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Looking at solving the water supply issue on remote road trips for dogs
The chill of the early morning was evident as I broke open the door of my pickup truck and the warm shelter inside was sucked out like a vacuum. The gas station was quiet, now past the usual early morning bustle of truck drivers. Gas was not on my agenda, but rather an ample water supply for the day ahead.
This rather ritualistic stop at the same gas station every week or so began to make me really question how I had been using resources and, once again, send me down the path of the convenience of water in traveling. A three-hour drive north would take us to our favorite hunting haunts but it would also take us off-grid. As in no water, electricity, or gas station coffee. The waste associated with purchasing plastic gallon jugs of water — often forgetting to refill them — and their inevitable fate of being crushed beyond use in this road trip lifestyle made it evident that I needed a more responsible solution.
My first choice was the old gas can style water jug. Purchased on Amazon for a fractional cost, the reviews assured me that not only did it work well but it would not leach chemicals into the water supply for myself and my dog. The first time I used it I was excited to turn the faucet on it and refill my dog’s bowl and our water bottles for the long hike into the timber. A slow leak on the cap made me start to fuss with it and, eventually, I learned to keep it upright when not filling up. Gravity was my friend for a while.
Then, one long and quiet moment in time, as winded through logging roads and eventually arrived at my unsuspecting cover, I discovered a disaster. In the course of my long drive, the canister had broken free from its bungee cord shelter and slowly leaked its way to empty over the course of my drive. The dog saw my sense of defeat as he looked out of his kennel wondering what this all meant. His eye contact spoke of the telepathic message he had been trying to send me the whole drive: “Hey, you should probably fix this buddy.”
After that, I had had enough and began searching for other options to fix this issue. My search brought me from elaborate cooler-to-water-jug conversion and even makeshift PVC pipe contraptions with plenty of YouTube videos on how to build one. I wanted something simple, reliable, and that would endure the chaos of the back of a hunting truck.
Low and behold, Dakota 283 had already been designing and producing a product that fit (and exceeded) what my lifestyle demanded. Soon after, a Dash Water System became a regular staple in the packing of my truck. The solution was right in line with the problem I was trying to solve and, unlike my Amazon solution, it has not leaked and has held up to the abuse I have inflicted on it. It has launched down inclines when opening the tailgate on slopes and has become a volleyball in the bed when traversing unusually bumpy roads. All while keeping our sacred water supply safe from the disaster I suffered the season before.
Like many, I do not want to have to worry about simple stuff like leaking water on the road. I want to go through my pack up routine and know I can rely on the storage I use for the tailgate lifestyle that I have come to know. With limited time and opportunities, these simple improvements can mean a lot for one’s sanity and in one’s safety on the road. With options of 3.5 gallons or 5 gallons, the Dakota watering systems provide quantities for hunting dogs even in hot climates. My older 7 gallon Amazon contraption was almost unmanageable at its size and the 5 gallons proved to be the perfect sweet spot of carrying capacity. Add in the handle and even an easy way to strap it to the side of the truck and my life just got a whole lot easier. If you’re like me, I don’t want to have to worry about something as basic as a reliable water supply, so I’m glad the engineers at Dakota 283 did the work to take that burden off of me so that I can just get out and hunt.