After building a drawer/bed setup I then knew how much space I had available for a water container.
For now, I don't plan on sleeping away for more than the odd night so as yet there's no need to carry too much water. Since my setup will have a fridge and any drinking water (bottles) can be stored in there, I only needed water for cleaning and boiling.
Obviously, I checked the simple solution first of just getting a 5L water bottle from the supermarket but they were too tall to fit under the sidewings so, after searching the internet for hours, the largest water container I could find to fit the space I have available under the sidewing, at the side of the drawer box, was 5L.
I have considered the idea of fabricating my own water container using sheet metal but I'll save this for another time once I feel there is more of a need. I'm thinking along the lines of aluminium welding/soldering/brazing rods and some cut and bent sheet aluminium. This would be sized according to the space I've got available, with a large enough opening to make cleaning inside easier and formed in a way that would mean the container can be fastened/bolted to the brackets/mount points available in the car under that same sidewing. I would also need to consider how to add a water-tight lid to it.
The 5L bottle fits well and fastens in place using the seatbelt for the kiddie seat in the boot that is no longer in use.
COVID lockdown was still upon us so I thought I'd enhance my setup slightly by adding a pump to it so I wouldn't need to lift the 5L water bottle out each time I wanted some water from it. This was achieved using a 5v mini submersible water pump from ebay.
The 5v pump is powered using a mobile phone charger power pack and, based on experience so far, will last for quite some time between charges. It also means there's a readily available power pack in the car should I ever need it (eg to take on a walk with me if there's a chance I may run out of charge whilst out - eg using phone for maps/GPS) and if I fully discharge the power pack I can just lift the bottle out to pour the water until I've had chance to recharge it again so that's no hardship.
I used some 5mm thick closed cell foam (that I had spare from making window shades for the car) to make a pouch to put the power pack in. The foam was folded a bit like an envelope but in a way that meant the lower corners would be open to allow any condensation to escape if need be rather than fill the pouch that the power pack is sat in. The pouch was then taped to the side of the water bottle using some Gorilla tape.
Using a pouch for the power bank to sit in makes it easy to take the power bank out as necessary for recharging or other uses.
I considered fastening the power pack to the drawer box somehow (eg velcro) rather than on the water bottle but I decided the water bottle and drawer box should remain independent so that the water bottle can still go in the boot without being reliant on the drawer box being there.
There was a thin clear piece of hard plastic in the packaging for the power pack so I used this to make a cover for the top of the power pack. With the usb sockets etc being at the top of the power bank I didn't want to risk any water drips going in them so I trimmed the clear plastic as a makeshift cover with just a piece cut out for the usb cable to go through. With the plastic "cover" being clear, it means it's easy to see the lights on the power bank to see how much charge is left.
Using a power bank will probably be revisited in future when I get a 12v power socket fitted in the boot.
It is also likely to be revisited if I fabricate my own water container because the extra water capacity would probably warrant a larger pump, eg to allow for shower purposes which a 5L bottle doesn't.
The water pipe is 6mm inner diameter (9mm outer diameter pipe). I cut some of this pipe to go from the water pump, sat in the bottom of the water bottle, to a 6mm elbow connector that goes through a hole I drilled in the water bottle lid. I had to turn the water pipe through 90 degrees through the lid of the water bottle because I didn't have any spare space between the top of the bottle and the underside of the sidewing to let the water pipe bend itself gently. This size of pipe was a push fit onto the outlet of the water pump.
I used an old phone charger cable to extend the wiring for the pump to the button and back to the usb plug at the power pack.
The wire was strapped to the side of the water pipe, using some cable tidy wrap, to a simple inline push button that was taped (using some electrical tape) near the open end of the water pipe.
Having a button to operate the pump taped near the end of the water pipe meant that it could be directed and operated with one hand which I thought was quite important to allow for holding a pan/bottle in the other hand.
The wire was soldered to one side of the push button. There are hardly any wires strands inside the wire for the water pump so it was quite fiddly to solder the cable coming from the pump to the length of charger cable.
Make sure you solder the wire to the button the right way round so the push button works as expected for turning on and off.
Also, make sure the wire is soldered to the button well because once the wires are cut to length, and with both coming back out the same direction along the water pipe, it is difficult to have another go...trust me, one of the wires came off one side of the button and I had to rework my wiring so I could try again.
The wire for the water pump wasn't long enough to reach to the button so the rest of the charger cable was used to extend the pump wire to reach the opposite side of the inline button.
The wire on the opposite side of the button was actually soldered inside it in a way that meant both wires for the button could come back out of the button casing in the same direction - back along the water pipe since one is going to the water pump in the water bottle and the other going to the power pack that resides in a pouch stuck on the side of the water bottle.
The end of the water pipe needs to remain higher than the top of the water bottle when not in use because there is still water in the pipe after the pump is switched off and, in fact, if the end of the water pipe is below the level of the water, once the water is running the pump isn't actually required and the water will continue to flow. So the pump must be turned off using the switch and the end of the water pipe must be above the water bottle for it to stop flowing.
To achieve this I screwed a metal pipe clip to the tailgate within reach of the water pipe, so when not being used the water pipe is clipped into this. The thickness of the water pipe with the wiring and the cable tidy wrap actually made it clip securely and since I was using a metal pipe clip, the cable tidy wrap would protect the water pipe from the metal edges of the clip.
It turned out that a trim panel clip that I had spare was almost the exact size to use a bung for the open end of the water pipe so, with a couple of loops of plumbers tape, this was a perfect fit and would prevent any dust from going into the water pipe (since the pipe clip was holding the water pipe with the open end pointing straight up).
While constructing this water system I was continually considering how I could use it, not only for simply pouring water into a bottle or pan, but also for some sort of sink setup.
I already had a fold down shelf on the tailgate which is supported, when folded down, by chains at each side. With the help of a clothes peg, the water pipe can be pegged to the chain on the side nearest the sidewing so the water pipe is held in place directed into a collapsible sink/bowl that's sat on the shelf.
With the water pipe button turned on, this gives hands-free running water into the bowl for washing hands/pots. Not too fast of a flow but it's only a 5L bottle anyway so don't want to use too much water anyway.
I've found myself using ~3-3.5L of water from the bottle for a night away (including filling a water bottle to go for a walk on the second day).
I may need to reconsider it if I want to go away for longer.
This would mean I might need to find a bigger bottle to fit the space under side wing in future (I did search for hours just to find the 5L one so this is unlikely), or even fabricate a [metal] container myself. That area could probably take a container that is double or even triple the capacity if fully utilised but it would not be easy because it would need to take account of where/how the drawer box is secured and the curve of the wheel arch.
For now, I don't plan on sleeping away for more than the odd night so as yet there's no need to carry too much water. Since my setup will have a fridge and any drinking water (bottles) can be stored in there, I only needed water for cleaning and boiling.
Obviously, I checked the simple solution first of just getting a 5L water bottle from the supermarket but they were too tall to fit under the sidewings so, after searching the internet for hours, the largest water container I could find to fit the space I have available under the sidewing, at the side of the drawer box, was 5L.
I have considered the idea of fabricating my own water container using sheet metal but I'll save this for another time once I feel there is more of a need. I'm thinking along the lines of aluminium welding/soldering/brazing rods and some cut and bent sheet aluminium. This would be sized according to the space I've got available, with a large enough opening to make cleaning inside easier and formed in a way that would mean the container can be fastened/bolted to the brackets/mount points available in the car under that same sidewing. I would also need to consider how to add a water-tight lid to it.
The 5L bottle fits well and fastens in place using the seatbelt for the kiddie seat in the boot that is no longer in use.
COVID lockdown was still upon us so I thought I'd enhance my setup slightly by adding a pump to it so I wouldn't need to lift the 5L water bottle out each time I wanted some water from it. This was achieved using a 5v mini submersible water pump from ebay.
The 5v pump is powered using a mobile phone charger power pack and, based on experience so far, will last for quite some time between charges. It also means there's a readily available power pack in the car should I ever need it (eg to take on a walk with me if there's a chance I may run out of charge whilst out - eg using phone for maps/GPS) and if I fully discharge the power pack I can just lift the bottle out to pour the water until I've had chance to recharge it again so that's no hardship.
I used some 5mm thick closed cell foam (that I had spare from making window shades for the car) to make a pouch to put the power pack in. The foam was folded a bit like an envelope but in a way that meant the lower corners would be open to allow any condensation to escape if need be rather than fill the pouch that the power pack is sat in. The pouch was then taped to the side of the water bottle using some Gorilla tape.
Using a pouch for the power bank to sit in makes it easy to take the power bank out as necessary for recharging or other uses.
I considered fastening the power pack to the drawer box somehow (eg velcro) rather than on the water bottle but I decided the water bottle and drawer box should remain independent so that the water bottle can still go in the boot without being reliant on the drawer box being there.
There was a thin clear piece of hard plastic in the packaging for the power pack so I used this to make a cover for the top of the power pack. With the usb sockets etc being at the top of the power bank I didn't want to risk any water drips going in them so I trimmed the clear plastic as a makeshift cover with just a piece cut out for the usb cable to go through. With the plastic "cover" being clear, it means it's easy to see the lights on the power bank to see how much charge is left.
Using a power bank will probably be revisited in future when I get a 12v power socket fitted in the boot.
It is also likely to be revisited if I fabricate my own water container because the extra water capacity would probably warrant a larger pump, eg to allow for shower purposes which a 5L bottle doesn't.
The water pipe is 6mm inner diameter (9mm outer diameter pipe). I cut some of this pipe to go from the water pump, sat in the bottom of the water bottle, to a 6mm elbow connector that goes through a hole I drilled in the water bottle lid. I had to turn the water pipe through 90 degrees through the lid of the water bottle because I didn't have any spare space between the top of the bottle and the underside of the sidewing to let the water pipe bend itself gently. This size of pipe was a push fit onto the outlet of the water pump.
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I used an old phone charger cable to extend the wiring for the pump to the button and back to the usb plug at the power pack.
The wire was strapped to the side of the water pipe, using some cable tidy wrap, to a simple inline push button that was taped (using some electrical tape) near the open end of the water pipe.
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Having a button to operate the pump taped near the end of the water pipe meant that it could be directed and operated with one hand which I thought was quite important to allow for holding a pan/bottle in the other hand.
The wire was soldered to one side of the push button. There are hardly any wires strands inside the wire for the water pump so it was quite fiddly to solder the cable coming from the pump to the length of charger cable.
Make sure you solder the wire to the button the right way round so the push button works as expected for turning on and off.
Also, make sure the wire is soldered to the button well because once the wires are cut to length, and with both coming back out the same direction along the water pipe, it is difficult to have another go...trust me, one of the wires came off one side of the button and I had to rework my wiring so I could try again.
The wire for the water pump wasn't long enough to reach to the button so the rest of the charger cable was used to extend the pump wire to reach the opposite side of the inline button.
The wire on the opposite side of the button was actually soldered inside it in a way that meant both wires for the button could come back out of the button casing in the same direction - back along the water pipe since one is going to the water pump in the water bottle and the other going to the power pack that resides in a pouch stuck on the side of the water bottle.
The end of the water pipe needs to remain higher than the top of the water bottle when not in use because there is still water in the pipe after the pump is switched off and, in fact, if the end of the water pipe is below the level of the water, once the water is running the pump isn't actually required and the water will continue to flow. So the pump must be turned off using the switch and the end of the water pipe must be above the water bottle for it to stop flowing.
To achieve this I screwed a metal pipe clip to the tailgate within reach of the water pipe, so when not being used the water pipe is clipped into this. The thickness of the water pipe with the wiring and the cable tidy wrap actually made it clip securely and since I was using a metal pipe clip, the cable tidy wrap would protect the water pipe from the metal edges of the clip.
It turned out that a trim panel clip that I had spare was almost the exact size to use a bung for the open end of the water pipe so, with a couple of loops of plumbers tape, this was a perfect fit and would prevent any dust from going into the water pipe (since the pipe clip was holding the water pipe with the open end pointing straight up).
While constructing this water system I was continually considering how I could use it, not only for simply pouring water into a bottle or pan, but also for some sort of sink setup.
I already had a fold down shelf on the tailgate which is supported, when folded down, by chains at each side. With the help of a clothes peg, the water pipe can be pegged to the chain on the side nearest the sidewing so the water pipe is held in place directed into a collapsible sink/bowl that's sat on the shelf.
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Size: 7 litre. Made of rigid plastic with robust, flexible sides.
www.ebay.co.uk
With the water pipe button turned on, this gives hands-free running water into the bowl for washing hands/pots. Not too fast of a flow but it's only a 5L bottle anyway so don't want to use too much water anyway.
I've found myself using ~3-3.5L of water from the bottle for a night away (including filling a water bottle to go for a walk on the second day).
I may need to reconsider it if I want to go away for longer.
This would mean I might need to find a bigger bottle to fit the space under side wing in future (I did search for hours just to find the 5L one so this is unlikely), or even fabricate a [metal] container myself. That area could probably take a container that is double or even triple the capacity if fully utilised but it would not be easy because it would need to take account of where/how the drawer box is secured and the curve of the wheel arch.