Good day, guys. How you going?
Today, we're going to be working on this custom-built trailer.
The guy, one of my customers, has brought in
It's built, the trailer itself is a Loadstar trailer, it's built in Perth here
It's got off-road suspension on it so it's a pretty hard-core unit.
I've got a Loadstar trailer for work that I've had since 2005 and yeah, it's been great.
So he's added stuff to it as he's gone along.
Like he's got an outboard engine holder at the front here
And he's got his big box for a storage box at the front
Yeah, put the canopy on. He's spent a lot of money with Drifta Camper
It's got quite a bit of their equipment
They're a company over in Gloucester, New South Wales
They do some awesome four-wheel driving accessories and camping stuff.
He's got the big awning up there that goes all the way around
And also he's got some kitchen in there and a drawer out the back
Now they don't use ball bearings and stuff on a lot of their stuff
So especially in WA, when you've got sand flicking in the back
or Lancelin where it's really blowy or something
when you slide it out the bearings don't get any so you can just hose it all out
And it's all back to good again
He's got a Joolca hot water system,
but he just wants me to put a couple of bells and whistles on it
One of them is the gas system
So we've got a bayonet at the front, bayonet at the back
The one on the front, probably for the hot water system
One at the back is for a barbecue or something like that. So that'd be good.
And also he's got no way of storing water, except from Jerry cans
and that gets a bit old after a while
So he's bought a couple of Dunn and Watson 80-liter water tanks
that he's asked me to fit
I thought, "You could just do that yourself, mate
you're a bit handy and stuff like that."
But I could see why now.
There's brake cables that we've got to try and avoid and stuff
So it's going to be quite a difficult job to get them up in there
And I'm probably going to put a pump or something in here
out the front here, that the auto electrician can connect up
So he can get all that working with the Joolca and stuff like that
So anyway, I'll keep you updated during the build
and I'll show you the finished product anyway
So anyway, thanks for watching and we'll keep you updated. Thanks, guys.
Okay guys, all sorted. Now the easiest part of this build was the gas side of things
So all we've done is put a gas regulator towards the rear of the camper
right next to where the 4.5 kg bottle is
We put a bayonet on the back of it to run a stove or something later on in the kitchen
And then we've run the gas main up and underneath the top of this camper here
where it's out of the way so the bushes can't get to it and everything
And then stuck another bayonet at the front for the Joolca hot water system
with the all-important dust plug
Now the next thing is the water tanks. They are a bit more difficult
Now when we fitted the rear tank, we got all the fittings on there
fitted the rear tank, we noticed that it was just too close to the axle and it wouldn't fit.
So we had to trim the bike holder at the back there
We had to trim about 50mm off that on a bit of an angle
And that gave us about another 50 mm
So it's a good distance away from the axle now
as the axle moves up and down near the water tank
So once that was done, we had to move on to the front tank
Now the front tank runs front to back because we had the brake cables
and it just wouldn't fit width-wise
Now each one of these Dunn and Watson water tanks have five holes either side
So we have used the five bolts to go all the way up
through the checker plate to bolt that in place
So we bolted the back one in place
Now the front one we just sort of got in place, and then we ran all the hoses
So there's two filler hoses, two breather hoses, and two suction hoses
And all those sort of fed up together and went along the top of the front tank
So it kept it protected, up out of the way, ran along, once it was all in position
then we could jack it up and tighten it up and leave it, once in place
So it was quite hard to get the holes right too
because of the Drifta drawers that go in and out
we just didn't want to make sure that we bring it
right up where the bolt comes through through where the drawer runners are
because that would be a bit annoying.
I don't know if you can see that, but this is a three-way working valve
So this one here from the front tank, this is from the back tank
and then they can turn it over.
This is what they have on all the Jayco caravans
so you can empty your front one first or your back one
or whatever you decide to do on the day
So that's nice and tucked up and quite easy to reach too.
Okay, so now when it came to the filler points of where to fill the tanks up
we had a couple of options
I was thinking of maybe putting it on the side of this toolbox on the front
but sort of space is at a premium
So if you're going to fill it up with your barbecue, that chews up a bit of room
And then I noticed there was a gap in between the front of the trailer and this toolbox
And when I put the filler in place here, it fitted all right.
So then all I had to do is make up this bracket on the side, a couple of holes in it here
And then that is all Sikaflexed these in there with the screws
and then we've pop-riveted it on the side here.
I've made up a little plaque to say front and back
to know which tank is what and how you're filling it up
And that means all the breather hoses and the filler hoses
can all run down in between, nice smooth
and then on top of the main tank so it's just very easy to fill as well
Now, as you can see, I don't know if you can notice
but I've left it on a bit of an angle backwards, that way
The reason for that is I wanted to get a switch, I don't know if you can see it
but there's a switch just here and that's to turn the pump on and off
It's a little waterproof switch there so he can turn it on
So after you've finished hooking up your trailer or doing a bit of work
I've also installed a little tap down here
So when you're finished, you can just wash your hands quickly
with a bit of soap and turn it off and get on your way again
So yeah, it sort of worked out pretty easy, really easy to take off
and they're all lockable and stuff like that
So yeah, pretty happy with how that's turned out.
And you're probably wondering, "What is this here?"
So this is what they call the quick-release water fitting
I'll just take that off here. And so a fitting can go into that
So there's pressure on at the moment.
So a fitting can go into that and that's the fitting that we use with a hose barb on it
and that goes straight up into the Joolca and then it can start running
So it sucks the water out of the tank through the pump and puts it out the Joolca
but I'll show you how we set that up in a minute.
I'll just show you now how easy it is to hook up the Joolca
to the new system that we've installed
Make sure that the pump switch is on down here
You can check by just turning the tap on so that's all good to go
Grab the Joolca HOTTAP. He's going to make up a bracket or something here
there's a new one on the market now that's sort of you can pop it in
and lock it in there with even a padlock and stuff
So it's not permanently fixed anymore, which is a great idea.
So, I'll just hang it over the top. That'd be fine for the moment.
Just grab your gas hose. Just remove your dust plug, pop that out. Pop the hose in.
Now, this hose is live now but no gas will come out because of the quick-release
That just pops onto the bottom. Slide on, like that
This is just a bit of 8mm hose I've got from Bunnings
You can get this hose connector here at Bunnings. It's the 8mm connector.
They're great for the Joolcas to go on, 8mm hose
And then we've got the barb fitting
So you always put that on first, the cold clips on like that
And then down here, you just pop off the little stopper there
so you can get access to that
Now, before you plug that in, get your shower ready
Joolca shower, I haven't set it up properly, but anyway, you'll get the understanding
That goes onto the hot side of things like that, clips on.
So that's the hot feed and get your shower there.
If it all works correctly, when I plug this in, it'll start pushing water through the Joolca
and it should all start firing up. So we'll see how it goes.
Yep. So she's fired up, and she stopped because the little switch down here is off
So if I turn that on, the water starts coming out
Plenty of flow
Now 32, 33, 34. So hot enough to have a shower now
So you can go up to nearly 40 degrees
So that's how easy it is. Shut it off. Hot water just turns off and back on again
And you can see inside the little Topargee flow meter, we're counting down the liters
So you can let your wife know
"You can use 40 liters tonight, baby, because we got plenty left, so go for it."
So a really good setup. I'll show you how easy it is to pack up as well.
So we'll just turn that off. Just unplug the cold line that releases the pressure on it
Then you can unplug the hot
Now, if you ever have it like that, you can also, there's the Joolca pump as well
So you can plug that into the cold line. Chuck that into a stream. Turn this pump on
And then you can pump water from a stream that's probably not worth drinking
You wouldn't want to drink it, but it's fine to have a shower
And then you can have a good shower for as long as you like. Use plenty of water.
So that's a really good option for this as well
But anyway, take the gas off, put the dust plug back on, little twist, roll the hose up
Joolca off, give it a shake and you can chuck it back in the box.
So success, it's gone well.
Would you like to see the pump setup? Sure you do, I'll just show you
Here it is. So it's got the Shurflo pump. They're a great little unit, very quiet
I've been really happy with these.
Now, so here's a suction line that comes through. And that goes from the two tanks.
Then it comes up over here. You've got the pre-filter,
which takes out all the debris before it gets into your pump, really protects it.
And then it jumps up to the mains pressure
or the higher pressure joint gas fittings that rolls around here
You can see here's at the Topargee flow meter. It's got the little propeller inside that
So it's good that this protects that as well
And then it heads off. It's got a T, one goes up to the quick-release fitting
for the Joolca and the other one goes down for that hose tap
that I showed you before
Now, this is all the backend of the switch you can see here.
The switch is on the other side to turn it off, it's a nice waterproof switch
And then it's got all the wiring loom and everything connected into that for the switch
and also the Topargee flow meter to supply power for that
And then it heads into this conduit that goes up outside the toolbox here
nicely sealed and then up under there
That goes into the main bit of the trailer where the Topargee flow meter is installed.
So then if I turn the tap on, it'll fire up
and it will start counting down and tell you how many liters is left
So great way of doing it. So it just runs down.
I think these things are so important if you're off camping
because you're always struggling with the water
Are you going to have enough when you're showering and stuff
And you'd hate on the last few days to say to your wife
"Oh, take it easy on the water."
And when you get home, you might have 80, 90 left where she could have gone nuts
And had a really long shower and really enjoyed it.
But it's just a great way of doing it, especially if you've got two tanks
It's great to know down to the liter, how many liters you got left.
And then at the end of where it comes out of the pump out of the wiring loom
I've got an Anderson plug and the all-important fuse
Now the Anderson plug are really good
because you can just buy one of those battery boxes
And most of them have this. You can plug it straight in and you're good to go
You can put it back in your house, charge it. Fuse is really important too.
Now you probably look at all this and go
"Wow, that's a really neat job you've done, Ben."
I actually didn't do it. I'd love to figure out how to do all this stuff
with soldering wires and fuses and all that stuff
But I went down to a mate of mine, Darryl at Forrestfield Auto Electrics
And I drew him a little diagram. I said, "I want a switch up here, I want the pump here
I want a Topargee that has to have power to it,
and I would like a light on it and then turn it on with a pump
And drew it all for him and how long it had to be.
And I said about 500 with a nice Anderson plug on the end of it.
And then the next day came back and he give me this. It just looks amazing.
Great wiring loom. I'm not sure if he did it or he just told one of his guys
They're all great out there
But if you want to get your stuff done, draw him a diagram, drop it off.
And then he'll sort it out for you.
So yeah, Darryl, Forrestfield Auto Electrics, don't forget him.
He's great at all this sort of stuff.
So if you've been out camping with the family and you think,
"Yeah, some of these pain points would be good to iron out."
You can give us a call, especially if you live in WA. Happy to help.
Guys, thanks for watching. Really appreciate it and see you on the next video.