I know everyone's capacity and needs are different, but how long can you go without more water or a charge to your battery?I have a small TT w/25gal fresh water tank and a single 12v. battery...

I have and can do 5 days without.But its just me,and the dog.

We have been able to go up to 5 days and that is with me the wife and 3 kids. We have 2 6-Volt batteries and they do great.

4 or 5 days in conserve mode. 220ah Trojan. At that point it's time to do some laundry, charge the batteries, dump and refill the tanks, and go to the grocery store.

Solo, with 2 Grp. 27 batteries and on-board generator, 10 days is about all the 24 gal black tank will hold.

How long can you boondock? | Good Sam Community

45 Replies

CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Apr 21, 2013
Roadrash450 wrote:
Is it just me or does anyone not use the woods anymore? I'll explain.

Does no one take a bath in a river or lake?
Pee in the bush?
Wash dishes from a bucket of water from a lake?

!:D

Sorry to say that in my area Industrialized Agriculture has caused some much run off into our lakes that you really don't want to be using them for bathing. In fact, after swimming in them you need to take a bath to wash the green slime off.
Huntindog
Explorer
Apr 20, 2013
limbery wrote:
Roadrash450 wrote:
Is it just me or does anyone not use the woods anymore? I'll explain.

Does no one take a bath in a river or lake?
Pee in the bush?
Wash dishes from a bucket of water from a lake?

Remember boondocking gets you away from people, or am I missing something! Sure if you camp in the middle of the bush with no other source of water I can see, carrying more water would be an issue, but holding tank capacity being an issue, must be a city slicker thing!

Tent for a week, brings a whole new light to what you can make due with.

Longest I have gone is 27 days in my old TT. Only thing that used the battery was lights and water pump. Everything else was stand alone propane appilances. Unlimited source of water from the river I camped beside and tanks never got filled becuase I built my own outhouse. Man did I eat alot of fish that trip!:D

OP here....You make good points...I was asking because we plan on attending a large festival this summer and we'd be stuck in a crowded field with the TV removed for about 4 nights min.... and it's all unserviced...
They will probably have porta jons there. At some of the dog trials I go to the porta jon company does a pretty good business pumping out RV tanks.
See if you can find out the name of the company that will be supplying them and give them a call to see if that is a possibility.
Roadrash450
Explorer
Apr 20, 2013
limbery wrote:

OP here....You make good points...I was asking because we plan on attending a large festival this summer and we'd be stuck in a crowded field with the TV removed for about 4 nights min.... and it's all unserviced...

In that case, you might not want to pee on the neighbour's tires!

What you could do is just charge and bring extra batteries of mixed capacities. Say you have a boat with a deepcycle in it, charge and bring it along. Even if it gives you 2 days with just that battery alone, its a plus.

Take out some items from your TT to shed some weight, like extra tools, fishing rods, stuff you won't need at the festival and replace it with a jugs of water.

You can also dry flush your toilet, pee and flush without turning your water pump on. Less clean water going into your black tank.
limbery
Explorer
Apr 20, 2013
Roadrash450 wrote:
Is it just me or does anyone not use the woods anymore? I'll explain.

Does no one take a bath in a river or lake?
Pee in the bush?
Wash dishes from a bucket of water from a lake?

Remember boondocking gets you away from people, or am I missing something! Sure if you camp in the middle of the bush with no other source of water I can see, carrying more water would be an issue, but holding tank capacity being an issue, must be a city slicker thing!

Tent for a week, brings a whole new light to what you can make due with.

Longest I have gone is 27 days in my old TT. Only thing that used the battery was lights and water pump. Everything else was stand alone propane appilances. Unlimited source of water from the river I camped beside and tanks never got filled becuase I built my own outhouse. Man did I eat alot of fish that trip!:D

OP here....You make good points...I was asking because we plan on attending a large festival this summer and we'd be stuck in a crowded field with the TV removed for about 4 nights min.... and it's all unserviced...
Roadrash450
Explorer
Apr 20, 2013
Is it just me or does anyone not use the woods anymore? I'll explain.

Does no one take a bath in a river or lake?
Pee in the bush?
Wash dishes from a bucket of water from a lake?

Remember boondocking gets you away from people, or am I missing something! Sure if you camp in the middle of the bush with no other source of water I can see, carrying more water would be an issue, but holding tank capacity being an issue, must be a city slicker thing!

Tent for a week, brings a whole new light to what you can make due with.

Longest I have gone is 27 days in my old TT. Only thing that used the battery was lights and water pump. Everything else was stand alone propane appilances. Unlimited source of water from the river I camped beside and tanks never got filled becuase I built my own outhouse. Man did I eat alot of fish that trip!:D
atreis
Explorer
Apr 20, 2013
For my family of 5, we go about 6 days without having to refill water or dump tanks if we can use the campground showers. We do the dump/refill using a blue tote and a similar fresh water tank and aquarium pump run from a small inverter. If we have to shower in the trailer we can only go a couple days.

For power we have solar panels so it depends on the sun, tree cover, and whether or not we need to run the furnace. Since we usually camp in the woods (not so great for solar, but we still get some) and have 2 110AH 6V batteries, usually around 10 days without running the furnace, and 3 days if we do have to run the furnace. There are a lot of factors that go into this one though - we have LED lighting, are a pretty conservation-minded family, and use the furnace as little as possible if we need it.
unimogdave
Explorer
Apr 19, 2013
So far the longest was 4 days and everything fit in or on a 55 litre backpack. Multiple daily swims, Freeze dry rations,a water filter system. Only thing we run out of is booze. Just scale that up to a trailer. Only your comfort level limits your stay.
Huntindog
Explorer
Apr 18, 2013
We can stay indefinantly. We routinely do over 3 weeks.
It helps that we have some decent tank capacity.
Black 42+42=84
Grey 42=42=84
Fresh 42+ however much we decide to bring in the truck, which can approach 200 gallons.
I don't count the water heater capacity as you can't use it without adding more water to the FW tank to replace what is used out of it.
It's just me and DW and four brittanys.

We have a tote, but rarely use it.

A pair of EU2000s and extended run tank with plenty of extra gas for them and the quads. Extra propane tanks to keep the heater going.
We never feel like we need to get back. Totally comfortable out in the boonies...But jobs curtail it at some point.
Lowsuv
Explorer
Apr 18, 2013
9 days
21t Komfort has 50 fresh + 6 wh, 45 gray , 45 black.
i refill the fresh water from the blue 5 gallon colemans .
i drain the gray into a 4 gallon bucket and pour that into the ubiquitous brown forest service wastewater dome.
we are often alongside a lake .
the missus takes a water conserving shower each day .
i often take my washcloth and soap and do my bath in the lake
we use our own potty and that is the limiting factor although we have never filled it to capacity
we mostly camp without hookups , often in dispersed camping zones available in Oregon
we do not use a genny or solar
we use heavy duty jumper cables to connect the two exide EDGE AGM duramax TV batteries to the RV batteries on the trailer.
we drive our duramax every second or third day and that recharges the TV batteries . we hook up the jumpers to the trailer as soon as we return .
we never run the truck to recharge the trailer batteries .
we use the LED headband lights and flashlights around the campground .
instead of running the furnace we bring our propane coleman lantern inside to take the chill off on the cold nights .
we boil a pot of water on the stove inside the trailer first thing in the morning for our tea, hot chocolate & coffee. this takes the chill off the trailer .
we only have a 400 watt inverter that we only hook up to recharge 110 volt items such as electric razor , laptop , or NOOK reader .
we buy our AA & D cells in bulk at costco to operate the flashlights , battery flourescent lantern, and ipod speaker system . smooth jazz on low volume when we use it .
we camp with other friends who enjoy a quiet campground and nobody in our extended group brings a genny for that reason .
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Apr 18, 2013
I'm not sure this year. I converted over to LED bulbs and bought 2 deep cycle golf cart batteries. I'm hoping to make 4 days when not running the furnace. My fresh water tank is quite small but, I have a couple of jugs carry fresh water with me in the back of the pickup and my black/gray holding tanks are plenty big for a 4 day trip.

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How long can you boondock?

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