Dry camping

[flygirl]

It's not my first choice but we have several adventures planned this summer dry camping. We have a 238ml. We just bought a new honda generator. Will it power the AC? Water shortage is my main concern. We will be traveling for 3 nights max with two adults and two small kids. Is 30 gals enough? Should we bring some extra 10 gal tanks? I know the gray water will fill up quickly. Can we dump gray water without a dump hookup?

Thanks for the advise!

[Western Traveler]

A lot of needed information before you can get reasonable answers to some of these questions. Size of generator and the air conditioner unit will determine if the gen will handle it.
Where you are camping and if you can take water or hit a dump station along the way. It sounds like you will be in more than one place.

30 gal is a pretty good load of water unless everyone is taking two showers a day with the water running steady. Many folks take a "boat shower" when dry camping (wet down, turn off, soap up then rinse. Can be done with 1 gal. If you look at the shower head there is a slide bar that will turn the water off at the head. We use two shallow plastic tubs for washing dishes. We wipe dishes, soap up in one and hot water rinse in the other. Type of place you are staying will determine if you can discharge gray water. Think of tent campers and how they handle things. Use Biodegradable soap and discharge well back from lakes, rivers and streams. Most highways only allow discharge of clean, clear water. Most "parks" don't allow it but many have wash stations and your waste water will be going to the black water tank as well as your 30 gal gray water tank.
Two of us used less than 20 gal on our last 6 days of dry camping trip.

[bsmith0404]

Use as many paper products, plates, bowls etc. to reduce the amount of water needed for washing dishes. You can shower as described above, or do a GI shower (baby wipes). If you are conservative, 30 gals can last a long time. We've had 50 gals last 2 days, and 6 days. All depends on how you use it. Keep in mind that if you use the toilet instead of the outhouse at the park, the water gets used quickly. Not much is used on each flush, but 4 people flushing several times a day adds up very quickly. When we dry camp, we use the bathroom for storage.

[KanTC]

Flygirl,

Depending on where you dry camp, there may be 'restrictions' on generator use. Some locations limit generators to only certain (specific) times.
For example: only between the hours of 8 a.m. & 8 p.m. -OR- only 1-2 hrs at a time, twice a day (at/between certain hours).
Again, it all depends on the location.

Terri, the Chevy co-pilot

[Bluewater]

Your owners manual will give you all that info and a lot more you need to know.

[Ken / Claudia]

I enjoy dry camping and look foreword to it, thats why I have a RV. You need to learn how to monitor your use of water, propane, electrical.

[jje1960]

We do plenty of the dry each year. Wife and I are comfortable with 60gal on a long weekend. So the answer from my perspective on water is no, the 30gal is going to need a bit of help with spare water. I've posted plenty of times with the generator use, we have 3 aircons in the SRX, all (individually) can run off our Boliy.

[flygirl]

We bought a Honda 2000i today. Don't think it'll run the AC but we won't need it. We are bringing a couple extra jugs of water. This will be a good experience! Looking forward to it!

[sagebel]

You can always dump the dishpan in the toilet to save gray water tank space. We always reserve the black tank for night time use and use the campground facilities during the day. "Back in the day" dumping the dishpan in the bushes was what we did. Now it's a no-no in many places.

Find out what is available where you will be staying and plan from there. We always carry a 5 gallon water tote with a spigot to fill water bottles, etc. It doesn't take up much space and you can refill it at the community water sources.

[randy69]

We dry camp ,boondock in the desert 4 to 5 days at a time. Never drink the water in the tt. just cook,flush & shower. Bring cases of bottle water. Sodas and beer. And in certain places you can drain your gray. With a garden hose in some bushes.

[Criptix]

Honda 2000i won't have enough jam to run the AC as far as I know.

It will power the RV, microwave and charge the batteries for you.

My brother in law upgraded to the 3000i and him and I both plug into it. And I believe he has no problems running his AC with it.

Either way Honda makes a great generator. Super quiet and very portable.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Honda makes a cable that you can parallel 2 generator together to share the load. This is sometimes a nicer option than buying a large, heavy generator.

http://powerequipment.honda.com/gene...lel-capability

[kimrb266]

We've dry camped a few times in our trailer...We have a Honda 2000 and it will run the hair drier and microwave but can't handle the A/C...Maybe if you put 2 together, then maybe it can for a spell.

We are a family of 5 (3 kids) and have never run out of water yet in all the years we've camped (even with smaller tanks). I try and conserve water when I can and use paper plates. We also fill a water container and make a hand washing station outside.

Hope this helps.....Conserve is the word

[mom2budnbug]

Our first adventure was 3 nights of dry camping with 3 of us. We learned by night two that using paper plates, cups, etc. is the smart way to go. I was washing dishes after each meal, which went through water quickly. As mentioned above, we do the two bucket dish washing system too. We did not shower, but did fill the tub once to all do a wash clothe wash down. We use wipes for washing our hands after bathroom use. Also have wipes that are made just for face washing. We bring bottled water for drinking as well as a 5 gallon water jug. The tips on this thread are helpful and will keep you from running out of water before your trip is over. Each trip is a learning experience. Enjoy!

[greengiant]

I agree with the many tips noted. We frequently do 3 nights dry camping with 2 adults and 3 little kids (the kind that are still learning how to quickly wash hands). It takes a few trips to know how much you'll go through, but we have a 35 gallon fresh tank and I typically add 10-15 gal to that on day 3. I would rather make one or two trips to the nearest water spigot so we can use our own bathroom. Grey tank sometimes gets full and I drip it, but I've also been using the outside sink and dish pan more so that gets dumped out in the bushes.

I double my use of the 6 gallon tote I have to also serve as a portable outside sink that the kids can use which incidentally doesn't run the water pump, thus saving battery life. The tote has a spigot on it. Just set it on the tongue of the trailer if it fits (on a piece of scrap wood), or on the picnic table, a milk crate, etc. We just paper some times, but try to use our dishes and are very conservative when washing. Good luck!

[Western Traveler]

Originally Posted by greengiant

we have a 35 gallon fresh tank and I typically add 10-15 gal to that on day 3. I would rather make one or two trips to the nearest water spigot so we can use our own bathroom. Grey tank sometimes gets full and I drip it, but I've also been using the outside sink and dish pan more so that gets dumped out in the bushes.

!

That reminds me, on our last dry camping venture we traveled nearly empty towing through the mountains and the campsite we stayed at had no hose hookup just a spigot to fill containers from a well so consequently no water hose hookup. We poured from our 5 gal water containers into the fill pipe.
Make sure to have a large funnel or something for tank fill if you ever need to fill by hand (if your camper is set up for it) Some models are not!

[Western Traveler]

Oops........

[jje1960]

Originally Posted by Western Traveler

That reminds me, on our last dry camping venture we traveled nearly empty towing through the mountains and the campsite we stayed at had no hose hookup just a spigot to fill containers from a well so consequently no water hose hookup. We poured from our 5 gal water containers into the fill pipe.
Make sure to have a large funnel or something for tank fill if you ever need to fill by hand (if your camper is set up for it) Some models are not!

We use green 6gal water cans purchased at Walmart. They have a filler tube down in the can top, plugs right into the outside water tank fill. Very easy and really nice vs trying to siphon or pour with funnel. Hope this helps.

[greengiant]

Originally Posted by jje1960

We use green 6gal water cans purchased at Walmart. They have a filler tube down in the can top, plugs right into the outside water tank fill. Very easy and really nice vs trying to siphon or pour with funnel. Hope this helps.

My camper buddy has the green can seen in your pic, so I take his and also my blue can (seen in the photo behind your green can) when adding water. The blue one does not pour well into the trailer (but is great as an outdoor handwashing station), and believe it or not it's not easy to find a funnel to fit and turn up at the right angle to pour, so I cut a soda bottle for a funnel and dump the blue jug in. Many of the NY state parks have a couple threaded spigots for filling up the tank on the way in, but sometimes you have to really look for them. Otherwise, there's a product called the 'water bandit'-works well for filling a tank from those unthreaded spring loaded faucets in state parks. If the spigot is spring loaded (not a ball or quarter turn valve), then I take a vise grip and usually you can keep the water running without holding it for 10 minutes by proping the vise grip against the post.