Wastewater Tote & Fresh Water Containers - Do you use them?

21 gallons of fresh drinking water in 6 cross linked containers

If you get a tote remember that water is 8.2 pounds per gallon. Twenty gallon tote will weigh 164 pounds+ full.

n0arp, sounds like nice set up. We don't have a truck anymore but I'll keep this in mind if we go back to a TT or want to upgrade our setup now. With only 3 weeks a year we can do heavy touring, what we got works for now!

When we had our Travel Trailer (40 gal fresh, 30 gal grey, 20 gal blk) I always carried wastewater tote and freshwater jug. Used the tote once to drain some grey. Used the FW Jug many times to add 5 or 6 gals of water for our last nite or so. Came in handy. But our kids were smaller and, well, needed baths more.

Today, in our Class C (43 gal fresh, 41 grey, 32 blk), I only carry the FW Jug. Why? I gave both jugs to the new owner of our TT, and only replaced the FW jug. Worked hard not to need the tote. But then, mostly we camp at places with hookups since we try to stay longer and "tour" or explore the area.

Our plan is when we are at a state park or other for several nites w/ only electric, we do a navy bath (wet wash rag, soap, then rinse with water from shower or usually just another clean wet rag). Not perfect but works for a nite or 2.

BTW, we opted for a hitch mounted spare tire carrier (our hitch is attached to the frame, not thin tube bumper). Would have loved the BAL under frame carrier but went this way. Can still tow a toad or what not.

Yes, they're worth the hassle.

I prefer using a macerator pump to a tank in the truck bed, rather than towing a wastewater tote on the ground - dump stations aren't always close by, and terrain not always suitable for pulling those totes along. I started off with a 42g Barker tote with pneumatic tires.

I had Husky Portable Containment build me a custom 95g freshwater bladder and a 165g wastewater bladder, that were configured to sit side by side in the free space in my truck bed at the time. And after trying out several pumps, I ended up with a Sanicon Turbo permanently attached to the rig and camlock fittings on 25' of 1.5" layflat hose. That setup made short work of pumping out, then I could just take the pickup to the dump station and empty it with the conventional 3" hose. The bladder, regardless of how you choose to fill it, takes up a lot less room stored than the tote.



For what it's worth, I use a Milwaukee transfer pump for the freshwater side, and with that much water, carry a little pressure washer with me that you can see in the photo.

We also have an off-the-shelf 45g bladder for freshwater and a few collapsible 5g jugs for our truck camper. And a composting toilet that lets us combine the grey and black tanks for 83g of grey capacity. Lots of ways to go about it.