Unfortunately, I don't have too many photos from 2019's float but this should give idea of the setup. One pump charging the garden hoses through a manifold.
Each year in the small town of Eagle, Idaho we have a water float parade in July. A day when everybody in town gets soaking wet in a town size water fight.
My Neighbor Kevin Keep builds a float each year for Eagle Fun Day. 2019 was the first year we worked on a float for the Eagle Fun day. Built on a 20ft Dump trailer. Rather than water guns we used a gas powered pump that charged several garden hoses. The system had a 300 gal tank but that wasn't enough to get all the way to the end of the parade. Even so we won 2019 year best float and we got a trophy for it. But Kevin had bigger plans. 2020 put a short pause on that however.
When 2021 came around Kevin bought a 40 ft flatbed trailer, 10- 300gal and 1- 400gal tanks (we weren't going to run out of water this year) and plenty of piping. This was going to be the biggest float for the parade. It was also a neat way for Kevin to advertise in company brands.
The work was simple, Kevin and his family & friends worked on the decorations. While my dad and I worked on the plumbing system.
The plumbing system work like this; each tank has a drain valve at the bottom of each tank. We created a drain network with PVC piping connecting all the tanks. Gravity and suction from the pump will drain the water through the system. One opening directs the water to the gas powered pump in the back. The gas powered pump discharges the water into the overhead manifold. To keep a little cheaper to extend across the whole trailer we use black sprinkler hose. Then created connection points for the garden hoses. At the end of the manifold there is a return for any excess water. A valve at the end opened & closed the return, while also acting as a pressure control valve. We also added a pressure gauge to keep watch of the water pressure.
We did still have last years system so, with a few add-ons it was ready for the parade.
For course, for having the biggest and probably most colorful float we won the trophy for 2020. 2019 trophy is also in the photo in the back.
