continued...
As everyone, I searched for the "right" solution -- bladders, Front Runner, etc., etc. etc. I found nothing that would meet my criteria for the space above. Everything also seemed to be extremely pricey for what they had - not complaining - just pricey for me.
So I started making a list of what I needed in supplies and what we wanted for an end product. That would be a running water system, very easy to use and a built in shower add-on. The on-board hot water system would be in the future as we live in the desert and don't usually need hot water for a shower. So I say to myself "how hard can it be to build a custom one-off tank specifically for the FJ". As you all surmise, it is kind of hard. The time was hugh, the materials not bad at all, the hot air welder somewhat expensive.
So the list:
1 tank,
the material for the tank,
a water pick-up system that could empty the tank even over the hump,
somehow get the water out of the tank to a 12v pump,
find somewhere close to mount the pump,
find a faucet that would worked how I envisioned,
somehow hook up a shower connection point.
The material - HDPE 1/4" plastic was chosen. Went to
http://www.usplastic.com/ and ordered what I thought I would need.
Of course the only way to put plastic together is by welding. Hot Air Welding - didn't even know it existed until someone at work used the term. I did a bunch of research and found one company that sold the welder. So I had a welder - a Leister. Got it.
On with the build.
The first attempt at welding was somewhat a success, but no tank built yet. It ended up something like this:
So I started over and figured that making a wooden templete would be the best way to achieve a better product.
A view of the on going tank build on the templete:
During the construction, many fit-up were done to check configuration:
As you can see there were no square corners to make things easy.
Even after finishing the 1st tank:
I had to start all over. This one leaked and the baffles were too high. When something is welded, its really hard to take apart. This one was used for spare pieces of plastic. What I didn't have were the lids that were going to be used. I couldn't find any that were right for the longest time. So I finally found, ordered and received 2 that were used. Here is a fittment to check for height of the existing storage unit:
After this, I ended up increasing the height of the storage area box by 2". 2 more inches the dogs have to jump to get in, but gives me much more useable storage space.
Stay tuned for more.
