Dry camping

WE had a 40 gallon tank in our other TT would last 5 days with 2 adults and 2 kids. You need to take a navy shower. Get wet as fast as possible turn water off. Use as little soap as possible, including shampoo, then hose off. Dish washing is the other. Use as many disposable products as possible,, paper plates cups, plastic knives fork etc. If youhave to use something that needs to be washed, same thing, lightly wet, little soap.

If you change your habits you can extend. Also you can carry spare water.

40 gal fresh tank, 35 gal GW and BW each. I also carry three water cooler bottles that total 16 gal I fill at the campground spigot. I dry camp between 5 and 7 days, three times a year and only once or twice had to refill the water bottles. My only limitation is my black tank as the campground I go to allows grey water to be seeped out into the woods with a hose. I did fill my black tank to capacity once while having 6 people camping. Fortunately, the campground has a mobile dump service for a small fee. Since then, the boys, myself and my two sons have taken to the woods for bladder unloadings. Saves a many gallon in the grey tank for the other business.

I had a hair line crack in the strainer that is located between the pump and fresh water tank. It was actually on the back side of the strainer when viewed in place. I did not notice any issues on short trips because I almost never filled the tank and on long trips thought I was just being careless with water use. This spring the crack became worse and the leak became very visible. Water economy has improved with a replacement strainer assembly.
Note the assembly is before the pump, so the usual audible alert for a leak, a pump running back up to pressure, did not happen.

44 gallon fresh tank here, and almost exclusively dry camp. Two of us doing the navy shower routine can make that last 4-5 days. We only use the toilet at night, no dish washing really as we're almost 100% paper or plastic plates, utensils and cups, and bottled water for coffee and drinks. If I really want to know how much water is left in the tank, it can be seen via peeking through the access hole under the rear bed. And if it's low, that's why I carry around a 5 gallon sized one of these:



In reality, my limitation is the 29 gallon grey tank. 8 or 9 showers and it starts to back up the drain.

We have 55 gallons fresh water in our Class C. Can easily go 5 days (the limitation is the gray water). We shower daily - brief navy style. We are very conservative on how much water we use in dish washing having developed a very systematic water conservation approach. I can't wash my voluminous hair in the camper - need to rely on campground showers for that.

Here is one of the handiest things for boondocking I have found, a Reliance Hydroroller has small wheels and a large mouth with a spigot. Holds 8 gallons and rolls easier than you would think, even on gravel or dirt. I have used one for probably ten years in NF and BLM campgrounds. I carry it in the shower when we are in transit. Also, I have a small 12v submersible transfer pump with a short hose attached and a cord long enough to get to my batteries. I snap on the alligator clips and pump water up into my rv tank. Most NF places have spigots for water supply or a hand pump water well. The mouth on the hydroroller is big enough to put under a hand pump and get your water. This works great and you can buy the container at Walmart or Amazon. I got the pump at Amazon.

I think washing dishes uses more water than navy showers. Water is the limiting factor as to how long you can dry camp. I have a 60 gal FW tank which will last two people 7 days with out too much effort. If more people come I will use a 5 gal jug outside to wash pots and pans and silver ware, and use paper plates just like tent camping.

The dishes might have a lot to do with it too. If you do dishes like you would at home, you'll use a lot of water. I take my friends for a girls weekend once a year and the first time we went we ripped through freshwater in the first 24 hours! And that was with only two navy showers, the other two used the CG bathroom. After refilling the tank I saw my helpful friend doing the dishes - running the water like she would at home - yep, that'll do it!

PSW wrote:
Here is a trick I learned when I had a Class B. Don't use a shower head or handheld shower head. Use a kitchen sprayer hose and head which will cost you from ten bucks on up. They put out good pressure and when you finger is off the hold down lever that baby is OFF and you don't drip or waste a drop of water. Also, you will find the pressure seems to be higher than a shower head. Like some one else suggested, fill a gallon jug like a milk carton with water and see how long it takes.

We (two of us) get six good showers, shower daily and our 38 gallon tank plus 6 in the hot water tank lasts 3 days, 4 if we take 8 really quick light showers. We wash our dishes over that time period and NEVER use campground showers or toilets. We very seldom stay where there are hookups. You can wash and rinse your hands well with less than a pint of water easily.

On our previous RV I put a threaded adapter on the kitchen faucet so a garden hose could be attached. Toss the hose out the window attach a garden sprayer and instant outside shower.

dewey02 is correct and I misstated. Sometimes, I have been led to believe, the gallonage of water stated on specs for some rvs includes that six gallons. Only one way to know for sure would be to drain the water tank and refill it gallon by gallon to measure.

The truth is once you get accustomed to boondocking you know intuitively about how much water you have used and your faith in the idiot lights on the panel decreases.

Paul