Dry camping

Gottasmilealot said:

I do mostly 4 and 5 day weekends at bluegrass festivals, most always without hookups, or sometimes only 20 amp electric. I've found my limitation to almost always be the black water tank. My single battery electric lasts the weekend because lights are used only very briefly at night, and the water pump only occasionally. I use mostly paper plates and refrain from doing dishes inside, which is what I found filled my tank. We carry two solar bags for dish washing. I always run my refrigerator and water heater on propane.  I drink bottled water, but use the tank water for showers and toilet flushing. I carry two gallons of fresh water for making coffee and cooking. Keeping children from wasting water might be challenge if they're new to camping. Winter camping running the furnace blower will really impact your battery life. You'll get a feel for it after you've been out a few times.

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Sounds like a good general guide to use since your plan mirrors mine.  My original battery would run down in a couple of days without use so I know it's not up there in quality.  I now have a battery disconnect which helps a lot.

An interesting thread.  It seems most replies are from authors who camp in sunny areas of the country.  Where I am, the cloud is seen most often.  Which brings me to a question...

What if one wants to dry camp where ever without worrying about if/where the sun is going to shine?

Bob Buchanan made the most sense to me.  We are permanent dry campers.  We love the outdoors, nature, critters (except bugs), the woods, etc.

If a traveler who likes to boondock with similar likes as us, they wouldn't be camping so much in a sunny area.  So solar power may not be a good choice.  Solar would be a laugh where we are parked.  The versatility of a small genny is golden. 
The battery bank would be the first project to take care of.  Alot of info in the forum library that may help.

Water usage is a personal choice.  It takes a while to get accustom to just how long you can stand in the shower without wasting precious water while dry camping.  Kids involved?...a cattle prod may have to included in the TT gear.
It takes practice.  Be very conservative at first.  Adjust your family habits accordingly.  Improve from there. 
TTs don't have 75 or 100 gallon FWTs!  It's a whole different world when truly boondocking, in the true sense of the word.  But depending on the type of boondocking you are looking for, can be much more rewarding.  You just have to prepare for it.

Just sayin'

denmarc said:

Kids involved?...a cattle prod may have to included in the TT gear.

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;D  Another little more acceptable method might be to turn off the hot water heater or secretly open the cross-over valve in the by-pass system.  Nothing like cold water to speed up a shower.

For the shower - we turn on the hot water valve and collect the cold flowing water in a bucket until it starts to get warm then shut it off get in and do our shower. The saved water is then used in the toilet.

A lot of good suggestions been provided - keep them coming. 

I'm a solo camper.  I'm only looking at maybe 2 nights but need to get out of the gate first.  Since I've been a loner so long I am craving interactions with others so dry camping will be limited for the time being.

A lot of good advice on what can be done but a generator will make things a lot more convienent, especially while entertaining kids.

You can figure on about 5 gal of water per person per day.

Tourmaster said:

For the shower - we turn on the hot water valve and collect the cold flowing water in a bucket until it starts to get warm then shut it off get in and do our shower. The saved water is then used in the toilet.

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I was going to post that as an addendum to Bob's post above. We get about a pitcher to get the pipes warmed up, then both shower.

You can figure on about 5 gal of water per person per day.

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That about matches our experiences. Welcome to the forum, Bob.

Someone menioned an ability to save the water that is cold while waiting for warm to appear.  I took an Alfa in trade back in Quartzsite, the PO had designed something with valves in the shower to redirect wterr to tank while waiting. 

We, wife, son & i started dry camping in our 1972 16' Eldorado Mini, motorhone.  1/2 ton chassis and 302 engine.

one engine battery, one house battery.  Small tanks for everything,  No microwave, no TV, 4 cu.ft dometic.  Put on lots of miles and good trips.  As a luxury the wife required occasionali stops at stations so she could plug in her hair curler on occasion.  fun times.
it was possible to get pretty clean with a cloth and 1/2 gal of water in the sink.  Same rules for everyone so I imagine we all had distictive odors.

Battery care was always a problem.  After the Mini, we bought a 22ft TT.  I carried extra batteries in the truck bed hooked up to the truck alternator.  A few years later someone developed a black box which allows you to controls the output amps.  If you're serious about altornator output they can be capable of 200
Edit: Removed excessive white space.

I obviously hit a wrong button above.
I was going to say your main engine alternator can be set up to do a lot of charging for a fair price.  200 amps continuous with the correct regulator is a reasonable goal.

West Marine stores have pretty good hardware to improve on board charging.

Best thing about a small honda is that it does away with the need for an inverter.  Inverters require big batteries and quick ways to charge them after brewing a pot of coffee thru the inverter.

Of course while having all this fun Dry camping, don't get to dissappointed if at first you might once or twice have to go home early to resupply

Keith

This is a very good thread. 

Dry camping, what I do for water heat is just turn on the water heater for about 15 minutes or so.  I need to find the exact right time, so the water in the water heater is the perfect temp for showers.  Like Tom said, rinse off with the cold water.  Soap up, turn on the water and rinse with the warm water from the hot side only. 

Also, regarding small generators.  I have a Honda 650.  It's the model before they made the 1000.  These are great little generators, and quiet.  They sip fuel.  I don't use it for my RV, since there's a built in Onan.  I use the Honda on my sailboat. 

One piece of advise.  If you decide to buy one, don't store it too long before running it.  Take it out, at least once a month and run it for a couple of hours.  These things don't like to sit in storage for very long.  Consider it monthly maintenance. 

There's an easy way to try boondocking - just pull into a full service space but don't connect to the utilities.

Live like you normally do, and see how long your self-containment lasts.  Use water from the fresh water tank. Run your lights on the batteries.  When something runs out, or the waste tank fills up, all you have to do is hook up the hose or electrical cord to make things right.

You'll quickly gain confidence about how long the stuff in your rig will last.  If you want to boondock longer, then start modifying things.  Add a battery or use less lights.  Take shorter showers, use less water washing dishes, etc.

But get an idea how your rig works first.

Lou Schneider said:

There's an easy way to try boondocking - just pull into a full service space but don't connect to the utilities.

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That's a great idea Lou. I know a lot of folks new to RVing and with a new rig - just begin camping in their driveway "with" electric plus they fill their water tank and can test the duration of the black and gray tanks. And generally just see how it goes and how everything works.

I won't mention any names, but the initials of a couple I know that just couldn't wait to get started with their new Bounder began spending the night in it while in their driveway a number of years ago was Tom and Margi.

I have boondocked about half of my winter - and added a Honda EU2000i to my bag of boondocking cost saving tricks. Am now hooked up (and paying additionally for my electric) and have continued essentially boondocking with my electric. For the most part I am using the electric hookup just as I did when boondocking with my Honda. The difference is that I am now forced to use A/C. But still use power strips and breakers to only turn on that portion of my rig and components within that portion that I need at the time. And I read my meter each AM to see how I am doing.