Boondocking is a wonderful thing. After all, what could be better than enjoying the great outdoors away from the hustle and bustle of a campground? The peace and amazing views that boondocking offers are incredible, and for many RVers, this is enough to make going without hookups worthwhile.
Fortunately, while camping with no hookups does take a bit more preparation, it doesn’t have to mean being uncomfortable. In fact, with the right setup, you can be perfectly comfortable camping completely off-grid.
There are two things you need to figure out to be comfortable while boondocking:
- How to charge your batteries.
- How to conserve both water and tank space.
Today we’re going to discuss the second one.
Below are our top tips for making your water and your tank space last during your off-grid camping adventures.
Make Use of Wipes
Showering uses enormous amounts of water. Take fewer showers and clean up during the in-between times with Venture Wipes and dry shampoo. Camping means being a bit dirty anyway, and these products should keep you clean enough to be comfortable for a day or two between actual showers.
Shower Quickly
When you do shower, do it as quickly as you can and take it outside if at all possible. Be sure to shut the water off while lathering up in order to avoid wasting it, and if you do shower outside, wear a swimsuit (in case of neighbors) and use only biodegradable soap in order to ensure no harmful chemicals are introduced to the environment.
Employ a Dishpan
When washing dishes, use the aforementioned biodegradable soap as well as a dishpan. After you’ve washed everything, you can use that dishwater for flushing your toilet. Simply turn off the water pump when you flush and dump a bit of water from the dish pan into the toilet bowl to help wash things down and help break down any solids.
Bring Jugs of Drinking Water
You can increase the amount of freshwater storage you have by bringing along jugs of water to use for drinking and cooking. This will leave the entire fresh tank for showering and dishwashing, helping it last much longer.
Invest in a Blue Boy and Bladder
Finally, if you plan on camping off-grid regularly, we highly recommend investing in a blue boy. This will allow you to dump your tanks right where you are and transport the waste water to a dump station without moving the entire rig. Check it out on Amazon.com here!
You may want to keep the blue boy in the bed of a truck and use a macerator pump to move the waste water from your tank into the blue boy, and again for the blue boy into the sewer dump. This will make transporting the water a much easier process.
In addition to the blue boy and pump, a water bladder can be extremely helpful as well, because it will allow you to carry tons of extra freshwater. Once again, a pump can be helpful in getting the water from one place to the next, but in the case of freshwater, we recommend a food-grade pump.
About the author: Chelsea Gonzales
Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family.
You can join her adventures through her blog, Wonder Wherever We Wander.
Daniel B. ~ “Your staff was very friendly! They were helpful and assisted me through a situation I otherwise did not know how to deal with. I cannot imagine ever being without Coach-Net again.“
I live in Vancouver, Canada, and we are blessed here with literally some of the best quality drinking water on the planet. Because of this, I always fill my RV fresh water tank when I am travelling to areas that may have harder water. We do this so we have the option of running the water pump instead of park water if we so desire. My family and I are not accustomed to the water in other parts of North America that has more mineral content. Regardless of the quality of water you are using in your coach, there are some tips and tricks to maintaining your fresh water system.
It is a good idea to use a water filter with your RV. These range in price and complexity from inexpensive single-stage units to much more expensive multi-stage water filters. They can also be permanently mounted inline to the plumbing, or temporarily installed on the delivery faucet or water hose. Since RV travelers will be exposed to a wide variety of water sources while traveling, water filters provide protection and peace of mind from water-borne chemicals and diseases and will provide clean, clear drinking water. The standard protection offered by water filters is against bacteria, chemicals, lead, odor, chlorine, fungicides, sediment, iron, mercury, and aluminum. As a result, filtered water also tastes better. Multi-stage filters really need only be used in high-risk areas, with single stage filters being just fine in most cases. RV parts retailers will sometimes have many different filters available, so I generally advise people to consider mainly budget (price) and style (inline vs. external).
If you want a shorter disinfectant time, increase the chlorine solution outlined above to 100ppm by increasing the bleach component to ½ cup per 15 gallons. In this case, the solution only needs to remain in the fresh water system for 1 hour. Once the chlorine solution has remained in the water system for the required time, drain and flush the system with potable water a few times. You can also disinfect the fresh water hose by following the same procedure. Fill the hose with the solution, attach the ends together, and let it sit.