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!

[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