water tank question

We are three. When we had a TT with a 30 gallon tank I would often have to refill it with an extra container I carry just for that purpose. The current TT has a 40 Gal tank and I never have to top it off.

doughere wrote:

Your black and gray are fine. Your fresh is probably gonna be dicy. Sometimes you can get a long enough hose to reach a common fresh water tap; sometimes borrowing and sharing hoses amongst other campers. There are some fresh water bladders you can mount on roof to transport water. You can get and fill a 50 gallon tank which can be pumped into your fresh water tank (you can do it with lots of 5 gal cans).

Here's what I did for campgrounds where the common faucet is too far away to run a hose to it.

I purchased a 25 gal plastic water tank, rated for potable water. That was the biggest I could find that would fit under the pickup's tonneau cover. I placed it crosswise in the bed, just behind the cab, so I don't have to move it to get to anything else. When I need to refill the fresh water tank, I drive to the faucet and use a hose to fill the tank thru its large top opening.

I built a transfer pump system by taking an RV water pump and some fittings, so that both the inlet and outlet are standard hose thread. I made an electrical cord (complete with a switch and fuse) about 15' long, long enough to reach the trailer socket on the rear bumper. I wire the cord to the +12V trailer battery charging line, and the other conductor to ground.

When I get back to the campsite, I hook hoses to the pump, plug the pump into the power jack, and turn it on. It takes about 10 minutes to pump the 25 gallons into the fresh water tank.

Your trailer is obviously designed to be used mostly in campgrounds and RV parks that have pressure water hook ups. That gives you an almost endless supply of fresh water so large waste tanks are a big benefit. That being said it doesn't mean you CAN'T use it for dry camping but you will have MUCH more limited water use available. 50 gallons should last two people for at least a week including washing dishes and daily showers but....you have to know HOW to take an RV shower and HOW to wash dishes the RV way.

Red-Rover wrote:
I have never figured out why they make black water tanks so large. A five gallon pail would last me for a month.

The biggest reason is to ensure a good cleaning of solids from the tank when dumping. A five gallon pail would be mostly solids. If there's no water to flush them out then you'll have five solid gallons of crap.

I would guess 5-7 gallons of fresh water each day per person. Add an additional 5 gallons per day for dishes.
You can reduce some by using paper plates and throw away forks, spoons and knives.

DW and I can easily go a week with 80 gal fresh water doing dishes after each meal and showers every night. Dishes are done with minimum of fresh water, showers are pretty short (not quite submarine). I would make a BIG GUESS that 4 to 5 gal per person per day is a good (not being real careful of usage) estimate.

the bear II and darsben list really good water conservation ideas, using their methods I suspect you can get by with 1 to 2 gal per person per day.

Your black and gray are fine. Your fresh is probably gonna be dicy. Sometimes you can get a long enough hose to reach a common fresh water tap; sometimes borrowing and sharing hoses amongst other campers. There are some fresh water bladders you can mount on roof to transport water. You can get and fill a 50 gallon tank which can be pumped into your fresh water tank (you can do it with lots of 5 gal cans).

As enblethen said above, they seem to expect you to have fresh water, but no sewer; this is a pretty common setup at state/federal/county parks.

Your question was about water, but you did not mention battery capacity (so I'm assuming you are looking for sites with power). The vast majority of parks that have power have water at each site, those that don't usually have a lot of spigots around that you can "steal" from.

Regards,
Doug

For the wife and I we found that 40 gallons of fresh water lasted us three days with "normal" length daily showers and twice a day dish washing.
As others have stated, highly variable and dependent on personal habits.
I have never figured out why they make black water tanks so large. A five gallon pail would last me for a month.

the bear II wrote:
We instruct our friends and family on how to conserve water if they travel with us and we are staying in sites with no water hook ups.
1. Use the campground restrooms if possible
2. Don't leave any faucet or shower running. Only turn it on when you need water.
3. For the shower, turn the water on get wet, turn the water off and soap up, turn the water on to rinse off.
4. Use paper plates and plastic utensils so you don't have to wash.
5. Wash dishes using a dish pan for soapy water and a second for rinse water (or the two halves of the sink).
6. Some folks use the rule for the toilet "If it's yellow let it mellow, If it's brown flush it down" We don't but we do conserve water when flushing.

The goal is to use a little of water as possible.

In a site with full hookups they can use water like they do at home.

When there is a sewer connection and water hookup.... Leave the grey tank valve open and keep the black tank valve closed until it needs to be dumped.

5A. Use the dish water to flush the toilet

We instruct our friends and family on how to conserve water if they travel with us and we are staying in sites with no water hook ups.
1. Use the campground restrooms if possible
2. Don't leave any faucet or shower running. Only turn it on when you need water.
3. For the shower, turn the water on get wet, turn the water off and soap up, turn the water on to rinse off.
4. Use paper plates and plastic utensils so you don't have to wash.
5. Wash dishes using a dish pan for soapy water and a second for rinse water (or the two halves of the sink).
6. Some folks use the rule for the toilet "If it's yellow let it mellow, If it's brown flush it down" We don't but we do conserve water when flushing.

The goal is to use a little of water as possible.

In a site with full hookups they can use water like they do at home.

When there is a sewer connection and water hookup.... Leave the grey tank valve open and keep the black tank valve closed until it needs to be dumped.

what do you really need for 3 days with 6 persons?

Depends on the 6 people. If any of them ever carried a full water container any distance, to re-fill what they used, your water will go a long way.