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Bringing lots of water?

s10texan1
Explorer
Explorer
Hello all,

Going camping soon and need to bring a lot of water with us. It'll be used mainly just for showering and flushing, not for drinking or cooking.

I was looking at mounting a big tank in the bed of my truck (3/4 ton) and Tractor Supply has a 65 gallon tank for $150. This could work.

BUT, if I just use ordinary 5 gallon buckets like you get at Wal-Mart or Home Depot, they run about $5 a piece with lids so I could move 65 gallons with 13 buckets for $65. Much cheaper!

So what would you do? Would you just use 5 gal buckets? Or, what do you do now? I'm not exactly sure how much water I'll be taking, probably 100 gallons at the most.

Thanks!

s10texan
28 REPLIES 28

SoundGuy
Explorer
Explorer
accsys wrote:
Do you get a good enough seal on the buckets to not lose water during transport? How do you plan to get the water transferred to your RV? Which containers would make that easier and also allow you to run and get more water if necessary? If you are going to use a water pump to get the water into your RV, it would probably be less hassle with the larger tank. If you are manually transferring, it probably doesn't make much difference since you would be filling a smaller container from the large one anyway to pour it in the RV.

Would you ever be in this position of needing added water in the future and which method would be easier for you to store for future use? The large tank would definitely take up more room than 13 nested buckets.


ALL easily solved by using 7 gal Aquatainers - inexpensive, light weight, large screw on main cap and screw on vent cap which both seal completely, cube shaped so they store efficiently, and made of food grade plastic. I've been using a set of 4 for years now, carrying them in the back of my truck where they're readily accessible anytime, sometimes I carry another 4 for grey water disposal but there's no reason at all I couldn't carry 8 or 12 or whatever number I wanted. Normally I just fill them at the campground as needed but early or late in the season when campground facilities may be closed I fill them up at home. At ~ 60 lbs I could lift a full Aquatainer in order to pour water into the trailer's gravity fill but because I transfer water in quantity I instead use a 12 vdc potable water pump to do the job. When not camping the Aquatainers sit on a shelf in my garage whereas I wouldn't have anywhere at all I could store a single large tank.

Fresh Water Transfer - 7 pics

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Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Explorer III
Now I have to not only pay attention to dog poop......I have to wonder if it is really dog poop :S
Is it time for your medication or mine?


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Sport45
Explorer
Explorer
Sport45 wrote:
s10texan1 wrote:
Black water shouldn't get full... you don't have to use it so long as you bury your waste.

Thanks!

s10texan


You sure about that?

Things to Know Before Visiting...
RV Wastes
Gray and black water must be disposed of only at the dump station at the Malaquite Beach campground. This facility is available free of charge to any park visitor.


Black water has to be dumped. Tent campers might get away with slipping into the dunes and covering up their business. But if you have an RV with a toilet I suspect the expectation is to use it. A group of people slipping into the dunes will mean forgetting about privacy or stepping in each others business.
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Sport45
Explorer
Explorer
Oops, quoted instead of edited...:o
โ€™19 F350 SRW CCLB PSD Fx4
'00 F250, CC SWB 4x2, V-10 3.73LS. (sold)
'83 F100 SWB 4x2, 302 AOD 3.55. (parked)
'05 GMC Envoy 4x2 4.2 3.73L.
'12 Edge 2.0 Ecoboost
'15 Cherokee Trailhawk

Grit_dog
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I'd look for a plastic barrel or 2.
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pira114
Explorer II
Explorer II
Of possibke, you may want to consider an outdoor camping shower. Call ahead and see if that'll be an issue. But they're great and don't fill up your grey tank

s10texan1
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for the replies everyone,

We're going camping on Padre Island National Seashore, right on the beach. Six people when we're all there, and about six nights total. Camping on the beach requires copious amount of sunscreen and bug spray... kinda yucky when crawling into bed without washing.

Sounds like 5 gal buckets is the way to go. Easy to pour into the camper tank, and I can fill them with gray water and dump everything on the way out. Black water shouldn't get full... you don't have to use it so long as you bury your waste.

Thanks!

s10texan

travisej
Explorer
Explorer
I use a food grade 55 gal drum with a bung adapter with a 3/4 spigot. Position the barrel in the bed up against the cab with the bungs vertical to each other. Open the top one to vent. Run a hose from the spigot to the water fill and let gravity do the work.

accsys
Explorer
Explorer
Do you get a good enough seal on the buckets to not lose water during transport? How do you plan to get the water transferred to your RV? Which containers would make that easier and also allow you to run and get more water if necessary? If you are going to use a water pump to get the water into your RV, it would probably be less hassle with the larger tank. If you are manually transferring, it probably doesn't make much difference since you would be filling a smaller container from the large one anyway to pour it in the RV.

Would you ever be in this position of needing added water in the future and which method would be easier for you to store for future use? The large tank would definitely take up more room than 13 nested buckets.
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Farmerjon
Explorer
Explorer
The 5 gal buckets work well and they are easily moved around to convenient places and when empty you can stack them inside each other for some space saving.
They do take up alot of space unless you can secure them double stacked.
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downtheroad
Explorer
Explorer
Just keep in mind that 65 gallons of water will weigh over 550 lbs without factoring in the weight of the container(s).

This works big against the payload of your 3/4 ton truck...
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RCMAN46
Explorer
Explorer
How do you plan to dispose of the waste water?

donn0128
Explorer II
Explorer II
Why? Most people are capable of getting buy with way less for a weekend or more. How long and how many people are you planning on???

Badhabit
Explorer
Explorer
If you buy the big tank, you need a plan for emptying it.

H