Running water in my 1978 Bethany Pickupper

bruue1

Observer
I installed a 10gallon water storage tank, a 12v inline pump and a couple toggle switches in my 1978 Bethany Pickupper today. The tank fills off the shore water line from the external hookup, vents out the spigot mounted in the top of the cabinet, the original Bethany faucet is used, the original Bethany hand pump still works for worst case scenario. The pump turns on and off with the faucet opening and closing but I added a cheap little 12v toggle switch in the power line just so I could have an override on/off.

I bought the very cheapest pump I could find from China, it was about $20, the tank was just under $40 both on Amazon. The lines and hardware from Menards probably another $40 all said and done. Camper's old, trucks a little rusty, everything I do is on a most function for your buck budget.

It was a little tedious to do, not very hard, when it was done and I turned on that water, I couldn't stop laughing, pretty cool to have running water and a sink wherever I go in the rig. The whole thing probably took me about 5 hours of install, I wasn't hurrying at all. Next project will probably be a big inverter with some 110v plugs on the rear exterior so I can run power tools off the whole thing wherever I am.

I'll post all the pics I took after I was done. Most of the people on here do way better work than I do, but if you have any questions/comments feel free to ask away. Over all it was pretty straightforward and now that its done I'm happy I invested the money and time to do it. Running water is great, as is onboard water storage. :)
 

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Camelfilter

Explorer
Nice, looks good!

-On the inverter, make sure you get one big enough to handle the "start" load of any tools you might use. You also might compare pricing up an inverter & wiring vs one of those newer sign wave generators.

I lucked out and found a used/refurbished 2000W Honda type knockoff for ~$200. Took a bit of waiting/watching. I "think" you can find new knockoff ones for $450ish. The one I have is pretty quiet, and will run anything I have a need for in case of power outage the bonus is its portability.
 

bruue1

Observer
Thanks for the input, I do plan on craigslisting a huge 3000w plus inverter, when I picked up all the second hand cable for my battery bank initially I missed a chance to get a couple for almost free, I didn't realize what they were sitting there. I just need enough to run a small pancake compressor, or a circular saw, or a chop saw, one at a time. I'm kinda trying to see how cool and functional I can make this clean old camper.

A generator could be great too, but space is always a concern, right now the truck is the generator... I'd still love to have a quiet run honda, one with the plastiv housing around 1000 or 2000 watts with the smart fuel saver programming, I think those are cool as hell. Its on the someday list too.

On a doomsday prepper show I saw a guy with some acreage in Montana, had his own natural gas well on his property, ran that straight to his generator, that was about the best set up I've seen. lol But how often you gonna come across that? :)

Thanks for the post.
 

tanglefoot

ExPoseur
I had what looks like the same water pump. It was great while it worked (I did really like the auto pressure switch) but after a year or two, water was getting past the seals from the pump chamber into the motor and seizing it. I took it apart, unseized it, dried it out, lubricated it the best I could and tried to seal it better with RTV but it just keep seizing. You might try pumping the water out of it between trips. Or hopefully they got their seals sorted out better. I gave up on mine and went with just the manual faucet pump.

It's definitely a good idea to keep it switched off when not in use. I forgot to switch mine off once. An air bubble must have gotten into the pressure sensor and the pump ran continuously--probably for several days. I couldn't figure out what the sound near the front of the house was.

Enjoy the on-board water. It's really nice to have!
 
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bruue1

Observer
Good to know, thanks for the input, I figured its probably not going to last forever, its the cheapest inline auto pressure switch pump I could find. I figure when/if it goes I'll probably get a much more expensive but comparable quiet shur flo etc... Or just go with the manual like you said.

I bet that pump killed that battery eventually huh? I'd be worried about flooding the water storage onto the floor of the camper too.

It is fun to have a sink, I'm even thinking about putting a shower head on the exterior somewhere but I only have the 10 gallons anyways so I probably wont. I am looking forward to our next camping trip, thats for sure. Gonna fill up my water bottle at the sink :)
 

tanglefoot

ExPoseur
The camper is solar-charged, so the pump just kept going...

The previous owner of this camper made his own outside shower using a sink sprayer. I pulled it out because I needed the compartment for something else, but it was an interesting idea.
 

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