Electric Water Gun

[Ronnie]

Just thought I'd revive and old topic. I bought another wash down pump kit yesterday. It's time to refurbish my electric water gun.

I built (more like pieced together) my first one 3 or 4 years ago. Primarily to use when we go slow rafting (Class .5 at most) down the American River (the alternatives being to go unarmed, with a bucket or a traditional tube style water gun) but have also found it useful to pump out flooded compartments (like leaky waverunners and flood rafts) and as a portable washing station when fishing.

So its a very simple contraption really, the pump is mounted along with a battery in a covered battery box. When not in use the intake and output hoses are stored, for the most part, in the battery box. You use the water you are boating/fishing in so there is never a shortage of it and its easy to use, just squeeze the trigger (I bet my hand would give out before the battery does).

Lessons learned/re-learned: 1. The bigger the pump/gpm the costlier it will be but it will be more powerful as well. 2. The pump will rust/freeze up quickly when used in this way. It can operate dry but after putting them away for the season I've noticed that they generally don't perform as well the following season or they don't work at all. This is why I purchased the 2 year exchange policy this (the 3rd or 4th) time around. I may start to 'winterize' this by running cooking oil through it at the end of the season. 3. If possible by a wash down kit, otherwise you get nickeled and dimed and/or will have to make more trips back to the store. 4. Use a sealed battery for what should be obvious reasons. 5. A single battery is enough, the one pictured has two batteries (I had a spare when one of my two water guns broke down) which turned out to be heavy and unneeded.

Cost: Well I think this is very "cool" but it isn't "cheap", its seems very rare that those two words go together in a single sentence anyway. The battery box is around $10. The this kit pictured was $160ish including tax and a 2 year warranty. The battery is another $50 to $100 depending on what type and brand you get, its a 12V PWC battery. So all told this one will cost between $220 and $270 (assuming I need a new battery).

Future changes: I saved an old rollway cooler from last summer that I plan to install the gun components in along with exterior mounted speakers and an amp. This way I can roll it around instead of carry it around and I'll have a place to put my mp3 player/radio tuner as well as project sound from it. I guess its time for me to look for the speakers I saved for the task (and an amp). This could be a $400 thing when I'm done.

Overkill? Oh Yeah but I'm looking forward to challenge of building as well as the fun of using it.



Any questions?

 

[Magic]

Does it have variable speeds? Do you think you could make it work a misting system too? That would be really "cool".....

 

[Ronnie]

No variable speeds, just control the output via the trigger but I have put different nozzles on it to more easily vary the spray and stream patterns.

I think it would be easy to build one for the boat, just hang the perforated hoses on the tower and or bimini and attach them to a small pump like the one that comes with the stock washdown system (.5 gpm rating I think), use alligator clips to connect the pump to a boat battery and you are in business. Of course you may be able to buy a cheaper system from your local hardware store, I'm not sure, the potential problem I'm thinking of is having to convert it if it is not 12V powered.

 

[Ronnie]

The parts for the new and improved electric water gun are coming together nicely and so far include:
a 4 gpm pump kit, small water resistant amp and two 6.5" speakers, mp3 holder, new battery and a cooler with wheels and handle to carry and transport it all in.
Just need about two hours to assemble it and I'll be all set.

View attachment 3958
View attachment 3959

 

[jcyamaharider]

I just replaced my ballast pump so I have a good start on this. The pump is 5gpm and 12volt so I really just need to make my power and ground cables longer with alligator clips and put a suction hose and a trigger. Does this sound about right @Ronnie ?

@sx210owner (water gun thread I was talking about)

 

[Ronnie]

I just replaced my ballast pump so I have a good start on this. The pump is 5gpm and 12volt so I really just need to make my power and ground cables longer with alligator clips and put a suction hose and a trigger. Does this sound about right @Ronnie)

Not to burst your bubble but my first attempt at this was with a ballast pump the I didn't use much, it was the kind that you actually put in the water from the side of the boat and was about the size of a need football. The bottom line is that it didn't produce a very strong stream of water. I think I got it to shoot maybe 3'.

Using the same equipment but with a 3 gpm wash down pump I got it to shoot 20 or so feet. The 4gpm wash down pump puts out about a 30' stream. I'm sure this only gets better with the 5 through 7.5 gpm pumps I've seen but those pumps are bucks $210 and $400, respectively.

Still it can't hurt to give what you have a try. I test mine with a 5 gallon bucket of water and a jet ski battery in The front or backyard.

I will try and dig up and share my original post and pics on this tonight.

 

[jcyamaharider]

This is a pump that is not submersible it was mounted under the engine hatch.

35 ft of head lift and 50 PSI max

 

[jaybro72]

This is a pump that is not submersible it was mounted under the engine hatch.

35 ft of head lift and 50 PSI max

im ready to see it

 

[jcyamaharider]

Ok @jaybro72 here it is!!! Just a quick piece together of items. I used a 4 ft section of garden hose for the pickup and a 20ft hose for the outlet ( thats all I had laying around) a 5 gallon bucket and the battery to the van.

Results: the graden hose handle leaked bad so I think that might have lessened my
footage but it did spray 25ft!! That 30 dollar
harbor freight pump is awesome!!!

 

[jaybro72]

dang, I like it. hhmmmm.....

 

[Ronnie]

$30, I wish I would have known about that before I started building my latest Frankenstein of a water gun. The battery alone was over $100, I'm now too embarrassed to state or restate what I paid for everything else. Still, thanks for sharing the info. I've got two other water guns that need new pumps. Another change I'm thinking of doing is adding a 5 lb weight to the end of the pick up hose to help keep it in the water.

FYI - I've used them as a hand washing station when fishing, as a bilge pump to empty the water out of a flooded pwc and to wash down/cool down the boat when we are on the water (basically put it on a tube to and drag it around on the water with you when swimming or floating). Good luck with the build. I look forward to seeing the final product.

 

[Ronnie]

Here are a few pics of the current gun parts. I think I have everything I need but time. I'll try and make some of that too, probably not until May though. Also pictured are my first two water guns, one of them is dead, can't remember which. Last is a pic of the ballast pump I tried to use initially.

 

[jaybro72]

Here are a few pics of the current gun parts. I think I have everything I need but time. I'll try and make some of that too, probably not until May though. Also pictured are my first two water guns, one of them is dead, can't remember which. Last is a pic of the ballast pump I tried to use initially.

View attachment 4117
View attachment 4118

do you use that garage door. the top roller is out of the track.

 

[Ronnie]

It just looks out of track, all the rollers look like that, I think its a shield/finger guard. The rollers are a lot smaller and just barely fit in the track.

 

[jcyamaharider]

$30, I wish I would have known about that before I started building my latest Frankenstein of a water gun. The battery alone was over $100, I'm now too embarrassed to state or restate what I paid for everything else. Still, thanks for sharing the info. I've got two other water guns that need new pumps. Another change I'm thinking of doing is adding a 5 lb weight to the end of the pick up hose to help keep it in the water.

FYI - I've used them as a hand washing station when fishing, as a bilge pump to empty the water out of a flooded pwc and to wash down/cool down the boat when we are on the water (basically put it on a tube to and drag it around on the water with you when swimming or floating). Good luck with the build. I look forward to seeing the final product.

@Ronnie there are several things that your system has over the one I just pieced together, I bet your washdown pump has a higher psi with the built in pressure switch and it has run dry capability. Those 2 things this cheap pump doesn't have. I still like your system and is well worth the money and the Cooler is going to be awesome!!

 

[Ronnie]

@Ronnie there are several things that your system has over the one I just pieced together, I bet your washdown pump has a higher psi with the built in pressure switch and it has run dry capability. Those 2 things this cheap pump doesn't have. I still like your system and is well worth the money and the Cooler is going to be awesome!!

Thanks. The psi is listed but I don't pay much attention to it as long as it will shoot a stream of water 24 feet (two big raft lengths) I'm happy. They also have run dry capability which is nice since I can turn on and test the pump without water. By far the biggest problem has been corrosion in the off season. I may try running cooking oil through the gun before I put it away going forward.

As for the cooler, I got it so I could make it a water gun music station combo that I could more easily move around. Where we raft we have to rent the raft about 1/4 mile from the launch point and we have to walk it down to that point. As you can imagine the rest of the crew isn't happy when I'm carrying a water gun instead of helping with the raft. This way I should be able to pull the gun and tunes along with one arm while helping with the raft with the other.

I still like the idea of using he harbor freight ballast pumps in my other guns, its a much cheaper solution and seems to be just as effective.

 

[Ronnie]

I made some time last night to put together all the parts and so far am happy with the results. The stream is strong with a range of about 30 feet. The sound is good, no distortion at full volume (after adjusting the gain accordingly). Overall the install went well. I have a few finishing touches to make (e.g. securing the wiring and cutting holes in the top so that I can close it while the hoses are out).

 

[Ronnie]

It's 100 degrees here in NCal but instead of going boating we are headed to our annual rafting trip down the American river near Sacramento. It will be the first time I take the new water gun to the water so I made a few improvements last night. First I put some clips on the back / wheel side to hold a go pro pole. I also cut a hole in the cover for the input and output hoses to pass through when in use. Lastly I out an old itouch / iPod in a sealed bag for those times no one wants to give up their phone for use as a music source. I was in radio shack last night and found a small arm band am/fm radio that I could plug into the amp in the cooler but stopped short of actually buying it, this time around anyway.

 

[Ronnie]

I just refined the water gun a little more after having used it for the first time last weekend. First I doubled the length of the pick up hose and added a 3 lbs weight to it so that it it easier to keep it submerged and now I can move the pick up line to a neighboring raft and pump the water out of it if needed/wanted. I also cut the coiled output tube down by more than half. Before it could stretch to 24+ feet and took up more room in the cooler when the gun was not in use. Lastly I bought and installed a small am/fm radio for those times that we don't want to listen to recorded music.

Next year I will add addition speakers to the lid along with another amp to power them. I may put a bar through the hinge point to better secure the lid to the cooler. It will never be "the coolest cooler""in reference to the cooler with a blender on it currently being superfunded for development via kickstarter and project to sell for $180 each but it meets my needs and it is, to my knowledge, on of a kind. Incidentally, I'm into this thing for around $400 now (I.e., $150 for the wash down kit, $100 for the battery and another $150 for the amp, speakers and radio). If I make the improvements I described above the total cost will increase another $100 or so to $500.