Dry Camping: Many Power Solutions. What about Waste/Water?

[otrfun]

Lotta discussion and solutions pertaining to solar, generators, huge battery banks, and bulk/boost capable converters keeping everyone powered off the grid.

For those spending more than a weekend dry camping, what kind of creative solutions are available to handle waste and freshwater issues?

[SteveAE]

Sure. Install a composting toilet

[otrfun]

Thanks to everyone for some excellent conservation ideas that I hadn't thought of before!

I think most would agree freshwater refills and reuse of grey water are relatively easy to do. However, nearly every dry-camper, conserving or not conserving, at some point and time (whether it be 3 days or 3 weeks), has to deal with the reality of a full black tank.

So, short of manhandling a 250-300 lb. waste tank or going through the gyrations of hauling your entire rig X amount of miles to a dump station, are there any other options? Is a macerator the only other reasonable, workable solution?

Thoughts? Thanks!

[popeyemth]

Please post pics and details of your drum when converted to dump black water.
Thanks,Mike

[mbopp]

We don't boondock but we do stay at cg's w/o hookups that have water spigots scattered along the access road.
For fresh water I have a 6-gallon plastic jug to fill the tank by lifting and pouring. I also have a 15-gallon plastic barrel in the truck bed. I fill them both and the barrel gravity feeds into the FW tank fill neck via a fresh water hose.

For gray water -
I have a sewer cap that has a garden hose nipple on it. First pass was a couple of 5-gallon pails with pour spout lids that I would fill by gravity and haul to the dump station.
Second pass was a surplus 30-gallon plastic drum mounted in the truck bed. It gets filled w/ gray water via a HF 12V marine pump and recycled garden hose. It gets emptied at the dump station by a short piece of hose.
3rd pass (in process) will have a macerator pump to empty the black and gray tank into the 30-gallon drum. The drum is getting fitted with a 1-1/2" RV-style dump valve and a 1-1/2" cam-lock quick disconnect on the dump hose.

[mena661]

4 days here with some conservation with 3 people (60 gals). Wash cooking stuff once a day, navy showers once a day, paper plates/plastic forks. DW and I could go 5 days. Can't see us going much more than that without knowing exactly how much water is needed for everything. If I were full timing off grid, I'd want 200 gals of fresh/grey each and maybe an enclosed trailer with another 200 gals fresh/grey each.

[time2roll]

The three of us have made eight days on 50 gallons fresh water holding tank.
Make sure you don't have the RV tilted the wrong way when filling. Easy to short fill 15+ gallons.
Conserve at every corner. Use campground facilities if available. Wash dishes once a day max.

[KJINTF]

Conservation as SteveAE says above same as battery power usage
We easily go two weeks or more without any fresh or waste water issues
Quickie navy showers every 2nd or 3rd day

[SteveAE]

otrfun,

Conservation!

- Put a valve on the toilet to shut off the water supply.
- Wash dishes in wash basins and use wash & rinse water for toilet flushing.
- Stand over a bucket while taking Navy showers. Save the water for toilet flushing.
- Put water in a glass and turn off the sink when brushing teeth.
- Bring along portable water containers and fill when the opportunity presents it's self.
- Boondocking? Private? Pee outside.

We (two people) can go two to three weeks doing the above (the longest we have tried it). I suppose if we had a tote (and we camped somewhere that I could get to a dump station), or we switched to a composting toilet, we could go forever.

Steve

[otrfun]

Pianotuna, you go two weeks before a waste/water run?! Impressive!

If I want to camp and stay married, it's a max 2-3 days between waste/water runs--lol!

I use a 12v pump to move freshwater from five 7-gallon tanks in the truck's bed to the TT. This process is relatively hassle-free and quick.

However, servicing the black/grey tanks are another issue. *Really* hate lifting/moving those waste totes when they're full (250 lbs.) and being limited to 5 mph while towing. Seriously considering a macerator pump.

[RoyB]

Most places we camp at here on the East side of the US have a localized bath room/waste water area. We always make note of these places when we are arriving at our off-road camping sites.

We capture our waste water and make waste water runs when full. Then we bring back freshwater to replenish what we have used so far.

We usually have to go off-site to find ice and fresh meat for meals sometimes as well. Not really a big deal deal for us...

I carry 2EA 7.5 gallon AQUA-TAINER totes for waste water and 2EA 5-gallon jeri-cans for fresh water along with a folding two wheeled cart.

We also bring a few gallons of our brand of bottled water to make our fresh ground beam coffee with.. Only way we can insure the good coffee taste we enjoy...

I have on occasion dug a small waste water pit for black water up in the high country...

Always aware of what is allowed where we are camping.

Most of our outings are around 4-5 days but have on occasions stayed a full 12-14 days. This is about how long I can do the 50% to 90% re-charge cycles of my batteries every morning for three hours and not do harm to them. A full recharge of my battery bank takes around twelve hours which is more time that is usually allowed at most camp sites to run my generator so this is a good time to move places.

Roy Ken

[westend]

otrfun wrote:
Lotta discussion and solutions pertaining to solar, generators, huge battery banks, and bulk/boost capable converters keeping everyone powered off the grid.

For those spending more than a weekend dry camping, what kind of creative solutions are available to handle waste and freshwater issues?

Creative? Pump your grey water through filters to a black colored tank on top of the RV. Pipe the tank water down to a shower head. Enjoy your solar heated shower while saving water. 🙂

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I essentially go for 2 weeks at a time on my fresh water and waste tanks. Then I go to the last free dump site in Regina. Fresh water I get from friends.

[Old-Biscuit]

Large capacity waste tank and fresh water tank....can go over a week

Otherwise......
Waste totes
Water bladder tanks in back of truck
5 gallon bottles

Packing up and gong to dump site when tanks are full.
Then stopping off by spigot and filling fresh water tank on way back to camp site