Water Management

[Dray]

We mostly dry camp which means being smart about the water.  Since I got my PU I have been trying to work out a system for getting water into the PU during the trip.  Because the inlet for the water is vertical I have to use a funnel, which is kind of tricky cause I have to hold the funnel while pouring in the water.  Until now!  I found the perfect funnel at Camping World.  It was $7 but I didn't care.  It has a farely big funnel part with a long stem which is bent at 90 degrees.  It sits in there just right and so I don't have to hold it.  It's also so big that I can pour the water in as fast as I want.  YEAH.  

If you go to Camping World website and search for "Funnel" you'll find it.

[chasd60]

Good deal!!
 
 
My water inlet is near the front of my hybrid. I have a 40QT cooler, that I sanitize each spring, and I put a clear hose on the outlet. I drive to the water faucet, fill the cooler and drive back to the camper. The combination of my truck height and the 2X4's I put under the cooler allow it to gravity feed into the tank.

[kampingkoge]

Walmart sells a 6 gal water container with an attached spout that fits right into the water inlet on the camper.  They are like 6 dollars each and are hard sided.  I have 4 of them which I fill at home and take to the camper which is on private property, we dry camp all the time.

[mike4947]

Chas a man after my own heart. Since I don't have anything stable that's high enough to gravity feed (and I'm not about to lift anything anyway) I found a kayak/canoe bulge pump works wonders on transfering water. The good ones pull about a quart a stroke and no funnels, lifting, or balancing acts needed. I stole Oz's or someone's idea about the fold away luggage cart to transport the water from the water point. Just drop the pump in your favorite container, stick the hose in the country water fill opening and a few pumps and your done.

[jdonham]

Try this!! Just picked it up on Saturday. Tried it out and it works great. Not the fastest thing but emptied a 7 gallon container in about 5 mins.

Pump

[flyfisherman]

Fortunately for me my little Starcraft has the portable 5/gal water reservoir - and they stow under and just to the left of the sink. When one runs out, switch to the other and take the empty out to re-fill. And they are easy to clean by being able to take them outside.

Usually when I'm really boondocking, back in some national forest, it will be next to some mountain stream or river. And, most always I'm after trout, which only live in clean water, so that means the dish water, my personal wash/shave water (who shaves while fishing?) - comes from the stream. Of course, the water is boiled first ... in fact ... the coffee water comes from the stream! As anyone knows the stream or river will not render up any of it's best trout if one does not celebrate by drinking coffee made of it's waters! Oh, by the way, for all the dainties on the board ... we only drink cowboy coffee!





Fly

[tlhdoc]

I use the plastic green 6 gal water totes from Wal-Mart.  They have a spout that fits in my filler hole.  The hardest thing for me is keeping the little vent plug out of the vent hole.  The air sucking into the tote wants to pull the plug back into the hole.  It takes about a minute to empty the tote into the water tank.  I also use a luggage cart to haul my freshwater tote, grey water tote and my cassette to the dumpstation.

[minerz]

Tracy,
I have the same jugs as you. I just pull the vent plug out pour in the water and put the plug back in. Saves me time and fighting that darn little plug. Happy camping.

[fritz_monroe]

I use an Igloo 6 gallon jug.  I also made up a water transfer pump out of the ShurFlo pump that I replaced with a WhisperKing.  Works great.

I thought about just using one of the pumps like linked to above, but I don't like the idea of using something that is not designed to be used with fresh water.

[Lifeangel1]

Try this!! Just picked it up on Saturday. Tried it out and it works great. Not the fastest thing but emptied a 7 gallon container in about 5 mins.

Pump

They have these at Kmart on clearance for $ 2.50. They are regularly 24.99. Haven't tried it yet. (Forgot to buy batteries). They call it a Cooking Oil Filter pump. It's exactly the same thing. It was in the sporting goods department.

[tlhdoc]

Tracy,
I have the same jugs as you. I just pull the vent plug out pour in the water and put the plug back in. Saves me time and fighting that darn little plug. Happy camping.

I have used the jugs for years and didn't know you could get the vent plugs out.  Thanks for the tip.