realize it's a function of tank sizes, but how many days between emptying tanks are realistic / typical for 2 persons when "boondocking" (hookups not available)? or maybe a range?thanks!

The "ultimate" boon docking experience is to stay out in the desert at Quartszite AZ. We did that a couple of years ago and found that with myself and my wife, we could last a week on the grey tank which is 60 gallons. We had bottled water to drink, and took navy type showers. Typically the black tank is not a consideration as the grey tank fills up much more quickly.

37 gal tanks, and DW & I can easily go a week on the black tank (but we're gone during the day.)But daily Navy showers for both of us and doing dishes fills the gray tank (and empties the fresh tank) in 2 days.

its a function of tank sizes, and education. DW & I have gone 15 days several times dry camping on a 80gal fresh, 50gal black, 100 gray. Navy showers, disposable dinnerware, bottled drinking water, extra fresh water. A trick to utilize all your tank capacity is to add another valve adapted to a twist lock to your dump, so you can open all your other dump valves to let the water mix and equilize in all tanks.

It all depends upon the size of your tanks. I have 3 holding tanks (Black, gray, and galley). All 3 of them are 30 gallon. My fresh water tank is 47 gallons. When camping, I dump my Black and Grey tank every 2 days. That translates to 4 to 6 Navy showers, which is just perfect to drain our black tank and use the shower (grey tank) to back flush into the black tank and rinse it out and drain both completely without over spilling my 32 gallon blue tote. This way, I make 1 trip to the dump station every 2 days, the back flushing into the black tank keeps it clean. (There are 2 of us, no kids).Here again, it all depends upon your usage, the number of people, and how thrifty you are with water.Before heading out with your camper, you need to experiment with a driveway camp, if possible, track things like water usage, how much goes in the tanks, and then you'll have the advantage of knowing your camper's limitations when you head out for real. And, you'll learn how to be thrifty with your water usage, get use to Navy showers, and start focusing on keeping mental track of your real usage.

60 gallon fresh, 30 grey, and 25 black lasts us a week if we're careful with water use. That includes daily navy showers for each of us. We do have and use the third valve that SDcampowneroperator mentioned to equalize our waste tanks if needed.

grey and black water tanks | Good Sam Community

mbopp
Explorer
Jul 26, 2016
37 gal tanks, and DW & I can easily go a week on the black tank (but we're gone during the day.)
But daily Navy showers for both of us and doing dishes fills the gray tank (and empties the fresh tank) in 2 days.
larry_cad
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2016
The "ultimate" boon docking experience is to stay out in the desert at Quartszite AZ. We did that a couple of years ago and found that with myself and my wife, we could last a week on the grey tank which is 60 gallons. We had bottled water to drink, and took navy type showers. Typically the black tank is not a consideration as the grey tank fills up much more quickly.

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