How long can you realistically dry camp?

rvfiddleddd wrote:
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.

With two people in a B you will not need the furnace at night unless the outside temp is below 20-25 degrees. Multiple down quilts will keep you cosy.

A heated mattress pad is great! 120v versions are available at big box stores (They might be on sale, at this time of year), or you can order a 12v one online. Use it to preheat your bed for an hour in the evening when your generator is on, then turn it off. If you get cold in the middle of the night, you can reach over and turn it on. It will not drain your batteries too much.

I have used this method in pipe-freezing temperatures when I was alone -- no other warm body providing heat -- and it was toasty. And I am one of those people who always wants an extra blanket. And I sleep naked :).

pnichols.....well, the plumbing stuff goes right over my head, so I showed this to my husband. The Shurflo pump sounds like a good thing to have. I'll be able to refer back to this thread.....thanks!

profdant139.....lucky for us that neither of us needs to get started in the mornings with a cup of coffee. Now I enjoy a good cup of coffee as much as the next person if I'm having a leisurely breakfast, but we're both 'morning people' and don't need a caffeine fix to get going. So I think we can go a few days without it. :-) Sounds like you've come up with a pretty good system there though. :-)

wcsr07.....sound like you have a huge rig. Soon we plan to upgrade to a 5th Wheel from our TT. Now that we've had the TT, we have a better idea of what to look for, and we've recently gone to several factory tours in northern Indiana. When we get the 5th Wheel, we'll have much larger holding tanks, so it will be easier to dry camp. Thanks!

More little ideas to extend your boondocking capacity: although a percolator makes good coffee, it has to be rinsed out, and the grounds are tough to dispose of (and you don't want to put them in your gray water tank). So we started making "pour-over" coffee, long before it became a fad at Starbuck's. It's just a plastic Mr. Coffee basket with a filter, sitting on top of a thermos. Pour in the hot water from a teakettle.

When it is done, dump the paper filter and the grounds into the trash -- easy cleanup, with no wasted water.

The funniest part of this pour-over thing is that I now make coffee at home this way -- I prefer it to the coffee made by the Mr. Coffee type machines.

You can buy Melitta cone filters and baskets -- they work quite well, I am told. If you are frugal (as we are), you can just use a basket from an old Mr. Coffee machine, since the machines do not last forever. They take the ordinary pleated "cupcake" style flat bottom filters, which are cheaper and easier to find than the Melitta filters. But there are folks who say that the Melitta cones make better coffee than a flat bottom basket. I have never tried the cones, so I don't know.

I can go up to six weeks dry camping with out dumping the black tank. My toy hauler holds 92 gallons of water. Both holding tanks hold 45 gallons. I drain the grey tank as needed..it is just soapy water. I never dump the black tank while boon docking. It is highly illegal!

Wash dishes every 3 days. Use paper plates as much as possible. I use a 2 quart pail when I "shower". I only use 1.5 gallons per shower. Toy hauler has a Onan 4000 generator, however I use a small Honda 1000 for battery charging. I have 2 six volt batteries wired in series. They last 6-7 days before I need to charge.

There is no problem towing with your fresh water tank full as long as your total weight is within what your tow vehicle can tow.

2Gypsies.....somewhere WAY up in the thread I did provide the holding tank capacity. Fresh water=40, Gray water=58 (2 gray water tanks) and black=29. From reading all of the responses, I think we should be fine for 4 days at least, even possibly without conserving all that much.

No worry about neatniks here. :-) And toast in a skillet....works for me! :-)

profdant139 wrote:
Phil, do you have an accumulator for your pump? It seems to cut down on the power use.

Dan, I do not have an accumulator tank.

Just before our drycamping trip to Quartzite this year I installed this pump - it acts kindof like an acumulator tank was present, probably because of it's "by-pass Flow Reaction Technology". :h

When drycamping, it makes our RV water faucets and shower act act just like we were in our home or in the RV on hookups .... an immediate and high pressure full flow stream of water.

I just had to bite the bullet and pay for it with the plastic due to it's cost. I keep the old still operating pump in the RV as a spare, since we have no way (except by crawling underneath) to get water out of our fresh water tank out in the middle of nowhere should the water pump ever fail. Ironically, the old spare water pump was needed as a loaner later during our Quartzite trip because our traveling companions' water pump failed while we were exploring when in AZ away from Quartzite:

http://shurflo.com/rv-products/rv-pumps/rv-fresh-water-pumps/shurflo-4048-high-flow-pumps/153-shurflo-4048-high-flow-pumps

It would be helpful if you would tell us how big your holding tanks are. That determines how long.

If you have a generator that will take care of keeping your batteries up. So it's all about water and holding tanks.

Stovetop perculator coffee pots make the best coffee. For toast we buttered the bread and made it in a frypan. No electric use.

Run the generator as soon as you wake up and while you're dressing and getting breakfast. Then run it again in the evening before generator hours are up. Since you'll be gone all day that should be plenty.

We've gone 2 weeks but our holding tanks are large.

A big thing is dishes. You don't want to do dishes after every meal. Just wipe them off with a used napkin or paper towel. Pots and pans, we re-used after wiping them out. Sometimes we went 3 days without doing dishes. Of course, as full-timers we carried more silverware and dishes. We also used paper plates and paper cups for milk or juice. We reused our coffee cup. You can't be a neatnik while boondocking and it's o.k., you won't die. :)

When we did dishes we used dishpans and the used water went for flushing the toilet.

Showers - not every day and very quick wet down, soap up, and rise with turning the water off inbetween. Supplement with body wipes.

You could bring extra jugs of water for cooking, coffee and drinking.

Washing hands/brushing teeth - don't let the water run.

It was always challenging to see how long we could stay without dumping. Also, we never dumped gray water on the ground. We wouldn't want to park over someone else's waste water either. It's not allowed in most national parks and many other campgrounds. When the tanks were full it was time to leave.

Phil, do you have an accumulator for your pump? It seems to cut down on the power use.

And rvfilddleddd, some folks use either the furnace or a catalytic heater on cold nights. A few others (very few) don't use any heat at night, only when showering -- the furnace makes noise and draws power, and I am leery of catalytic heaters and carbon monoxide, even though I know they are safe with proper ventilation.

So we pile on the blankets and comforters, just like the pioneers did. Many times, we have happily camped in weather down to 9 degrees above zero, with the interior of the RV in the mid-20s. Very hard to get out of bed in the middle of the night, but very nice under the covers.

I never sleep as well at home as I do in the trailer, and the best sleep of all is in very cold weather.