Camping/Overland Water System

I've been working on this project for a bit and after some trial and error finally have it dialed in for now. Thought I'd share. Sorry about the blurry pictures.

When I started building a water system for the truck there were a few things I wanted out of it:
1. I needed a semi-permanent set up so I could stop throwing my crappy back out lugging water in and out of the truck whenever I needed it.
2. It had to accommodate various amounts of water (5, 10, 20 gallons etc) depending on what the trip called for.
3. I wanted a 12 volt system to eliminate the manual labor of pumping water (I know, lazy).
4. I hoped to keep my drinking water and camp water (for dishes, showers, etc) separate.

In summary, I built an aluminum frame with 80/20 aluminum that is attached to my bed rails. It has 3 compartments. the 2 left compartments can hold two 5-gallon scepter water jugs each, totaling 20 gallons when full (10 gallons drinking, 10 gallons camp water). The space on the right fits my 11lb propane tank. I ran 3/8 braided pvc tubing from the jugs up to a pump that is bolted to the side of the bed.




Here's a closer shot of the aluminum frame. The jugs are strapped down to the frame and to each other to minimize movement The aluminum itself is strong but since it's open on one side there's always weakness when it comes to rotational forces. Luckily the water jugs are heavy, and paired with the bed mat the frame just provides them a place to be anchored to.


I modified the caps of the scepter jugs so they have a quick connect attachment and a piece of pvc tubing that runs inside the can. This allows me to disconnect the jug when it's empty and switch it to another one, or when I pull them all out to fill them.


The tubing is velcro tied to the aluminum frame and runs to the side of the bed so it's relatively hidden/blended in.


The tubes both have a ball valve that then converge onto a splitter that then connects them to the pump. When I run the pump, it pulls from whatever one is open so I just make sure I keep the jug that I don't want to use is closed. This lets me separate the camp water (top valve, middle frame section jugs) from the drinking water (bottom, left frame section). A little cross over of the water when you first switch them is no big deal and I can always run off some water before drinking it if I care that much.


This is the water pump. I bought a waterproof junction box off Amazon and bolted it to the side of the bed. The waterproof 12 volt connection feeds into the cab from the cab vents between the cab and the bed. I use a Ecoflow River Max.


A look inside the box


The last part of the system is a quick connect that fits regular sized garden hose connections so I can use a sprayer for showers or dishes and a plain hose to fill up drinking water containers.

 

Photos don’t seem blurry at all. Good job buddy looks good.