# Dry Camping



## roo camper (Sep 17, 2008)

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their dry camping tricks to make life a little easier? I will be going on a four day dry camping trip with the wife and the HD. I have thought about making some modifications but I will only go dry camping once or twice a season.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

Oh Oregon_Camper where are you? King of dry camping, your knowledge and wisdom on how NOT to plug in or hookup in needed!


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## phxbrit (Jul 24, 2007)

I've never been to a hookup camp site or done any real mods. So, without the comparison, I imagine that it's all about conserving battery power and water. We use candles for continuous lighting at night and turn the lights on for a specific task . You'll need a generator to charge you batteries. Don't take a shower unless you need it and take it navy style. Don't watch TV. It helps to have 2 6volt batteries, but 2 12volt batteries will be fine. I would probably not do it with a single 12volt battery. Nothing real surprizing.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Ah...dry camping!!! YEA!!!

Four a short 4 day trip, you shouldn't have to worry about too many changes.

Water - Fill up your water and propane prior to leaving. Don't count on having water at the site. If you think you will need more water than what you can carry in the Outback, get 1-2 of those 7 gallon containers and a nice deep funnel. I had to fill up my Outback 1 time on our last 11 day dry camping trip. A case of bottle water also helps and it tastes better. Showers must be "Navy Showers"!!!










Grey Tank - Not sure what will be around you, so bring a small container to drain some grey water. If there is a location to dump grey....they use that. If not, you can dump it into the campground toilet or pit toilet. Or if it is dry...just find a location away from a water source and dump it. I see people with portable showers, so I have no shame in dumping my grey water when possible. Again, don't dump around a water source (stream...creeek...lake). If you're really remote, one of these works great to drain the grey water...simply attach an old hose...place hose in dry location and let it rip.
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-39463-Sewer-Ho...n/dp/B000BQKBP2









Black Tank - This one is easier than you think. Just use the campgrounds facility during the day and the trailer at night and when you wake up. I know it isn't always as nice as your warm/fancy Outback, but it won't be that bad. Super easy for the guys. I would NEVER suggest trying to empty any Black Tank contents while camping. Just wait until you get to a dump station.

Power - Get a a battery powered lantern....only turn on lights when needed....don't leave the lights on around the trailer....remove one of the two light bulbs in each light. You can also bring along a second battery and simply switch it out if you need more power. With just the two of you on this trip, you should be fine with one battery fully charged.

Cooler - If you're bringing a cooler on the trip, you'll want to Pre-Cool it before you fill it with food/drinks. I get mine out about 48hrs before we leave...put 4 frozen milk containers (now with water) in the cooler to get them Pre-Cooled. When we are ready to leave I swap out the 4 "old" ones with new one and it REALLY helps save on ice.

I could go into a lot of other things to do (solar...LED lights...generator...2x6v battery...accumlator tanks...etc) but you said you were only going to dry camp 1-2 times a season and the cost to do the extreme stuff I do, might be too much for your needs.

If you have more questions...please ask.


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## Ridgway-Rangers (Apr 18, 2008)

Oregon_Camper said:


> Ah...dry camping!!! YEA!!!
> 
> I could go into a lot of other things to do


Jim, please go on.








actually what he said x2.

We do the same with our grey water. We use bio-degradable soap so we don't worry.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

IMO, if you are careful with water, lights, and don't need the furnace, you shouldn't have to do anything. We used the OB (inlcuding toilet) for 4 days often before we would have to dump. Our largest useage was actually the kitchen sink, so paper plates help a lot!

This year, for drinking water, we got a 5 gallon jug (like Jim suggested), and then set that on the counter. That water was poured into a Brita pitcher, and the resulting quality was equal to bottled IMO.


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## roo camper (Sep 17, 2008)

Thank you for your input, the obvious to you is not to me, so everything helps. What about the fridge? Does it use too much propane for 4 days? I do have a little 1500 watt generator that I can charge the battery with and keep the wife's hair properly done. Should I pick up another battery? what would it accomplish?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

roo camper said:


> Thank you for your input, the obvious to you is not to me, so everything helps. What about the fridge? Does it use too much propane for 4 days? I do have a little 1500 watt generator that I can charge the battery with and keep the wife's hair properly done. Should I pick up another battery? what would it accomplish?


The fridge doesn't use much propane. We drained our first tank on this trip, but it had been used for the furnace for a few nights last fall, a few nights this spring and then the stove, fridge and WH for the first 2 weeks of our trip. The only appliance that really eats the propane is the furnace in the winter. As for the battery, I'd recommend at least one good battery (read deep cycle, not a "marine/starting" hybrid battery). Then you could top up the battery with your generator. 2 batteries will give you longer running time on lights and such, but they should be the same general age if tied together, so unless your battery is weak, and if you are ok with topping it up using the generator, I'd just do that.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

we have gone 4 days, with four kids, and the water tank held enough for us, and we did not fill our holding tanks.

We take two or three 5 gallon water jugs for back up.

Bird baths taken only once.

fill sink with water once a day for washing of dishes.

Propane Lanterns & Battery lanterns outside............if temperature is on your side................you really do not need to use much.......

We only do it once a year..............if that so we do not need to do much more than that..........if you were doing more, i would do more mods.....but for your little bit.......you will be fine!!


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## BlueWedge (Sep 11, 2005)

roo camper said:


> Thank you for your input, the obvious to you is not to me, so everything helps. What about the fridge? Does it use too much propane for 4 days? I do have a little 1500 watt generator that I can charge the battery with and keep the wife's hair properly done. Should I pick up another battery? what would it accomplish?


You should have plenty of propane for 4 days for the fridge, hot water and cooking. I think your limiting factor would be water/grey water for showers. The primary user of propane and batteries is the furnace. A generator would be a good backup.

Another thing I didn't see mentioned is that you can replace your light bulbs with smaller wattage bulbs. Here is a link to one thread discussing it. Link

Try one battery and if you find you need more juice for your dry camping needs then buy another. As others have stated they should be the same type and age.

Here is an informational link about rv 12 volt.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

BlueWedge said:


> .....
> Here is an informational link about rv 12 volt.


Ahh, but that is most useful for after you get hooked on dry camping!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Nathan said:


> .....
> Here is an informational link about rv 12 volt.


Ahh, but that is most useful for after you get hooked on dry camping!








[/quote]

Is there any other kind of camping?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Oregon_Camper said:


> .....
> Here is an informational link about rv 12 volt.


Ahh, but that is most useful for after you get hooked on dry camping!








[/quote]

Is there any other kind of camping?








[/quote]

Before we get too far along on this topic, let me qualify that statement just because I occasionally camp in Kentucky in "dry" counties... *I am in no way endorsing camping without Alchohol!







*


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## phxbrit (Jul 24, 2007)

Another less obvious thing about dry camping. Bring large trash bags. You will have to store your trash either in the trailer or in your vehicle. Left outside or in the bed of your truck is asking for visitors.

Are you going to be in a campground without hookups, or are you going to be in the boonies without anything? Can you build a fire? If you can build a fire, bring some dry wood. Even if there is plenty of wood to scavenge, it might be wet and you will need one stack of dry wood to dry out the next stack. A small tarp is good to keep the wood you just dried out from getting wet again (or once dry and no longer smoldering, store it under your trailer). Use paper products that you can burn instead of throw away - this helps reduce your water use and trash buildup.

Also in the boonies there is no one to offer you a beer - so bring your own.

My wife and I go through about a 1/3 tank of fresh water in a weekend. On Sunday we take longer showers knowing we have plenty of water. You really shouldn't have any problem lasting 4 days.

Another thing you can do is wash the dishes in the sink outside, then throw the water away or in the black tank.

Another thing about boon docking. The ground is probably going to be uneven. Use wheel chocks when you unhook you vehicle, as the trailer often shifts and the 2x4s most people put under the crank shaft just roll over and then your crank shaft is buried in the ground. You're wife will probably be inside and have given out a good scream by now. Theoretically this could happen and it will probably be raining at the time. A couple 4x6 laid flat are a decent base. Drill a shallow recess larger than the diameter of the shaft in one of the blocks. This will help reduce shifting as you move the trailer up and down. Bring plenty of blocks of wood if you are boon docking. You may need to bring the nose up quite a ways to get the trailer level and the higher you have to crank up on the shaft, the more unstable it gets. All of which could leave you buried in the ground again. Did I mention you need an extra jack stand, and not the bottle type, as you can't get them far enough under the nose of the trailer to lift it out of the mud. I'm just saying. These are the kind of things a dumb boondocker might do.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Nathan said:


> .....
> Here is an informational link about rv 12 volt.


Ahh, but that is most useful for after you get hooked on dry camping!








[/quote]

Is there any other kind of camping?








[/quote]

Before we get too far along on this topic, let me qualify that statement just because I occasionally camp in Kentucky in "dry" counties... *I am in no way endorsing camping without Alchohol!







*
[/quote]

Is there any other kind of camping?


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## roo camper (Sep 17, 2008)

Thanks to everyone for your advice, bring extra water, garden hose, flash lights, extra cribbing, paper products, frozen milk jugs and wood. Anything else please post it, I have a little over a week before we leave. The beer and the Rum; well I have two coolers set aside for that purpose







. I had my nephew an electrician look at the link and he said he could set me up with a good dry camping outfit for 1K , I am not that ready to put that into this camper maybe the next. Again thanks for your advice, what a great site!!


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## AZthunderations (Aug 21, 2008)

Even a little, cheapy, solar battery charger can gain you some extra time on the battery. Harbor Freight has them for around $20 or less. Go easy on the water and you can use the drain water from the coolers if needed. We usually freeze several containers of water each night to use in the coolers the next day. 4 days is a breeze with just minor conservation. Get up to 11 days to 2 weeks and you have to get real conservative. We always take an extra full LP tank (from backyard grille) as a back up and have the hoses to use it for our grille and coleman stove that we always take too. Campfires provide light and atmosphere, but cause drinking and story telling. Don't worry about it, you'll do fine and learn from this to make the next, longer, dry camp even better. We always note the nearest place where we can get water if needed and carry seveal 7 gallon blue containers for that purpose. Rain water is usable for cooking and cleaning too. The only electric you really, really need is to keep your fridge running on gas. Use battery laterns and flashlights. We find that we tend to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier, just to use the daylight that is free. Gray water may fill up faster then you think....you can always drain it into a bucket and pour it down the toilet......or dispose of it away from any water source if permitted. Just have fun..


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## SDCampers (Oct 29, 2008)

We are not veterans of the camping world, but we do have a few 3 day dry camping trips under our belt. We found that we needed to fill the outside sink for hand washing and leave it for the day to save space in the grey tank. Two of use each took Navy showers. As for batteries, I have two group 24 Interstate battteries and never came close to getting down. The first trip we did on one battery and even ran the furnace a bit. We have the stereo on most of the time we are in camp, and turn the lights on as needed with no problem. Last trip after three days we still had 2/3 on the indicator.
So I guess our biggest concern wassaving space in the grey tank. Last trip black tank showed 2/3 and we use the camper bathroom exclusively, maybe only one or two uses of the campground facilities. 
I had convinced my wife we really needed a generator, but I hauled it with us the first trip and never took it out of the truck. Now I eat crow and only use it to run the AC in the driveway to clean out the camper after return. (Have to justify keeping it)
Propane, we haven't even used one tank in three trips. That's using the fridge and water heater plus cooking. Beer is in the cooler on ice. I just like it that cold that it has to be on ice! Maybe that's why the stereo is on most of the time......it drowns out my singing.

Good luck.


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## W5CI (Apr 21, 2009)

I cant visualise how you would be able to dry camp without a gen set to run the AC, its 95 to 100 here in AR i dont think it would be much fun tring to stay cool under a shade tree


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

We have been dry camping since our tent, pop-up days, at times up to two weeks. We have a generator, the jugs, and a portable dump tank. We also got a second Shurflo pump to use when filling the fresh water tank. No lugging or pouring needed. We also got a Macerator a couple of years ago. DH absolutely loves it. With the low dump he even uses it at dump stations
We use all the facilities, we know they are clean, and just keep a watch on who full things are getting. The fridge will run super with no porblems as long as you have battery life and propane.

We don't camp without a/c in the summer, but oftentimes do camp with no water/sewer. Dry camping is for the spring and fall atfter it cools off outside.

Rita


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

I like the pre-cooling the cooler. I may even leave in a frozen gallon of water, I use ice like crazy in the summer. I keep it in the shade but we really need a bigger refrigerator.....the next camper.


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## JerseyGirl86 (Mar 30, 2009)

SDCampers~

We actually bought our generator during a power outage. The first time you use it during one of those, your wife will give you a big kiss







It was the smartest purcahse he ever made!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

JerseyGirl86 said:


> SDCampers~
> 
> We actually bought our generator during a power outage. The first time you use it during one of those, your wife will give you a big kiss
> 
> ...


Oh great...now you just reminded me I was going to install a separate circuit in our house for this.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

danny285 said:


> I cant visualise how you would be able to dry camp without a gen set to run the AC, its 95 to 100 here in AR i dont think it would be much fun tring to stay cool under a shade tree


Very Easy Solution!

Head North-West from your house. When you start feeling light headed from the 10,000 ft of elevation, just stop and find a place to camp. It will be nice and cool!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Nathan said:


> I cant visualise how you would be able to dry camp without a gen set to run the AC, its 95 to 100 here in AR i dont think it would be much fun tring to stay cool under a shade tree


Very Easy Solution!

Head North-West from your house. When you start feeling light headed from the 10,000 ft of elevation, just stop and find a place to camp. It will be nice and cool!








[/quote]

..or just drive to the PNW as we have almost no humidity, so heat isn't really an issue.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

Those little "stick-up" LED battery (AAA) lights are a great power saver; they'll run 3K hours on a set of alkalines; we use them everywhere; @ home for those nasty T-Storms. in dark closets, and in the camper for dry camping, it don't hurt too bad if you forget and leave one on. They're like 3 for $10 at any hardware store or wally world. even Ebay has 'em cheap.


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## KosinTrouble (Jul 18, 2005)

I was scared there for a second when i first saw this thread... Was thinking dry camping as in no wobbly pops and beers, got scared and was going to ask why anyone would do that!

JK, but I did find that if you switch lights to the LED's or if you pull one of the bulbs out the battery does last a lot longer. That and make sure the kids do not turn the light on inside the front storage area. Couldnt figure out why my batteries kept going down so fast then saw a light one night coming out of there and low and behold the light was on.

Kos


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

KosinTrouble said:


> I was scared there for a second when i first saw this thread... Was thinking dry camping as in no wobbly pops and beers, got scared and was going to ask why anyone would do that!


rest assure....that is NOT the case.


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## roo camper (Sep 17, 2008)

"I was scared there for a second when i first saw this thread... Was thinking dry camping as in no wobbly pops and beers, got scared and was going to ask why anyone would do that!"

Thats just crazy talk


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## amyk (Feb 13, 2009)

this was a great thread to read as we are dry camping for 5 days this coming weekend-ish, and although we've done dry camping in our tents and with the popup, was a bit worried about it with the OB as we've only had it since Feb and have always gone to 'real' campgrounds on our trip cross country lol

But I was just thinking we would conserve batteries by using LED flashlights to read by, use the campground facilities (very convenient as they are close by anyway), and keep dish washin to a minimum (yeah for paper plates and plastic-ware!!!)

Campfire and aluminum foil will cook most of our meals---gotta bring back all the good ol' campin days memories--gotten spoiled with my condo on wheels lol

it's all about having fun! and these are some great ideas---very helpful!

ps how hard is it and how expensive to switch lights over to leds--anybody have links to where they purchased and installing pics??


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