Dry camping with a trailer

since the Calif. State Parks' campground system has only a handful of campsites with electric/water, we are experienced dry campers.

for us, we have two 12v deep cycle batteries, a Honda 2000w inverter generator, a 6 gallon fresh water carrier, a 15 gallon Blue Boy tote tank for gray water and a 400w inverter for tv/dvd/charging devices.

went with the two 12v batteries over two 6v golf cart batteries for a number of reasons. cheaper, shorter for clearance and if one goes bad, we can still use the other one. the 6v are more expensive, taller so it interfers with electric tongue jack and if one goes bad, you have no battery power.

if you use the furnace, a single battery may only last one night.
if you don't use the furnace, you could go 3-4 days on one battery.
but you may run out of fresh water first or the gray tank will be full, before your battery is dead.
most newbies to dry camping, don't factor in the fresh/gray water issues. black tank isn't an issue as it would take us 2 straight weeks to even come close to filling the black tank.

water and power conservation is a must. things like Navy showers and turning off lights are just a few of them.

we prefer the Honda to solar for a number of reasons. we usually camp in wooded campgrounds, the DW likes to use the microwave occasionally, we can run our a/c with it at lower elevations and it's just more versatile than solar.

Think about getting one Solar Panel. Just use is as a portable.
Check out Home Depot/ Grape Solar.
105 watt for about 140 bucks shipped + a 20-30 dollar Controller.
A few wires and your good to go.

We like to dry camp and do both, ie, camp with hookups too. It all depends on how you manage your resources like battery power, fresh water, holding tanks, etc. It takes practice, but you'll soon learn what you can and can't do, and for how long. Weekend trips should be no problem. We eventually bought a generator, blue tote, and water bladder with pump to haul water back to the trailer so we can stay out indefinitely if we want so long as the campground has a dump station and fresh water available.

I say give it a try, it's fun!

We dry camp just like we did when we had the pup. We cook outside, we sit out side. The only battery used is for the fridge. We only go into the TT to sleep.
Don't need a generator, don't need a TV, don't need a microwave.

I guess it depends on your needs and how comfortable you want to be. When you run out of water or propane would be my only concern. Your fridge can run on propane, you could charge batteries with TV if you had no generator.

When we camped with a tent we boondocked. We carried everything we needed for up to 3 weeks. Food, gas for boat, water. You could go a long time depending on what you expect.

I dry camp most of the time and can go for up to a week and don't use my generator. My Fantastic Vent fan keeps things relatively cool, the fridge runs great on propane using very little battery. In cold weather, I use a catalytic heater which requires no battery power at all. My cooking is on the range top, including percolated coffee. I do use my computer and mobile hotspot but am very conservative.

Plus, unless you have a genny or lots of batteries and an inverter, you will have no 120v appliances, m/wave. wall plugs, electric heaters etc. Run the fridge and water heater on propane, use water sparingly.

Have a great time.

If you have 2 6v GC batteries you should be able to go a week without a lot of electronics usage. I would assume a small trailer does not have a lot of this electronic stuff in it. I would worry more about water than battery power. How many batteries do you have now? How much FW do you carry?

the bear II wrote:
If you are conservative with power use and have a single battery you can get by for 3 to 4 days.

You need to use flashlight and lanterns to keep from using the overhead lights. If the trailer is equipped with an inverter and microwave...only use the microwave for very short duration heating. No 30 minute cook times...1 to 3 minutes only.

The water pump, heater, refrigerator, TV and other appliances will be the biggest users of power. Make sure to use propane for the refrigerator.

Use paper plates and plastic utensils to save water and pump usage by not having to wash a lot of dishes. Take navy showers...look it up on google.


If needed, and your tow vehicle is wired properly you can plug into it to recharge the trailer battery by letting the engine run for an hour.

Adding additional batteries and or carry a small portable generator will make it less neccessary to conserve power.

All good points. All I did different when I dry camped with my previous TT was turn my PU around and jump my TT battery with jumper cables. 10 to 15 minutes and your battery is back up full.

Mandalay Parr wrote:
Without a generator, about one day or so before batteries run down would be my guess.

Depends on your usage and setup but most people can last more than that. Linnemj pretty much said it.