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Old 06-15-2020, 09:49 AM   #41
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Originally Posted by NavyLCDR View Post
But, I do think 1 20lb propane tank every couple of days is a bit of an extreme estimation, even if using only the RV's furnace.
Depends on the furnace use. Some people try to keep the temp up at night rather than just using an opened up sleeping bag on top the covers. Of course it also makes a difference on how cold it is. If temp drops below freezing the propane can go fast.
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Old 06-15-2020, 06:32 PM   #42
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We have managed up to 10 days on water -short shower every other day. We have 45 gallons. We have solar and while we don’t run AC have not had electricity problems.
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Old 06-15-2020, 07:30 PM   #43
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Bladders

"There are a number of threads on the Forum about the collapsible bladders carried in the truck bed hooked up with a simple 12V pump"

I do have a collapsible bladder, so I appreciate your input. Also, my wife would love to have me in the bed of the pickup as she tows our rig down the road. However, I'm a little nervous about the 12 volt set up. Please expand on that. 🤔
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Old 06-15-2020, 07:40 PM   #44
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The trailer has 600 watts of flexible solar fastened to roof with eternabond. A 40 amp Morningstar prostar controller with two large agm batteries. I recently switch to two BattleBorn Batteries so hopefully will be even better.
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Old 06-15-2020, 07:47 PM   #45
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Add a dishwasher

Get a countertop dishwasher if dry camping will be a regular activity. It washes a load of dishes in 3 gallons of water. Scrape the dishes into the trash like you normally would and into the dishwasher they go. I can fit all day dishes for 2 people into a load.
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Old 06-15-2020, 08:24 PM   #46
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I have 36 gal fresh. 30 gallon black and 2x 30 grey. Similar usage. Have generator and 400w solar. Pair of us. We get 8 days on the black, can get beyond that on grey with bird baths and paper usage. Water is our issue. 5-6 days on onboard. We carry 4x 6gallong plastic jerrycan type jugs and if we’re within range of water we fill up. Our solar just minimizes your use of fuel. I can run everything except AC on batteries and could do that for maybe an hour. If I need AC I run generator and if get a couple of cloudy days and the solar hasn’t caught up.
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Old 06-15-2020, 09:45 PM   #47
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Looking for some experienced advice, and I'm pretty sure this is where to get it. Here's the scenario: there are 2 of us- my wife and myself- we have 43 gal. of fresh water, 76 gal. grey water capacity, and 38 gal. black water holding tanks. We can take GI showers every 2-3 days, we have 2 gennies for power when needed, plenty of gas for them, we don't watch much TV, maybe a movie once in a while, but we do have satellite. Don't use the micro, and do most of our cooking outdoors on camp stoves or BBQs. Fridge can run on propane; same with water heater. 2 20 gal. propane tanks. I don't think we want to stay out much more than a week. By then it will be laundry time, re-stock, etc. We won't go anywhere where the weather is extreme- hot or cold. But we've been through many storms and inclement weather, and that's not a concern. I think I have all the tools I will need; my toolbox is pretty full. Compressor, hoses, full set of tools. Tire repair stuff. I can't think of much more at the moment. Soooooo.....what do you guys think? Are we good for a week? We've camped all our lives, but never boondocked with a fiver. Thanks for any replies!
A week ?

Hell yes.........you're good for a month or more.

Use your water for ONLY drinking.

You can flush with ditch water......creek, lake, etc.

Shower with awning runoff, when it rains.

If you restrict to the Ozarks, even longer is OK.
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Old 06-16-2020, 12:27 AM   #48
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I think your well prepared

About the only thing I would recommend is having a spare water pump.

Have fun.
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Old 06-16-2020, 12:31 AM   #49
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My trailer has 48 gal fresh, 30 black and 30 gray water.
Two 6V batteries, two 30 lb propane.
My wife and I went to a COA camp when we first got it to find out how long we could last with existing supplies. The weather was mild, so no heat or A/C needed. Quick showers as needed, usually every 2 days.
10 days later we hooked up to the water for a long hot shower, satisfied we could go at least 10 days.
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Old 06-16-2020, 11:36 AM   #50
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Probably not enough water for more than 3-4 days. The rest of it should be ok
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Old 06-17-2020, 08:08 AM   #51
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For topping-off our 60-gal fresh water tank, we use a 30-gal AquaTank II bladder connected to a cobbled-together pump set up.

The pump is a duplicate of the one used in our TT (never hurts to have a spare) and is powered by a connection to the truck. We used an SAE connector to allow various ways to power the pump. One cable is SAE -> cigarette lighter plug and one is SAE -> tow connector plug.



The last time we used it, we emptied the bladder into the tank in about 10-12 min.

With this FW setup and our (newly acquired) macerator pump and tote tank, we are ready for the predominantly dry camping found at our New England SPs.
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Old 06-17-2020, 09:08 AM   #52
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When washing dishes, we use dish pans that sit in the sink. We start with minimal hot water with dish soap as the washing pan. Washed dishes are placed in a dry pan. (They're not there long.) When finished washing, we rinse the soapy dishes with running water over the dry pan, collecting the rinse water. We sometimes save the rinse water on the counter to use as the wash bucket in the next dishwashing session, adding very hot water and soap.

The wash and rinse water goes down the toilet into the black tank. If you choose, you can store it in a bucket by the toilet and use it for flushing, or add some before using the toilet to make flushing easier. Using it for flushing requires a cut-off valve on the toilet supply line so you can use the pedal to open the flush valve without using fresh water.

New Mini-Lites (and other models?) come with a ShowerMiser from AquaView. A diverter valve routes water back to the fresh tank while running water to get it hot. A thermo-sensitive plastic button or tube turns white to indicate when it's hot. You then turn the valve to direct flow through the faucet or shower head for normal use. That preserves both fresh water (if using the fresh tank as a source) and grey tank space. We find it useful even when hooked up to a water supply because it preserves grey tank space. (Florida state parks typically have electricity and water but no sewer connections.)

The ShowerMiser and a corresponding SinkMiser (for kitchen and/or bathroom) are available as aftermarket items. I added one in our kitchen. It wasn't very difficult because the kitchen plumbing is relatively exposed. Routing the diversion line back to the fresh tank overflow line was a challenge but I was successful. Some people have added them in their shower. I wouldn't try that in our trailer due to lack of access but it came as a standard item there so that's a moot point.
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Old 06-20-2020, 09:56 AM   #53
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Thanks again everybody. And thank you Major Oz. Looks like we might be neighbors.
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Old 06-23-2020, 11:33 AM   #54
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Looking for some experienced advice, and I'm pretty sure this is where to get it. Here's the scenario: there are 2 of us- my wife and myself- we have 43 gal. of fresh water, 76 gal. grey water capacity, and 38 gal. black water holding tanks. We can take GI showers every 2-3 days, we have 2 gennies for power when needed, plenty of gas for them, we don't watch much TV, maybe a movie once in a while, but we do have satellite. Don't use the micro, and do most of our cooking outdoors on camp stoves or BBQs. Fridge can run on propane; same with water heater. 2 20 gal. propane tanks. I don't think we want to stay out much more than a week. By then it will be laundry time, re-stock, etc. We won't go anywhere where the weather is extreme- hot or cold. But we've been through many storms and inclement weather, and that's not a concern. I think I have all the tools I will need; my toolbox is pretty full. Compressor, hoses, full set of tools. Tire repair stuff. I can't think of much more at the moment. Soooooo.....what do you guys think? Are we good for a week? We've camped all our lives, but never boondocked with a fiver. Thanks for any replies!
You’ll be just fine IMO. Grey tanks always fill up quickest for us, but we’ve done several 3 day trips where we didn’t fill the black tank enough to get to the recommended 2/3 tank to empty. Family of 6 (4 small kids). If you do navy showers and watch your gray tank I think you’ll do great! Maybe look into one of the totes you can dump into if you get in a jam, but I’d bet you’ll be fine without.
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Old 07-13-2020, 05:57 PM   #55
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Yup. It's all about fresh water. Best we've done is two weeks. That's starting with a full 38 gallons in the RV, 46 gallons in an RV type tank in the truck, and up to seven seven gallon blue jugs in the truck. We use all of the water saving tips mentioned and are in need of showers when we get to some place with water to refill after two weeks. Black tank has never filled. Galley tank can fill easily but we put dirtier dish water into the galley tank, and dish rinse water goes into the toilet with the excess dumped outside (that's most of it).

More often than not we can snag some fresh water every five days or so when out in the truck for daily excursions. The blue seven gallon jugs are our last resort (not as easy to use).

So, we use about 140 gallons in two weeks when we don't have access to water and up around 200 gallons if we do.

Just two seniors glamping.
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Old 07-14-2020, 10:19 AM   #56
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Miserly water use

Lots of useful ideas posted. Did anyone mention paper plates? We wash dishes using a plastic bowl in the sink. Can pretty much do all the dishes for two people with a gallon of water.

We have an outdoor shower hose. Bathing suit showers at the beach were standard growing up on the coast. The pecking order is I shower outside or at a bathhouse DW gets the real shower.

I carry a 12v macerator pump and tote. Also have a drill driven water pump. Looking to add a freshwater bladder as the plastic collapsible water jugs I have are awkward to empty and transfer. We use the 2 1/2 gallon drinking water jugs you buy at the grocery for our drinking and cooking water. Not fond of tank water.

One thing to keep in mind is a lot of those crystal clear cold streams have giardia and cryptosporidium contamination carried by wildlife. I didn’t realize the problem was as bad as it is until a California Park ranger explained how much trouble they have with it in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Even Swimming or bathing in it can make you sick if you accidentally swallow some. You can treat it if you are thinking you want to use it as a fresh water source but treating requires both chemicals and filtration.
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Old 07-14-2020, 10:50 AM   #57
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I caught ‘Beaver fever” (Giardiasis)from water in a campground. It was from a stream they said was pure. I just used the water to brush my teeth with it. I lost 20 pounds in 12 days. Not fun when your whole body shakes inside and out.
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Old 07-14-2020, 06:26 PM   #58
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... One thing to keep in mind is a lot of those crystal clear cold streams have giardia and cryptosporidium contamination carried by wildlife. ... You can treat it if you are thinking you want to use it as a fresh water source but treating requires both chemicals and filtration.
Not that I plan to but what kind of filtration system would be useful for filling the fresh tank on a trailer? (I am familiar with personal-sized filters used for backpacking.)
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Old 07-18-2020, 01:21 PM   #59
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Filter

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Not that I plan to but what kind of filtration system would be useful for filling the fresh tank on a trailer? (I am familiar with personal-sized filters used for backpacking.)
You need a filter that is One micron or smaller. REverse Osmosis works but Problem with RO filters is you need more pressure than an rv water pump Can deliver and they don’t produce large amounts of water. You can gravity filter at 1 micron Which is also real slow, also UV works but I don’t know if there is a 12v solution. Filtering plus treatment are recommended.

Kinda hard to boil 50 gallons of water at a time. Wish I had a good solution but hauling water is cheap.
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Old 07-18-2020, 01:35 PM   #60
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Not that I plan to but what kind of filtration system would be useful for filling the fresh tank on a trailer? (I am familiar with personal-sized filters used for backpacking.)
Most people I know just use the Camco filter:


Most trailers have a built in filter, Forest River is usually a KW1 cartridge. I replaced the KW1 filter housing with the standard 10" household whole house filter housing so I can run a wider range of cartridges (and cheaper too). Most of the whole house filter cartridges are 5 micron rated as are most KW1 filter cartridges.

I've never had any issues just filling the tank through the Camco filter and replacing the "whole house" filter once a year. Wife and I both drink the water from tank/tap.
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