Tango
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Hi
I got the Gardiner back pack and while it carries an impressive 22L of water, It's been quite clear from the start that i can empty it on one side of a house and then need to top it up - requiring a barrel of water to be nearby / second trip to / from vehicle.
This has bugged me now for a while. Sure, you could say i'm a tad slow, my customers have all been first cleans too so that doesn't help either however slow, 1st or just too much glass, I needed to find a workaround for this water shortage problem that was workable easily, efficiently and reliable. I've given it some thought and come up with a hack!
So, here's the trolley in use, a simple folding aluminium sack truck:
As many of you will know, it's quite a small truck and does flex a bit with weight on top. It's rated at 90kg and a quick google revealed 1L of water to be a smidgen over 1kg. Thus this trolley in theory can take roughly 85L of water max - but you'd have to be bloody strong!
So my first idea was simple - two barrels at the bottom, strapped together and the Gardiner BP sat on top also strapped to the trolley - 72L. Heavy! Sure it works but the barrels are a bit wide and it felt like they'd happily slip sideways and off the truck despite a bungee cord. In reality though, I've never needed two barrels, just one so hauling a 2nd one round is pointless.
Problem: Standing one barrel on another is fine - they're designed for that... stacking a back pack on a barrel doesn't feel or look right so that's not going to work either.
So I gave it a few more moments thought and came up with my moment of genius I figured many others would find useful. The BP is usually strapped onto the trolley by itself with the back facing the trolley. Today I've abandoned that after realising the BP was not as wide as a barrel and this is what i've come up with - carrying 48L:
Yes, you've got it, I've turned the BP SIDEWAYS and strapped it to a single barrel! Both are heavy, both will act as anchors, the BP has ridges under the yellow part that give it extra grip too! Also water is heavy! Two large containers strapped to each other will act as anchors and hold one against the other.
From the rear side, you can see that both do hang over the side of the trolley slightly however it's a couple of inches with the rest of the bulk on the trolley:
Oh yeah and my pole holder is 50mm drain down pipe from B&Q - with a bend section at the bottom to hold it and also let water drain out - more on that in another topic soon to come. I like to get the most out of things I have so as you can see the hose is also cable tied to the trolley with a reusable cable tie and I've been mulling over plans for a shelf to put a small toolbox on for extras like gloves, paper work (quotes / receipts) and any other misc stuff i might need. I've worked this trolley like a dog many times over the years, it's not getting off the hook just yet lol.
From underneath the trolley, you can see that both have plenty of surface area on the trolley base - and i've not even tried the BP straps round the barrel yet.:
Due to the orange hose on the BP I have the back pack slightly offset more than the barrel (the hose and pole holder clash). I've yet to try this out in the field but it seems stable enough wheeling it round at home. IF you try this yourself, the risk is yours - I'm just showing what I've come up with to solve the water shortage problem. Will update in due course as to how practical it actually is.
I got the Gardiner back pack and while it carries an impressive 22L of water, It's been quite clear from the start that i can empty it on one side of a house and then need to top it up - requiring a barrel of water to be nearby / second trip to / from vehicle.
This has bugged me now for a while. Sure, you could say i'm a tad slow, my customers have all been first cleans too so that doesn't help either however slow, 1st or just too much glass, I needed to find a workaround for this water shortage problem that was workable easily, efficiently and reliable. I've given it some thought and come up with a hack!
So, here's the trolley in use, a simple folding aluminium sack truck:
As many of you will know, it's quite a small truck and does flex a bit with weight on top. It's rated at 90kg and a quick google revealed 1L of water to be a smidgen over 1kg. Thus this trolley in theory can take roughly 85L of water max - but you'd have to be bloody strong!
So my first idea was simple - two barrels at the bottom, strapped together and the Gardiner BP sat on top also strapped to the trolley - 72L. Heavy! Sure it works but the barrels are a bit wide and it felt like they'd happily slip sideways and off the truck despite a bungee cord. In reality though, I've never needed two barrels, just one so hauling a 2nd one round is pointless.
Problem: Standing one barrel on another is fine - they're designed for that... stacking a back pack on a barrel doesn't feel or look right so that's not going to work either.
So I gave it a few more moments thought and came up with my moment of genius I figured many others would find useful. The BP is usually strapped onto the trolley by itself with the back facing the trolley. Today I've abandoned that after realising the BP was not as wide as a barrel and this is what i've come up with - carrying 48L:
Yes, you've got it, I've turned the BP SIDEWAYS and strapped it to a single barrel! Both are heavy, both will act as anchors, the BP has ridges under the yellow part that give it extra grip too! Also water is heavy! Two large containers strapped to each other will act as anchors and hold one against the other.
From the rear side, you can see that both do hang over the side of the trolley slightly however it's a couple of inches with the rest of the bulk on the trolley:
Oh yeah and my pole holder is 50mm drain down pipe from B&Q - with a bend section at the bottom to hold it and also let water drain out - more on that in another topic soon to come. I like to get the most out of things I have so as you can see the hose is also cable tied to the trolley with a reusable cable tie and I've been mulling over plans for a shelf to put a small toolbox on for extras like gloves, paper work (quotes / receipts) and any other misc stuff i might need. I've worked this trolley like a dog many times over the years, it's not getting off the hook just yet lol.
From underneath the trolley, you can see that both have plenty of surface area on the trolley base - and i've not even tried the BP straps round the barrel yet.:
Due to the orange hose on the BP I have the back pack slightly offset more than the barrel (the hose and pole holder clash). I've yet to try this out in the field but it seems stable enough wheeling it round at home. IF you try this yourself, the risk is yours - I'm just showing what I've come up with to solve the water shortage problem. Will update in due course as to how practical it actually is.
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