Water capacity?

[STANG23L]

Just spent the last four day's dry camping in northern MN at a ATV/UTV event. Where we where camping in an open field. And between two guys and one Gal my water tank lasted two days. With one shower each half way through. My buddy and I are use to conserving water in an RV during a shower. His girlfriend did not seem to get the concept!

Which got me to thinking watching and talking to nearby campers. That did not seem to have any problems with running of water while taking showers every night.

Is my water tank to small (20-25 gal)?
What is the average tank capacity?

[CavemanCharlie]

djgarcia wrote:

ReneeG wrote:

STANG23L wrote:
Agreed that water usage can be subjective. And the Gal that was with has zero RV experience. And we tried to instruct her how to conserve water so that we could have a second round of showers before we left. Which she chose to ignore and proceeded to get grumpy on the last day that she felt dirty!

We do keep a six gallon water jug with the old camper for refill purposes. Took me a while of running around but was able to find a campground down the road that allowed me to fill the jug a couple times to finish out the weekend.

I do like the idea of carrying multiple extra water jugs or maybe an additional large tank in the truck?

Clearly she didn't understand the concept of a "Navy Shower". We have 75 gallon capacity and can camp four days with 4 adults and 3 kids and still come home with water. Navy showers, wet wipes, waterless shampoo, and rinseless body wash at night for the kids.

Sounds like it is time to find a new or different girl friend to go RVing with you:):):)

That's what I was thinking. Except, I think it was his buddies girlfriend that was the problem. Next time just take your buddy with and leave the girl behind. If he likes camping and she doesn't they won't be together forever anyway.

[Grit_dog]

ddndoug wrote:
Is there a such thing as a collapsible water container?

Doug

Wakeboard boat ballast bags make excellent portable containers and they are very durable. Typically higher profile than the link posted above which puts more concentrated pressure on wherever you put it but also convienent. Like you could put a 750lb bag on the back seat floor of your pickup no problem.
Looking at the prices in the link above, you can get more gal for less $ out of ballast bags. Only the real big custom size bags are $2-300.

[myredracer]

ddndoug wrote:
Is there a such thing as a collapsible water container?

Doug

Yes, they are called a pillow or bladder tank like here for example.

[ddndoug]

Is there a such thing as a collapsible water container?

Doug

[Stars101]

We have a truck camper. Fresh Water is 9 gallons, but I have an additional 6 in hot water heater. Grey is 6 gallons. We can get 3 showers with little issues by taking Navy showers. But if I wash my (long, curly, thick) hair I need to use a pot to catch/conserve water.

The capacities you all are tossing around are LUXURY! LOL

Maybe it wasn't the shower part that was the issue. Did you run water while waiting for it to get warm? Did you flush toilet repeatedly? Waste water doing dishes? Let it run while brushing teeth?

One newbie who doesn't understand boondocking/water conservation can screw up an entire trip really quickly....

EDIT: The oxygenetics showerhead is the key to conserving water and still having a relaxing shower.

[tpi]

I'd say 20-25 gallon is on the small side. But then so could be your gray and black tanks. When you finished with the stay, how full were those?
I'd look into bringing extra water jugs. If you're gray tank is filling, figure out a portable blue tote or something like that.
Also figure out meals/strategy to cut dishwashing. I've seen non-RVers burn through a lot of water for that purpose.
My small class C holds 60 fresh.

[Okie_in_Wyoming]

For washing our hair, we use a 5 gallon solar bag. I put it on the pickup hood in the sun to warm. Sometimes the temp is a bit too warm, but it works for us.

[Lynnmor]

The first time I went dry camping with my KZ, there was not enough water for a second shower. Turns out that most of the water spilled out in the 80 miles to the campground. The tank is vented from the top edge with hoses towards the ground. When rounding a right hand curve the spill would continue till the road straightened out. Running the vents up and out the side, higher than the tank, cured that problem. You should know that tens of thousands of trailers were built that way and it was not only KZ. I followed one like that into a campground just last week and mentioned the problem, he was having none of that about his great RV. I guess those following, especially motorcyclists, are of no concern.

In addition, the water pickup hose was attached to the side of the tank and it would suck air as soon as the water level dropped to the top of the hose fitting. This alone left about 25 percent of the water unusable. I cured this problem by teeing into the drain hose at the bottom.

Now add in the fact that the sagging tank was supported by only three straps, there was even more capacity wasted. I added more straps to make the bottom near flat.

Had I not done the above things, my capacity was between 0 and 10 gallons, I now have use of nearly 100 percent of the 40 gallon tank. It is surprising how far 40 gallons will go when you actually have 40 gallons and not just a number in a brochure.

I reported the safety aspect to the NHTSA, but they don't care. A vehicle that is losing it's load and water cooling the brakes on one side is of no importance. Vehicles following suddenly hitting a wet road and getting a shower is fine, I guess.

[ReneeG]

The only extra water we carry is bottled water for drinking and extra jugs of water for the dogs. The tank water is for showers, washing, toilet, dishes, coffee, and cooking (if I need it).

[allen8106]

Some use multiple hand carry jugs like shown in previous posts. I bought a white, plastic, 55 gallon drum formerly used for Mountain Dew syrup at the convenience store. I cleaned and sanitized it. I bought a 12v pump and made a pvc dip tub to go into the drum. The pump has male hose fittings on the inlet and outlet. Hook a water hose to the outlet to fill the camper and hook the 12v to the truck battery to run the pump. One trip to the water supply, I'm done in 10 minutes tops. The 55 gallon drum will fill my fresh water tank about 1 1/2 times.

FYI, most RV manufacturers stated fresh water capacity includes the hot water tank.

[Lantley]

I'm a big tank guys as well. I have a 85 gallon fresh tank that will last my family for an entire a 3 day weekend without any conservation. I also carry 2-7 gallon jugs,just in case!

[Veebyes]

One of the first things I look at on the specs sheet is the water capacity. When 5th wheel shopping if it did not have at least 80gal freshwater capacity, it got cut from the list of possibles.

That requirement alone thinned the herd real fast.

If drycamping water capacity is king. Those camping have to understand that there is NO city water.

[gbopp]

Leave the buddy at home, take the girlfriend, jump in the shower with her and show her how to conserve water. :W
Good by.

[MarkTwain]

ReneeG wrote:

STANG23L wrote:
Agreed that water usage can be subjective. And the Gal that was with has zero RV experience. And we tried to instruct her how to conserve water so that we could have a second round of showers before we left. Which she chose to ignore and proceeded to get grumpy on the last day that she felt dirty!

We do keep a six gallon water jug with the old camper for refill purposes. Took me a while of running around but was able to find a campground down the road that allowed me to fill the jug a couple times to finish out the weekend.

I do like the idea of carrying multiple extra water jugs or maybe an additional large tank in the truck?

Clearly she didn't understand the concept of a "Navy Shower". We have 75 gallon capacity and can camp four days with 4 adults and 3 kids and still come home with water. Navy showers, wet wipes, waterless shampoo, and rinseless body wash at night for the kids.

Sounds like it is time to find a new or different girl friend to go RVing with you:):):)