Make Dry Camping Easier

[ForestCreature]

Just wondering what you all do to make your trips easier...
 
 We have no weight or sway issues so more often than not we'll leave home with the water tank full. Also take along another 21 gallons for refilling the tank. I place the jugs inside the camper opposite the full tank to balance the load. This holds us for a 3 or 4  days, not having to hand pump the well. For refilling the tank we use a battery operated syphon pump like the ones for kerosene.
 
 I have also been known on longer trips to take those blue jugs along for the ride if we venture out for the day and beg for refills at gas stations. Haven't been turned down yet.
 
 Until the Emerald ash borer problem and quarentine in MI we used to take our wood too. Now we take the chainsaw. We can only take wood within the quarrentine areas borders.
 
 
 

[Fishin BC]

We tow ours with the tank full too and take along three blue jugs for filling.  But DH has to hoist them up and pour them in.  Or we top the tank off at the last rest area on the road before we pitch camp.  We have a small honda generated for charging battery.  Our battery use is mostly for the water pump.  I have three large battery lanterns, so we rarely use the lights in the PU.  Would really like to devel into some simple solar power?  Any suggestions?

[ForestCreature]

Would really like to devel into some simple solar power?  Any suggestions?

We have the ICP set up Costco offers.  When we got it it did not incllude that smaller panel, which is pretty much useless.  It keeps up with our use pretty darn good, even in the fall when we run the furnace at night. We usually get a full charge on the battery by early afternoon.[/color]
 
 We have it portable, not attached to the camper. We also used a heavier gauge wire than that kit comes with, making the loss of power thru the length close to none.  Makes it easier to reach the sun when we are under shade. We framed and hinged the panels so they
 fold up for easy travel and storage.
 
 There are many other systems out there you can either get a kit or piece it together. We went this route because our needs were simple and we wanted to keep the whole solar process simple as well.
 
 Charlie has some good solar links, maybe he'll post them here.
 
 Here are some pics of what we did with the panels.
 
 Open for use
 
 
 Folded for storage
 
 
 
 

[oldmoose]

When dry camping, I fill the tank at home and take 1-2 jugs with me. I usually take a folding hand truck to help carry water jugs if I need to refill the tank. I have a shower potty combo and we usually will use the shower so have to refill the tank at least once. No big deal if we're at a campground with water spigots. Just lift and pour. We have a 15 Gallon blue holding tank for our gray water.
 
I also have an extra group 29 battery that I hook up so I have plenty of juice. I do have a small genterator, but it's not enough to run the battery charger. There are a lot of nice Calif. State parks and beaches that have no hookups. A couple of them are closed due to flooding. One of our favorites is McGrath SB, but it was closed a while back. It tends to flood during heavy rains so the park service moved before the current storms went through. I'm sure most of it is under water now.
 
Moose

[Fishin BC]

Wow Marcy that is perfect!  Thanks for the link.  I think we will really look into this for our next Sierra trip.

[deniski]

We've only camped in one campground that had full hookups since we got the popup.  It was a great site with lots to do (Fort Stevens OR), but I've never camped with so many people in one place in my life!!!!  We are WAY more comfortable at primitive dry camp sites, which is a good thing since that's what we are surrounded by in Montana.  USFS campsites are everywhere here, and most have vaulted pit privies and a water pump and that's it.  OK by us.

I like the solar panel idea!  We really don't use much of our battery... just for lights and if it's REALLY cold, to run the thermostat to control the furnace....  but it would be nice to be able to recharge it during a trip....  We do recharge from the tow vehicle when we are moving between campgrounds too.   Normally we pull the pu without water in the tank and put it in after we get to the site.  We do carry jugs of water in the tow vehicle for drinking.  (We like the taste of our water from home better than most campground water.)

It's so cool here all year, expecially where we camp at higher altitutes, that we rarely get too hot and need a fan or anything.  But I can see it would be nice when camping in other places!  We use a 5 gal greywater contained connected to the sink drain... because it's easier to move than a bigger one.... it looks funny because it is really a red plastic gas can... but it's the only type we've found that would fit under our popup where the sink drains out!  I just hope people don't think we are dumping gasoline out when they see it!!  yuck!  That's the hardest thing about dry camping for me - where to dump your graywater...  there is NEVER a proper place to put it.  We have to find an isolated spot away from surface water and water sources and pour it out, which bugs me a bit.

[chasd60]

Soalr info and links
 http://www.where-rv-now.com/Notes/Solar/
 http://www.etaengineering.com/rv/intro.shtml
 https://shop.altenergystore.com/
 http://www.mrsolar.com/
 http://www.oksolar.com/rv/
 http://www.solarexpert.com/CatRV.html
 http://www.alfenterprises.com/solar/rv_solar_kits.htm
 http://www.scsolar.com/RVKits.html
 
 And the place I bought mine
 http://www.partsonsale.com/campers.html
 I have a hybrid and mounted them on the roof. I have what they call the DC2 kit which is 160 Watts. I had them keep the charge controller that it came with a bought one from the shop.alternergystore.com listed above.
 Interesting to see they have gone mainly to Shell panels, mine are Matrix which made my system 100% built in the USA.
 
 Prices run rampant on these so do a lot of research. The Costco deal looked pretty good and you can't beat the setup Marcy has for portability.

[tlhdoc]

I carry a couple of 6 gallon totes for filling the freshwater tank.  I also have a luggage carrier that I/kids can wheel the full container back to the campsite if they have water available.  I replaced the "first" bulb in both double ceiling light fixtures with LED bulbs , and I replaced the outside patio light with a LED light bulb to save battery power.

[ForestCreature]

I replaced the "first" bulb in both double ceiling light fixtures with LED bulbs , and I replaced the outside patio light with a LED light bulb to save battery power.

Did you have to replace the whole fixture, or do they make LED bulbs to fit the existing ones?  

[tlhdoc]

Just the bulb.  They make the LED bulbs with standard light bulb bases.  I have a picture of the led/incandescent lights on my webshots page.  The led is not as bright, but gives off plenty of light for general lighting in the PU.

[ForestCreature]

The led is not as bright, but gives off plenty of light for general lighting in the PU.

Perfect! As you know, we don't spend much time in the PU...even when it's raining. We find the existing lights to harsh and bright, this may be a nice compromise. We usualy use those small kiddie coleman battery lamps with the rheostat instead of the over head lights.

[Sport]

Hello all. Sport here. New to this forum. Glad to see a place for the dry campers. I've been dry camping in tents and the back of my pick-up for years. Almost purchased a wall tent this past summer, but ended up with a Jayco Baja instead. So, now I simply have a tent on wheels.  So far I love it.

All of my camping is primitive. I'm usually camping because I'm either hunting, canoeing, fishing, or all of the above. I camp in state forests. The place where I camp most often is in 42K acres with 100 sites spread throughout. Rarely do I have to be concerned about neighbors. Well away from the rat race. Sorry, but if I told you where it was....well,you know the next part.

I have a few things that are important to me when I'm hunting/dry camping. I have to eat right, be comfortable when I'm going to the bathroom (when I'm not in the woods), and be clean (except in the winter months).

 For eating right, I have a camp kitchen box that I built that sits in the back of my truck when I'm on the road.  At camp I attach the legs and then set up the rest of the kitchen.  My kitchen box contains everything imaginable (pots pans etc....to make the food prep as pleasurable as possible. It also houses my dutch oven.  I've also built 2 tables out of ply wood that I set up.  One of the tables has a hole which allows me to drop in an alum kitchen sink that I picked up at a flea sale. Over top all of this I erect my home made kitchen frame which I made out of metal conduit.  I then put my plastic top over the frame which I had made by a local craftsman.

  When the kitchen's done I move on to my home made bathroom/shower. First I cut a plastic 50 or 55 gal drum in half, attached a toilet seat and bingo. Dig my hole with post hole diggers. I also contructed a square frame out of conduit which has a show curtain attached at the top all the way around. Sit it over my hole with my plastic drum and let nature take its course.

To stay clean I use the same contraption as stated above.  Pick it up move it to a safe place away from potty area and attach my hot water on demand shower and start singing as loud as I can.  I wish I had pictures.  When I camp, I stay a min of 4 days.  My Baja is used only for sleeping, heating some water for tea or instant coffee (if hunting very early) and shaving.  Hope to hang out here and learn as much as I can.  Sport.

[ForestCreature]

Hi Sport & welcome!!
 
 Sounds like you have quite the kitchen set up. Our kitchen box is a small rubbermaid bin that holds a few spare paper items, most everything is in the camper and I drag it out as needed. It usualy amounts to the seasonings and maybe a fry pan. The majority of our cooking is done over the fire on a tripod. This helps keep down washing dishes, as well as the food tastes sooooo good over the fire.  We do have a Road Trip grill, it's our glorified stove and griddle for pancakes...have yet to grill on it. We keep things pretty simple so the set up is minimal. The quickshade usualy dosen't come out unless there is a threat of rain.
 
 Kind of spoiled on the shower and potti, we have that in the Aliner and utilize both. We got those mainly because the big majority of our camping is dry. I LOVE having my own pot to pee in!!  Big step up from the tent!
 
 
 That Baja looks like a pretty neat set up (we peeked in on at last years camper show)...we really liked the platform in the front.
 

[Tentcamp]

Marcy, where did you get the battery operated syphon?  We have been looking all over for one, the regular ones you have to have the water higher than the opening and as you know water is HEAVY, we ended up using a funnel and spilled a lot.  Adding water is the hardest part of the camping trip!  

[ForestCreature]

I have seen them at Home Depot or Lowes type places. I got ours at Meijers.
 My guess is WalMart would have it to.
 
 Look near either the hardware dept or near where they keep the kerosene heaters.
 
 I grab an extra to keep on hand when they go on clearance at the end of the heating season.