Installing a FULL DIY water tank system in my canopy setup!

Thanks Daniel for a great easy paced and detailed demonstration of the process - great spending time with you and Bianca at the Melbourne show - I’ve been birthday gifted with a Sureflo water tank/pressure reservoir system and Topargee metre (non Bluetooth so I always have it on screen) in the canopy - I already bought a Dunn & Watson 50 litre (800mm square by 100mm deep to sit under the canopy mounted directly to the new chassis mounted aluminium beams with eight mounting holes - great tip about not using brass directly in poly threads which would spell disaster for a cracked inlet/outlet - with the help of a local metal fabrication chap I’m finally relocating the ETC canopy into it’s final position (five year Hilux project), fitting under floor tool boxes for the pump and air compressor, new wheel arches and fill in panels for example after relocating fuel tank inlet.

Your going to need a shurflo accumulator to stop the surging of the pump
We had to get one when using our joolca hot water system, the joolca needs a steady flow rate

Seaflow definitely the best from my experience. I had that pump but down graded to the 3.8 ltr per min and found it perfect

Looks great. Though it seems way too much bends. Are they (pipes) out of the way enough to avoid any debris being snagged on them while on a trail?

Hey, might be possible to use a diff breather Cintered filter for the water tank breather. Just need to step down the thread.
Ps. Awesome content. I’m a few months behind you in mods with my MRT canopy on my 2014 Dmax. Cheers. Dazee

Just pop an accumulator tank inline and it will smooth the pump flow out and also make the pump last twice as long 🤙

A sintered bronze filter is what you need for the filler, very robust, and virtually no maintenance required!

Giday mate, To stop bugs going into your breather pipe just get some nylon fly screen and cable tie it around the breather pipe. Cheap and easily replaced. Also are you going to put some sort of protection for the pump, it looks like it is a bit exposed to road stones etc. or the occasional animal you cant miss on the road. Look like a really good set up.

I love your DIY approach. I learn a lot and get a lot of inspiration from your channel. Big thanks!

Nice job, only thing is I hope you don't regret going such a large pump, it will be very easy to run out of water with that pump, I have the Seaflo 34 which gives 8lpm this is more than enough in a vehicle, search for "Pneumatic Air Breather Vent Silencer Muffler", these are made of brass and should do what you want.

Dunno what hose you used, but seems awfully close to the exhaust if it's not suitable for the heat?

One of they diff breather filters would be good for this

You could use a fuel cell breather. Speedflow or aeroflow would do them. Or most boating places would have something similar

Nice job. I did something similar with threaded rod and flat plate (like you did on the pump mount) and found my plate flexed more over time. I would definitely check the bolts are tight periodically in case the plate flexes further with time and vibration.

brass pneumatic air filter for the breather. same as ones that come on diff breather kits

add an accumulator between the pump and the outlets......itll stop that pulsing at low flow......

Thankyou for the Pump idea . Cant believe you had to wait weeks for Plumbing fittings . Is this store like miles away from the city. Auspex is a Reece store fitting always instock.

you can get a brass breather filter

Another great video mate.. even though it doesn't relate to us in the prado.. but kept me entrained the whole time. What an awesome set up.
Got to be pumped for next year, no pun intended.
Stay safe you 2.

Your hot showers will be nice with that water pressure.

nice install, will be much better having extra water on board, cheers

Great work. My only suggestion would have been taking some tips from caravan industry such as using John quest fittings and hose far more suited to what your doing the hose is PBA free and Food grade and the joiners are far simpler to work with. But still your system is very strong and robust too

And yes high flow rate is not always a good thing the slower the water flow the less likely you are to waste those precious drops


For a filter most caravan parts stores such as “Carac” sell a verity of solutions

Absolutely awesome video, just jealous that I don't it in my 4X4

Nice install. Another option is to use Guest Fittings. Great to see you used light proof pipe. Alot of people, including caravan and camper manufacturers make the mistake with the use of clear pipe which grows algae in the lines.

great setup Daniel. You could always just put a blanking plug into the overflow to stop anything getting back into the tank. It just means that you need to remember to unscrew it when you fill the tank. The other option would be to change out the filler and put a lockable filler cap with built in breather in.

how do you take the water out if the pump fails while camping? I have a T with a gravity tap for this

What a great system to have on your truck Daniel

Don't like how close it is to exhaust pipe 😮

Maybe for the breather, put either an end cap when driving on dusty roads while not using the tap and pump or put a one way valve. Love the setup for the spare wheel storage.

Cool rig Daniel, thanks for sharing

I’ve got to admit that it’s a very elegant water storage solution. Very neat and effective. I’ve never seen a tank like that before. I’ve saved your video for later reference. Cheers.

You should consider Seaflo 42 series pump. It has an internal bypass that allows for "variable flow rate". Works very well in my setup for shower and heat exchanger recirculation.

Awesome install very nicely done. I’ll have to look into this more for my trailer. Looking to add dual tanks under it once I do the break and suspension upgrades 😮

I am really surprised you didn’t fit a bore water filter pre filling the tank. I was so glad to have one when travelling through Queensland mid year…I also fitted a post tank filter to clean the water from any impurities etc. ( I used thirsty nomad filters)

Good to hear that by the end of your fitting and using the system, you realised that the pump size (LPM) was too big - something for anyone watching this (planning their own water setup) to take note of. Another thing was your piping - using that type of pipe with all those compression joins is something I would stay away from for a 4WD, primarily due to the environment it will be exposed to with 'proper' off-road use. Essentially, you now have way too many potential points of failure - which will be very difficult to repair if/when any of them fail in the bush. In my view, the better solution is to use standard high pressure flexible hose, with all fittings/joins using standard good quality hose clamps. BTW, quite impressed with your overall video quality/editing - keep it up.

Consider a PWM controller for the pump.
One with analog control.
Can adjust the flow without major modifications.
Can utilize big flow rate when needed.

You could put another tap on the end of the breather hose and just open it when you need to use the system or would that be too much of a pain?

That is mint. You have inspired me to do the same as my spare is no longer under my wagon.

Hey mate great setup
Where did you get the taps from

Thanks for the content. In my experience 2.5LPM is all that is necessary when considering the water storage capability of most vehicles. Ample pressure for showers and cleaning disshes. For high pressure requirements you would need a 4x4 truck, not a 4x4 wagon or ute in yank language ;). Cheers

Noice...

Have a similar setup, good insurance for grass fire underneath the car, too. I always make sure it’s on and connected if driving over grass.

What the best engine oil for Isuzu Dmax 2023 3.0 ?

Yoh probably have a video on this but what tray and canopy do you have? It looks really nice and clean.

i love the setup, but your plumber mate should have advised you on your flow rates and that your pump was to big to start with. if you want to block off your breather point, use a zero pressure check valve and an elevated breather kind of like a dirt bike breather, could even add a tap to where it is to find out when you are at max water level, it will allow that setup to fill normally, and still be sealed from the dirt

I have a Y tap setup on mine before the Pump. Allows me to either draw off the tank Tap 1 on. Tap 1 off, and Tap 2 open allows me to connect and feed a 2nd hose intake hose that I can put in my spare water cans or buckets of water etc for running showers etc. Saves refilling underwater tank body all the time :). Cheers for sharing the ideas, Stay safe, have fun, enjoy life!👌👍

You have a lot of talent buddy. Well done.

For the breather you can add a t junction, add a one way valve on the bottom for water to pass through and add an air filter for the top.

Bit of an update! Thanks to everyone who suggested installing a Seaflow Accumulator in the system, we just completed this over the weekend and now I get a smooth flow even with the tap turned right down low. 🙂