Alright, let's talk about putting together a mobile pressure washer setup. I got tired of not having water access everywhere I needed to clean, you know? Dragging hoses across acres just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Getting the Pieces Together

First thing, I needed the washer itself. Didn't go super fancy. Just picked up a pretty standard gas-powered unit. Enough grunt for general jobs, nothing crazy. Then, the water source. I looked around and found a used water tank, maybe 65 gallons? Looked sturdy enough. Big enough to do some decent work but small enough to still fit in my truck bed without taking up all the space.

Next up were the connections. This is where it gets a bit fiddly.

• Tank to Washer: Needed a hose to go from the tank outlet to the pressure washer's water inlet. Found some standard garden hose wasn't quite right for drawing water reliably, so I got a slightly thicker, non-collapsible suction hose. Had to grab a couple of fittings, adapters really, to make the tank valve connect snugly to the hose, and the hose to the washer's filter screen thing. Took a bit of trial and error, a few drips at first. Used some thread seal tape, tightened things up good.
• Pressure Hose & Wand: The washer came with its own pressure hose and wand, so that was straightforward. Just made sure they were connected properly.

Putting It In The Truck

Okay, got the washer and the tank. Now to make it 'mobile'. I slid the tank into the truck bed, right up against the cab. Then placed the pressure washer next to it. Didn't want either of these heavy things sliding around or tipping over. Found some old tie-down points in the bed. Used a couple of heavy-duty ratchet straps, crisscrossed them over the washer and the tank, and cranked them down really tight. Gave them a good shake – felt solid enough.

The First Run

Filled the tank using a garden hose back at the house. Took a while, it's a fair bit of water. Checked the oil and gas in the pressure washer. Pulled the cord... took a few pulls, like they always do. Fired up though!

I let it run for a second, checked the suction hose connection for leaks again. Seemed okay. Grabbed the wand, squeezed the trigger. Water came blasting out! Sprayed down the side of the garage just as a test. Seemed to have good pressure, didn't feel any different than when it's hooked up to the mains water.

Thoughts and Tweaks

It worked. That was the main thing. Now I could drive somewhere, park up, and blast away without needing a tap nearby. Super useful for fences out in the field, cleaning equipment on site, that sort of stuff.

One thing I quickly realized, the standard pressure hose felt a bit short when working around the truck. I ordered a longer one, maybe 50 feet, gave me more freedom to move around whatever I was cleaning without repositioning the truck constantly. Also made sure I had a few different nozzles handy for different jobs.

So yeah, that's pretty much the setup. Tank, washer, good hoses, strapped down tight in the truck bed. Nothing too complicated, but it gets the job done when I need to take the cleaning power on the road. Took an afternoon to really get it all sorted and tested.