Portable pressure washers... Link

[Mr. NiceGuy]

I've been thinking about a way to rinse my poles and kayak when I roll up from the salt water of San Diego. I also want something to use as a portable shower for the 4WD MB Sprinter I hope to buy someday to replace my high mileage Chevy Express passenger van.


I was looking at the RinseKit for $90
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UGA4DRA/...IKFRD2TC&psc=1
(Available at Dana Landing without the cost of shipping)


Then I thought I would convert a garden pump sprayer. I looked at Costco because they usually buy decent quality and they had a 2 gallon pump sprayer made by Rainmaker. The RinseKit is only 2 gallons too, and it has to be filled with the pressure from a hose bib.

So I bought a 3 gallon Rainmaker brand garden pump sprayer at Amazon Prime for $30.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00



EDIT: I had photos inserted of this modification process and they didn't upload for some reason. If you want the photos, send me a message. Because of the photos being rejected, I had to upload my post in three parts.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

The Harbor freight sprayer mentioned above might be just as good .. not sure. It's worth going to look at the quality of the construction.

The fine spray of a garden sprayer is too much of a mist to be good as a portable shower or something for washing gear.

So I went to Home Depot and bought the hand sprayer and hose that connects to a kitchen sink for washing dishes. That sprayer has a spray switch built into the handle. It was under $10 for the hose and sprayer together.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DANCO-Fau...-202305850-_-N


I then went to the brass fittings dept and bought a straight in-line connector that presses into the garden sprayer outlet hose that I cut off near the tank, and screws onto the bottom of the hose for the dish rinser.

I fortified the connection of my dish rinser hose to the tube coming up from the garden sprayer tank with a split piece of auto engine hose (3/8", I think), then covered that with a fat piece of electrical shrink wrap that fits over a battery cable. It made a very clean transition from the garden sprayer tube to the sink hose spray nozzle. This prevents kinking the smaller diameter garden sprayer tube at that point.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

My finished adapter looks like this, before I covered it with the shrink wrap to seal it all together tight.

[Sorry friends, the photo upload failed]

The spray volume is now good for a shower or washing gear. A 3 gallon sprayer is a good size and weight to pack and move around. 3 gallons is "adequate" but more water would be better so I filled a plastic 5-gallon Sparklets bottle as backup refill source for my 3 gallon garden spray bottle. I now have an ample 8 gallons available in convenient size containers that are easy to manage. 8 gallons is enough to wash off my own gear & kayak, then take a shower or hand it off to my friends so they can wash their gear too.

I'm pleased with the outcome. Spray volume and pressure is good. 3 gallons is good. the 5 gallon backup is optional and convenient, but not necessary. Breaking the water volume into two containers is easier water weight to manage. I didn't want to deal with a wimpy electrical pump or batteries, or a cigarette lighter socket, or rely on access to garden hose bib pressure as the RinseKit does. The RinseKit uses an expandable bladder like a balloon to maintain the 60# start pressure of the hose bib. It's a clever idea but it looks like it's prone to a parts breakdown after not too much time. I would need to research this more.

The traditional hand pump of a garden sprayer solves all this in a simple and reliable way.

If you want to use solar energy to your advantage for warm/hot water, paint it black.


Mr. MacGyver NiceGuy, at your service :-)