building from scratch... what kind of water pump?

good idea. Actually my old pump still works, so I will just throw it in a drawer for safe keeping.

Whichever pump you decide on , you might want to buy two . If a pumps craps out on you replacing the same pump is an easy swap. It might take a few days to order a new one if needed and the plumbing might not be a perfect match to what you have . As we know, these things never happen at home, only in the middle of nowhere .

I had a water pump failure during a backwoods fishing trip.
Not fun ! The last thing I needed during a fishing trip .
I now carry a backup pump. I'll take it with me when I buy a new tc . Buying two pumps might not be a bad idea, especially at less than $100, just a little "on the road" insurance.

For boondockers, the spare pump could also be used (with alligator clips) to pump spring water "up" to the holding tank rather than holding a 5 gal jug over your head. I just fill a clean cooler from a spring and pump the water up into the tank. ( I don't drink it, just for washing ) I have the extra pump , may as well use it :) ( no pun intended "well" )

Bob

Just bought all 3

I used a ShureFlow demand style pump. It works great and only runs as fast as is needed for a given water flow. Because of this it's much more quiet than the regular ShureFlow pump I replaced.

My TC came thru with the standard noisy ShurFlo pump. What I later found out is that the noise was not so much coming from the pump, but from the vibration due to the hard plastic plumbing line coming out of the pump. Once I changed it out to about 30" of flexible hose, most all the noise left. The old vibration was resonating thru the whole camper.

I just did the entire water system in our flatbed camper build and used a Shurflo 4008-101-E65 3.0 Revolution pump for $70.50 with free shipping from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XM5G70/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

The pump works great and is very quiet.


I also used a Shurflo strainer filter on the input to the pump:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V2W0GE/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

Then I added a Shurflo 182-200 accumulator which makes a world of difference at very low flow (before if you barely turn the water on you could get the pump to cycle on and off like crazy making a horrible noise). $40 with free shipping at amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N9VF6Q/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

SHURFLO is the most common bran of pump.

I'd shy away from one of their "quiet" models. I upgraded to the quiet one and removed it a few trips later because the flow rate was less than the original SHURFLO pump my camper came with.

Most of the trailers I have ever seen uses the SHURFLO type 12VDC water Pump... Check google sources... AMAZON also

Photo from GOOGLE Images