Ridiculously extreme boondocking tips

[profdant139]

If you have both unlimited power and water, stop reading -- you don’t need these tips.

And if you are still reading, you already know the obvious things -- switch to LED lights, use paper plates so you don’t have to wash them, install batteries with lots of capacity, use solar power if you can, and so forth.

But after several weeks of boondocking during the past year, we have come up with a few fairly radical ideas on how to conserve scarce resources -- the goal of this thread is to provide non-obvious tips for those of us who really want to extend our boondocking capabilities. Some of these suggestions will sound silly, but they can make a significant difference in the aggregate.

Water conservation:

Make sure that the flow to your showerhead can quickly and easily be completely cut off, while you’re showering. Most of the standard shower valves still permit a slight trickle in the “off” position, which obviously wastes a little water (not to mention the power to run the pump).

Use an easily-rinsed liquid soap, like Dr. Bronners, for both showering and dishes. We dilute it half and half with water in a squeeze bottle. Just a few drops are sufficient, and it requires very little water to rinse off. Many other types of liquid soap contain glycerin, which is harder to rinse off, as are most bars of soap.

Consider getting a shorter haircut. (I told you these were extreme tips!!) That uses less shampoo and less rinse water. If you have very little hair (like me), consider using soap, instead of shampoo. Shampoo contains moisturizers, which are harder to rinse.

Even if you use paper plates, you will have some pots and pans that will have to be washed. First, moisten a paper towel or napkin and wipe out the pot. Then, wet the sponge and turn off the water. Put a few drops of dilute liquid soap onto the sponge. Scrub the pot. Then, turn the water on at an extremely low setting -- really just a dribble. Put a little bit of water into the pot and turn off the water. Swish the water around in the soapy pot and dump it out. Repeat. You will be amazed at how little water you need to wash and rinse the pot.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to moisten the toothbrush before putting on the toothpaste. (I told you this was ridiculous.) Use a very small quantity of toothpaste. You hardly need any water to rinse off the toothbrush and to rinse out the toothpaste.

Electricity usage:

An accumulator will cut down drastically on the amount of energy your water pump uses. Instead of running continuously, the pump kicks on only when needed to refill the accumulator.

Instead of using the built-in lighting system all the time, try to use rechargeable LED lights (such as book lights or head lamps) that can be recharged via the inverter in your tow vehicle while you are driving. (Obviously, if you have a motorhome or truck camper, the same idea applies – charge appliances while driving.) Those small LED lights are adequate for many ordinary household tasks. And you can use rechargeable AA or AAA batteries, allowing the vehicle to recharge them. (When we are driving, our inverter is pretty crowded with little devices greedily sucking up the juice -- the iPhone, the computer, the rechargeable lights, and so forth. We may have to install a power strip to accommodate all of the plugs!)

A Kindle or any other “e-reader” device with a backlight requires very little ambient light (and can be recharged while driving). Thus, you can do without bright lights for reading. (We spend a lot of time reading in the evenings.)

When you do use the lights, try not to turn on too many lights and appliances at the same time – the greater the total draw on the battery at any one time, the greater the total energy usage.

To reduce the use of the energy-hog heater, keep the interior of your RV warmer at night with foam on the insides of the windows, to cut down on heat loss. (Reflectix also works for this purpose.)


I’m looking forward to hearing your “extreme” ideas, especially if they are faintly ridiculous (like some of mine are).

[Dan_s_Downtime]

Jerrybo66 wrote:
The most difficult problem with longtime boon docking is the black tank. No suggestion was made for that problem ???. 🙂

I'm in the long-term boondocking category…what I do:
A. Line my toilet with a heavy duty garbage bag.
B. Pee outside.
C. Use a gallon ziplock freezer bag inside the toilet.
D. Poop in the zip-lock bag.
E. Pack it out.

[greenrvgreen]

Good point. WC Fields once said, "Never drink water, fish f%<{ in it."

[wbwood]

greenrvgreen wrote:
100% of my drinking water sources have a faucet on it. Asking people not to bathe in water sources--even if you could convince those people--does nothing to mitigate the bacteria from the hundreds that have "gone" before.

Back in the day eco-friendly backpacking meant not digging a latrine within 100 feet of a water source. Well, by now the contents of those latrines have seeped into the water sources, and it's a bit late for an ounce of prevention. While filters could be stacked and chlorinated to clean up that water, you're starting with dirty water--much dirtier than the public utilities start with. I treat my faucet water with stacked filters and chlorination.

And don't forget about the fish and animals that contaminate the water daily.

[qtla9111]

profdant139 wrote:
Chris, you mention the aroma of Dr. Bronner's -- the peppermint "flavor" is kind of strong. Plus when we used it for showering (every night, not every few days), we noticed that we felt that "minty fresh menthol" feeling in some pretty strange places. Kind of startling.

So we switched to lavender, diluted by at least half. It is a less vivid aroma. Plus, whenever we are out walking in our neighborhood and we smell lavender plants (a common garden plant in southern California), we are immediately transported back into the boonies! The sense of smell is very compelling.

Yep that happens and people don't think about it when they attempt to wash with anti-bacterial gels which many contain alcohol. Can be a startling affect.

There are some good recipes for some natural homemade soaps that work extremely well. As I said, we don't bathe often in streams or lakes, and when we do we know that there is enough space between us and those downstream to allow for dilution.

[Raften]

dahkota wrote:

profdant139 wrote:
dahkota, a word of hard-earned wisdom -- run that Honda generator every month, preferably under load, for about a half hour. Use some Seafoam, also. Otherwise, the carb will clog, especially if your gas contains a lot of ethanol (as it does in Calif). If the carb clogs, you will need an expensive service. Please don't ask me how many service calls it took for me to really and sincerely learn this lesson.

Someday, have your service tech show you the carb jets on that genset -- they are about as small as a human hair.

Ack! Thanks! Good to know. It's about 6 years old now and never been serviced. I guess we just always assume it will work. We leave in three months to go fulltime - I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get it checked out?

Add some Sea Foam to the gas also.

[nina_70]

Just got around to reading thro' the thread on this one. All good stuff w/ many of the tips we use ourselves. We have 100 gallon water tank which lasts us (on average) 3 weeks boondocking. Some of the tips we use:

1/ Sponge bath w/ small qty of water heated on the stove instead of using the shower

2/ Capture and re-use grey water in black tank

3/ Use a small cup to brush teeth

4/ Carry an extra water jug & fill it whenever you find a spigot. Use this for drinking water.

5/ Wipe all dishes (or let dog lick them) before washing.

6/ Use hand sanitizer instead of water to wash hands

Another thing which has really helped, esp. for me (I have long hair) is going "no-poo" which means I don't use shampoo anymore. I made the switch almost 2 years ago and it's dramatically improved my hair and the amount of time I can go between washes (on average a week). If you're interested I wrote a post about that process HERE.

Incidentally I've also gone no-deo (HERE in case anyone is curious about that one).

For electricity we installed LED lights (huge improvement) and installed 600 watts of solar which completely covers our needs unless it gets overcast several days in a row.

For mood lighting we use battery-powered LED candles. Really lovely and no need for any electricity at all. The LED candles also serve as a "night light" for the bathroom.

For heat during daylight hours we use Mr.Buddy propane heater (no electricity needed). We don't run it at night for safety issues, but it works great during waking hours -> just make sure you have air-flow through the rig (crack 2 windows). At night we put furnace on low and use a thick duvet/comforter on the bed.

Nina

[ReneeG]

profdant139 wrote:
Chris, you mention the aroma of Dr. Bronner's -- the peppermint "flavor" is kind of strong. Plus when we used it for showering (every night, not every few days), we noticed that we felt that "minty fresh menthol" feeling in some pretty strange places. Kind of startling...

Pretty funny, but we experienced the same using Tropical Traditions Bath and Shampoo bar, all natural. Not peppermint, but pathchouli, but same effect.

[profdant139]

Chris, you mention the aroma of Dr. Bronner's -- the peppermint "flavor" is kind of strong. Plus when we used it for showering (every night, not every few days), we noticed that we felt that "minty fresh menthol" feeling in some pretty strange places. Kind of startling.

So we switched to lavender, diluted by at least half. It is a less vivid aroma. Plus, whenever we are out walking in our neighborhood and we smell lavender plants (a common garden plant in southern California), we are immediately transported back into the boonies! The sense of smell is very compelling.

[qtla9111]

loggenrock wrote:
PLEASE don't bathe in water sources!!! Even biodegradable soaps contaminate them! Get a folding bucket and scoop some of that refreshing water out of the pond or stream and carry it 200' away to bathe. I wouldn't want to get my drinking water from your bathtub! 🙂 ST

You're right about using a bucket. I spoke with one of my brothers who is a consultant specializing in environmental impact studies. This is what he said:

"we use Campsuds or the same product from REI for all backpacking uses if we are near the stream. I looked up Castile soap - and yes Dr. Bronner's accomplishes the same thing and I like the peppermint odor after not washing for days.

Like all pollution in depends on how much dilution if washing in stream. 100 people washing is different than 2. In general, the backpacking rules are to do all washing away from the stream - so carry a bucket of water 50 feet or more away and pour water on each other. Then you can swim in the stream for a final rinse."

So I think the dilution or quantity of persons bathing in a concentrated area is the issue.

[DarthMuffin]

We haven't boondocked long enough for water to be an issue, but if we did I think I would find a way to filter a natural water source before doing some of the extreme water-saving steps here.

I have something like this http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/CAMP-352 and two 5-gallon buckets in my disaster supplies to provide water for the household. Would probably work great at a campsite.

[profdant139]

It might not need servicing. First, does it start on the first pull? If not, that is not a good sign. Second, once it is going and it is set on "eco," does it idle smoothly or does it surge and pulse? If the latter, it needs service.

But if it is working fine, just get a can of Seafoam, add an ounce, and run it under load (like with a hair dryer plugged in) for a half hour.

One other thought -- when did you last change the oil? If the answer is never, do it now. Messy job, unfortunately -- the Honda oil spout is a hassle. The instructions are in the manual. And the manual is available online, I am pretty sure.

[dahkota]

profdant139 wrote:
dahkota, a word of hard-earned wisdom -- run that Honda generator every month, preferably under load, for about a half hour. Use some Seafoam, also. Otherwise, the carb will clog, especially if your gas contains a lot of ethanol (as it does in Calif). If the carb clogs, you will need an expensive service. Please don't ask me how many service calls it took for me to really and sincerely learn this lesson.

Someday, have your service tech show you the carb jets on that genset -- they are about as small as a human hair.

Ack! Thanks! Good to know. It's about 6 years old now and never been serviced. I guess we just always assume it will work. We leave in three months to go fulltime - I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get it checked out?

[Katdaddy]

For those necessary trips during the night I made a "night light" for the bathroom. I took a pill bottle large enough to hold a 9v battery. I mounted two white leds and a switch on the top. No drain on the batteries and plenty of light.

[profdant139]

dahkota, a word of hard-earned wisdom -- run that Honda generator every month, preferably under load, for about a half hour. Use some Seafoam, also. Otherwise, the carb will clog, especially if your gas contains a lot of ethanol (as it does in Calif). If the carb clogs, you will need an expensive service. Please don't ask me how many service calls it took for me to really and sincerely learn this lesson.

Someday, have your service tech show you the carb jets on that genset -- they are about as small as a human hair.