# Dry Camping Questions



## sheplady (Aug 24, 2010)

Hi Everyone,

Haven't posted in a while but my husband and I just got back from our first 5 day camping trip of the season with our 2004 RSS.....

Sooo my husband and I have found this awesome spot to camp. The owner of the property mainly rents to tenters but we have worked out a deal with him to camp there for the season for a reasonable price. I can bring all my dogs and even got to walk the 120 acres and pick where I wanted my spot! We have lake access and incredible views. That's the good news! The bad news is we have to dry camp! Yup for the entire season. If we like it there and plan to stay there is talk about getting us water and electric but since that is a long way off we will have to adapt. So I've done research we have a generator so battery is not an issue, this weekend we worked out how to go about refilling our fresh water tanks and what to do about grey water but I do have a couple of questions and hopefully your answers will help make our season even better.

1. Anyone know exactly how big my fresh water, grey water and black water tanks are? For some reason I can't find that information in any of my guides...

2. There are port-o-johns around but I'm already over that so we need to come up with a good solutions for holding tanks. Suggestions? I've looking into the portable ones and can certainly do that (there is a place to dump) but seems like the biggest size I can get is a 42 gallon anyone know how long that takes to fill up? Also I've found this holding tank on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RV-Holding-Tank-60-Gallon-30-X56-X9-Black-Gray-Water-New-End-Drain-312-/111110382752?pt=Motors_RV_Trailer_Camper_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item19deb1e4a0

Anyone ever use one of these? Do you have to have running water to pump that out or can a septic company come and pump it out for you?

OK think that is it for now...we are braving a new experience with this but if it all works out we will have an awesome site and tons of fun and acres of wildlife to enjoy for years to come!

Thanks for all your advice and suggestions,

Linda


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

What year is your Outback? You should be able to use this link....but change the year to match yours
http://keystone-outback.com/?page=specs&year=2004

If you can get a service to come to your RV and empty the tanks....do that!! They won't need any water to do the job, but having some fresh water to put into the tank during the process will help flush out more "Klingons"


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Re: portable holding tank transfer units: Remember that water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon. So if you have a 42 gallon unit, and transfer, say, 40 gallons, the unit will weight 320 pounds. That's a heap.

I've seen folks unhitch their TT and literally tow the transfer unit behind their TV to the dump site!

My unit is 25 gallons, and I seldom fill it, so maybe I'm hauling 20 gallons, i.e., 160 pounds. That's a lot of weight to drag, and of course the road will be gravel, adding to your headache...

I suggest that unless you intend to tow the transfer unit over to the dump site, you get a max 25 gallon unit and don't fill it up. The weight will be prohibitive.

Oregon_camper above has the best idea--pay your friendly porta-potty guy to come to your site and haul away the black (and grey) tank contents. Life will be a lot simpler!


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## Jewellfamily (Sep 25, 2010)

I keep thinking of the Christmas Vacation movie where Eddie is standing outside his RV with his black tank hose in his bathrobe....


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