On-Board-Water Storage Tank

Has anyone set up an on-board drinking water system for their Tacoma? I'm about to remove the factory spare tire and am thinking of installing a small air tank and a small (maybe 10 gallon) water tank where it used to be. The problem is, I'm not finding many water tanks in a size that would work. It would need to be thin, and most are either too square or don't say what they are made of. HDPE would be my preference.

As for the plumbing, I'm not sure yet if I would install a pump system or just use gravity, but either way it would be nice to ditch the water can in my bed and I'm not keen on adding more weight to the rear bumper to carry it there.

I've found a few write-ups online, but none of them give a part number or say where they got the tank.

 

There are a couple members who have put their water between the rear fender and the bed - lots of wasted space there.

 

Sounds like an excellent place for a bladder tank. Hmmmm.....

 

Subbed for more info

 

Thread Rez!

I'd like to see how this has turned out for anyone

 

I haven't had a chance to put a system together yet, but I found some websites that have what I need for relatively cheap (about $200 shipped for the whole system with a pump, more if I get fancy). I will try to put one together this summer when I have more time, but it looks very doable. The biggest issue is I will have to make a cross-member that spans the frame where the spare tire used to be to give me something to mount the water tank to (and also compressed air tank while I'm at it).

The second biggest issue is freezing. It routinely stays below freezing all January where I live, and we get subfreezing temps from November through April. Right now my plan is to pump the system dry every fall before the snow gets here. I'll be insulating the whole system anyway to avoid freezing on cold nights in the shoulder seasons, but I can't think of any effective way to keep things warm in the dead of winter if I'm parked for more than a few hours. With the engine running there is a whole slew of options though.

Ideally I would add a filter so I could suck up river water and turn it into drinkable water (I saw a system like that for overlanding), but that's where things start getting both fancy and expensive...I will probably just stick to pouring tap water into the tank before leaving for trips, and adding a couple drops of bleach to keep it potable.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ystem-for-the-2005-2017-toyota-tacoma.453005/

https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/us/water-solutions.html

Check those out or make your own tank with some big PVC for cheap. I looked into on board water but ended up making my own portable water box. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ing-gear-thread.340757/page-254#post-14057256

 

Reviving this old thread. Did OP end up getting a tank made to fit the spare tire area?

 

Nope. A bunch of stuff came up including a blown head gasket and broken control arm. The water tank is on my list of to-do’s, and I found a premade tank that will fit, but it’s on the back burner for now. I’m definitely going with food-grade HDPE though.

 

Ah hey I just saw that you replied a while back. Guess I didn’t have the thread subbed. Can you share what tank you were going to use? I’m about ready to start this project and was curious what you’ve found.

What were you going to do for mounting to spare area? I was thinking of just some metal straps to hold it up to the frame.

Last thing to figure out is how to fill it up if mounted down there. I was thinking of a fill port similar to the gas tank either inside the truck bed (I have camper shell) or risk drilling a hole on exterior of truck. What are your thoughts?

 

https://www.trailedonline.com/product-page/spare-tire-auxiliary-tank

Looks like someone built a 6 gallon tank, and you can stack them

 

Don't recall every being so thirsty that I would drag that out for drink. Maybe keep it there for an emergency but by then it would be too foul to drink. Ahhhh ... I know what its good for. Fill with sand for ballast.

 

I’m thinking a retired aluminum SCUBA tank.


Drill and tap a hole on the low side for plumbing to bumper spigot, use the neck for the ‘fill’ hose plumbing, strap it to the frame somewhere. Maybe even drill a hole to put a little air in and pressurize it.