Ever run out of fresh water while boondocking?

[Bobbo]

We boondock a lot, and occasionally run out of fresh water in the tank. I don't always want to break camp and drive to a hydrant, so I bought 2 collapsible 5 gallon water carriers. Now, 4 trips to the hydrant will completely fill my 40 gallon tank.

HOWEVER, holding a 40 pound 5 gallon jug of water high enough to pour it into my tank is tough. I came up with a solution.

My rig came with a Shurflo 2.8 GPM pump #2088-422-144 (OEM version). I bought a Shurflo 2.8 GPM pump #2088-422-444 (after market version, but identical). I now have a drop in replacement spare pump, in case mine fails. I also put long hoses on it and a plug that plugs into a 12v connector I have near the water port. I put the hose on the input side into the 5 gallon water jug, the hose on the output side into the water inlet, and plug it in. No more lifting the water jugs.

EDITED TO ADD PICTURE OF PUMP:

[Dutch_12078]

alliemac9 wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
My Coachmen "Water Works" panel has valve settings that let me use the existing onboard pump to fill the fresh tank from portable containers without having to lift them up. I carry a couple of collapsible 5 gal. jugs for that purpose also.

Argh. My Coachmen manual SAYS this is supposed to work on our model, but it never has. We asked our local dealer and they were totally confused as to what we were referring to. I think I finally pulled out the manual and showed them and their response was that based on the way the unit is plumbed, there's just no way that would work. Bummer, I thought it was a really cool feature!!

Do you have a 4 valve, or a 5 valve Water Works panel. As I recall, the 4 valve cannot be configured to pull from a jug into the the fresh tank, only into the piping for winterizing. The 5 valve panel that I have will do both, although filling the fresh tank from the pump is not shown on the panel diagrams. All it takes is switching one valve from "Winterize" to "Suction Fill" with the others in the "Winterize" configuration depicted on the panel.

[camperdave]

I like the idea's. Currently I use a blue 7 gallon square tote from Walmart, and lift it up onto a table so it's higher than the fill. I don't like doing that... I've been thinking of replacing my water pump with a newer/quieter model, this would be a perfect excuse! I can install the old pump to a sheet of plywood and use it as a transfer pump. And it can be a backup in case the new pump fails. Nice!

As for water usage, I could probably go a week on 10 gallons. But I camp with my wife and two daughters, so I pretty much refill every day. :B

For me, this is dry camping in a campground, not true boondocking I'm talking about. There is a dump station at the exit of the campground so I can dump grey water via tote tank. Water fills are around the camp, but not close enough to hook up a hose, so I use the 7 gallon jug and a wagon.

[ontheroad101]

Some great ideas. We don't boondock to much any more, maybe only 1 or 2 times a year. Our new rig has a 100 gallon fresh water tank and a 12 gallon hot water heater, so we can easily go a week without needing water. But our old rig had a 40 gallon tank and the fill was by our rigs rear ladder. I had a huge snap quick oval hook that fit through the handle of the 5 gallon jug and a ladder step higher then the fill. I just put long hose on it and ran it to the tank. Only problem is I like to filter the water before it goes in the tank. Haven't found a way to filter it before adding the water before putting it into the tank.

[Bobbo]

OP here. I am too old/weak and with a bad back to hold that much weight that high. I don't carry a ladder that will let me sit it that high. I am really happy for those who are still young/strong enough to press 40 or 50 pounds above their heads and hold it there, but most RV'ers are no longer there. This is a solution that has the benefit of being a backup for a bad water pump.

[Peg_Leg]

I just sit the jug higher than the fill spout and use my trusty clear plastic Tennessee Credit Card, I mean hose. I'm lazy and just let gravity do the work.

[Bobbo]

Oasisbob wrote:
Our 30 gallon fresh water tank is good for five full days with our family of six. We all understand how to conserve water. Having said that our water tank fill hose enters from the side so our actual capacity is less than 30. We have never ran out. Guages lie like politicians. I get the idea you are not filling your holding tanks? Or do you drain gray water onto the ground? Just cirious

OP here. I don't understand your statement/question. Our waste tanks hold more than our fresh tank. We have to fill our fresh tank 2 or 3 times before the waste tanks get full.

We are not discussing the waste tanks. I don't let gray run on ground, but that is not in any way related to the fresh water tank running dry.

We boondock sometimes for 2 or 3 weeks straight. I don't care who you are, 3 weeks of boondocking will run a 40 gallon fresh water tank dry. I agree that gauges lie, but when DW is in the shower and screams that she is out of water, I believe her.

Does this address your concerns?

[skipnchar]

We always do just as you describe except I carry 6,, 6 gallon containers that do not collapse (usually have plenty of room in the truck bed, which makes it easier to pour into the FW tank. One trip to the water source and I have a full tank again but the real problem is holding tanks. Never have filled the galley or the black but sometime have to do some management on the gray tank. Depending on where I boondock this may or may not be a real problem.

[path1]

Cheap elec bulge pump and hoses here.

[Golden_HVAC]

Hi,

I don't like the taste of the water from the colapsable tanks, so I used 7.5 gallon blue totes from Wal Mart or JC Whitney. They are a little larger to store, but no after taste.

I also have a 100 gallon water tank, so showers for 2 weeks is easy for me. I did see a toyhauler with a pair of 100 gallon tanks, might be a upgrade in my future.

What I did is fill one or two tanks while out sightseeing, and bring them back only 15 gallons per day (that I would sightsee) and that did not wear me out on any one day, and if I was only going to be there 3 more days, I would not need to bring back any water. I would hang the container from my ladder, near the fresh fill with a ratching tie down, then use a syphion. It would empty the container in about 10 minutes.

One way to save water is wash the dishes in a dishpan, then use a gallon contailer to use it as flush water for the toilet. If in a larger campground, much of my shower water went into the toilet, to save grey water tank space. I have a 42 gallon grey water and incredible 59 gallon black water tank.

Some campgrounds it is possible to dump out the grey dishwater (if it is in a dishpan and you are using bio-degradable soap), but most require you to keep it on board.

I did meet a guy who put a 35 gallon fresh water tank in the back of his fifth wheel hauler truck. And a 50 gallon tank that he could fill from his macerator pump to dump the black water.

You can look at a variaty of tanks at this website. Tank-Depot.com

Probably once I am retired, I would put a 35 gallon tank in my towed vehicle, and water pump. Usually while dry camping, I am not going to be in a area that has restrictions from feeding the grey wate to the local plants. Normally I could dig a hole about 12" deep, so the water would not sit on the surface or attract bugs. Therefore no smell either.

I forgot to mention that at one campground, we had water about 150' away, and bought out the supply of drinking water hoses at the local Wal Mart to get there. So I had about 200' of hoses at one time. They are not that expensive either, and you can fill the neighbors too at the same time. Our neighbor offered to dump our grey tank once if we filled their fresh tank while we had our extended hose out. But moving my motorhome was fairly easy and we needed to buy gas anyway, so moving to the dump station was not a big deal, especially with leveling jacks.

Fred.

[wbwood]

We have two of those 6 gallon jugs from walmart. Works great. We have a 40 gallon fresh water tank. Not too heavy to lift and empty in my opinion. Beats having to get out a pump rig it up and etc and it pours faster than it would pump also.Maybe as I get older I might change my ways.

[BobsYourUncle]

Never too old to learn something simple! I like some of your ideas here. 🙂

I have run out when boondocking too. I usually plan my trips when I know I'll be without services and bring a couple big honkin plastic jugs with me. I have two that hold about 5 gallons.

I rigged a plastic hose into one of the filler caps and carry a 3 foot wood stepladder. I grunt the jug up on the stepladder and tip it over to position the little hose in the filler neck. Works quite well.

But there has been other times I have had to go dunk a one gallon jug in a nearby lake and make countless trip back and forth. Then I use a cotton rag or whatever I can find to filter the junk out of it.

[loulou57]

One place we like to go is anywhere from 6 to 8 hours down a logging road depending on the weather and a lake has flooded the road or it is just plain mud to get to the nearest store or anything, LOL.

We go for 2 weeks. Take all gas for boat and water needed

We freeze water the 500 ml bottles and put 4 cases/24 in the large cooler. We also take another 2 cases along unfrozen. There is still room in cooler for some frozen meat so the water does double duty.

With the TT tank and this bottled water we are fine, however we have a water bottle with some sort of filter so we could run even swamp water through it to drink. We have only used it twice while out on the canoe.

[alliemac9]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
My Coachmen "Water Works" panel has valve settings that let me use the existing onboard pump to fill the fresh tank from portable containers without having to lift them up. I carry a couple of collapsible 5 gal. jugs for that purpose also.

Argh. My Coachmen manual SAYS this is supposed to work on our model, but it never has. We asked our local dealer and they were totally confused as to what we were referring to. I think I finally pulled out the manual and showed them and their response was that based on the way the unit is plumbed, there's just no way that would work. Bummer, I thought it was a really cool feature!!

[wilber1]

I also have a portable 12V pump and carry several of the collapsible bags. Full water bags also make great anchors for awnings on hard surfaces where you can't use stakes.

[D___M]

I bought a 35 gallon tote and a 12 volt pump and mounted it to a piece of 1/2 inch plywood. It fits in the cargo area of the Jeep. The Jeep has a 12 volt power port in the cargo area. Just find a source of water and I am good to go. Never have to worry about fresh water.