Hand carrying and loading water

[Jammer]

Currently I'm parked in a situation where water has to be hand carried.

I do have tanks set up in my tow vehicle and can haul water and wastewater that way but for a bunch of reasons that isn't practical at this site.

I am currently using several collapsible 5 gallon "fold-a-carrier" caddys:

Amazon.com: Reliance Products Five Gallon Fold-A-Carrier II Natural Collapsible Water Carrier with Integrated Handle: Sports & Outdoors

and a pump that runs on flashlight batteries, to transfer the water into the tank in the trailer:

Amazon.com: AMERICAN WICK SI75 Kerosene Battery Operated SYPHON Pump: Home Improvement

I'm chlorinating the water for safety since I am concerned about possible contamination due to the extensive handling.

While all this is workable I have the sense that there must be a better way. What have you tried? What worked? What failed?

[CanoeStream]

I carry a 5 gallon plastic jerry can bought at Mill's Fleet whenever I go camping. I just pay no attention to the label 'Diesel' on the side. Before the trip I'll put a couple quarts of 10:1 water:bleach solution and splash it all around and run it through the threads & spout. Once I've done that, I feel there is no harm in rinsing it with clean water or air drying to lessen the chlorine taste.

I've run into some campgrounds where the water is not accessible from the road. Tettegouche State Park and Kimball Lake NFS (Cook County) are a couple examples. I honestly use it more just to keep from hitching up and pulling to a tap.

[mello mike]

When I boondock or dry camp, I take my 50 gallon PCO fresh water tank and use a regular 12v pump (plugged into a 12v power point) to transfer the water to my Airstream.

[rickandsandi]

Pretty much the same thing here except I got tired of pouring the 40# to start into the fill so I found a clear water line that fits the nozzle of our 5 Gallon tanks and then put them on one of our folding tables sideways to empty to the fresh water tanks.

[handn]

I tried those collapsable jugs but I hated them. They were hard to handle and lots of water ended on the ground.
I carry two plastic 5-6 gallon jerry cans with handles on the bottom making it easy to pour them into the tank.
We don't drink out of our water tank so purity is not an issue. We buy bottled water or take a supply from home. We like to camp near a mountain stream so we pump water out of the stream into the jerry cans. We carry a 110 volt pump. That hooks up to the Honda generator and fills up the jerry cans fast.

[modarch]

I take my large cooler to a faucet, fill it up and back my truck up to the a/s. I have a small acrylic hose that fits over the cooler's water drain valve. Makes easy transfer to the fresh water inlet since the tube is narrow enough to let air escape out of the fillng fresh water tank. The acrylic tube is the same one I use to attach to the pump when winterizing with antifreeze. I too don't drink water from my fresh water tank so not too worried about contamination.

[RickDavis]

We use 2 6 gallon jerry cans. I also carry a spare shurflo pump which I have short hoses on . I installed a lighter plug on the pump and a receptacle in one of the compartments to plug it in to to get around having to hold the jugs airborn.. The whole setup works well.

Black and gray are handled with small. 5 or ten gallon tanks. Something that can be dumped easily into a toilet or hoisted into the back of the truck. Towing a large tank limits where you can go dump. We just dump more often.

All this has worked out well, and I expect it will continue to until age keeps me from being able to lift 5 gallons

[bryanl]

You should make sure your containers and pump are rated for potable water (i.e. "food safe") for short term transport, gas cans and such aren't much of a worry as long as they haven't been used for other stuff, I think.

It is not a bad idea to use a few drops of hypochlorite to your water. Public water supplies will have this taken care of and are frequently tested. Private wells are another matter and they need a disinfectant.

If your portable container is above the tank level and you have a hose or tube that will fit on its poor spout, you can usually start a siphon just by blowing into the vent.

With the bags, a simple squeeze should do. Get a vinyl tube that will fit over the spout and go from there to your tank fill. Clamp it. Put the bag on something above tank level, give it a squeeze and it should empty into your RV tank.

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by modarch

I take my large cooler to a faucet, fill it up and back my truck up to the a/s. I have a small acrylic hose that fits over the cooler's water drain valve. Makes easy transfer to the fresh water inlet since the tube is narrow enough to let air escape out of the fillng fresh water tank. The acrylic tube is the same one I use to attach to the pump when winterizing with antifreeze. I too don't drink water from my fresh water tank so not too worried about contamination.

I like this idea about using the cooler w/hose for double duty. Last week I used the 5 gal. clear plastic foldable containers. Made several trips to get by for another day without moving the trailer. Didn't have a pump and had to lift the water to fill. What a PAIN!
I'll be doin' it the easy way from now on.

[tkasten]

We use two blue 7 gal. water containers from Gander Mountain. We lift the jug up onto the top of our propane tank. Attach a food grade tube to the spigot and then into the trailer's water intake which is just below the level of the water container. Gravity does the rest....Tim

[rseagle]

Here is my simple solution.

[jdalrymple]

I have 3 15 gallon barrels which I obtained from a local dairy. They contained food grade udder wash solution and were easily rinsed.

To move the water, I found a 12 volt pump (see link below) that has garden hose fittings on the inlet and outlet, and is self-priming. I wired on a trailer light connector to the pump to tap power from my truck at the tailgate. Works great from me.


12 Volt Marine Utility Pump

[WK57ABF]

We use this 40 litre (10.6 US gallons) water carrier - no heavy weights to lift.

The manufacturer (www.aquaroll.com) has now started to make them in silver.

John in the UK

[Bluto]

John,
That's a cool product. Thanks for the link!

[clancy_boy]

Originally Posted by WK57ABF

We use this 40 litre (10.6 US gallons) water carrier - no heavy weights to lift.

The manufacturer (www.aquaroll.com) has now started to make them in silver.

John in the UK

Very NICE idea - thank you.

[Jammer]

I wonder if they have a U.S. importer.

[wbrownrr]

I stole the idea from rseagle (see post #11). Works like a charm, and no moving parts to break. This is similar to the idea in post #10. In fact, I also use a blue 7 gallon container which I bought at Walmart.

[3Ms75Argosy]

But how do you start the siphon from the top of the jug? I like that Aquaroll thing... I can't seem to find a US distributer though...
Marc

[WK57ABF]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I wonder if they have a U.S. importer.

Don't know. Would it be worth asking one of your camping accessory stores to import them?

We import US accessories via a UK dealer purchasing from the Stag Parkway catalogue. With duties & taxes goods usually work out at £'s for dollar price shown in catalogue.

As senior citizens and fulltimers we've found no easier way of hauling water.

John in the UK

[wbrownrr]

3Ms... as you can see in rseagle's picture, the water container is higher than the water fill opeining on the side of the AS. The tubing goes into the water container, then hold the open end lower than the bottom of the container and suck on the tubing until a siphon suction is created (water will flow freely and you might get a mouthful of water). Then the only tricky part is to quickly insert the tube into the water fill opening without losing the suction. Make sense? Actually, it's much easier to do than to explain!