DIY water tanks info needed

A bloke at work offered to fold one up for me - my design - got some stainless sheet at a discount place - triangular in profile - goes just behind the cargo barrier. Pictures at http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/darian/jackaroo/. Lot of mucking around to fit the ends and weld it up BUT the thing occupies space that was never going to be used! 25 L.Love the bush - stuck in the city - help.

If you have space between the internal and external body panels (like in an old Troopy), you could put a couple of tanks in there. We welded a couple of shelves onto the chassis and put a square 20 litre plastic drum on top of each shelf, held in place with a coiuple of webbing tie-down straps fixed to eye bolts in the shelf. Cost us about $40 all up and a day mucking about with an arc welder and a tin of rustproofing paint. We have 40 litres of water storage, and I think we could fit another 2 drums (to give 80 litres capacity) if we really wanted to. The centre of gravity is relatively low, and you don't lose space inside the cab. We've done plenty of bush driving with this setup, and no problems so far.

I've often considered making my own but haven't been able to justify it. I prefer to have water in several containers, so that I don't lose the lot should a leak happen, and I can top up with dodgy water, and keep the good stuff for drinking. I prefer to have an area built in that will take the common 20 litre jerry cans. I have space for up to 12 jerry cans (water or diesel) in the Prado for the long desert trips. 4 go behind the cargo barrier and 8 are retained on a cage bolted to the floor where the 2/3 rear seat has been removed.

I am not sure if this is a solution, but it may contain the "germ' of an idea. I have saved those silver bladders that come from the 10 litre water containers, which I freeze and keep (as ice) in my Evakool .. and which I can refill. It is a slow process to fill them, but then I freeze them, carry them with me giving me an extra 40 litres of fresh cold water without any real costs in space, and no ice costs as I refreeze them in the car fridge. (I usually travel with both the fridge and the Evakool on any extended trip). I also carry jerrycans depending on where I am headed and water availability.
Happy travelling
Jack

Not realy a tank but - My brother had a 'tank' fitted inside the rear bumper, could do the same at front ! - made out of 90 or 100 mm white plastic plumbers pipe. It was used mainly for washing hands or dishes as the water tastes funny. The plastic is easy to work with and there are a lot of fittings available at hardware shops.Colin - Subaru Forester
- size isn't everything ! -

Got 100mm PVC running around the inside of my roofrack which adds up to 45L of water.
I usually get old farts in caravan parks asking me if I've nearly tipped the car over on slopes....yeah right!!
45L equals 45kgs.
Apart from water I carry maybe folder chairs and a tent. Looking at some of the stuff on roof racks in my travels i've nothing to worry about. ARB boasts that their racks take 150Kgs - that's something to worry about!! Especially when I see people with multiple jerry cans on the rack. I use that little red shower rose off the solar showers you buy at camping stores. With the water being gravity fed from the rack I get minimum 20 minutes shower time. I have a tap near the rose so you can soak, lather up and rinse off - good for areas where you can't sink a windmill in your travels. I'll definitely purchase a Twine/Glind (whatever's better) in the future for the purpose of heating the water rapidly ie. water feed in & out of the "rack tank".
My cruiser weighs two tonnes minimum fully loaded - no, 50kgs on the rack won't make much of a difference. By the way, PVC has never leaked and was very cheap to install ie. $100 or less. To secure it I use the heavy duty large hose clamps that you get from agg stores.
Works well for us anyway.
All the best. Love the bush.
Chris

I have a tray top 75. In between the tray and the chassis ( a gap of approx 240mm) I could fit a caravan plastic tank that holds 86 litres and only cost $100 from darios caravans in adelaide. Alongside this I have also fitted pvc pipes but only use them for storing fishing rods although if i sealed them they would be ideal water tanks. I previously had a hilux tray for which a mate welded up a stainlesss tank for in between the rear wheel and cabin, this was not cheap costing $280 at mates rates and only holding approx 65 litres.

PVC tube does make for easy water storage but when it gets very hot the blue adhesive becomes toxic. IE it is NOT potable!! Use it for washing only and dont ever drink it! You can thank me later for the tip.

....Heres a thought... and although its a good idea, I can't take credit it for it... I got it eslewhere. We are planning to instal a custom tank under our beloved GQ to take the drain water from our air con! This water will be only for washing purposes, but obviously will be replenished every time we use the air.. unless it breaks!! :-(
There will be need for an "overflow" to prevent water spillage into the cabin but the idea has merit! Then internal storage area previously used for washing water in jerry cans may be used for more drinking water etc!
Now... its up to all you guys out there to run with the idea.....
Get out and get dirty!