How long can you realistically dry camp?

Another post because while I was dallying writing my above post, several more of you posted. Thanks SO much! I'd like to answer each one of you individually, but I'm not retired (yet) ;-) and don't have the time right now.

Sorry I didn't give you enough specifics in my original post. I'll remember to do that next time I post a question.

First of all Profdant139.....I also thought it was illegal to dump your dish water, so I was surprised to read that it was okay to do it on an official site. In fact, I think I read it on the link Off Pavement listed above in his post.... www.rv-camping.org If it's still illegal to do it, then we won't be doing it! :-) But it's brilliant (and a couple of others mentioned it too) to use the gray water for flushing!

As a general rule we buy water for drinking when we're traveling. Just safer that way.

Naio...I've never heard of a heating mattress pad. I'll check in to that. We also have sleeping bags that are rated to something like zero. But if we can get buy with running the furnace and turning the thermostat down to like 55 or so, I'd rather do that. We'll have to see how it goes.

We'd prefer to not use the generator much. If we do, then we'd have to be at the campground for a couple of hours for recharging. For us that's a drag because we like to get up and get going. We're both avid photographers and like to get an early start in the morning. And at a place as big as Yellowstone, it would be hard to run back to the CG and do it in the afternoon. It just takes too dang long to get from one place to another in that park.

Ivylog.....thanks for the suggestions specific to Yellowstone. I'll make a note of them. And also thanks for the link. We actually plan to arrive at Fishing Bridge on Thursday, July 9th. I would think if we checked out early on Sunday morning, Sunday would also be a day when many people are leaving and we could likely get a spot at Madison or Norris. Do you think?

bka0721.....sounds like you're pretty experienced. I think we can conserve like crazy....almost make a game of it. The only thing I can't do is go with dirty hair....hat or no hat. Ha! Each person has their limits, I guess. At any rate, thanks for all of the advice.

pnichols....it's interesting and helpful to hear what other people do, so thanks for all of your details. Much appreciated!

The bottom line, like several of you have said, is that nobody can really tell us exactly what to expect. However, all of your suggestions have helped us navigate this issue a little better and given us things to consider. Thanks to all of you for your time and effort to help us!

We can go 5-6 days drycamping, but could probably stretch it a couple more days if we wanted to REALLY conserve.

Here's what we do:

- We use paper plates and paper bowls to reduce dishwashing water use. We keep a big plastic trash bag in a compartment for the used paper goods.

- I use an electric razor, so no washing of a shaver is required. The electric razor can go many days without recharging.

- We use electric toothbrushes, but they can go many days without recharging.

- We brush our teeth out of a paper cup ... we do not run the faucet for teeth brushing.

- We shower with constant ON-OFF switching of the shower head for good fresh water conservation. Sometimes we even take sponge baths, instead, for maximum fresh water conservation.

- The grey tank fills up first ahead of the black water tank, but .... we off-load the grey water tank into the black water tank to extend grey water tank use.

- We carry extra water for drinking and sometimes bring along a couple of 2 1/2 gallon store bought jugs of emergency water. We do not drink out of the freshwater tank, but we do cook out of it, even though the kitchen faucet has a built-in filter between it and the fresh water tank.

- We have two hundred amp hours of battery capacity for the coach (two 100 amp hour AGM dry 12 volt batteries hooked up in parallel). We do not have solar, but we have three ways of charging these batteries when drycamping. We can charge them using a very quiet little tiny 650 watt generator, we can charge them with the main built-in generator (which is pretty quiet, too), and we can charge them with the main engine alternator (which is the quietest but most expensive method). We carry about 25 hours worth of extra fuel along for the little 650 watt generator and run it about 5 hours per charging cycle every 2nd or 3rd day.

- We've had full LED lighting in our RV for years ... probably way before it became popular.

- Our widescreen laptop computer doubles as an appliance for movie and TV viewing, and it operates directly off of 12 volts so we eliminate the wasteful efficiency loss of having to use an inverter.

- Our phones charge directly from 12 volts, so no inverter is required.

- Our special built-in amplifier for long range cellular access in remote areas operates directly from 12 volts, so no inverter is required.

- We use the propane furnace fairly generously to be comfortable as if we were in our home. We set it at 60 degrees during the nights so we don't have to get up and travel in the cold to the bathroom in the middle of the night ... this also means less run-time of it in the mornings to bring the coach area up to temperature on chilly mornings. We block off the poorly insulated cab area of our small motorhome to help minimize the furnace cycles during both chilly nights and chilly days. The propane furnace has several adjustable outlets for maximum circulation efficiency.

- We use the air conditioning (powered by the built-in generator) as required for both warm weather surprises, and for flexibility if we want to intentionally camp in warm areas. We block off some living areas in extreme heat to minimize run-time of the air conditioner and the built-in generator. The air conditioner has several adjustable ducts for maximum circulation efficiency.

- We use a high volume, high efficiency 12 volt fan for cooling comfort in marginally warm weather. This can be used on an 12 volt extension cord to "get out of the coach" so we can sit outside on windless warm days under the awning to enjoy the fresh air and view. This same fan can be used outside at a table to keep the flies away if we want to eat outside on warm days or evenings.

- We did something counter-intuitive with respect to our RV water pump. We replaced it with a high capacity low-pulse-rate RV water pump and feel that this may actually be helping us to use LESS water. With the old pump we kindof tended to "run it more" to get the water out of the faucet or shower head that we thought we needed per turn-on cycle. With this new pump, we seem to be able to just touch the faucet for a split second and the water seems to be immediately "there" and "in full volume". We've made no measurements, but feel that this trick is probably saving on water usage, overall.

- We always travel as much as possible with all tanks full that should be full and with all tanks empty that should be empty, so that we're not taking any chances with not finding filling/emptying facilities when we need it. Our RV has plenty of extra carrying capacity for this.

After spending the money for our RV setup, we feel we should be able to camp in it anywhere anytime as if we were still in back in our home. We camp this way when drycamping as needed (and preferred), often in remote areas while rock hounding.

www.rvtechlibrary.com

this is a GREAT site to read for newbe

Okay....to answer some of your questions. It's just the 2 of us pulling a 30-ft. travel trailer (Everlite by Evergreen). We have 2 6-volt batteries, but no solar. We only have a 40-gallon fresh water tank, 58-gallon gray water (we have 2 gray tanks), and 29-gallon black water. We do have a Honda generator, but off hand I can't remember how powerful it is.

As for pulling with fresh water tanks.....we have been told it's best to not pull with them full, but I think that was just in our particular case because we're close to our limit weight-wise. So for those of you without weight constraints....great! But we only travel with just a few gallons on our tanks. We do have a large blue 5-gallon water jug, so keeping that full as a back-up would make sense.

Off Pavement.....thanks for that fantastic link to the dry camping info. Overall, that's just a wonderful site to bookmark for future reference.

We can go without a shower every day, and I can wash my (thick) hair in the sink. We don't usually use paper plates/cups/utensils when we camp, but we could break that rule while dry camping so we wouldn't have to wash many dishes. And I also read that it's legal to 'disperse' your dish water on the ground rather than draining it down your pipes. That would help a lot.

We have LED lights in our RV, and we always have plenty of flashlights. I wonder about the LP and furnace if it gets really cold. Would we be able to run it all night without running everything down? We'll be in Yellowstone NP, and last time we were there it snowed in August and our pipes froze. We wouldn't use the furnace during the day....only at night, and we could turn the thermostat way down and put on an extra blanket.

The reason I'm asking all of these questions is we're considering whether to risk it and try to camp in one of the campgrounds in Yellowstone that work on a first-come, first-served basis. We currently have reservations at Fishing Bridge, but it's so expensive, and we're virtually never at the campground when we're at the park, so I'm thinking about exploring other options. Plus, during our 3-month travels this summer, we're likely going to have opportunities to camp in forest service campgrounds, etc.

We have the Senior Golden Age Pass that gets us in to campgrounds for 1/2 price (or free.....not sure). That's such a bargain! So we'd like to utilize the campgrounds that will allow us to utilize that card. Fishing Bridge is operated privately and does not honor the discount.

Didn't know there was a tote you could get for gray water.....will have to check it out.

Thanks again for all of your feedback!

More tips:

Showers are often available at boat ramps, health clubs, marinas, and, as mentioned above, some non-hookup campgrounds.

Drinking water in jugs, or (cheaper) from bring-your-own-jug machines is at most grocery stores.

I carry separate jugs (marked on the lid) for campground, creek, or city water from sources I am unsure of. I use this for cooking or washing (not my face, and not eating dishes). Anything that will be thoroughly heated and/or away from my mouth. Many people do this with their fresh water tank -- they drink bottled water instead.

One more thought on extending your boondocking capacity -- if gray water is the limiting factor (as it is for us), you can dump some gray water into a bucket and then dump it into the toilet. Our black water tank, at 25 gallons, is way bigger than we really need.

(And please don't get us all started on dumping gray water on the ground -- it is illegal in most places, and that settles it for me, personally. The law is the law. I know that other reasonable people may not agree, but we have hashed this out many times. Everyone has to live within his or her own sense of right and wrong.)

Five guys at deer camp, 7 - 10 days.

Just DW and I, maybe 3 days. Throw in the grand baby, keep the engine running, you're getting low on water.

I drink about 1/3 gallon of water per day.

My freezer keeps food frozen for 3-4 nights without power, and cold for a few more nights after that.

Eggs will keep for weeks or months without refrigeration, if they are uncooked. Hard boiled eggs will make you very sick if they sit out overnight.

I use only battery-powered light when dry camping, and only turn it on for a minute to see something. I cook with propane.

I don't run the heater. If it's cold out, I use extra blankets and a heated mattress pad in bed, and two layers of long underwear plus a heating pad when out of bed.

I wash my face with a wet 1/2 paper towel, and other key areas with baby wipes.
In cool weather, I am ok with 3-4 days between showers. In hot weather, I swim!

Doing this, I can last a long time.

You have clearly gotten a bunch of answers, but the truth is that how long you can stay depends entirely on you and your rig. It is possible to drink, cook, do basic hygiene on stuff and yourselves on perhaps 2-3 gallons of water a day, less in a real pinch. At the other end, the designers of home water/septic systems calculate 100 gallons per day per bedroom. Water and waste water will be your limiting factors. You can do the math, the only question is how carefully you want to work the limits.

7 Days