Smaller Holding Tanks...What to do when NO hookups??

[Baja_Man]

So we made compromises....smaller TT, lighter weight, easier to tow, easier to access locations, etc. Smaller, lighter TTs usually equals less CCC which equals smaller holding tanks.

The new to me TT has holding tank capacities as follows:

Fresh: 37ga
B/G: 30ga

Brochure on TT states 50 on fresh, but called Keystone, and per VIN, it is 37.

We mainly camp where there are full hookups.
Some state parks offer water and gray, but no black.

But when we do want to go where there are no hookups, how can we handle the limited tanks?

We travel most of the time with 3 adults......4 on occasion.

Thoughts?

[Baja_Man]

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions. Got it....t's all about compromises!
Lots of great ideas. I'll use the ones that apply to the scenario and work for us.

[mr_andyj]

IF you want to boondock for as long as possible then you compromise on the things that will otherwise end your trip. Camping at a campground or camping for one night is a lot different than boondocking where there is no water, no hookups, no electricity. Water, then power (unless solar or gen) then propane dictate your stay length. Carry extra or use less.

**also, Toadtoes, your 20 gallon tank might hold 20 gallons but the outlet to the water pump is an inch high, so there could be 1-2 gallons (more if the outlet is higher) left in the tank when you run dry. Then you have to tilt the trailer to get a little more...Then there is that same 1-2 gallons or more of dead air at the top if the air vent is on the side of the tank as many are. so you have 2 gallons of unreachable water at the bottom topped off by 2 gallons of useless air at the top, so, yes, your 20 gallon tank could be as you say...

[toedtoes]

Huntindog wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

kellem wrote:
Never heard of so much compromising to go camping.....flush toilet with dish water, shower with a baby wipe.
How about dishes with black tank ? Lol
Sorry

RVs can vary from having a 4gal cassette toilet only to a 15-100gal black tank plus a 15-100gal gray tank.

My Momentum has a claimed 104 black, 104 grey,155 fresh.... And to top it off, it actually holds more in all tanks than claimed.... I measure it when new, so I know where I stand. Have done this on all of my RVs, and this is the first one to exceed the claims. All of the others fell short of spec.

My trailer has a 20gal fresh tank that only holds 15-18gal and a 20gal grey tank plus a cassette toilet.

This shows just how much capacities vary.

[Huntindog]

toedtoes wrote:

kellem wrote:
Never heard of so much compromising to go camping.....flush toilet with dish water, shower with a baby wipe.
How about dishes with black tank ? Lol
Sorry

RVs can vary from having a 4gal cassette toilet only to a 15-100gal black tank plus a 15-100gal gray tank.

My Momentum has a claimed 104 black, 104 grey,155 fresh.... And to top it off, it actually holds more in all tanks than claimed.... I measure it when new, so I know where I stand. Have done this on all of my RVs, and this is the first one to exceed the claims. All of the others fell short of spec.

[mockturtle]

In much of the West we conserve water. YMMV.

[toedtoes]

kellem wrote:
Never heard of so much compromising to go camping.....flush toilet with dish water, shower with a baby wipe.
How about dishes with black tank ? Lol
Sorry

A lot of this is just the era. Growing up, when we camped, we didn't have showers at the campground. Getting dirty was part of camping. At the end of the week, you sloughed all that dirt off in the shower when you got home.

Prior generations took a bath once a week. Nowadays, many people take two showers a day.

And people now use the term "camping" to mean other than spending time out in the wilderness.

Add to that, "campgrounds" can include anything from a single pit toilet to multiple shower rooms and laundry facilities. There may or may not be hookups.

Depending on the region and/or climate (or individual camping site), water may be in endless supply or may be limited to what you carry with you upon arrival.

RVs can vary from having a 4gal cassette toilet only to a 15-100gal black tank plus a 15-100gal gray tank.

The number of people in a single RV can range from one to 8-10 people and the RV size may not be in direct proportion.

All that means is that for some, water conservation is a big deal and for others it is completely unnecessary.

[JRscooby]

kellem wrote:
Never heard of so much compromising to go camping.....flush toilet with dish water, shower with a baby wipe.
How about dishes with black tank ? Lol
Sorry

Do you understand that much of the world, even parts of this country, water is of value high enough that it is used as little as possible?
Next time you take a shower at home, use a bucket to catch what you run down the drain just because the pipes are full of room temperature water.
The mantra about black tanks is use lots of water. Some talk of adding detergent to keep sensors working. What is the harm in adding what you washed off dishes too?
The toilets in my parents RV had 2 levers. They interlocked, but you could run water into the bowl without opening the gate at the bottom. After a wizz, both levers to MT then rinse the bowl, then just cover the bottom. Before 2, run water into the bowl so there would be enough to carry the corn-backed rattler into the tank. Why does that water you plan to mess in need to be clean?
To do dishes you start with a pan of hot soapy water, right? After you wash dishes, rinse them off, and catch that rinse water. What is in that water? A little dish soap. Next time you need to do dishes, boil a pot of water, add to the rinse water you saved, more soap, and you are starting same place as before.

[kellem]

Never heard of so much compromising to go camping.....flush toilet with dish water, shower with a baby wipe.
How about dishes with black tank ? Lol
Sorry

[mr_andyj]

I can shower, cook, clean on 1 gallon a day. Drinking /cooking water is not out of the camper tank, so that does not count.
I come back in the evening dirty and nasty sweaty so it is a legit shower.
Use kids shampoo. It will suds up less and is easier to rinse.
Don't wash hair every shower unless you got dirty or sweaty.
There are water saving shower methods where you can shower with very little water.
Do not heat water for a shower, suffer and be glad to get out of the cold water, you will use less water.
Turn off toilet water. Put a bucket of old dish water for the flush and a jug for the guys, or if you can't salvage flush water then use a plastic bag for the black water/affluent so you use no water.
Do not run water for brushing teeth. Use a small cup to rinse mouth, and a drop of water to rinse off toothbrush.
Don't wash your hands. Use wipes or a gel dispenser, it will clean better anyway.
And of course bring extra jugs of water.

My fav tip is to use a Lifesaver Jerrycan water purifier. Take water from any source like a stream and filter it and put this back into your camper water tank. The base model Lifesaver filter can do 10,000 gallons before needing replacement. The life is 3 years, it will be very hard to reach the 10,000 limit in 3 years, even full-timing in the RV.

[Sjm9911]

With a 30 grey and 30 black you can last a bit. I can easily go 4 to 5 days with 3 people if i use the campground showers and conserve a bit. You could wash dishes in a seprate bin and use the water to put out your fire at night. I run out of freash before i fill the tanks, usally. Sometimes the kido leaves the taps open more then needed. The grey will fill up before the black. So i use the black tank for overflow,think pasta water, unfinished drinks, etc.

[Grit_dog]

^So despite your lauded water conserving techniques (aka use someone else’s water….) your story is A. Not even remotely answering the question. And B. A completely different set of circumstances than the OPs.

[toedtoes]

With my trailer, the fresh is 20gal but only holds about 15-18gal. The gray is 20gal and I have a cassette toilet.

That's the camper I take on sightseeing trips. I use campground facilities for showers. Only use the cassette toilet for nights and if going to the facilities is inconvenient. A 6gal grey tote and six 2.5gal aquatainers (filled at home).

That gets me through about 8 days without any other water conservation.

I usually use one aquatainer for pet water bowls and one for my drinking water. The other four are used to refill the tank. I have a long large funnel (advertised for frat parties on Amazon) for filling. It works great.

[Mel_Stuplich]

Baja Man wrote:
So we made compromises....smaller TT, lighter weight, easier to tow, easier to access locations, etc. Smaller, lighter TTs usually equals less CCC which equals smaller holding tanks.

The new to me TT has holding tank capacities as follows:

Fresh: 37ga
B/G: 30ga

Brochure on TT states 50 on fresh, but called Keystone, and per VIN, it is 37.

We mainly camp where there are full hookups.
Some state parks offer water and gray, but no black.

But when we do want to go where there are no hookups, how can we handle the limited tanks?how can we handle the limited tanks?

We travel most of the time with 3 adults......4 on occasion.

Thoughts?

Dump often.

[afidel]

Baja Man wrote:
As far as gray / black water…
Are the portable dumping totes exclusive to its contents ( one for gray and separate one for black) or does one tote handle both?

Storage could be an issue? How do you carry and store when traveling?

I would put both in my Barker, but honestly haven't seen a need as even 15 gallons of black will last forever if you're only using it for nighttime/emergency use.

As far as carrying additional fresh, we've got collapsible 5 gallon containers that we fill when we're traveling in the winter and don't want to have water in the tank or pump, a couple of those would work and with a funnel it would be fairly easy to add to the fresh tank (or you could use them for your drinking/bathroom flushing and use the tank water only for sink/shower duty).