Hi all,

Buoyed by Moose's comment in the chainsaw thread about posts that aren't run of the norm, I thought I'd share my most recent addition to the tug. 

Whilst I'm not sure how many of you carry additional water for those emergency scenarios or just because, when i was picking up the water tank from a fellow vanner, he told me that it saved his butt out west when they took a hit to their van tank and lost all of it's water.

So perhaps, this may be of interest to those of you who have considered the what ifs of such a situation.
I'd also be curious as to how many have ran into this problem in the real world, how it happened and what changes you made as a result.

Primarily, as part of my 'camper' build in the back of the Paj, I've been keen to come up with a solution to carrying some additional water.

If I'm towing the caravan, it has it's own 80l water tank,so this will make a nice back up or when I'm camping otherwise without the van and heading a little more remote, I needed a way to cart water that wasn't going to take up valuable space within the rear of the vehicle.

I'm also considering building a shower unit to work with it down the road.

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and pick up a slim line 35L water tank off gumtree from a local seller for 100bucks.

They normally retail about 350ish

The tank is nice and flat giving plenty of options for placement.

unfortunately the filler and both drain holes are all at the one end making filling vs usage quite difficult.

Unless perfectly flat you either can't fill it or can't get water out of it.

To fill it needs to be tilted downwards away from the filler but to use it, you need to tilt it backward towards the filler.

In the end I elevated it sideways with the filler higher and the drain on the opposite side lower.

It's not perfect but it works.

It is also baffled which is nice, to stop the water moving around too much. Still either full or empty is probably the best option when mobile.

Since I added solar panels to the roof cage, I can no longer use it for carrying items but this small tank makes use of that wasted space.

This pic is from the install with one of the panels flipped back onto the other one, but you get the idea.

I routed the hose off to the rear of the vehicle on the passenger side under the rack.

I may end up running a longer hose but for now this is a work in progress.

I'd be interest in others roof top tank installs if you have pics or want to share.

Whilst I'd prefer to have my weight low, I figure 35L is worth the bit of extra weight considering I won't be carrying anything else up there.

Overall, I'm happy with the results for now but I think this will go through a few changes before I'm totally happy with it.

As always, here's the vid

cheers Brett

Two comments:

On my 4WD I have a 50kg roof-top tent and I certainly know it's there when the vehicle is subject to sideways forces, I reckon that solely due to the RTT weight I have come close to rolling the vehicle twice in off-road situations. You probably won't be going into such country but that weigh *will* make a difference.

It appears the tank, or part of it, will be in the sun and the warmth will encourage bacteria growth. I'd add Milton (baby feeding bottle washing bleach) at a rate of 0.5mL/1L water to kill the bugs.

For my back up water, I just carry a few of those 10L supermarket casks of water.  Two fit nicely into a milk crate tied down to anchor points in the Patrol.  Yet another use for those fantastic milk crates.   Easy to fill up from public taps in out of the way places (that's the theory anyway).

My Daughter buys full casks & gives them to me when empty, so I have a large collection of them ready to be refilled.

BTW, as we rarely free camp, the back up supply is rarely used.

I have toyed with the idea of constructing a ring of 100mm pipe around a roof rack but have never bothered.  Worried about all that weight up on top along with my kayaks.   Kayaks always take precedence of course.

Hey Brett

Happy to be a catalyst for some posts on 'other' stuff.

Your idea appears better than those that use the large PVC pipes for water up on their racks.  In any case I doubt that 35 odd kg up there will matter too much.  I reckon on our desert trips I've carried a bit more than that without mishap.

When we need to carry extra, these days I use a few plastic jerrys.

Appears your always tinkering with ideas and projects.  Reckon we'd get along

No=one else seems to ask the Question. Does your insurance company know what is on your roof?

A very valid point Trev. I,m sure that all our readers are aware of how eager insurance companies are to pay out when something goes wrong. 

Thanks for the comments all.

I figured most would carry some additional water but was curious how everyone was doing it.

I'm rated for 100kg up top. So 35kg in water is well under the rated limit.
Yug, I know insurance can be quite picky when it comes to outlaying any money you have paid to them :) but I can't see it being any different to anyone packing a roof cage/rack with a bunch of other items to head away.
Like Mike, there are so many roof top tents running around and they're up around the 45kg.
2 jerry cans of fuel is 50kg ish.
my 2 kayaks 50kg plus
For long distance travel, many also carry a spare wheel up there. A decent sized 4wd tire is no light weight.
So the answer to your question re insurance is no. I haven't told them and I won't be.

Mags, I hope not to find out

Kesa, I've eyed those bladders off a number of times. In the pajero they fit them in the 3rd row seat well when it's taken out. Mine is full of batteries and gear though.
The previous owner had a little pump on it but it wasn't self priming, so it came out. Gravity will do for now. I won't be in too much of a hurry to get it out.


P&M, sometimes that's not an option and was a no can do for my set up. If it was, I would definitely have gone as low as possible. Well, I did go as low as possible, but you get the drift. As per above 35kg is not a lot of weight and well within the limits of the vehicle.


Cheers Mike, I will be adding something to it. I have swapped the clear tube for the black irrigation tube.
I'd lent it to a mate and it boomeranged today. So I got straight to it.
I've used a few drops of bleach in the past which has worked well. Not enough to taste it but enough to kill the free loaders. I'll suss out that product you mentioned too.

Cupie, a mate I go with swears by those supermarket water casks and yes, I have half a dozen mil crates that come in handy for almost everything. Not as easy to come by these days as they once were.
Understand the priorities with the kayaks. PLus if you fall out, you have all the water you need.



Thanks Moose :) fellow tinkerer huh ? I'd hope your shed is more orderly than mine.
Yes mate, I love to keep busy with 'projects' nothing more satisfying than standing back to enjoy your work . Even if it turned out ****e.
Personally, I'm hopeless with timber.
I had contemplated one of those pipe builds but since most are external to the cage, I didn't like the idea.
This one is baffled too, where those pipes woudln't be.

Have a squizz at this. I think you might just like it. I was blown away.



I went for a test drive this afternoon with it half full and didn't notice any difference to how the vehicle handled .
I'll get out to try it 'offroad' on some firetrails and see how it fares then.
Still, my initial tests have been positive thus far.

To belay any concerns some have though, I don't just do these things and then never look at them again.
I'll be keeping a keen eye on it and doing some further tests to make sure it's not causing any issues. If it does, I'll report back and share the detail.

Sharing of experiences I think is the real value of these forums.

At the end of the day, I prefer to my testing real world (as safely as possible) rather than pondering the possibilities and never trying it out for myself.
Still, I do appreciate constructive feedback re possible concerns as I may not have considered them myself.

so cheers all.


Brett

Brett my sheds are a MESS. Wife keeps telling me so. 

Interesting you should include that woodturning video.  I have a lathe and was working on a burl recently when I had a little mishap due to stupidity and remodeled the end of my thumb.   Went out and bought a more appropriate tool so will not do that again.

Keep tinkering and posting interesting stuff.