Taylor Spaulding
Bought an X
- Location
- Vacaville, CA
Hello all,
I've been off the boards for a while, work went crazy and I've spent all my spare time trying to keep my life in order. Part of that was finishing up this build which started back in April and is finished today, 7 months later. Without further ado, here's how I have built an on-board hot and cold water system.
First: Why not just a roof mounted solar shower, RoadShower, Coleman or other similar setup? Space and temp. Any other system I looked at would reduce the amount of space I had inside the rig for gear, or would have a temperature limit not much higher than ambient temperature.
So, here's where the planning started. Initially, I was inspired by this post on offroad passport. I basically followed his build, adapting as necessary for my X and making the install as clean as possible. I knew I wanted a water tank that would take the place of the spare. I hate spares under rigs, especially when I'm often in the dirt, so I wanted it gone. So, the first step was to find a tank that was the right size and design a steel frame which could be bolted to the frame of the vehicle.
I found the Valterra 12 Gallon Freshwater tank which you can plumb yourself with this kit to be perfect. I mapped out the dimensions under the rig to make sure it would fit.
I used unistrut and threaded rods to build a frame/cage to hold the tank. The rods are great because it allows me to use them to bolt the tank to the body.
Then I plumbed in a drain hole and the outlet on one side and the air relief and fill barb on the other.
Following this I bolted the unistrut cage to the bottom of the X. I drilled holes into the "hidden" cargo compartment and into the area covered by trim around the liftgate latch. This was very tricky, involving raising the cage up until the rods contacted the body and marking that position then drilling the holes. The skin is thin so this was simply meant for added support. The true support came from a third crossbar which bolted through the frame crossmember. Once the holes were all drilled, friends helped me get the tank in place and it was bolted down. If necessary the entire tank can be dropped by unbolting the six rods.
After the tank was bolted in, I began the plumbing work. First was plumbing in the Fill. Being familiar with Valterra, I went with their port, in black. There's a small hole about 1" in diameter in the side of the metal bumper, the fill hose goes through this to the "front" of the tank (which faces the rear of the vehicle). I retrofitted a hose for this, by cutting apart a dishwasher drain hose, fitting it through the hole, and then re-gluing the end back on. Since this is a mostly 0 pressure part of the system, it doesn't have to be perfect. The fill port also has a place to attach the relief hose, so I ran that from the tank as well.
Then, it was time to plum the pump. Originally, I was hoping to put the pump on the side of the tank, bolted to one of the cross bars of the frame, but space was an issue. So, I bolted the pump to the same area under the liftgate trim. It's a bit close to the exhaust pipe, but the air around the pipe does not appear to get too hot for the pump even on our 110 degree days.
I ran the reinforced vinyl tubing (yes, I know, my health) from the tank to the pump.
I've been off the boards for a while, work went crazy and I've spent all my spare time trying to keep my life in order. Part of that was finishing up this build which started back in April and is finished today, 7 months later. Without further ado, here's how I have built an on-board hot and cold water system.
First: Why not just a roof mounted solar shower, RoadShower, Coleman or other similar setup? Space and temp. Any other system I looked at would reduce the amount of space I had inside the rig for gear, or would have a temperature limit not much higher than ambient temperature.
So, here's where the planning started. Initially, I was inspired by this post on offroad passport. I basically followed his build, adapting as necessary for my X and making the install as clean as possible. I knew I wanted a water tank that would take the place of the spare. I hate spares under rigs, especially when I'm often in the dirt, so I wanted it gone. So, the first step was to find a tank that was the right size and design a steel frame which could be bolted to the frame of the vehicle.
I found the Valterra 12 Gallon Freshwater tank which you can plumb yourself with this kit to be perfect. I mapped out the dimensions under the rig to make sure it would fit.
I used unistrut and threaded rods to build a frame/cage to hold the tank. The rods are great because it allows me to use them to bolt the tank to the body.
Then I plumbed in a drain hole and the outlet on one side and the air relief and fill barb on the other.
Following this I bolted the unistrut cage to the bottom of the X. I drilled holes into the "hidden" cargo compartment and into the area covered by trim around the liftgate latch. This was very tricky, involving raising the cage up until the rods contacted the body and marking that position then drilling the holes. The skin is thin so this was simply meant for added support. The true support came from a third crossbar which bolted through the frame crossmember. Once the holes were all drilled, friends helped me get the tank in place and it was bolted down. If necessary the entire tank can be dropped by unbolting the six rods.
After the tank was bolted in, I began the plumbing work. First was plumbing in the Fill. Being familiar with Valterra, I went with their port, in black. There's a small hole about 1" in diameter in the side of the metal bumper, the fill hose goes through this to the "front" of the tank (which faces the rear of the vehicle). I retrofitted a hose for this, by cutting apart a dishwasher drain hose, fitting it through the hole, and then re-gluing the end back on. Since this is a mostly 0 pressure part of the system, it doesn't have to be perfect. The fill port also has a place to attach the relief hose, so I ran that from the tank as well.
Then, it was time to plum the pump. Originally, I was hoping to put the pump on the side of the tank, bolted to one of the cross bars of the frame, but space was an issue. So, I bolted the pump to the same area under the liftgate trim. It's a bit close to the exhaust pipe, but the air around the pipe does not appear to get too hot for the pump even on our 110 degree days.
I ran the reinforced vinyl tubing (yes, I know, my health) from the tank to the pump.