WaterBrick holder for cargo area

[Robinhood4x4]

Well, my much loved laundry detergent water carrier finally bit the dust, quite literally by falling out and hitting the ground. You know those big costco liquid laundry detergent containers make fantastic water containers because they're cheap, don't leak, and you can fill them so they almost don't make any splashing noise. Unfortunately, they don't make them as big as they used to so I had to find a replacement.

Here's where I start my rant...Why can't somebody make the perfect water container?!?!?! All I ask is for one that doesn't leak, comes in a 3 gal and 5 gal size, can stand rigidly on it's own and be stable, and most importantly, the spout angles straight down, not crooked. Is that so hard?

I still haven't found it, but the WaterBrick is adequate. It definitely has it's shortcomings. The spout is on the very end of the brick so you have to prop it up at an angle to get all the water out. It's too long. It's impossible to get all the air out so it makes splashing noises all the time.

Sigh...

Anyway, I decided to make it work so I had to come up with a way to keep it from flopping and sliding around in the back of the 4runner. My usual method of using a strap to hold it down wasn't going to work because it's too tall and flops over. Plus, the nozzle rubs on the tonneau cover a little.


I decided the best way to hold the WaterBrick was to make a frame for it that bolts to the floor and angle it slightly. This tucks it away in the corner and lowers the nozzle slightly. I used the existing cargo area hold downs.


Next, I made the frame




And then the bolt







I happen to have a nice piece of square plate laying around and a carriage bolt with rolled threads. Rolled threads mean the diameter of the threads is larger than the non-threaded portion so the plate is captured.

[Robinhood4x4]

Here's the finished product








I did end up stuffing some foam between the WaterBrick and the side to keep it from bouncing around too much. It would be much more rigid if I had bolted it down in a couple places but I was too lazy to do that.

So far so good though.

P.S. the tonneau cover still rubs on the nozzle, but...oh well...

[HOJeepster]

Cool! I have a few waterbricks I use, I like how you can stack them. The nozzle is not 100% leak proof though, the only downside. I've learned to strap water to the oustide of the car when offroading, that splashing sound of water drives me nuts too!

[Robinhood4x4]

I might have lucked out then because I left mine upside down, outside for a weekend and didn't lose a drop.

[beerman]

Nice setup!

[Ryanmb21]

That is rad! Nice work!

[my034runner]

Nice job! Now, if only I had space for that!! But, the 64qt fridge on one side, and the 15# C02 tank on the other......takes car of those corners!! Still cool though!!