Help with on board water setup in bed of silverado 1500

[fiddypal]

I am rigging up my truck for a month long cross country journey, and to use as a personal hotel during my other hobbies where i am outdoors or a long drive from home.

I have been doing alot of research, but hard to find everything i need in one place!

My challenge right now is water setup. I would ideally like to install a tank or 2, and have it be pressurized water so we can use it for a shower when camping. I will have an ARB fridge in the cab stocked with food and drinks so drinking water is not as much of a concern to me on this build, and i can always throw a case or 2 of water in the back. I am not trekking out of civilization for extended periods of time.

I can live without a real shower for a week or 2 if needed but the wife needs her comforts. So my estimated max consumption would be for 2-3 "women's" showers. I say "women's" because they typically have longer hair than men (my wife does) and takes longer to wash therefore more water use.

Right now i am thinking 18 gal total. 2x - 9gal. Reservoirs, one in each corner of the bed of my truck right by the tail gate).

Is 18 gal a decent amount of water? How long can i expect this to last before needing a refill?

Also if anyone can suggest pumps and fittings and whatnot i would appreciate it.

Still waiting to get a cap for my truck before starting the buildout, but here are some pics of my current project inside the cab. Still need to finish the roof and front wall on the dog cage and some other minor things.

 

[fiddypal]

more pics

 

[1stDeuce]

Projects are always good!!
I travel with dogs too, and I'll go on record now as saying it looks like your dog pen is fairly small for the size of your dog... Might be worth considering making the space a little bigger, so your dog can spread out some... Riding all day is different for dogs than riding around town. My dog will happily sit and sniff out the window around town, but on longer trips, she quickly prefers to lay down and sleep.

As for water for showers, if your topper comes with a roof rack, or you make one, you could consider using some large dia PVC mounted to the rack to hold water. Paint it black, gravity feed a shower head. (See images on google search for ideas...)

Cold showers suck, but most of the shower heater units I've seen are a bit of a hassle. One of my friends uses a heat exchanger under the hood to heat water for showers... Seems to work well but requires more plumbing, a pump, etc... If you'll be in a warmer climate, the solar setup should be fine.

One 2.5 gallon solar shower can make it through my wife and I if we're fairly quick about showering, even if she washes her hair. Showering on the road is WAY different than showering at home, but once you make the adjustment, it really doesn't take that much water. Especially if it isn't that warm...

The 7-gallon Reliance water containers work excellent for drinking/cooking water. Bring a 25' garden hose with you to refill the shower water whenever you can. (It's actually pretty easy to find water if you keep an eye out, even if you have to ask someone washing their car to give you a refill, I've never been turned down. Same with asking small ice cream shops, etc. if I can use the spigot on the side of the building to refill. Nobody has ever said no.)



Oh, and buy a topper with a higher roof. My topper is standard height, and it's cramped with the sleeping platform. Having another 6" of height would have been ideal.

 

[anickode]

6" black ABS drain pipe on a roof rack on a topper. 6" pipe holds about a gallon and a half per linear foot. Having it up high eliminates the need for a pump, and the black will help warm it up a bit. I've seen people put a schraeder valve on a pipe system as well, so you can hit it with a few (10 or less) psi of compressed air from a portable compressor or tire pump to enhance the pressure a bit if needed.

 

[fiddypal]

All great points thank you VERY much for the reply.

The cap i am looking at tomorrow is a good deal for 995$, it retails for over 2k, and has a bunch of lights and a yakima roof rack on it. It is cab height, and i was really considering ponying up the extra cash to get the ARE MX which has a slight raise, but i would have to special order it for WAY more money if i want the roof rack and other features it has.

I am keeping my floor just above the wheel wells in the bed, which is 7" tall of the ground, to maximize head room. I am 6ft and my wife is pretty tall too so we need as much head room as possible.

I def. think i am going to expand the dog area a little bit, i already noticed he has push it out some to give himself more space. He can lay down right now but he's cramped like you said, all i need to do i slide the cage over and sacrifice some storage space over there which is fine. It's important he be just as comfortable as we are on such a long journey.

What kind of weight can these roof racks hold? I am hesitant to put some big pipes up there, and it also will draw unwanted attention in urban areas. Stealth is an important factor for me as well.

Also, how high do you have your sleeping platform off the bed floor?

 

[fiddypal]

I am going to take a look under the bed of my truck and see if there are spots i can weld in a frame for some water tanks, that will give me more storage room in the bed. I am leaning heavily towards doing a heat exchange with the engine or propane heater setup i saw in another thread.

 

[tanglefoot]

I'm not a fan of built-in water systems. I find them hard to keep clean and unreliable. I removed the tank and lines in the truck camper recently and much prefer using portable containers and gravity.

If I were taking showers remotely, the system I'm most interested in is the Nemo Helio solar shower. It uses a foot pump to pressurize the reservoir, which stays on the ground.

 

[anickode]

Contractors, electricians, plumbers, etc. all drive around with 4 and 6 inch pipes strapped to the rooves of their trucks and vans because they're a great place to carry long floppy stuff like lengths of smaller pipe, fish lines, drywall corner bead, molding, etc. I don't think it would look at all out of place. Weight could be an issue... 8 feet of 6" pipe would hold 12 gallons, which would weigh in at 96 lbs. Depending on your roof rack setup, that could be an issue.

 

[1stDeuce]

All great points thank you VERY much for the reply.

What kind of weight can these roof racks hold? I am hesitant to put some big pipes up there, and it also will draw unwanted attention in urban areas. Stealth is an important factor for me as well.

No worries, you'll just look like a contractor or a fisherman. Contractors use big PVC to store smaller pipe, and fisherman, well, you can figure that one out...
I have a Thule rack on mine and it's PLENTY strong!! I have an RTT mounted now, and it doesn't care. (~160lbs)



I screw the center section down, and the sides are cut to flip up toward the center. The carpet is my hinge. I can get to almost everything this way without climbing in.
And I use it to hang the topper when it's not on the truck.



CL is usually a good place to find toppers, but it looks like you have a '14/15 truck, so there's not going to be much out there unless a topper off a '07-13 would fit...
If you're buying new, you might pass on the rack if it looks fairly car-style. My Thule works awesome, and I can pull it off really easily when I don't need it so it isn't dragging my mileage down.

Also, how high do you have your sleeping platform off the bed floor?

I lay 2x4's across the pockets, and plywood on top of that, so the floor ends up ~2" above the wheel well. Any lower and not much will fit under. We put a full (?) size air mattress on top of that, so that eats up another 6" of space, but makes sleeping so much more comfy. Definitely no room to sit up!!


Oh, and I HIGHLY recommend getting a topper with at least one, if not two "contractor" style side windows. I think the newer ones even have slider side windows that open contractor style. Makes getting stuff out of the truck so much easier!! My topper has two full glass side windows that both open contractor style, so we use the front slider for ventilation... You need a screen for it in bug country, but no worries out here in the desert.

 

[1stDeuce]

All great points thank you VERY much for the reply.

What kind of weight can these roof racks hold? I am hesitant to put some big pipes up there, and it also will draw unwanted attention in urban areas. Stealth is an important factor for me as well.

No worries, you'll just look like a contractor or a fisherman. Contractors use big PVC to store smaller pipe, and fisherman, well, you can figure that one out...
I have a Thule rack on mine and it's PLENTY strong!! I have an RTT mounted now, and it doesn't care. (~160lbs)



And I use it to hang the topper when it's not on the truck.

View attachment 333657

CL is usually a good place to find toppers, but it looks like you have a '14/15 truck, so there's not going to be much out there unless a topper off a '07-13 would fit...
If you're buying new, you might pass on the rack if it looks fairly car-style. My Thule works awesome, and I can pull it off really easily when I don't need it so it isn't dragging my mileage down.

Also, how high do you have your sleeping platform off the bed floor?

I lay 2x4's across the pockets, and plywood on top of that, so the floor ends up ~2" above the wheel well. Any lower and not much will fit under. We put a full (?) size air mattress on top of that, so that eats up another 6" of space, but makes sleeping so much more comfy. Definitely no room to sit up!!
View attachment 333654
I screw down the center section of plywood, and the side pieces hinge up toward the middle. (The carpet is basically the hinge.)
I can get to just about everything in there like this, and it is easy in-easy out.

Oh, and I HIGHLY recommend getting a topper with at least one, if not two "contractor" style side windows. I think the newer ones even have slider side windows that open contractor style. Makes getting stuff out of the truck so much easier!! My topper has two full glass side windows that both open contractor style, so we use the front slider for ventilation... You need a screen for it in bug country, but no worries out here in the desert.

 

[1stDeuce]

Hey, fill out your profile with a location too. Sometimes other Expo'ers have just what you're looking for, but if they don't know where you are, they won't speak up.

You might visit a topper place and see what the previous gen topper looks like on your truck before you spend big $ on an new one. Worth a shot to find a used one in good shape off someone's lease truck and let them take the depreciation.

Oh, and hopefully your truck is a 6-1/2' box... I'm 6' tall, and 6" of extra room is barely enough. If you have a 5'6" box, it'll be pretty tight.

 

[fiddypal]

Hey, fill out your profile with a location too. Sometimes other Expo'ers have just what you're looking for, but if they don't know where you are, they won't speak up.

You might visit a topper place and see what the previous gen topper looks like on your truck before you spend big $ on an new one. Worth a shot to find a used one in good shape off someone's lease truck and let them take the depreciation.

Oh, and hopefully your truck is a 6-1/2' box... I'm 6' tall, and 6" of extra room is barely enough. If you have a 5'6" box, it'll be pretty tight.

It's a 5.8ft and yea its tight

Gota work with what i got tho! Not going to be sleeping in it a ton, but when i do i want to be comfortable.

I am in central MA. USA

Going to take a look at a used cap tomorrow for half off what it would have cost retail.

 

[fiddypal]

Thanks for sharing your setup too!

I sat in the bed today, and to be able to fully sit up i would need to sit on the floor of the bed

It seemed like there was still enough room for 2 people to sleep rather comfortably in, its about the width of a full size mattress. 50" wide between the wheel wells, 64" wide if i raise the floor above the wheel wells.

decisions decisions....