RE: What is the easiest way....

[JemJen24]

 
to fill up the water container in the pop up when camping without a water hose line?  
 
 We ll be at a campground next month in Colorado that DOES have water, but not at every site.  You have to go get it and bring it to your site.  We ve never even used our onboard water container.  Is it removable/portable?  Or do you just use a type of funnel to get the water in from the outside of the camper where the filling line is?
 
 I m very sure we won t be popping down, driving to the water station, connecting, filling up,and popping up again.  WAYYYY toooo much work!
 
 Oh, and how do generators work, what s a good brand, and what do you recommend for running everything in the camper (lights, ac, and skillet/coffee maker). ..how much do they usually cost?
 
 Jennifer

[Kelly]

 JemJen24
[font=" comic sans ms" ]My motto while camping is keep it simple ...   I have a collapsible water jug (5 gallon, I think) that I keep stashed in the PU.  If we re someplace that doesn t have convenient water hookups I just fill the jug at the tap and carry it back to the site.  Reminds me of my tent camping days! []
 
 To be honest ~ we ve never used our water holding tank ... this way works much better for us and we don t have to worry about making sure all the water is out of it at the end of the season!  (simple and lazy ~ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah me [])[/font]

[birol]

 Kelly

 

ORIGINAL:  Kelly
 (simple and lazy ~ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah me [])[/font]
 

Sign of a real camper I would say []

[Danusmom]

 JemJen24
We use a blue 7 (5 gal. ?) gallon water container with spout & strap it to a luggage roller.   Sometimes I don t fill it all the up so that I can still lift the sucker & pour into our tank without spilling.  A former PUT member " Oz&Us"  has a picture on his web site.  I ll post the link once I find his site, again.
 
 Peace be with you all.
 
 PS  Here s " Oz&Us"  webshots page.  Check out the series of pictures with captions starting with " Fresh water..."  caption under the picture of the 2 adorbable boys.
 http://community.webshots.com/album/62390465qMMkCP

[slowpez]

 JemJen24
We side with Kelly.  We don t fill the PU water tank anymore.  Tried it once and just hated it.  It is hard to lift the container to pour it into the holding tank; it s hard to pump the water out of the tank to use it, and it s hard to sanitize the tank after it has been used.  We prefer to use a container with a spout on it and we have two.  We keep on inside the PU on top of the stove and hanging over the sink and one outside the PU on a table next to the outdoor stove for washing dishes, etc.  Much easier.
 We don t use a generator.  If we don t have hook-ups we use the battery sparingly.  Otherwise we just pretend we are in a tent with wheels.  The heater and the AC just aren t used without hook-ups.
 
 Susan

[mike4947]

 JemJen24
let s see generators, only really one choice the Honda EU line from 1k watts to 3 K.
 Not cheap expect to pay $800 plus for one.
 Also remember they can t be used during quiet hours.
 As for water when there are fill points we use anything that ll carry the water, but use a marine hand bilge pump, apx $20 to transfer the water to the PU tank. You stick the pump in the bottle/jug stick the hose into the filler on the PU tank and pump takes apx 3 pumps gallon so it transfers quick and no lifting.
 IIRC Sactocamper has a picture on his site of one he put together last year.

[JemJen24]

 JemJen24
thanks for all the info.  I did find the website with the hand bilge pump system and loved the idea.  Even emailed him to see if I could put it on my website.  Here s to hopin. ha!
 
 Thanks again!
 
 Jennifer

[Opie431]

 JemJen24
We do not fill our tank, we have a large container that I cannot carry when full and two smaller three gallon ones that I can manage.  I do not do dishes inside so we do not need running water inside.
 When we have to have a site that has a sunny area I put a water bottle in the sun and have warm water outside to wash hands, etc, with.

[Ab Diver]

 JemJen24
When camping at sites with water faucets located every 100  or so, we just use a 7 gallon blue jug to transport water back to the pop-up. We love having water for inside use (brushing teeth in morning, washing hands after porta potti use, etc). I use a funnel with a " bent"  tube portion so it slips into the water filling port on the trailer. The funnel also has a small slotted " handle" , I guess to hang the funnel on a wall. To prevent the *three-handed-shuffle* needed to hold the funnel upright and still use both hands to hold a liquid-filled container steady, I use Velcro tape. I glued a piece of the " hook"  portion to the trailer s rim where the roof rests, directly above the water intake. Then a piece of the " loop"  portion of the Velcro tape runs from the " hook" portion on the trailer, through the funnel s handle, and back up to the trailer again. Holds the funnel in place just as well as a second person could. Result, it s *much* easier for one person to add water to the trailer using a container.
 
 Otherwise, Sactocamper s Portable Pop-Up Pump is Practically Perfect. []
 
 It s gunna take a fairly large generator to run *everything*, including A/C, about 3-3.5K minimum. Honda s about the best on the market, both for durability and noise level. But a Honda generator in that size range (EU3000) is just *barely* portable. I can pick one up, but I wouldn t wanna pack it very far. This could be important if *you* are the person loading it back into the tow rig. []

[wssfetch]

 JemJen24
The dinky water tank came out of our camper to leave more room for storage.  When we don t have water hookup, I use one of those refrigerator bottles that has a little tap on it.  Sits on the counter with the tap over the edge of the sink. Easy to wash hands, get drink of water, brush teeth, etc.  And very easy to refill from a 7 gallon Aquatainer sitting under the awning.

[wssfetch]

 JemJen24
Oops, forgot about the generator question.  Use your battery to run lights.  Consider a percolator or the new stove-top drip coffee maker and use some of your propane for that.  Generator to run an AC unit or microwave would need to be BIG and remember that you d also need to haul all that gasoline with you to keep it running.  And they are noisy.  And heavy.  Instead you might want to look into 12 v fans and keeping your canvas open.

[Kelly]

 Ab Diver

 

ORIGINAL:  Ab Diver
 
 Otherwise, Sactocamper s Portable Pop-Up Pump is Practically Perfect. []
 
 

 [font=" comic sans ms" ]Awfully amazing and astonishingly awesome assemblage of alliteration, Ab Diver. [][][][/font]

[angelsmom10]

 JemJen24
We have a 15-18 gallon tank.  When we camp at a CG that does not have water hook-up, we stop at the faucet in the CG and fill the tank.  It last us for at least 3 days.  Last weekend, when we took 9 teenagers, we needed the tank refilled, and had the teens take our 5gl clear container up several times to fill the tank and used a funnel.  
 
 Worked great I didnt  have any trouble -- (the kids did it all[][])

[Ab Diver]

 Kelly

 

ORIGINAL:  Kelly
 
 
 

ORIGINAL:  Ab Diver
 
 Otherwise, Sactocamper s Portable Pop-Up Pump is Practically Perfect. []
 
 

 [font=" comic sans ms" ]Awfully amazing and astonishingly awesome assemblage of alliteration, Ab Diver. [][][][/font]
 

 
 Loudly laughing, lest less likely literary linguistics leave language lassitude!
 
 [][][]
 

[labontefan]

 JemJen24
I mostly camp at racetracks and those campgrounds don t have hookups. (Well, they do have some with hookups, but the fees are ridiculous!) If we re only going to be there a couple of days, we just use a couple of 4-gal. Aquatainers.
 
 When we camped at Charlotte this past May, we decided to use the holding tank since we were going to be there 10 days. On the way in, we stopped by the water/dump station and filled up the holding tank with a hose. We went back the next day and filled all Aquatainers (have about 4 or 5). We kept one on a table outside, so if we needed water outside we didn t have to go back into the camper. We intended to refill the holding tank with the others, but it didn t run out until the evening before we left.
 
 Since " quiet time"  is not much of an issue at the race tracks, a lot of people have generators.  I have a Kawasaki GE2900A. I bought it at the same time and from the same place I bought the camper--the RV dealer was selling a used one for someone. It was in great shape and I was able to order the owner s manual from Kawasaki. I paid $800 for it. The RV dealer told me it was a good price. Later on, I did a search online to see if it really was! That particular model sells for around $1200 new, so I guess I did get a good price. It s not terribly portable though! Weighs just over 100 pounds, so it takes two of us to move it around. It travels inside the camper...we slide it up to the front so the weight will be near the tongue. It fits very neatly in the space left in front of the bunk after we push the glide-out in.  It has two standard 110/120v plug ins and a big 20amp plug in. We use the 110/120v plugs for almost everything, but I m going to get an adapter plug for the 20amp connection so we can use the AC next month.