Company Updates
September 15, 2023
What do you recommend for rural departments with limited budgets?
For rural departments that have limited budgets, but still want to be quick attack ready, should review our UTV and ATV skids we offer.
Published on:
October 19, 2026
Every Tsunami truck skid, the Tsunami Pro™ (150–400 gallons) and the Tsunami Performance™ (150–300 gallons), needs a 6'6" short bed or a full 8-foot long bed, and a 3/4-ton or larger pickup. We build in a 20% payload safety margin, and no half-ton clears it with a crew aboard. With a two-person crew: 150–250 gallons fits any 3/4-ton; a 300-gallon Performance fits an F-250 or Ram 2500, while a 300-gallon Pro steps up to a 1-ton; and 350–400 gallon Pro builds belong on a 1-ton dually. Driving a half-ton? The QTAC 85HP and 125HP are sized for it.
Most people planning a Tsunami skid start with the tank size: how many gallons they need for the ground they cover. That's the right first question. But the truck it rides on decides just as much, and it's the part that gets skipped. Get the tank right and the truck wrong, and you end up with a skid that doesn't fit the bed, or a payload number with no room left for the crew.
How we rate fit: a truck counts as a fit only if at least 20% of its payload is left after the skid, crew and gear. Anything closer is flagged to step up a class. Each truck shows the highest published payload for its best-equipped configuration; yours is likely lower, which is why the margin matters. Check the Tire and Loading Information sticker on your door jamb before loading, and remember it has to cover the skid, water, hose, tools, fuel, crew and any other gear already on the truck.
Both come in short- and long-bed versions on QTAC's welded PolyTough™ tanks. The Tsunami Pro™ is the high-pressure line: four WATERAX pump choices up to 440 PSI, tanks from 150 to 400 gallons, and a bridge- or top-mount reel. The Tsunami Performance™ is the value build: a WATERAX Versax 6 or electric-start Versax 9 (120–150 PSI, 105 GPM), lightweight composite plumbing, a Hannay manual reel standard, and tanks from 150 to 300 gallons.
For truck fit, the gap between them is smaller than you'd think. Water weighs 8.34 lbs a gallon, so tank size drives weight far more than model. A Performance runs about 120–340 lbs lighter dry than a Pro with the same tank. At 300 gallons, that's enough to keep a Performance on a 3/4-ton where a Pro needs a 1-ton.
Weight is what stops most builds. Every truck has two ratings that get mixed up. GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) is the most the fully loaded truck may weigh: truck, fuel, passengers, cargo, everything. Payload is what's left for you to add: GVWR minus that truck's curb weight.
GVWR is often identical across trims of the same cab and bed. Curb weight isn't. A loaded crew cab with 4x4, a diesel and options can weigh hundreds to over a thousand pounds more than a bare regular cab 4x2, and that comes straight out of payload. Quote GVWR instead of payload and a heavily optioned truck looks like it can carry far more than it can.
That's why every number in this guide is payload, and why we hold back a 20% margin on top of it. Published payloads are best-case, and real trucks carry more than you plan for. If a build lands within 20% of a truck's payload, step up to the next class.
Remember: payload has to cover everything extra on the truck at once: the skid, water, hose, tools, foam, fuel, crew, any aftermarket gear (toolbox, winch, bumper) and trailer tongue weight if you're towing. An overloaded truck brakes and handles differently, wears tires and suspension faster, and can put you outside your insurance and legal weight limits.
Both lines come in two footprints. A short bed build (150–250 gallons, Pro or Performance) needs a genuine 6'6" (78") bed. A long bed build (Pro 200–400 gallons, Performance 250–300 gallons) needs a full 8-foot (96") bed; the 350- and 400-gallon Pro builds are long bed only. Every long-bed Tsunami Pro shares the same 94" × 47-5/8" footprint (only the height changes), which fits inside a genuine 8-foot pickup bed with room to spare. No chassis-cab truck needed.
We don't recommend it. Start with the bed: the Ram 1500 tops out at 6'4", short of the 6'6" minimum, and several other half-ton cab styles come up short too. Then there's payload. A well-equipped F-150 tops out around 2,440 lbs. The lightest Tsunami (a 150-gallon Performance) weighs about 1,570 lbs wet, and with a two-person crew aboard that's nearly 2,000 lbs, more than 80% of the F-150's best-case payload. It's under the number on paper, but there's no room for error, and real-world half-tons rarely hit their best-case figure.
If you drive a half-ton, the QTAC 85HP and 125HP are built for it. If you need Tsunami capacity, plan on a 3/4-ton or bigger.
3/4-ton and 1-ton pickups (Ford Super Duty, Ram 2500/3500, Silverado and Sierra 2500HD/3500HD) offer an 8-foot bed with a real crew cab, and the payload to carry a Tsunami with margin left over. With a two-person crew aboard and our 20% margin:
Toyota doesn't build a 3/4-ton, so the choice comes down to Ford, Ram and Chevrolet/GMC.
The wet weight listed for each Tsunami build is the skid alone: full tank, pump and reel, nothing else. Extra hose, tools, foam, fuel and the crew all come out of the payload that's left. Diesel and 4x4 both cost payload compared with gas and 2WD on the same truck. The crew and gear slider in the fit check accounts for this.
A 3/4-ton or larger. Short-bed builds need a genuine 6'6" bed and long-bed builds a full 8-foot bed. With a two-person crew and a 20% safety margin, 150–250 gallons fits any 3/4-ton, a 300-gallon Pro needs a 1-ton, and 350–400 gallon Pro builds belong on a 1-ton dually.
We don't recommend it. Even the lightest Tsunami, with a crew aboard, uses more than 80% of a well-equipped half-ton's payload, which leaves no margin for error. For half-tons, look at the QTAC 85HP or 125HP.
Wet weight (full tank, pump and reel) runs from about 1,570 lbs for a 150-gallon Tsunami Performance to about 2,965 lbs for a 300-gallon Performance, and from about 1,750 lbs to 4,135 lbs across the Tsunami Pro line. The fit check above gives the exact number for your build.
The Pro offers four WATERAX pumps up to 440 PSI and tanks from 150 to 400 gallons. The Performance is the value build, with a Versax 6 or Versax 9 pump (120–150 PSI), composite plumbing and tanks from 150 to 300 gallons. It runs about 120–340 lbs lighter dry than a Pro with the same tank.
GVWR is the most the loaded truck may weigh, and it's often the same across trims. Payload is what you can add to that truck's curb weight, and it drops with every option, engine upgrade and 4x4 or diesel. Always work from the payload on your door-jamb sticker.
