Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Anyone have info or sites about building your own water tank?

I was considering building a water tank out of 6in PVC and endcaps. I figure a 4ft pipe will hold a little under 6 gallons. At just over 6 inches, it could easily be mounted under the floor.

asianflava wrote:I was considering building a water tank out of 6in PVC and endcaps. I figure a 4ft pipe will hold a little under 6 gallons. At just over 6 inches, it could easily be mounted under the floor.

Me too! Is PVC ok for potable water? I can get ABS pipe and fittings locally. I think that it is ok to drink from.

Yes, PVC is good for potable water, It's water pipe.

A question along the same subject....What type of glue is used on ABS plastic? I have a JC Whitney water tank and it is ABS, but does not have a filler tube and I have to put one in.

SteveH wrote:A question along the same subject....What type of glue is used on ABS plastic? I have a JC Whitney water tank and it is ABS, but does not have a filler tube and I have to put one in.

Do you mean polyethelene? I had a crack in the gas tank in my truck. With the price of gas going up, I decided to fix it. Before, I just wouldn't put more than 13gallons in it.

First I tried that epoxy putty specifically for gas tanks, it popped off. Then I used fibergalss and epoxy. It delaminated before I reinstalled the tank. Last resort was a glue that I bought at the kayak store.

My thinking was, kayaks are poly, I'm shure they need repairs, What do they use? I bought this glue but the rub was, it had to be heat cured with a torch. Blew out the inside of the tank and went for it. It worked out fine but it came off soon after. I don't know if it was incompatiable with the gasoline. I finally found a place for a new tank even at half price $250 was a good chunk of change. Junk yards won't ship gas tanks.

Oh yeah, the stuff I used was made by Ocean Kayak and it smelled like coconuts.

SteveH wrote:A question along the same subject....What type of glue is used on ABS plastic? I have a JC Whitney water tank and it is ABS, but does not have a filler tube and I have to put one in.

ABS is a type of plastic used in home sewage piping. Go to Home Depot. They should have a universal cement and primer that will do the job. I know the tank you're working with, I have one on my wish list. I installed some ABS piping in a house I remodeled 20 or so years ago. You don't see it around much anymore. I was thinking of the pipe idea as a way to save money and space.

Yes thats what the Arizona Teardroppers use on the 4x8's I had the shop thats working on my 1939 chevy build me 15 gal water tank on my secound tear that mounts under the galley, it has a tapered bottom so it won't drag when going up or down curbs.

Why does everyone put their water tanks below the sink?

Why not put the water tank above the sink so you can take advantage of gravity and not have to pump it up?

Makes more sense to me to put a flat water tank in the roof area with a hidden filler cap that can be filled from the outside.

So simple it's brilliant! But I've haven't seen anyone do it.

I've seen it done before. There's a couple things to consider when doing your water tank up high.

-Your center of gravity is very high
-How you refill your water tank
-Structural support for the water tank

Mike...

Haven't seen anyone else do it but I love my 5 gal water can mounted on the outside military style. If I see the need I will add one to the otherside.

asianflava wrote:I was considering building a water tank out of 6in PVC and endcaps. I figure a 4ft pipe will hold a little under 6 gallons. At just over 6 inches, it could easily be mounted under the floor.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I was planning on doing the same thing for a water tank on my tear. Before you slap that big pipe under there, I just wanted to warn you that a 6"x4' pipe will hold about 23.5 gallons of water and will weigh in close to 190lbs, if my calculations are correct.

I'm planning on attaching a 4"x2' PVC pipe under the trailer next to the axle, which should hold about 6 gallons and weigh in around 50lbs.

Dear Brian,

Your calculations are way off. If you want to see how far off they are, try stacking 23 two litre coke bottles on to of one another and see if the stack is only 4' high.

Or on the other hand try placing six gallons of paint on top of each other and see if that could fit into a two foot section of 4" pipe.

a six foot section of 4" pipe will weigh less than 32lbs and carry just under 3.9 gallons of water. The two foot section you are planning will carry less than 1 1/2 gallons

Love the looks of your teardrop drawing Brian. Looking foward to watching your progress!

Great take on Mr Al-Sahaf.. I did something similar on one of my website back in 2003... see http://timefortuckerman.com/disinformation.html

I was using the V=Pi*R2h formula. Using that, there should be 2412.75 cubic inches in a 4"x4' tube. With a gallon of water taking up 231 cubic inches, it works itself out to about 10 gallons.

Then again, I liked Geometry in school so much I took it twice.

Thanks for the compliment, Dave. I call it "ode to Roly."