boondocking

FWIW there is an entire section of this forum dedicated to "Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping". Lots of tips, techniques, and even pictures of favorite locations. The stickies in that section would probably be a great help to new boondockers.

We keep a large water container with a small faucet on picnic table. If anyone has to wash their hands, they wash them there, pump is not running. Heat water on gas stove. Lots of little things you can do. They all add up.
You do that say if you are camping in the back of beyond or if you are at a campground with toilets, showers but no electricity. Makes a big difference.

We spent 8 days boondocking on the north shore of Lake Superior last year.
There are two components to this, saving energy,I designed the trailer for this exact purpose with all LED lights very efficient Morningstar 300W inverter to power DVD/TV. We use a french press for coffee...
We do have a 185W solar panel which powers as well as the rest of it a Waeco 12V refrigerator. I would also recomend the use the TV and a set of jumper cables idea and have mine set up so I can do that if bad weather/clouds prevent the solar panel doing its job. I alos have a Victron batter monitor which tells me if we approach the 50% depth of discharge below which you do not want to go.

SunElec.com Look for 12 volt panels, and a simple PWM controller. You might need to call them, as there are not many 12 volt panels listed online, yet they stock more than they update the online list. In other words they get in more panels weekly, but update the website only a couple of times a year.

With a 120 watt solar panel, you can extend your dry camping by weeks.

If you change to LED light panels, you can cut down on your battery use too!

AliExpress.com THen search for 24 LED 5050 panel. I bought 50 of them for $1.20 each. These are used to light up my RV, and also along the exterior of my house! They only use about 0.15 amps each, compared to a 1.2 amp regular light!

Fred.

I do two basic things to my lights when boondocking.

#1) In my ceiling lights both bulbs come on with the switch. So I open all the lenses and pull one bulb out of each light fixture. I just lay the bulb loose inside the lens so I don't lose it.

#2) Turn them off when not in use. I am constantly turning off the lights that the family leaves on. :)

My batteries will easily last a weekend like this. Charge them up and go camping, you'll be fine.

We were in your position 3 years ago. Stock trailer, one battery, no generator and we needed the heater at night in below freezing weather at night. we didn't use the house light, using small battery light instead. The hot water heater was only on when needed. The furnace was at 50 degrees at night only. The portable TV, Mp3, dvd,laptop and phones were charged in the truck overnight.

After 3 day the grp 27 battery was down to 12.3v at resting and I knew it wouldn't make it so I turned the truck around, hooked a heavy set of cables and ran it for a hour a night. It kept the furnace going for the rest of the week.

I agree that a small amount of solar could do it for you if you get the sun to do it. A small folding kit could make up for a low power user or at least extend the time your battery will last.

Hi,

Move to led lighting.

Can you afford some solar? That will do you good in a boondocking situation. Also, generators aren't as expensive as they used to be. Costco has a "Smarter Tools" generator for $599.99 that has a true Yamaha engine in it.

We did that for two years before buying a honda 2000 generator. Basically when dry camping we used trailer as a fancy tent. Only used pump to pee at night and otherwise used campground facilities. For lights we used round portable LEDs that worked on triple a batteries most of the time. Used paper plates and plastic utensils. Did dishes once a day to conserve using the pump. Refer and hot water on propane but the still use battery power. We ran truck an hour or so each day to top off battery. Worked okay but got old.

Now with generator we can dry camp for a week before tanks fill. That is our limitation.

Also hot a second battery to add more power. Cheaper than a generator and if you don't need the furnace or fan can last a weekend with conservation.