GlacierGladiator's Wayout Gladiator build

[GlacierGladiator]

Added some Oracle rock lights to my bed rack a while back just to give more down lighting to the bed when it's dark out and I need to more bed lighting. They are the underbody rock lights but they seem like good lighting for this application. They are color changing but I usually leave them on either green or white. Although the white is not truly white for some reason. Need to ask oracle about this.

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[GlacierGladiator]

I was able today to finally test out the water storage system built into my rack. It holds right around 10 gallons of water. Without needing to pressurize the system with air, I was able to run my shower sprayer for 12 minutes. I'm thinking this should be enough for 4 quick showers.

 

[DiscoDino]

Super cool build...have the same tent and a very similar set-up...how do you fill your water in the rack?

 

[GlacierGladiator]

Super cool build...have the same tent and a very similar set-up...how do you fill your water in the rack?

Just hook a hose from the house right to the quick connect one way valve. Fill it up and disconnect the hose and the water stays put. Then just connect my shower attachment to the quick connect when I want to use it. There are close up pictures of the fittings a few pages back.
I'm think for overlanding fills I will carry a collapsible bucket & small pump. Just plug the pump in at the bed and fill it back up with river water or rest stop on the road.

 

[DiscoDino]

Just hook a hose from the house right to the quick connect one way valve. Fill it up and disconnect the hose and the water stays put. Then just connect my shower attachment to the quick connect when I want to use it. There are close up pictures of the fittings a few pages back.
I'm think for overlanding fills I will carry a collapsible bucket & small pump. Just plug the pump in at the bed and fill it back up with river water or rest stop on the road.

Yeah my concern was filling it on the road...

 

[GlacierGladiator]

Just hook a hose from the house right to the quick connect one way valve. Fill it up and disconnect the hose and the water stays put. Then just connect my shower attachment to the quick connect when I want to use it. There are close up pictures of the fittings a few pages back.
I'm think for overlanding fills I will carry a collapsible bucket & small pump. Just plug the pump in at the bed and fill it back up with river water or rest stop on the road.

There are lots of rivers here in Washington so I will have plenty of water sources and I'm not drinking the water so should not be a big deal. Will still have to carry potable water.

 

[Factoid]

It will be interesting to see how warm/hot the water gets in the summer with the sun on the black rack. Love the rack and your entire build. Ideally, it doesn’t get too hot, but I’m thinking it may get too hot for comfort in the heat of the summer. Have you thought about how to address this?

 

[GlacierGladiator]

It will be interesting to see how warm/hot the water gets in the summer with the sun on the black rack. Love the rack and your entire build. Ideally, it doesn’t get too hot, but I’m thinking it may get too hot for comfort in the heat of the summer. Have you thought about how to address this?

Well it rarely gets over 90 degrees here in the hottest part of the summer. More average would be in the 80's so we will see what that quantifies to in the rack.
My thinking is a since 75% or more of the rack is covered by the tent it should not be too hot. If you think about a hot tub is usually 102 degrees and that is tolerable.
Also this is no different an application that the pre made units that bolt to the side of your rack so if anyone has one of those chime in.
I would usually not shower until the end of the day so by the time the sun goes down it should also cool down a bit.
It will be fun to figure it all out this summer if COVID-19 does not ruine the summer in the pacific northwest. All our parks & forests are currently closed until sept. 30. I'm hoping that is lifted much sooner.
Thanks for following my build & offering input!

 

[Gvsukids]

Well it rarely gets over 90 degrees here in the hottest part of the summer. More average would be in the 80's so we will see what that quantifies to in the rack.
My thinking is a since 75% or more of the rack is covered by the tent it should not be too hot. If you think about a hot tub is usually 102 degrees and that is tolerable.
Also this is no different an application that the pre made units that bolt to the side of your rack so if anyone has one of those chime in.
I would usually not shower until the end of the day so by the time the sun goes down it should also cool down a bit.
It will be fun to figure it all out this summer if COVID-19 does not ruine the summer in the pacific northwest. All our parks & forests are currently closed until sept. 30. I'm hoping that is lifted much sooner.
Thanks for following my build & offering input!

sucks about the parks and forests. here in Michigan our state parks are open.

 

[GlacierGladiator]

sucks about the parks and forests. here in Michigan our state parks are open.

Nice! I was born & raised in Michigan. Lived there until 2000.
I used to have a blast wheeling there. So much area there like here in WA

 

[kevman65]

Nice build.

A couple of comments about your "water tank"

First, without some sort of vent on top at the highest point, you'll never get it filled with water. If the air can not escape, it will not be compressed by the water and will take up volume that you intend for water.

Second, the outside air temperature has nothing to do with your water temperature in the daytime. Aluminum, which transfers heat easily, coated black will heat up to a higher temperature in direct sunlight than what the outside air will ever reach.
If you fill with water from a hose bib (appx 50 degrees) in the morning and then go wheel all day in direct sunlight, by mid-afternoon the water temperature is much higher than you think AND the pressure inside the tubing has increased greatly.

You may want to consider installing a bung on the topside somewhere where you can install both a manual vent and some sort of safety relief valve.

 

[GlacierGladiator]

Thanks for checking out my build & giving some input.

First, without some sort of vent on top at the highest point, you'll never get it filled with water. If the air can not escape, it will not be compressed by the water and will take up volume that you intend for water.

I have to disagree with you here. This set up was based on versions already in production like the Yakima road shower. I have already filled it so I know it fills up to almost completely with water based on the calculation of volume that I did. The air becomes compressed, yes, and helps to pressurize the water. Yes some volume is lost but very minimal and if I wanted to bleed it off I could do it thru the Schrader valve I have installed. I calc'd it out to be about 9.5 gallon capacity and when I filled and released all the water thru the sprayer set up at half throttle (.75 gal/min) it took 12 minutes. So at the most there was a half gallon taken up by air.

Second, the outside air temperature has nothing to do with your water temperature in the daytime. Aluminum, which transfers heat easily, coated black will heat up to a higher temperature in direct sunlight than what the outside air will ever reach.
If you fill with water from a hose bib (appx 50 degrees) in the morning and then go wheel all day in direct sunlight, by mid-afternoon the water temperature is much higher than you think

I'm no expert in how water heats up when exposed in a aluminum tube, but again there are commercial versions of these in production & people making their own versions out of black ABS so if the water heated up to a point to scald people then nobody would be using them. If I lived in the desert maybe yes but wheeling or driving forest roads here in WA you are mainly always under the tree canopy. Anyway I'll find out this summer but I'm 99.9% sure the water will never heat up past 120 degrees for sure.

AND the pressure inside the tubing has increased greatly.

After looking at the road shower more closely I do have to agree that pressure combined with some heat may be an issue so I will be installing a relief valve so I don't cause damage to my rack.

You may want to consider installing a bung on the topside somewhere where you can install both a manual vent and some sort of safety relief valve.

I already have a second port with a Schrader valve so I will either get rid of that for the relief valve or T it off and add a relief valve. From my test this far I really dont think I will ever need to add pressure to the tank as there was plenty of pressure from just filling with a hose. Now if I fill in on the road with a bucket & pump I may need to add some air pressure but I won't know until i try this method out.

 

[DiscoDino]

Maybe you can use an air compressor with some attachment to reverse the pumping out to sucking in and you can suck the water in when on the road? I'm a failed engineer, so take my idea with tablets of salt...

 

[KirkG]

Awesome build! I just ordered a Gator JTR from Kent in ID and I am planning on the same type of build. Looks beautiful

 

[ABNL]

@GlacierGladiator

Phenomenal end product that will bring about an amazing amount of adventurous miles!

...more and more research points to aluminum as a primary cause of early onset Alzheimer’s and aluminum leeching increases proportionally with temperature.

C'mon Factoid - aluminum has to be better than lead, right?

Not to worry, I ate radiator nachos as a kid and turned out just fine.

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