Submitted by Lee Jungkans, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

I have found that using a water-mattress style water tank for transporting water works great while boondocking. Usually, the difficulty in dry-camping lies in transporting the water on the roof and trying not to lose any while the vehicle is in motion. Additionally, the water-fill inlet on my trailer is about chest-high, making the gravity flow painfully slow.

My solution was to incorporate an aerator pump. The unit was fitted with pipe thread to garden hose adapters on the suction and discharge fittings. The pump draws 1.7 amps at 12 volts DC and the electrical supply is provided by a connection on my truck.

The pumps moves about 2 to 3 gallons per minute from up to about 50 feet away, and requires no lifting of heavy jugs for refilling the RV. The mattress holds about 35 gallons. Also by placing the mattress in the bed of the truck, you can drive at highway speeds without worrying about spilling water.

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3 comments

  1. Silas Deane

    To Dick Hetrick,
    I would try the local farm supply store for a 12v sprayer pump. (Like you would use on a atv sprayer and is very similar to the water pump on most motor homes). Simple wiring to a battery with a couple of small jumper type clamps and you will have a good all-round water mover.

  2. dick hetrick

    I used the same idea with a second tank to haul gray water to the dump station, keeps me a little more legal. ot I put a 4″ standard sewer cleanout cover on top with a handhold and gasket to fill and see what is going on in each tank and on the gray water installed a 1 1/4″ flex hose (from Home
    Depot) to drain to the dump station, it will drain in about 5 minutes and leaves less than 1/2″ in the tank ( a small siphon will take that out thru the fill hole).

    I use hard tanks from JC Whitney instead of the water matress type, two 36 gal tanks fit nicely in the bed of my Dakota and with a deck on top I still hae some space for the other stuff we need whiloe traveling.

    Now my question, I use an off the shelf drill pump (about 4 GPM) with my drill, the pump is $6 but I need 110V, I havent tried it with a cordless drill. What is and where can I get the areator pump you refer to?

    thanks

    Dick Hetrick