Little boondocking setup help?
I'm looking to get into some boondocking. I'd eventually like to have a solar setup, but starting with a generator and upgraded batteries for now. What is the bare minimum I need? I'm looking at g...
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Lowsuv wrote:
to help conserve juice we use the LED headband lights in the campground , a propane lantern in the colder nights to take the chill off the trailer when turning in and on very rare occasion our mr. buddy propane heater .
you can buy a lot of AA batteries , and propane bottles for the price of a solar panel .
You are right, $400 will buy a lot of batteries and propane. The difference is the level of comfort. The one thing I know is the more comfy honey is, the more often we go.
For 25 years we have roughed it and used many of the tricks you suggest including the jumper cables. Even our first trip boondocking with this trailer we did it. It was stock so no LEDs, generator or solar, we made a grp 27 last 3 days. When it was cold during the day (40*) we wore coats and even hats. When it dipped to the 20s at night we set the stat at it's lowest point just to keep us and the dogs from freezing. The lantern trick worked a lot better in the 13 ft trailer than the 25 ft.
Battery operated LED and florescent lights kept us from tripping over our black dogs but still it was pretty dim. After 3 days we decided to extend the trip and that's when I started using the jumper cables.
We had fun but Honey decided it was time to put the cover on and get going in the spring next year when it warmed up.
The next year we got the generator and LEDs. The generator was better than running the truck but we knew as soon as it shut off the ticker was running on the single Grp 27, so we still conserved.
This last trip with the solar, we camped like pigs. It was a cool and rainy trip so the stat was set on 72 day and night. We didn't turn on a few LEDs just to get around, we lit the trailer from end to end. In fact between the furnace, fans, lights and a small inverter something was always running.
In the end the best part wasn't that I never had to worry about the battery or listen to the generator charge it up every day, it was Honey saying we need to go out every other week. That's worth every penny spent.
