergency stop situation. Should something happen, I can say look, I had it tied down, the strap broke!

Now I can haul 85 gallons of water while out boondocking, 65 in the truck and 20 in the trailer. Quadruple my capacity.

Wow GordonThree! I'm impressed! Someone actually listened to something I suggested. What a compliment that is!

That's a pretty cool tank, isn't it! I do know I really like ours. Just for an fyi, mine has never slide around in the back of the truck bed. I keep it as near the tail gate as possible since I have a shell over the bed. It's never moved with water in in. but usually, I've got stuff packed around it too. Empty, it's slid around when I've applied the brakes hard, of course.

Ours has sure served a need, I'm sure yours will to. I normally do not take too much effort to sanitize my fresh water tank on the camper. But in the Spring, I do add a bit of bleach to my TSC tank and flush it out real good. Don't know if it's really necessary, but it just makes me feel a bit better.

Temporary install of the new tank. 65 gallon "Leg Tank" from Tractor Supply.

Need to revise the hold down and some spacers so it doesn't rub on the front of the bed box.



Hooked up my new SEAFLO pump, rated for 4.5gpm at 45psi, and it does not disappoint. It throws water through a sprayer nozzle further than my house's well pump.

I couldn't find a bedside toolbox I liked or felt was worth 400-600+, the $200 ones are really sketchy. So I'm keeping the plastic TSC box. I'm building a shelf for it, to ride just above the passenger side wheel well. Will still have enough room for a grill, generators, gas can and fill in all the open space with firewood :)

Here's a messy shot of the pump not yet plumbed.

About 8 years ago I bought a 50 gallon leg tank from Northern Tools store. Catalog identified as non food grade, but manufacturers sticker on tank identified as food grade.

I've also got 3 15 gallon tall closed head barrels, several 7 gal aquatainers and 4 gal sustained.

I have a TT, pop-up & still tent camp some so I have a lot of flexibility.

I had a 50 gallon hard container that fit in front of the 5th wheel. Now I have 2 collapsible 45 gallon containers that fit into a plastic tub when not in use. With the hard container I originally used an air compressor to pressurize the container to move the water. I installed an air valve in the cap.I gave that one to my son. I switched over to a pump a long time ago and use it with the collapsible ones. The one collapsible is long and round when full of water and sits in front of the 5th wheel and the other one fits between the 5th wheel and the Tgate, when we are staying in a place for a while. Most of the time we boondock.