Water storage

[AbsoluteAdventure]

I created this water container the other day to keep our organization at top notch and figured Id share it in case someone hasn't seen this way! We used to use a 7 gallon square water container but it didn't fit well with the rest of our gear. This does a pretty good job!

 

[grubworm]

nice. what is that, 6" pipe? i think 6" pvc holds about a gallon per foot, so you're still pretty close to 6+ gallon of storage. i like that. i use the blue containers from walmart and they dent real easy and i'm afraid denting on the seam is going to leak here pretty soon, so definitely no worries about that with your set up.
i'm going to go with a smaller pipe and do the same and mount it on my camper shell cargo rack...

 

[Road]

.
A lot of folks use 4" or so PVC in their van or on their rack for water storage. Schedule 40 is safe for potable water; some other PVC pipe may not be because of added plasticizers.

If on the rack and exposed to the sun, scruff it up with an abrasive pad in prep for painting, then paint it flat black so it warms up nice for showers. Some even pressurize the pipe so they have water pressure.

A word on water containers: Even military water jugs are not meant for long term water storage. Contents should rotated out; used regularly and replaced with fresh.

Whatever you store water in, especially when on the road long term or way back country, sanitize it before using and from time to time afterward with a light bleach solution. No fun to be away from population and have stomach or intestinal problems from bacteria in your water supply.

From the US Navy: "To sanitize containers and utensils, mix 1 tablespoon Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water. Always wash and rinse items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for 2 minutes. Drain and air dry."

More in the attached pdf from cnic.navy.mil on emergency water purification, storage, disinfection, etc.
.

 

[ptgarcia]

Nice. The only criticism I have with these is they hold all that water weight high on the rig.

How did you attach it to your rack?

 

[AbsoluteAdventure]

Nice. The only criticism I have with these is they hold all that water weight high on the rig.

How did you attach it to your rack?

I used adjustable pipe clamps and fabricated brackets. I understand about potentially being top heavy. My rig is wide set though so I had no worries doing it. May be dangerous on a narrow wheel base though

 

[AbsoluteAdventure]

.
A lot of folks use 4" or so PVC in their van or on their rack for water storage. Schedule 40 is safe for potable water; some other PVC pipe may not be because of added plasticizers.

If on the rack and exposed to the sun, scruff it up with an abrasive pad in prep for painting, then paint it flat black so it warms up nice for showers. Some even pressurize the pipe so they have water pressure.

A word on water containers: Even military water jugs are not meant for long term water storage. Contents should rotated out; used regularly and replaced with fresh.

Whatever you store water in, especially when on the road long term or way back country, sanitize it before using and from time to time afterward with a light bleach solution. No fun to be away from population and have stomach or digestive problems from bacteria in your water supply.

From the US Navy: "To sanitize containers and utensils, mix 1 tablespoon Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water. Always wash and rinse items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for 2 minutes. Drain and air dry."

More in the attached pdf from cnic.navy.mil on emergency water purification, storage, disinfection, etc.
.

I appreciate all the advice you've given me today!

 

[AbsoluteAdventure]

nice. what is that, 6" pipe? i think 6" pvc holds about a gallon per foot, so you're still pretty close to 6+ gallon of storage. i like that. i use the blue containers from walmart and they dent real easy and i'm afraid denting on the seam is going to leak here pretty soon, so definitely no worries about that with your set up.
i'm going to go with a smaller pipe and do the same and mount it on my camper shell cargo rack...

Thank you! And right on all counts!

 

[CG87]

That's pretty cool. I went with the road shower 4s, it holds 4 gal of water and weighs in at 50lbs when full. It's a really handy piece of equipment, it can be filled by hose or poured in, shrader valve on top to add air pressure. Also, about the jugs...I've found the collapsible water jugs made by GSI outdoors work great. There are different brands out there but the GSI ones don't leak...yet anyway. They're pretty durable and collapse when not used. I take one for grey water too, as the fresh water one depletes the grey water one fills, which you can dump into the vault toilets or wherever it is environmentally friendly etc. Just make sure you mark the grey water jug so it doesn't get used for freshwater. I've actually used 2 of these 5 gal jugs to dump grey water from my RV and dump into a vault toilet. They're pretty awesome. I have a 2dr Jeep so storage is an art form for me.

 

[CG87]

This app is causing duplicate entries....my bad. Going back to the desktop version

 

[ThundahBeagle]

That's pretty cool. I went with the road shower 4s, it holds 4 gal of water and weighs in at 50lbs when full. It's a really handy piece of equipment, it can be filled by hose or poured in, shrader valve on top to add air pressure. Also, about the jugs...I've found the collapsible water jugs made by GSI outdoors work great. There are different brands out there but the GSI ones don't leak...yet anyway. They're pretty durable and collapse when not used. I take one for grey water too, as the fresh water one depletes the grey water one fills, which you can dump into the vault toilets or wherever it is environmentally friendly etc. Just make sure you mark the grey water jug so it doesn't get used for freshwater. I've actually used 2 of these 5 gal jugs to dump grey water from my RV and dump into a vault toilet. They're pretty awesome. I have a 2dr Jeep so storage is an art form for me.

Hadn't even considered the collapsible GSI's. Thanks for the tidbit. I'll check them out

 

[ChepoCDT]

Well, I have different water containers for different things!
The principal is a coleman water bag... have 3 of them (one per person) and I fill them on the last town before going off the grid... these are for taking a "shower" 5 gals each...
Then I have DIY PVC tube that holds almost 3 gals ( ) in spanish...
And just bought a Scepter water can for 5 more gals... Planning on modding it for pressurized water.

Good idea those collapsible GSI Jugs!!!

 

[Sputnik]

If anyone is looking for a great value in a collapsible water carrier try Smartbottle. I’m trying out some of their 2.5 gal water bags and they seem well made. So far no leaking. Not Scepter like durability but fairly stout, good for packing down and surprisingly inexpensive for a USA made product.

update in case anyone runs across this post again: Smart bottle changed the name of their outdoor oriented line to "Wolverine Tuff Bottle" . Same thing @grubworm posted but right from the mfr. Outdoors Archives - Wolverine Tuff Bottle

 

[grubworm]

i've ordered a lot from us plastics over the years including a large 350 gal. tank for hydroponics solution. they have a lot of different tanks and containers and also have the collapsible bottles. the collapsible 1 gal bottle is $2.58 and for the folk on here doing custom builds, there are a lot of poly tanks here that should fit any build as well as about any type of fitting you might need

1 Gallon Collapsible Bottle with 38/400 Cap | U.S. Plastic Corp.

The SMART BOTTLE® is a flexible, all-purpose collapsible container manufactured from flexible films for liquids and pourable products. It...

www.usplastic.com