Dry camping

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by Benrubid

Fully understand Festus2, and that makes sense, but I assume that you are not dry camping during 100 degree weather, or how do you stay cool. We try and be out and about most of the day, but I do not think I could deal with that high of heat and not want to run the A/C for a good amount of time

Somehow, the idea of going camping some place primtively beautiful and then shutting oneself in the trailer with the A/C just because it is hot just does not compute.

Sit in the shade with a tall, cold one.
Take a dip in the lake.

People found ways to keep cool in hot weather long before there was air conditioning.

Here's the facts:

#1: Many campgrounds limit generator usage to a few fixed hours a day.
#2: Running a generator during quiet hours in any campground is just plain rude and inconsiderate plus it might well get one evicted.
#3: Dry camping is not for every RV owner. It means finding ways to enjoy one's self comfortably without some of the amenities that shore power provides.

My wife and I dry camp at least 30 days in the summer and many more in the spring and fall. Our generator time is limited to just a few hours in the morning and again in the afternoon so we only rely on it to keep the batteries up plus using the Keurig in the morning and maybe a hair dryer after a shower. If the weather is hot, we've been known to take our lawn chairs and go sit in the lake in the shade.

The last thing I want to do is shut myself up in the trailer when the great outdoors is right there waiting to be enjoyed.

[azlee56]

Here in Arizona it is too hot to camp in the summer without AC, but we do hookups. We mostly camp during the winter months. In September is when the group heads out and we hope to have a generator that we can have the option to cool off the RV a little before we go in for the night. At night I open all the windows, knowing I will wake up to shut them sometime during the night. It will get colder.

I have seen a ice chest cooler that acts like a swamp that I am kind of interested in, but it won't work if a person lives where there is humidity.

[OhhWell]

Originally Posted by mikell

I had a friend that had 40 acres next to state land in Michigan. Went there one weekend and a group had cut the fence and moved on to the back of his property. Called the DNR and they kicked them off but as they left they opened their tanks and drained them. Called the DNR and they were arrested a few miles away and all 3 rigs impounded truck 5th wheel and everything in them. Probably didn't think it was so funny when they paid $15000 to clean up their mess and get their rigs back

Ohh man, that's awsome. I love it when there actually are consequences for poor behaviour like that.

We took an older TT to Alexander springs here in FL once during the summer and had a dog we had to leave in the trailer while using the day area. I felt really bad leaving our generator running all that time especially since I couldn't use the sound baffling I had made due to the heat. I just sent as much sound as I could to the trees, locked it up with a chain and hoped no-one vandalized it.

At night, I would run it from 7 to about 8:30 pm and get the air in the camper as cold as possible then ran little fans from the DC battery power. I would have to get up around 1am or so and open some windows.

The 5 gallon bucket is a great idea to offload some grey water to the surrounding greenery. I really couldn't see many campgrounds giving any grief over that. Pulling your valve and making a nice puddle on the other hand sounds awfull. With a wife and 2 kids, it seems like i am always running the portable dump cart for the grey tank when we don't have sewer.

I bought a 5 gallon cheap plastic gas can that I sanitize and use to bring fresh water to the camper.

[SAABDOCTOR]

mOST GENERATORS SHUT THEMSELVES OFF AUTOMATICLY THEY DO IT AT THE SAME EXACT TIME THEY RUN OUT OF FUEL OR OIL! there i go yelling again sorry must be getting deaf! Auto start and shut down are reserved for the biigger non moble types with the corrisponding automatic transfere switch. my home unit is 21kw 4cyl isuzu runs at 60db. my neibors lawn mower is far louder than that! air cooled engines are inharantly lounder than water cooled. so your camper gen can tick off fellow cmpers if it runs all day long. I personaly can't dry camp too long. i have sever sleep apenia. with out my cpap my ox level goes so low i could have a hart attack in my sleep. so i need shore power i do have a seperate line tied into my 12v battery with a relay. that will get me through the night if we loose power.

[randy69]

Ok I made a statement run gen all morning to midnight. I don't do this all the time. But where we camp out in the middle of the desert. If anybodys around us we all do the samething. But Now in the 100 deg plus heat I brought some clip on misters for the awning. and it's great to sit outside. To get cooled off. It must be 95 in the shade. We ride atvs and dirt bikes. only in the mornings and early evenings. During the day too hot so the boss and the boys are watching movies with there best friend (Mr wilson the dog) And I'm outside with Misters and beer.

[mikell]

To those that don't know a tomato bucket has holes in to make it useless for anything but hauling tomatos. Great for grey water though

[28Bunkhouse]

I have found leaving your generator in your pickup box (bed) reduces noise by redirecting it upward, good for those larger noisey units. Recently we purchased 2, 2100 Power house generators from Costco with a parallel wiring kit to run both for the AC and only 1 for recharging the battery and lighter loads. Will keep everyone informed after our August long weekend.