Water storage

wideformat4x4 wrote:

I think the large fitted tank's are ok for motorhomes and caravans but for smaller vehicles I would always use 3 or 4 smaller type containers holding no more that 10 or 20 litres and 1 or 1.5 litre bottles as they cam be spread around the vehicle to help with weight distribution.

Bearing in mind a litre of water weighs 1 kilo a large tank holding over 50 kilo's is a large chunk of weight to concentrate in 1 spot.
The 1 or 1.5 litre bottles are always good for a drink on the move and will wedge in the door pocket of most vehicles.

On the filling side I have a lifesaver filtered pump which is a bit of a pain to use but you can extract and purify water from streams etc although it takes an age to fill a 1 litre bottle but as I don't venture of piste much bottled water is available at most garages supermarkets etc and I top up when buying fuel or food etc.
For showers I have 2 hi-gear black bag type showers which I leave on the roof during the day and shower early evening if I'm not on a campsite.

Works for me and there's not much that can go wrong with plastic bottles and bags except punctures I suppose.

Im hearing ya. The weight would be an issue, I wouldn't have to fill it all up but then even 30L is alot. I like the Idea of your shower, cheap and effective. More thinking to do....

TJ

Hiya!

We have opted for a tall thin water tank that fits along the load guard. I believe it holds 50L.



It is on order at the moment, and we hope to receive it by Easter.

As for filling it, our plan is to use a length of hose into the top (see the black cap), with a funnel at the tap end to 'catch' the water. This should remove the problem of an exact fit for the hose to the tap.

From previous experience, we have found having a 10l plastic container very useful at the kitchen end of the vehicle (ie. the back). Weight wise, easy for even little 'ol me to handle, and can also be used to fill the big tank if we can't get the vehicle close to the tap.

We'll let you know how this pans out!

rgds
African GirlChild

I also like the idea of a flat one laying flat in the load bay

chally2 wrote:

I also like the idea of a flat one laying flat in the load bay

Yep, keep that ol' centre of gravity as low as possible.

TJ

Weight only becomes an issue when things are going correctly, but get stuck in an obscure area in many parts of the world and having this water literally becomes a lifesaver in soaring temperatures, and when another vehicle may pass every few days.

Many have fallen foul of not carrying enough water and suffered dehydration, many have died.

Base water consumption on an average 6 litres per person, per day, a 30 litre capacity is less than 3 days water for a couple travelling alone.

Hi there,
got to agree with Assassin here, we carry 120lts of drinking water in our 110. Its heavy of course but with 3 of us in the Landy and drinking water not being available everywhere our well being is paramount. In a few spots we've ran out of food before water.

We have 40lts in a stainless steel under wing tank with an external tap, 60lts in an internal plastic tank behind our storage drawer and 20lts in a scepter style jerry can which lives in one of the external side lockers.

All of them can be filled quickly using a hose pipe if a tap is close by or slowly using the jerry can if the water source is too far away.

All of the weight is low down, the water is always in the same place and easy to get to.

Its worked for us touring Australia anyway!

Andy

In some parts of Oz it can be a couple of weeks before another vehicle passes AndyK, so you tend to think more of its importance than many of us in the UK.

Aaah - I feel slightly reassured that we opted for a 50l tank! I initially thought it was overkill, but any anymore!

Just because you have the capacity it dosen't mean you have to use it all, many friends owning motorhomes had similar issues with having what they deemed as excessively large tanks fitted, I simply said only partially fill them with enough water for your journey, then fill them up when you are on site as they all have water these days.

About 150 ltres of water onboard with full tank.

So with that and full diesel tanks i'm carrying best part of half a tonne of liquid

I also have a couple of water jerries as just in case supply

iveco4x4 wrote:

About 150 ltres of water onboard with full tank.

So with that and full diesel tanks i'm carrying best part of half a tonne of liquid

I also have a couple of water jerries as just in case supply

Blimey, you've got more on board than half of the reservoirs in England!

Get the saucepans, bowls, and buckets out while its raining folks and catch it now while you can.

Tom Mc wrote:

iveco4x4 wrote:

About 150 ltres of water onboard with full tank.

So with that and full diesel tanks i'm carrying best part of half a tonne of liquid

I also have a couple of water jerries as just in case supply

Blimey, you've got more on board than half of the reservoirs in England!

Yep - currently negotiating with anglian water to sell them water

Its funny though - not really happy it being in a big tank, from a controlled usage point of view I prefer to carry it in 20 litre lumps so you can see it being used, it just isn't an efficient use of space. In my 101 I had pumped water but drawn from a 20 litre can under the sink so usage rate was easily watched. With this one i will carry a couple of cans as an emergency supply

Its always advisable to carry more than one container, if one becomed contaminated, burst or damaged you have water to fall back on. Worst ones are freezing of an external tank while an inside one's fine.

Quite, this is a classic case of not putting all your eggs into one basket. The same is true of fuel to a degree, but of course unless you get water ingress, fuel rarely becomes contaminated - and even if it did, it wouldn't affect your health. More tanks the better as opposed to just one or even two big 'uns.

Thanks for these amazing tips . I really like this tip of saving water.

Save water, drink more beer! Seems perfectly logical to me.

I have a 44 Ltr tank under my passenger rear wing in my Defender. I use a Sureflow pump to pump the water up to this -
Kampa water system

It works great..!! Gives a nice hot water shower, or hot water for cleaning the kids or dog!! Its not boiling but is hot enough for many applications.
I just leave the gas connection off if I want cold water.... simples.....
For big trips I also carry a black MOD type water jerry can for back up in case the pump fails in the middle of nowhere. The water tank did come with a gravity fed tap, but this seized up very quickly.

Not really sure where to post this so in the interest of keeping water based information all in one place i'll add to this topic.

With the preparation for an overland trek planned later in the year I have been thinking about drinking water, is it better to carry, filter or a mixture of both ?

The area to be travelled is lacking in facilities but that said we should never be more than half a days driving from a road leading to civilisation.

As always budget has to enter the equation and with the cost of a twenty litre water filtration system and a 80 litre storage tank costing around the same money I was wondering which way to lean.

If its possible to fill up with water every two or three days what sort of quantities should I be looking at consuming per day with an allowance for safety.
The climate has to be taken into account North Africa in October I'm thinking will be in the high twenties maybe nudging low to mid thirties.

Convenience also has a place but not at the expense of extra weight or a finite amount of space being used up and as there will be an amount of sand driving involved where weight is the enemy I don't want to go overboard.

Any advice greatly received

"Overboard" in a sea of sand!

Think you've hit the nail on the head, inasmuch "we should never be more than half a days driving from a road leading to civilisation". We'll all be in the same boat (no pun intended) and I can't see that anyone will have anything other than 2 or maybe 3 water jerricans on board, that's good enough. Reckon 80 litres is well over the top, unless of course you're a shower in the morning and evening kind of guy?

On the other hand, if you're intending doing a lot more 'remote driving' in the future, then a twenty litre water filtration system would indeed be a good investment. As we all know, local water in so many parts of the world isn't that great, so health-wise filtered water is a must when bottled water isn't available.

Me I will go basic and take 2 x 20 litre water jerricans when l'eau potable is possible, to be supplemented by bottled H20 purchased en route. Simples!

Tom Mc wrote:

"Overboard" in a sea of sand!

Reckon 80 litres is well over the top, unless of course you're a shower in the morning and evening kind of guy?

Are we not dressing for dinner then Tom

Not saying that, we have to keep up standards after all - what! what! - just pointing out that you don't have to launder your evening wear every day! Every other day perhaps?

I have tried various water storage systems over the years from large 80L 'portable' water tanks to a couple of built in 50l tanks and of course jerry cans. I also have my experience of breaking down in a remote and very dry part of Africa for seven days while travelling solo and needing every bit of the 80L I was travelling with. I also have to teach this stuff to people nowadays, so try to remember to take my own advice...

- After all the various types, I stick to jerry cans now. Fitted tanks and larger semi-portable tanks are fine because they can be mounted out of the way but can be a real pain to fill if you can't get your vehicle close to a water source. Too long a draw and water pumps will burn out. A full jerry can is heavy but can be carried around.

- Travelling solo you need to have a large reserve if you are going remote, but on our trip there are enough of us we should be good wherever we are...so Tom has it about right. I would plan on being able to top up at least every 2-3 days at worst (something for each leg-planner to factor in)

- I really like the LifeSaver jerry can as a filter system. Expensive but rugged, filters easy to replace and no moving parts to break. Tembo is kitted out to carry four jerry cans of water and when the funds allow a LifeSaver jerry-can-filter. Four our trip I will carry two full jerries and maybe one reserve in case a rad hose goes or similar.

My two cents...

As a recommendation it is advised to carry 4 litres, per person, per day; as a minimum this is 2 litres per person which is the minimum to survive in a temparate climate for drinking, onviously in hotter climates you need more. The remaining 2 litres are for cooking and washing pots and if you want to factor personal hygeine in then add another 2 litres per day, per person.

As for tanks, my preference is a floor mounted tank as these cone in a variety of sizes and they are simply fitted for a trip and removed when you don't need them and fasten in with four bolts. You do need to drill the floor and fit the captivated fasteners to fit the tank though, but this is an easy job for anyone to do; they come with a variety of options such as contents gauge, discgarge pump, and if you have power in the boot you can have a filler pump either fitted or loose to fill from portable containers.

These tanks offer the most flexible solution, they can be filled with a hose from a tap, from a portable container if you can't get within range of a tap; and being flat and floor mounted they keep the weight low down while travelling; they can carry uo tp 300Kg of weight on top of them so packing kit is not a problem.

I would always advocate carrying at least one rigid water container as well and a couple of folding ones so if you cannot get close to a tap you can fill or top up your main tank and if you want water the plastic folding types can be filled from your main tank for cooking, washing, etc; and being light means they are handy around camp for transporting a couple or three litres of water to where you want it, and they are handy for filling vehicle radiators as they have a tap fitted.

Been having a good look on tinternet and at the moment I'm thinking 2 x 20 litre bladders placed in the rear passenger footwell underneath the seats when folded flat ( that should keep the weight low), a 10 litre hard container in the rear and the obligatory couple of 1litre bottles for convenience on the move.
We should be able to fill up at 3 to 4 day intervals so 12 litres a day should leave a decent safety net.
Just hoping the bladders will be tough enough.
I have my trusty portable shower should the need arise which packs down small and will fit in any small space.

I will be at the Donnington show so I can investigate the bladder option further then