Dry Camp/ BoonDock Water Refill System

[JPBeck]

I've been wanting to set up a pump system to transfer water from my truck bed into our travel trailer for a couple years. This last weekend I went to Harbor Freight to pick up a 12 volt water pump. Once I got there and saw how lite-duty the pump was and how short the leads were, so I changed my mind and bought a AC powered cast iron pump which is much more capable. http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-...pump-1479.html

I figured one way or the other I'd have to start my generator so I might as well just run the pump off AC.

Started out with the issue of going to from 1" to 5/8th-- no problem-- PVC to the rescue.


Next hurtle was the priming issue. This is not a self priming pump so I rigged up a 5 gallon tank to accept a 5/8 hose. I bought a cut off valve and screwed it into the tank.


Next I had to wire the pump up. I bought a 14 gauge extension cord and cut about 6 feet off the male side and wired it to the pump. Then I drilled a hole in the plastic cover installed a switch.

The pump is extremely fast. It drains the 40 gallon tank in about 4 minutes.

All I have to do is back the truck up in front or on the side of the trailer, plug the pump in to the trailer, turn on the generator, and prime the pump.
Plus I can the pump to drain our pool-- works perfect. A self priming pump would have been nice but it's not a deal.

[JPBeck]

It's 1/2 inch hose and reducers not 5/8-- the edit is set at 10min-- couldn't edit-- my bad.

[ByDesign]

Nice system !!!

I think they're working on the "edit" thing.

[hammerdown]

Great looking job, now what are you going to do with the gray and black water?

[JPBeck]

Same thing everyone else does-- use a tote-- or drag the trailer to a dump station.
We can go about week on the black water-- only takes about 4 days to fill the gray-- but our fresh water only lasts about 3 days.

[Denise]

Wow, clever mod. Although we rarely boon-dock, I showed it to Don. A mod we will re-visit if our camping situation changes. Thanks

[JPBeck]

I got home from work today and thought about the priming tank-- I figured out that if put the big tank on its side and elevated it above the pump it would self prime (via gravity).

Soooooooo.... I got a milk crate -- and after filling the tank I put the tank on its side on top of the crate. It works good, and I was able to get rid of the "Y" valve and the extra hose. So now I guess you could call it high speed low drag!

[82corvette]

Sweet, thanks for posting! I am going to set mine up just like yours.

[JPBeck]

Thanks if you have any questions let me know-- I'll be happy to help.

[Gone Camping]

My water manifold on our Eagle has a siphoning setting so you can fill your tank from a container.

[JPBeck]

So does ours-- but getting a 40 gal tank in that front door is rough

[JPBeck]

I ran across someone last weekend camping that does the same thing only he uses a 30 gallon heavy duty water bag.

http://www.bayteccontainers.com/30-g...water-bag.html

I'm thinking you wouldn't need a pump for that-- just sit on it.

[Seann45]

I have a 35 gallon bladder from Camping world. that I use and then just an old RV pump I had to transfer it to the RV holding tank... 3 other people out at the Slabs saw it and copied it.

[JPBeck]

It's a good idea.