With things done in the cab the next move was getting the water system set up. This would be similar to the Mustang Chicken Coupe in that it uses drinker cups that automatically refill but the difference is that this system will be like the temporary systems I set up for the two chicken coops where water is gravity fed from a bucket into a PVC manifold that holds several drinker cups so it all works at a low pressure. The extra bit here though is that the bucket will have a float valve hooked up that is tied to the regular high pressure water line to replenish the water in the bucket as it's used up. A few things had to be done to make this work however.
First thing of course was putting together the manifold for the drinker cups. This consisted of four 1/2"x1/2"x1/8" NPT PVC tees, some short pieces of PVC pipe, a cap, an elbow, and a 1/2" adapter and hose barb fitting. Since this is a super low pressure system on this end, there was no need to glue anything together. Everything's just pressed together. From here I mounted the assembly to the right rear side of the bed of the truck. I wanted it close to the tailgate in case I have to do any maintenance on the unit, it'll be a lot easier than having to climb into the bed with mulch and chicken shit all over. I used conduit straps and self tapping screws to secure the assembly in place. Next I had to set up a platform for the bucket to be secured on. Since the only spot was the fender I went ahead and made a little platform from some scrap that extended out from the fender apron into the bed. This consisted of a piece of heavy sheet metal and two short lengths of fence post pipe cut to serve as legs to hold the sheet metal platform level from the fender apron. Everything was welded together so as to be strong enough to hold the 5 gallons of water that the bucket will be toting. With the drinker cup manifold and bucket platform in place it was time for the bucket itself. To complete this setup I had to start off with a couple of holes in the bucket. I drilled one near the bottom and one a couple of inches from the top of the bucket. The hole at the bottom is for the hose barb fitting that will link up to the other hose barb fitting on the drinker cup manifold. The other hole is for the float valve that will be secured in place inside the bucket. The float valve has a nut and rubber washer to help seal the unit in place in the bucket and a female 1/8" thread within for a pipe nipple. With the bucket in place I positioned the unit on the platform and cut a short length of hose to put between the two hose barb fittings to couple everything together. I filled the bucket with water from a garden hose to test the system to make sure everything was good on the bottom end. Other than a minor leak from the one of the hose barbs, everything was straight. Now on a side note, the section of floor on the truck's bed happens to be pocked with a number of rust holes. While this might be a problem to some, it actually works to my advantage due to the fact that with the lateral ridges in the bed's floor, they act as a channel to route any leaking water straight to those rust holes and out to the ground. This way the mulch in the rest of the bed remains dry and just that one little area gets wet from any leakage or just messy birds splashing water around. The rest of the system will consist of a piece of 1/8" NPT pipe nipple and a pressure regulator that is used for micro irrigation systems. This regulator has garden hose threads male on one side, female on the other. The regulator cuts the pressure down to 25psi, enough to not rupture the fragile components in the irrigation system, or in my case, a plastic float valve. This pair of components will be routed through a hole in the skin of the bed cover I will be making to cover the bed and into the float valve. A regular garden hose will be hooked up from this regulator to the spigot by the Mustang Chicken Coupe. I put a Y pipe on the spigot to branch water over to the Mustang and the truck. I will have to make a custom length of garden hose since I won't need a long length to bridge the gap between the two points. I have some old garden hose that I can cut one end off and use a repair end fitting on the other end to complete the hose. There are a few more things after this that will need to be done, again, the bed cover being the biggest part. Afterward I will have to make a hatch for the bed cover and a power distribution point for both cars, which will most likely be an outdoor outlet box that both cars will plug up to. I am very close to completion of this project.
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