New to TT - sewer question or lack there of

First off. What size are your grey and black tanks? Ours are approx. 40gal. I can go almost 5 days with 4 of us using the bathroom. The grey tank, well that's another story. You may want to invest in a tote. At least a 15 gallon one. This way you can drain the grey tank instead of moving the whole trailer. And don't use it for the black tank, it can be too messy/smelly!

When our kids where small (30+ years ago) - I always had a 5 gallon tote of water outside the trailer - this is where hand washing and ice cream cleanups where done....had a dish pan under it to catch the "run off" and that was used for feet washing at the end of the day - so they did not go into the trailer with sand on their feet and then into their beds!

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. We will be more prepared for this trip as it's our 1st without a sewer hook up...the campground only has 9 sewer sites and they are promised to seasonal campers. We are going to the NASCAR race in Watkins Glen next month...real slim choices on camp grounds and we even made the reservations in the Winter...lol....

Again, thanks everyone!

doctor roy wrote:
We don't have any of the above problems. I ONLY camp where there are full hook ups. If you can't afford the extras you should consider something else as a hobby, etc.

To each his own... Your comments lack any real knowledge of the OPs situation. And... It's actually pretty rude. Who are you to say what's right and good?

We're a community trying to help one another and not to simply pass judgement. OP didn't ask about the merits of the campsite they choose. OP ask for ideas/help about dealing with their situation. OP may be a multi millionaire that likes to rough it (LOL) with the rest of us commoners... ;). Or maybe not...

DR ROY, for many of us, it is not a matter of affording the extras, it is that they are not available. I, like many on here, prefer the natural surroundings and activities at State Parks. Very few state parks in GA and FL have full hookups with sewer connections. A few state parks do have sewer connections and then I will pay the upgraded fee if there is a charge. I have stayed at commercial parks when they were where I wanted to go, and am willing to pay for the sewer.

by the way, I think your comment on affording extras and considering another hobby, is way out of line. that is the kind of comment that makes people say that RV'ers are snobby and "too big for their britches".

We don't have any of the above problems. I ONLY camp where there are full hook ups. If you can't afford the extras you should consider something else as a hobby, etc.

I thought of another one ... we have bottles of hand sanitizer at the sink for the times that our hands are just "dirty" but not badly soiled ... if that makes sense.

We purchased a 27 gallon tote. It does get heavy, so monitor your grey tank. When it gets to half full, I would dump it into your tote. We fortunately have a teenage boy that loves flexing his muscles. We (we have been camping with 2 other families. 15 total campers) create an outdoor washing station. Use a blue tote full of water with paper towels and soap outside to wash hands. You two tubs outside to wash dishes. One is your soapy water. Use your outside shower to get hot water in both bins. With three of us in the camper, the shower normally fills to 2/3 full in one day. We aren't taking Navy showers. The two men use the campground facilities for bathroom visits, momma uses the trailer. Like others said, the black tank usually isn't the problem.

Atlee wrote:
Don't think so.

For one thing, I don't use any water trying to get the hot and cold balanced enough to take a shower.

For the 2nd thing, I might use 2-2.5 gal total for the shower.

Doesn't take much water to wet down, turn off the water, soap down, then rinse off the sope.

Repeat process for the hair.

Bumpyroad wrote:

Atlee wrote:
With my hot water, I never heat it up all the way. I will cut the water heater on long enough to get the water just above my body temperature, then cut it off. That way, I just use the hot water side and don't have to worry about cooling it down with fresh water.

don't you end up using the same amount of water. 5 gal hot, 5 gal cold, vs 10 gal lukewarm?
bumpy

OK< make that 1 gal hot, one gallon cold vs 2 gallons of lukewarm.
bumpy :)

We do a lot of things that have been mentioned. Last camping trip we stayed a week. Daytime I use the campground facilities as much as possible, night time, use the trailer. We have a collapsible pan that we use for dish washing, we use paper plates also, full hook ups we bring out the good plates. We dump the dish water in the black tank if we need too. I know with children it is a different story, just have to teach them to be a little conservative with the water.