RE: Dry camping

[cam]

 
Dry camping wasn t an option with our old PU, so if electricity wasn t an option we didn t camp there.  Of course we had to pass on some of the niced camping areas because of this.  With the new PU , we do have a deep cycle battery, 3 way refer (I assume we will run it on propane when dry camping), power demand pump for the 20 gallon water storage, fan operated air vent (both of these will suck power).  No air conditioner and assuming we didn t use the furnace and that we are reasonably conservative with the lights useage.....how long have you " dry campers"  been able to last before a power outage??

[cb]

 cam
Dry camping is the best!  It does take a little more careful planning for food, making coffee and drying hair!  There are two of us who usually dry camp, and we can make it at least five days before running out of juice.  We are stingy with lights in the evening, using lanterns and flashlights some of the time.  We find that our Coleman Extreme coolers keep us from worrying about our unreliable 3-way refrigerator.  (We went through 3 refrigerators in 4 years.)  All that being said, I have to tell you about DS and new DIL s trip late in the fall the year they were married.  We loaned them the popup and they blissfully took off for one last trip to the Sierras before winter blew in.  They failed to charge the battery before leaving!  It was dead as a doornail.  The lights and heater failed to work at all as the snow came down and the ranger came around to warn them of bear sightings!  DIL s stock rose as she put on every stitch of clothes she had taken and settled in the down sleeping bag with a good book when it was light.  They laugh about it now, but it was NOT real funny then!

[Jeffrey]

 cam
We don t spend much time inside during the day - So not much fan use.
 
 But we have lights at night and furnace when needed during the nights (not real cold weather) And the water pump runs whenever needed, Ref is on propane.
 
 So far we haven t run out of battery power yet, on 3 day weekends.
 
 I don t know the specs on the battery, it was whatever came with the PU.

[Opie431]

 cam
Ours has lasted for five days, but that was in August near the bottom of Hudson Bay where there was light late at night and early in the morning.  We have two fans from our tent camping days that run by battery, they take a lot of them but it can run for about eight hours. (not that we needed them) Because no one could not use park water at that time we carried water and did not use the water pump. As I never do dishes inside I did not miss the running water and we have not bothered to since.

[tlhdoc]

 cam
I have group 31 batteries and have had one still going after 13 days of use.  We were stingy with lights and fans, but did use them.  We used the battery for lights, fans and the water pump.  Washing dishes and over 20 showers during the stay.  The battery was real low, but still working when we left for home.  We carry a spare (or two) battery and didn t need to use it.  The reserve capacity on the batteries is 205 minutes or 210 minutes.  I don t remember which off of the top of my head.

[ThunderRock]

 cam
Ditto on the stiginess for the battery. Our biggest challenge is late fall for hunting; could be cold or warm, run furnace or not. Keep foods cold outside in coolers or just run the ol  propane in the frig.
 Since it gets darker ealier, we tend to leave a light on to see everything. Sometimes, we ve been known to jump the battery to make it through the night. Also, we try to conserve the electric water pump, so we wash dishes outside. HTH.