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Richard A We have been too conservative with regards to our gray/black tanks, we've gone several days with the fresh tank showing FULL, gray at 1/3 and black at 1/3. But now we have gotten over that. How do you know if the sensors are working correctly?
Hilarious! We just finished a 3-day trip with no city water connection and we did the “Navy shower” thing. This was our first trip without city water and we only used about 1/2 of our 45-gallon tank! I was amazed how long you can make your water last when you’re thinking about it. By the way, my Grandad was a Navy WW2 vet who told me about navy showers when I was a kid!
I use a Travel-size Berkey water filter for all my drinking water needs so I can use campground water, swamp water, or water from my fresh tank safely. Google “Berkey” and you’ll find out about the benefits. I’ve been fulltiming for over a year and it’s one of the best products I purchased for my RV.
Hi Dana, question, how do you carry/transport the Berkey Travel Size? Do you disassemble it, like remove the filters? We too have one but have yet to take it along due to the "support" of the filter issue. If I lay the top half tank on its side then the stress will be on the filter connections. Hope my question makes sense.
William Foster - Hi, I do NOT disassemble it in any way. I manage how full it is on the day before travel (allow only 2-3 inches of water in the dispensing chamber, and little in the filter chamber). My under sink cabinet is tall enough for me to stow the Berkey in the back corner, and it rides very well there. I have toyed with the idea of attaching straps somehow and leaving it on the countertop in a corner, but right now this is working well for me. Good luck! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!
My husband and I just want to say thank you for all your awesome and informative videos! We just bought a 29' 2005 RVision travel lite from a dealer and were terribly disappointed and frustrated that there was no manual in print or online available and the "walk through" at the dealership with our rookie salesman was a joke. He literally knew nothing about anything. We have learned so much through your videos!
Thanks for another great video. I do a lot of boondocking and when it comes to showering, I have noticed it takes a while for the hot water to get to my shower from the hot water heater in my vintage Airstream 310. I have measured the water it takes until the warm water starts flowing, and it comes to over a gallon. So, in order to save that water, I have a large plastic container where I point the shower nozzle into to save the fresh water. I then can either use it for my coffee, cooking, or simply reintroduce it back into my fresh water tank. I have found that method to save me a lot of water. I have calculated that when boondocking alone, I can stretch out my water to 2 weeks ....Russell D. in Olympia, WA
Two things learned on our first full time trip. 1. Make sure when flushing the black tank you allow ALL the extra water to run out ( I didn’t and got about 4 days before having to flush again). 2. We showered way too long. We did add brown lunch bags for unflushable items that goes into trash. This is very helpful and a good reminder
Once again an awesome video. As the wife and I do 99.9% of our camping in primative campgrounds we bought two 15 gallon water containers that I ratchet down in the truck bed. I also bought a small electric pump from Harbor freight to pump the water from them into our smaller two 5 gallon jugs. We use the the small 5 gallon jugs outside for washing our hands, face and cleaning up the small amount of dishes we use while eating. I have found Dawn dish soap works great for washing your hands and doing the dishes. That way we only have to have 1 type of soap outside, plus it's supposed to be safe for the environment. We will sometimes brush our teeth outside if we are in a primative camp ground. Also if the campground has bathrooms we use those during the day and only use our toilet during the night. Its amazing how much water we conserve in the trailer by using the two 15 gallon water containers and the campground bathrooms.
Also, start with plenty of water in the black tank. Don't worry so much about the black tank filling up. It won't fill as fast as the grey. When I am starting out on a trip, I fill the fresh tank, and also put 5-7 gallons of water in the black tank. Having plenty of water in there helps keep it in a liquid form. Another tip people don't think about is if you have a dump location at your next stop, like when you are going back home or to another campground, dump your black tank going in or some place back in your home town. This allows the black tank to slosh around on the highway, further breaking down the solids making for a cleaner flush out. So many people use their black tank at the campground, it just sits, then they drive 200 ft to the dump station and find there is the dreaded poo pyramid. Lots of water folks, and if you can, drive with the contents of the black tank.
joeuncoolio excellent advice. Only difference for us that if we know we can fill our fresh water when we get to our destination, we only carry enough FW to flush and rinse during travel. It cuts the weight of the rig drastically. But always, always keep a few gallons of water in the black tank. If you don’t, it will not end well for you🤢
Great advice! Just bought a 2017 Jayco Jayflight 28RLS that we are picking up in a couple of weeks (first RV). I grew up camping with my family but my dad never let us use the bathroom or shower (don't ask...lol). So, while I'm familiar with almost every other aspect of an RV-ing, using and maintaining the water tanks isn't one of those areas. Great vid and awesome advice (like this one) from commenters.
Thank you, Sean and Kristy for this video! You guys rock! You have taught us more about RV life than anyone else. You helped us out of a very stinky situation. We bought a used motorhome almost a year ago. It came with that blue stuff that you use in the black tank so we had been using it just because it was there. We were following the directions on the bottle. Soon after we started using the motorhome in earnest we started noticing a stinky smell. We tried with no luck to find the problem. We talked to other people who RV-- no answers. For months we put up with it. THEN WE SAW THIS VIDEO!! On your advice we immediately started putting more water in our toilet bowl between flushes and started using Bio-Paks. In about 24 hours the smell was gone!! Thank you so much!! We are so very grateful. We are happily RV-ing with no bad odors. We continue to learn more and more from you guys as we watch your videos. Thanks again. Safe travels and God bless--John and Patti
Thanks John and Patti for this post - it made our day! Stories like yours are very encouraging to us. We remember what it’s like when starting out, and we continue to learn something new every day. Cheers, safe travels and God bless you too. -Sean & Kristy
Man, you guys do such a better job than the guy who did the walk through when we bought our TT! When I was a kid (I'm 65 now) my family went camping in a travel trailer (with my brother and I in a tent) for weekends, holidays and many vacations. Our travel trailer didn't have ANY tanks or electricity (or a bathroom). I can hear my dad laughing now that "we should have such problems" as how to conserve water in the shower. To paraphrase a saying, He was a life long RVer before RVs were cool. I only wish I'd have paid more attention to his techniques when I had the chance to learn something (damn teenagers)! Thanks for the tips.
long distance sailing is very similar to boondocking. Last delivery from French Polynesia to Oahu was 33 days with 60 gallons of water plus 4 cases of bottled water, 1 liter bottles. Due to heat I drank a liter per day, coffee and food prepp about 2 liters and no fresh water showers. Salt water baths and also some cooking with a 60/40 mix. This turned out to be a 33 day trip. finished the trip with 25 gallons of water. The point is if you actively mange your water, you can go a long time. I have used those basic principals while RVing and it does work. You need water more than you need food so be aware of water usage.
Thanks for the video! Two water hose hints I've learned. First, I keep the water filter on the faucet end of the hose (along with a pressure regulator). That way only filtered water ever touches the water hose. Secondly, I put a shut-off valve on the RV end of the hose. This makes one-person filling/attaching/detaching so much easier. Just turn on the water source, and control flow at the RV end of the hose. Also, when boondocking we wash pots/pans/dishes outside when weather allows. A couple collapsible washtubs, and we're all set. We can save enough water in a week for two extra showers that way!
Agree with your tips. We do most of those. One tip to keep bathroom orders down, is not to flush with your exhaust fan on. It will draw the orders out of the tank when you flush. Another tip is to use a dishpan in the kitchen sink. You can water the local plants with that grey water (assuming you are using biodegradable soap). We also use a pitcher in the shower to capture the water while waiting for it to heat up. Then we can use that captured water for the toilet.
That's a great tip!! The shower one. We have lived in Idaho, where there isn't much rain water, and learned to conserve early on. We have also lived in Michigan, where there's plenty of water, but out in the country, we get many power outs, therefore no water (no pressure from pump). Great way to learn how to conserve water.
-Geo method in the tanks (bleach, calgon, dawn). TSP helped clean our old rig's tanks. -Basin inside the kitchen sink (when appropriate). -Big bucket (3-5 gallon) in the shower for running cold. And catch what you can. Use for flushing. -If your rig allows, equalize your grey into your black. -Keep a full 5+ gallon water jerry can in your dinghy. We dump all the dish water we can, so we burn through our 80 gallons fresh well before we fill our grey/black. FWIW, we've been dry camping (with power) for the past 6 months, we've kept our pump on continuously.
Hi guys, I do a lot of birdbathes indoors of course and wash my hair outside in a basin with heated water in the kettle. Love doing this under the tall evergreens! I don’t use my shower too much moisture in my 21 ft trailer. But I certainly could.
I bought a 1994 35 class A to restore and travel in. Within 6 months of weekend trips to get used to the rig while we were restoring it, a horrible smell filled the rig after one weekend boondocking trip that didn't allow for the dumping of the tanks. Really thought the smell was so bad it had to be the blackwater tank. Turns out to be the grey water tank, that was about 3/4 full and soaked the layer of accumulation of food sludge that accumulated after miss management of the tanks. Dumping the tanks into the sewer at my house brought out the neighbors to find out what the smell was. It was that bad. After several flushings and biologic treatments everything broke loose and we successfully flushed out of the grey water tank. No more smells since. Moral to the story, do not store a RV without flushing tanks and always treat both tanks with biologic treatments.I have owned this rig for two years now and I am convinced that the hardest thing on a RV is lack of regular use. I have spent more time and money repairing and renovating systems due to lack of use than from repairs due to systems being worn out.
This is great advice, especially for the new and inexperienced. I like the idea of trying to boon-dock at a full hookup campsite and keeping a log to track all water use to determine your water usage and possible longevity while actually dry camping.
Homemade tank solution - 1 cup liquid laundry detergent, 1/2 cup bleach, 1/2 cup liquid water softener plus 3 gallons of water in the black and gray tank after dumping. Nice video!
2023 - I realize this video is 4 years ago but found it very helpful as we begin experimenting with boondocking and dry camping. We’re taking a trip in March and while at the RV campground we may just dry camp and do a one or two day experiment to start assembling our numbers and see where we’re at. Thanks for the info in the video!
Loloho! We are half newbies to RVing (hubby Jim traveled with parents as a teen), but have been dry tent camping for 4+ years. Have a 22-ft TT & just took our first 5.5 day boondocking trip! Love your site and videos. For our recent trip, we kept with our tent camping dish washing concept - low fill wash tub for dish washing and rinsing and dumped the water safely nearby so as to not fill the grey tank. Also filled two hand-carry tanks totalling 13 gal for drinking water. All went well, even after discovering an open faucet (but closed shower head) in our outside shower which lost us probably 5+ gal of fresh water. We're using Bio-pak also and will see how it does for us. Thanks for your newbie videos- we watch each one to learn! Looking forward to more adventures! Forgot to add our greatest camp "shower" tip... Baby wipes! Beautiful things. If you can have a campfire, they are burnable!
To conserve water, we'll use a spray bottle with dish soap to wash dishes and one with water to rinse. We'll also do Navy showers. This saves a lot of water. We're getting a composting toilet to save even more water when boondocking. We get about 8 days now and will probably be able to get 2 weeks once we add the composting toilet.
Thank you, thank you. Just bought an RV last week, have no idea what I am doing, lol. So many more bells and whistles than my camper van. Super helpful video.
Talking about black and grey water tanks, it is worth noting that in some RV, it's not ONLY the toilet that goes to black water. Our Minnie Winnie also has the bathroom sink plumbed to the black water tank! I think they do this for convenience since it's so much closer to the black water tank, but it really caused some confusion when I was running water into the sink to flush the grey water tank out really well, but instead the black water tank filled up and nearly overflowed! Moral of the story; know your individual rig's plumbing!
When we are boondocking we use two small tub for doing dishes we put about two quarts in each The one we wash in we heat about half the water on stove then mix it back in The wash water. We. Wash then rinse. Then put the rinse dishes in a sink drainer.The rinse water is then left on the counter to put soiled dishes in and the wash tub is dump in a small bucket and is use to flush the toilet . And yes we do wipe off the dishes before washing them the small amount of food. Particles that are put into the toilet won't. Matter. Good bid.
Just watched your segment on water and water conservation; and, Sean's mention of the "navy shower" reminded me of my late father's story. He was in WWII and shipped out of the West coast heading for Brisbane, Australia. Needless to say, water was at a premium aboard ship. So they were allowed 2 containers of water day for showering and shaving. He said he was able to get it down to one container for showering and shaving; and, one container for drinking. 😁
I wet my hands, turn the water off and lather up, then quickly rinse. We always find that dishwashing really fills up the grey tank. Washing in tubs, straining out food particles and disposing as shown in this leave no trace video may be good options. Consider too bringing extra water containers. Most importantly, leave the teen at home. 🙂🙂🙂
I probably spent a total of four days (a few hours here and there) in our Coach on our driveway just planning for the things I thought we would need for our first trip. But the real test was actually being away from the house and you have to make do with what you have or don't have. I recommend that you start with soup and sandwiches, simple simple meals. Start cooking breakfast the next trip and so on and so forth. Expect to have to take your RV in for service after the first or second trip, start slow. Plan your second trip for another few weeks or the next month, time to recover. Good luck, happy camping, don't break a leg.
We love your videos❗️we r newbie airstream owners. I come from cruising a sailboat ⛵️. Never flush paper, any paper❗️(Not worth taking apart black pipes. Pretend you live in MX😁.) Have a tiny garbage with a plastic Liner (u dump every 24-48 Hrs. into a LG garbage bag) next to toilet or in the vanity cab. Used bio cleaner for the toilet. To extend water tank, take a teapot shower. Fill lg teapot and stand in shower for body. Then Hair is a 1-2 teapots every 3-5 days. Bleach destroys rubber seals. But in fresh water tank use a tiny bit of bleach ever few months. The inside of the fresh water tank will eventually develop some growth. Then flush the fresh water tank. If you need more storage Use bungee cords and pad eyes to anchor items and nets to walls.
Thanks for the tips, the wipes to clean the toilet are a good idea. We have been full time in our motorhome for 5 years. Longest we have gone dry camping ( 80 gal water, 40 gal each gray and black tank) is 13 days before dumping our tanks (tanks were not yet red light full). We use public restroom whenever possible and take 2 quart showers. Also we only do dishes once a day and use no more than 2 quarts of water. The 2 quart showers work well and we also save on our propane because we use our induction cooktop to heat the water while the coffee maker is on ( doesn't overload our generator) and charges our house batteries at the same time.
These videos are really well edited. I can only imagine the amount of time Sean spends on these. Not to mention how much footage y'all must have stored from all your trips! Friendly reminder, support the content creators. Watch the adds, and buy products from their affiliate links and they get a small percentage of the purchase. Click directly on their link, rather then keeping another window open and buying as you go.
Thanks Jonathan. Honestly I have at least a dozen hard drives loaded with over a decade of footage. Crazy! It gets to be a lot to manage. Thanks also for your message. The Amazon store has been great for us. We did this for years without making enough spare change to buy a taco dinner, so it's nice to see it finally coming together. Cheers and safe travels to you!
@@LongLongHoneymoon , please explain in detail the process of purchasing an item through your store. I was a bit confused by Jonathan Olsens comment concerning opening windows and buy as you go. Other readers might be helped as well. Thanks.
@@williambranham6249 THANK YOU for asking. Really, it's quite simple. If you start your "shopping experience" at Amazon.com/Shop/LongLongHoneymoon we will get the credit. It's a few pennies on the dollar, but it all adds up and is really a big help to us. You can buy anything so long as you start at that link. Cheers and safe travels!
This was just what we needed. As a long time Airstream camper, we have finally decided to boomdock. Could be a result of both of us retiring. Thanks so much.
That's why my wife and I enjoy watching your videos, though I knew much of this from working in & around RV resorts & RV's, we picked up some NEW tips and information that I was unaware of before. It's always good to keep an attitude of knowing that you can always LEARN something new! Thanks again for the tips! 👍😀😇
Hello Sean and Kristy. As a retired sub sailor, our showers on my 1st sub were restricted to one gallon for drinking and one for showers per day. Most of the time we drank the other gallon after a week or so everybody smelled the same way and it didn't bother you. You made up for it when you returned to port. Well you guys have a safe journey. Bye now.
Thanks for doing this video. It always amazes me how many people with RVs don't dry camp/boondock, I hope this info encourages them to try it out :-). Other things we do to conserve water: Use disposable paper plates, then dispose of them in your campfire. Wipe out pots & pans with paper towels to cut down on biomatter entering the gray tank(s) (and then burn them in your campfire) Use dishpans to wash dishes instead of the sink (also works when you have access to communal water spigots) Use a wet rag to wash your face & armpits instead of taking a shower (wash your face *first*!) Cut your hair before leaving on your trip Shower at night instead of the morning While waiting for the shower water to warm up in a bucket capture it in a bucket, then use it for cleaning, flushing the toilet,etc. Use shaving cream that comes from a tube (like Trader Joe's Honey Mango Moisturizing Shave Cream) instead of a can When you finally return to a place that has hook-ups, spoil yourself and luxuriate in a long, uninterrupted shower :-).
One thing we don't scrimp on is adding water to the black tank, especially after pooping. Usually we'll fill up the bowl twice; adding water helps the poop break down faster, cleans the sensors, adds volume when flushing the tank and avoids the dreaded "pyramid of poo" ;-). I haven't used black water tank additives for a long time, adding a couple of gallons to the greay and black water tanks each seems to be enough to allow whatever's in the tanks to break down and a little dish soap added is enough to lubricate the flush valves ;-). The best filtration system I've heard of uses reverse osmosis; they are spendy but if you're worried about water quality then that's the one to get.
"Also the Academy of Neurology recently declared that fluoride is a neurotoxin, especially in the first 3 years of life." -- That is a FALSE claim based on deliberate misinterpretation of a study. Also, professional associations do not make such declarations -- only government agencies do. You probably followed a click-bait link to one of those scam "alternative medicine" sites that want to sell you untested crap in a bottle. Speaking of bottles, there is NO PROVEN LINK to cancer. Your health is probably placed at greater risk by reading all these transparent scare-tactic articles. Glad I could Google that for you. Next time, you try it before repeating unsupported allegations made by non-experts trying to sell you something!
in between full showers, we use paper towels+water+ rubbing alcohol on our body. On our private area we use Walmart Equate flushable wipes, but place them in the trash. No rinsing required and only a pint or two of water used. This will get you by to skip a shower without being nasty feeling and smelling. We do not do this all the time in place of showering, however it will extend your stay in your favorite boon dock location without becoming a Neanderthal. Sorry if not PC. Don't want to offend any Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon out there in Bedrock.
We have an 2008 Airstream Classic 25fb. 39 black, 37 gray, 37 water. We have managed to go 10 nights in a dry climate before dumping but had access to water to refill the freshwater tank via external containers using an external water pump. In a humid/hot climate I’m not sure we could go that long as more showers would be needed. For kitchen we use a plastic tub in the sink and use two strainers to filter out food debris. We can often only use 1/2 to 1 gal to clean dishes, cutlery and pots/pans. It also gives us the option to drain the kitchen water in the toilet. For showers we do military showers and strip washes. When running the shower we use a one gallon bucket to run water until the warm water starts running. We use that water in the toilet for number 2. Shower rinses are less than 30 seconds. For holding tank treatment we use Happy Camper. One scoop mixed with a toilet bowl of water keeps the tank smelling clean. We also close off the drains in the shower, bath and kitchen when towing. We use an On The Go external water softener and water when filling the water tank via city water and external containers to keep hard water from affecting our Truma on demand water heater and faucets plus soft water feels good when showering.
We love to boondock. Some times water is available. Sometimes not. I heat water on the stove for breakfast and wash water. You learn to use less water to wash dishes and I recommend using a small dish tub to wash dishes in. We don't use much battery and save it for the water pump. We spit bath with the extra dish rinse water. We boondock as much as possible. We have a 24.5 ft Nash 5th wheel. We use it lots and it is so fun. Thanks for the videos. We enjoy them. We also just love our Honda generator. We had fun driving to Alaska last year and we boon docked as much as possible.
This is the kind of information that may seem obvious to some people, or even common sense, but it's so nice to have condensed into a succinct video, and truly is wise information to live by when conserving water is a must. We recently purchased our first travel trailer and have yet to take it out. I've learned so much from your videos that would have taken many trips and failures to iron out best practices. Thank you so much for this and your other valuable content!
Another great video. Look forward to them every week. On our first-ever RV trip, we left the water pump on while hooked up to city water. Every time we turned on a faucet or flushed the toilet the valve to the tank opened and fresh water flowed into the tank until it overflowed. No harm done, but the sound of water gushing out of the overflow tube at 2 am was a little disconcerting! Also, don't forget to sanitize the fresh water tank at least once a year with a bleach-water solution. After connecting the drinking hose to the RV, we use a funnel pour the solution into the drinking hose before connecting it to water and filling the tank. That sanitizes the hose at the same time.
I use a collapsible basin in my sink whenever dry camping, and dump it carefully into areas where the plants need the water. In dry California or Arizona sites, this is recycling the water and not filling up my Grey tank! And also use very little soap and rely on the hot water and several clean dish towels, which I can wash later in when I have full hookups!
One of the places that we camp at frequently has power and water hookups but no sewer. I have installed a sewer cap on our trailer that has a garden hose connection on it. This allows us to get rid of our grey water while holding the black water. We carry a 25 ft. garden hose that we use solely for this purpose and leave our grey water valve open while using it. There is a steep grassy bank behind our trailer where we let the grey water seep as we use our sink and shower. We find that with careful use we can go for 2 weeks before we have to dump our black water.
I have used most all the tank treatments, Geo Method, pods, etc., and hands down, Happy Camper. Eliminated all the smells which can occur when the fan is on. Even in 100 temps here in Palm Springs. 100 percent recommended....
I also use Happy Camper - for 15 years or so now and it is much, much better than the formaldehyde-based additives. If you've been using the formaldehyde-based chemical you do have to rinse, rinse and rinse again your tanks before the first use of the enzyme-based additives.
I installed a Natures Head composting toilet this spring and LOVE it. It saves water and added a lot of length between emptying. typically we go 3 weeks of constant use, My wife thought I was crazy but she loves it too. If you boondock or drycamp it is worth it!
Dopey me. I had watched this video a couple of weeks ago, but due to having an ice maker in the freezer we usually travel with pump ON. You guessed it one day, as we were coming south from a three week trip we stopped to fuel up after driving a particularly scenic road ie. Winding and bumpy and saw water leaking out bothe sides of the camper. When we opened it up the lower part of the fifth wheel had standing water and the kitchen sink was on. It had overflowed and sloshed out on the floor. We sopped up as much as we could with towels and a blanket and then stopped at a WalMart and bought a wet vac and got out another three gallons from the carpet. Went to a campground that night and set up fan on the floor and cranked the AC to pull moisture out. Lesson learned. Now we travel with pump OFF.
Ex-inlaws taught me that cast iron cookware (like you might use in a camp fire or dutch oven) can be cleaned first by burning out the contents (turn upside down in a campfire for a minute), then scrubbed with local sand to scrub off all the heavy stuff, then clean with newspaper and vegetable oil or fat. Essentially, iron cookware can be cleaned completely without water at all, thus recommend using it for dishes you know will create a lot of cooking mess.
We use clorox wipes for the shower too. We have one of those behemoth motorhomes with what I believe to be the largest available grey tank at 80 gal. We have 105 gal fresh and 60 black. I bought a 50 gal collapsible water bladder so we can stop and get water if needed. I have two tricks to save grey water space. 1. Wash dishes in a plastic tub and dump it into the toilet. 2. Use the outdoor shower, if you have one, as much as possible. I saw one are that allowed dumping grey tanks into ditches.
We also use the Bio-Paks in the black tank. But we use a liquid treatment for the grey just because it's easier to dump down the drain. I also have long hair and use the leave in spray conditioner. We purchased the oxygenics shower faucet and it's so much better than the stock one that came with the trailer. Thank you Sean and Kristy for recommending it.
When we’re boondocking and I can no longer stand my dirty hair, I wash it over a two-gallon bucket using the outside shower. The bucket helps me monitor my water usage. And when I’m finished, I carry it the campground sump and dump it.
I appreciate your matter-of-fact presentation style. It is pleasantly instructional without drifting into time-consuming entertainment. I've learned a lot from your videos. Thank you.
I bought some to and Very pleased!!! Left my unopened and 3/4bottle of smelly camco brand at the sani dump for somebody else to use...I really wanted to leave a note saying..Im leaving this cuz I switched to Happy Camper😁😍😎
One thing I am amazed at is you really should remind people that the only place water out of a hot faucet goes in down the drain. You should never ever use hot water out of the faucet for ANYTHING that goes in your body. One reason I kept and am rebuilding my old (make that ancient) '91 34 foot Southwind motor home is the tanks... 75 gal fresh, 45 gal gray, and 30 gal black. My buddy's 2006 35 footer has HALF that. And... I now have an additional 36 sort-of fresh gal tank. I have troubles with my joints, especially ankles and wrists but sometimes knees, hips, and elbows. The only way I can reduce the pain is to take long very hot (112 degree) showers or a 108 degree bath. Either of which will kill even a 75 gal tank. So... I set two 36 gal fresh water tanks on the pass-through in the basement that is over the frame and centered them as well as I can between the front and rear axles. Through a complicated valve system, I can (through a separate water pump) switch the hot water tank input and cold bath faucet over to pull from the full 36 gal tank. The floor drain also switches over so the water drains into the second empty tank. I don't ''wash' just soak so there's no soap or anything in the water. Afterwards, I will pour a teaspoon of 'pool' chlorine down the drain and switch the pump over so it pumps the water back into the original tank. It sound complicated, but it really isn't. And it proves that, with a bit of thinking, almost anyone can go boondocking. A friend was dumbfounded. My budget is $6,000.00 for my rebuild. Had a pro valve job on the heads, then installed an RV cam in and headers and a Holley aftermarket fuel injection on the engine myself. My baby already had fuel injection and got 8 - 8.5 MPG on the flats pulling a Dakota, so hoping for even more. Removed the AC coil in front of the radiator and install a FIVE core radiator (ain't gonna overheat). Installed drilled slotted vented rotors and full ceramic pads front and ceramic shoes and finned drums rear so it is going to stop! No dinette, sofa bed, or extra side chair inside now... just a drop-leaf with two chairs and a reclining love seat. Tons more room. Nothing on the roof except nine, count 'em, nine 275 watt solar panels and the tanks vents, bathroom power vent, and the skylight. Picked them because six mounted long-wise in front on the outside edges leaves a 15" walkway between them, and three mounted the opposite way behind the skylight leaves room to come up the passenger side rear ladder. Also, the space between the six in front, and from the ladder to the front, have slotted aluminum walkways. With all of this, the roof is shaded even when parked out in the full sun!!! The panels are hooked three each on three series feeds. This will provide up to 96 volts through three MPPT controllers to a bank of eight plus two 6 volt golf cart batteries. Won't take much sun to get 13.8 volts out and to the batteries with that... and the full charge will be right at 150 amps, just what Crown say to have (amp-hours times .13). One charge controller is run through a battery isolator and current limiter to the separate two batteries as a bad night carryover. If the eight main batteries drop below 75%, the inverter will shut down and a power loss switch will fire up a smaller inverter on those two batteries and change over to keep just the house style frig and chest freezer running. Will have a 12,000 btu mini split in front above the windshield and a 9,000 in the rear with the outside units (on R-410A compliant rubber hoses) down in vented basement storage areas. These are amazing extremely low power draw heat pumps and will be able to run BOTH off solar after the batteries peak and still have some left over to charge the batteries... and can hopefully run the rear AC all night??!! All that, and a separate 135 amp alternator on the engine can charge the battery banks while driving down the road. The BIG 8,000 watt genset is gone (over a half gal per hour even with no load!!!) and a small Champion 3100 inverter/generator is in its place. All total, will have $6,000.00 in the rebuild. Of course, my buddy says, "You could have bought another one for that". Yeah... in the same shape as mine BEFORE all the mods. With mine all done, will be able to camp pretty much anywhere on full solar with tons of water. Looking to complete the rebuild THIS fall, sell the house, and then... hope to see y'all out west.
Hi Sean & Kristy, great advice. When Sheila and I are boondocking, we supplement showers by using baby wipes every other day or two. This is a carry over from tenting days when water wasn’t as accessible. Others may have already mentioned this that we didn’t see their comments, but this also saves water by limiting showers.
Great video! We are seasoned RVers but I can remember our first trailer and dealing with water conundrums. We learned as we went because RV owners manuals are useless, as we also learned. Man I wish there had been good ol’ TH-cam back then!!!
I took my 1st camping trip to Bah Habah this past weekend and used this very technical shower technique, It did save me water. I also met the Russo's at the Atlantic Brewing Co, another couple I subscribe to. What a small world...I was shocked and excited. Oh, sorry, but, yes, I did secure blueberry ale.
We have been RV'ing in our 30ft motorhome for a little over a year now, we have learned all the water tricks, but I learned something new from you today! I didn't know that if we kept water in the toilet it would keep the bad odor away, after not using our MH for a few weeks the odor from the bathroom was aweful, so after watching this video I went straight out to the MH and poured a bottle of Aqua Kem in and flushed then poured some water in several inches from the drain. Thank you for that tip! I am always learning something new!
I'm getting really close to purchasing a Toy Hauler and I cannot thank you enough for posting these GREAT informative videos. As I continue to watch these videos my Toy Hauler wish list is getting longer and longer. Thank you so much for doing what you do.
Great information. Something you didn't touch on is how to sanitize the system. I bet there is anouther video on that. I definitely agree on using a filter like you do when hooked up to shore water. One suggestion I always turn on the water before hooking up to the filter and let some flush out the campground line. I have seen some nasty slugs of rusty, or muddy looking water come out. I would rather dump that on the ground rather than catching it in my filter. Bill
Great videos. We have just recently watched all of your videos from the first to this one. Took us about 2weeks to catch up. Your videos very very instrumental in helping us pick, buy a new travel trailer as well as prepare us for our adventures using it. We like state and federal campgrounds and most have electric and fresh water hook ups but hardly ever have sewer hook ups. To help extend our time and not have to move the rig to dump I acquired one of these 55 gallon white barrels and went to Lowe’s and pieced together a valve to fit it I have a nipple on the end that you can slip a 1 1/2 inch coragated hose to it. I went to Harbor Freight and purchased a 12 volt pump with standard garden hose connections on it. I took a 50 ft garden hose, cut it in half and added the 2 ends to each half. I bought a tank cap the the hose connection on it and when we set up camp I take the original one off and put that one on. I attach one half of the garden hose to it and the other half to the pump with the other half of the hose going from the pump to the barrel. I pull the grey tank release valve and cut the pump on. Takes about 2 min. to pump my 40 gal grey water tank to the 55 gal barrel in the back of my truck. I then take the barrel to the dump station and dump it. After the grey water tank is empty I close the valve and leave everything hooked up for next time. From strat to finish takes about 15 minutes. Works dry camping too. We only use it for grey water not black. Just a idea that helps us extend our camping time. Thanks again for all you videos. Look forward to them every week.
Great tips! One thing I was hoping to see... We are going to start RV living full time in about 9 months from now... how often do you sanitize your fresh water tank. And what do you use to sanitize the fresh water.... keep up the great content!
Sean and Kristy just wanted to say I've really enjoyed the videos. My wife and I are new to the RV world and after a lot of looking and research we purchased our first TT a few weeks ago. Sorry it wasn't an Airstream but we have a TT that will accommodate both my wife and me as well as our two huskies. Your videos have been very helpful in answering many questions we have had. Just wanted to say thanks and keep on doing what you’re doing.
Thank you Sean and Kristy for all your helpful videos. I'm a newer subscriber and a rookie "RV'er". Your videos have been very helpful and educational for my wife and I. Thanks again and keep the videos coming.
Sean Another tip for the black water tank is when you are on your way home or another camp ground to through in a bag of ice. That will help clean out the tank.
Newbie here (pre-newbie: I haven't purchased any rv yet) how do I get the ice into the black water tank? Won't it melt if I put it down the sink? Sorry if that's a stupid question. Subconscious incompetence here - I don't know what I don't know. Thank you - cindy v
Very informative video thanks. A few things I've done over the last 3 years of RVing. I use the same toilet paper in my RV as I use at home, Charmin. Never had any problems. I always put some dishwasher detergent and chemical treatment in my black water tank and every so often in my gray water tank. Twice a year I sanitize my black water and gray water tanks by filling both tanks half full with bleach, double strength if I can find it and unscented. Then fill both tanks to full with water. Then I drive around for at least an hour to make sure the bleach reaches everywhere in both tanks. Then I leave both tanks full of bleach and water for at least 2-3 days. This makes sure the bleach and water mixture gets everywhere in the tanks. The first time I did this I had just finished flushing both tanks until the water ran clear. Then I went to Las Vegas for 4 days. When I came back I again drove my RV around town for an hour and dumped the tanks. Even though both tanks had been flushed 4 days ago both tanks had dirty water coming out. The water from the black tank was especially dirty. I can only imagine how long that muck had been in my RV. My RV was 5 years old when I bought it and I had owned it for 3 years. Had some of that muck in the black water tank been in my RV for 8 years? That thought alone is horrifying. Another useful item to take when boondocking are solar water bags. These bags come in sizes ranging from a couple of gallons to 10 gallons. Fill the bags with water before going boondocking and when needed place the bags in the sun to warm the water. Hang the bag in your RV shower or outside (make sure you're totally alone if taking a shower outside) and take a shower. I have 4 bags and they definitely make showering while boondocking easier and save water in your fresh water tank. www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=solar+water+bag+5+gallon&sprefix=solar+water+bag%2Caps%2C236&crid=1HFJBTX01Y02Y
Guys - I'm really enjoying your content. We stumbled across it a few months ago while researching the Airstream we are considering, and wow, you guys are awesome. The water conservation/management episodes have been especially enlightening and helpful. The Bulletproofing of your truck also will prove helpful as we look at a tow vehicle to choose. Really great stuff, guys. In terms of the uber-intellectual, ethereal conglomeration of omniscience that IS Campfire Questions, I would respectfully ask that you please edit the intro of the video segment to show that your wife does indeed have a full body, and not just a floating head ! Freaks us out EVERY SINGLE TIME! Have a great one, guys. You're awesome and appreciated.
Good evening! These are some great tips that will continue to linger through time. Ha...we will be almost exclusively boondocking. So, we need to do some Boondcocking 101 schooling. No doubt, that will result in "Well....I guess the tanks are full and we are going to have to leave now" at greater occurrences than we'd like initially. Safe travels!
I have been watching you videos on and off for a few months now. On the 17th of June we start out minimalist life style in our new 5th wheel. Love watching all the tips and hoping all your videos will keep us from making big mistakes. So thanks again!! Just because a follower today! Clicked the bell!
Jeremy: I don't think of a "minimalist" as one who lives in a fifth wheel. Most 5th wheels I see today are humongous. I would consider a backpacker with a tent or tarp to be a minimalist.
Hi Guys, We are not newbies by any stretch of the word but we just downsized from a class A gasser with huge tanks to a TT. There are occasions when people join us. I think I will make this video a must watch before heading out. Thanks for putting out great videos for all of us.
We always use a Clorox spray on the water hose spicket before we hook up a water line just cuts down on all the icky bacteria. Also cooking in aluminum foil is your friend if you can put the food in aluminum foil and cook in that instead of a pan you're just saving water from dishes. And with four grandkids a husband and two German Shepherds we need all the conservation we can get we're lucky we have one of those small little bathtubs in our fifth wheel so fill it up and birdbath everybody every other day unless you're filthy. If you don't have a small little bathtub you can do the same thing with a Rubbermaid small tub in Your Shower
I had an experience that concerns hooking up to city water. I hooked up to an RV parks water (with a filter) and refilled my fresh water tank. We noticed after a few hours of use a solvent smell in the sink. The city water was so foul it was unusable, and I feared damage to my system. I took 3 hours of continuous flushing to purge the smell from our rig. Now I always turn on the city water and smell and taste it before hooking up to my RV.
Interesting story. Do you still see the value of a filter? Was the RV park using city water? What did the RV park owner say? Did you follow up with the city?
Wow! We just went on our first RV camping trip and we followed these minimal practices, but filled our grey water tank full in two nights and one day. It's empty now, so we'll check on the next trip. I suspect the tank was not empty. We bought the camper a year ago from a family member and assumed it was dry. I can't imagine filling it on that short of a trip using minimal use practices.
Good job and you hit all the important points. We rarely dry camp so its not an issue but when we do we fill the water as we are coming into the campground and almost always use the public rest room/shower to save water.
thank you so much. just bought a camper and it's my first time with water heater/plumbing/toilet etc. needed to get the 101 on basics. thanks for keeping it simple. ive learned a lot this week. thanks
My wife says she is definitely not staying up for the Pay Per View showering scene. Sorry Sean. :-( Great idea practicing boondocking at a full hook-up place. We will be dry camping for the first time in August, and will be taking your advice about doing a "dry" run in advance.
I have never heard anyone address cleaning the toliet with household cleaners. All I can say about that is: I wish I would have known a few days ago. OOPS! We are on our 4th camper in the past 20+ yrs. Thank you for the info, I have never heard before. A thousand thank yous.
I like to use a drop of bleach in the water and leave it for a while in the toilet than I flush. I don't think it will be a problem because it is so diluted. I also like the treatment called Aqua-Kem. It really works. For the shower, I collect the water with a plastic container I stand on and afterwords I throw the water outside on the windshield or sides of the RV. This way nobody thinks I'm dumping poluted water in the environment. For the toilet, I use a bag to collect number 2 and dump like we do with dog waste. This way you decrease odor and save some space in the tank. Thanks for your videos!
If U really want to save water (& Black water dumping), make an OFF Grid toilet = 5 Gal pail\with Gamma Seal Lid, toilet seat (wood works best for stability), install gamma lid, put {double} heavy duty garbage bags inside. {Optional's Kitty Litter, Pine Needles\Leaves, Dirt, Whatever you like}. To use unscrew gamma lid rest wood toilet seat on top. When finished add kitty litter or whatever, reseal gamma lid. No Leaks, No Odours, Dispose of waste in dumpster; [there is no difference between that & disposing of baby diapers]
When we’re out on the road and forget a tank treatment liquid or pod. We always have on hand for basic cleaning around “SIMPLY GREEN”. Looking at the active ingredients it shouldn’t hurt and seals and other parts and keeps the tanks not smelly. We use about one cup in each tank.
Terrific video guys! My wife finally retired and we are anxious to get out there for some boondocking adventures. I had not thought about turning the water pump on and off each time you use it but I will sure put that recommendation into practice!
Thanks for all you guys do! The wealth of knowledge I have received from watching your videos will sure come in handy when my wife and I start our adventures (some day).
I wouldn't travel without a bandana or more. For bathing, I take a cat shower by heating a pot of water on the stove (less energy/propane used than for the hot water tank) to a medium temp. Place some of that water in the bath sink and wash using the bandana. Rinse out the bandana in that water and wring it out thoroughly. Drain the water and put the rest of the water in the sink to use for rinsing off with the bandana. This can be done outside as well to avoid the mess in the bathroom. I can shower and wash my hair with this method using a small pot of water.
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We've seen some confusion regarding the basic fundamentals of RV water tanks - the types of water, issues with the toilet, etc. So we thought we'd go BACK TO BASICS with a video that covers the core fundamentals. Let's call it "Adventures with RV Toilets!" Or maybe not...
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AFFILIATE LINK DISCLOSURE: Friends, making a quality Loloho video is kind of like making sausage - only slightly more violent. It's a ridiculous amount of work that typically involves high dollar camera drops, blue-screen-of-death computer crashes, and at least one angry shotgun wielding old man shouting, “Hey! Get the hell outta here!” Once the final video is posted, rewards here on TH-cam are few and far between (unless you are a masochist who enjoys being verbally abused by anonymous trolls). One saving grace is our affiliate links. JUST CLICKING THESE LINKS HELPS TO SUPPORT OUR LITTLE SHOW. Think of this clicking as like tipping - except that it doesn't cost you anything extra! If you eventually make a purchase via one of our affiliate links, we will receive a few pennies (and Sean typically invests these pennies in duct tape and video gear). Again, it doesn't cost you anything to click these links, and it's a great help to us. As always, safe travels, happy camping, and THANK YOU!
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We have been too conservative with regards to our gray/black tanks, we've gone several days with the fresh tank showing FULL, gray at 1/3 and black at 1/3. But now we have gotten over that. How do you know if the sensors are working correctly?
Hilarious! We just finished a 3-day trip with no city water connection and we did the “Navy shower” thing. This was our first trip without city water and we only used about 1/2 of our 45-gallon tank! I was amazed how long you can make your water last when you’re thinking about it. By the way, my Grandad was a Navy WW2 vet who told me about navy showers when I was a kid!
I use a Travel-size Berkey water filter for all my drinking water needs so I can use campground water, swamp water, or water from my fresh tank safely. Google “Berkey” and you’ll find out about the benefits. I’ve been fulltiming for over a year and it’s one of the best products I purchased for my RV.
Hi Dana, question, how do you carry/transport the Berkey Travel Size? Do you disassemble it, like remove the filters? We too have one but have yet to take it along due to the "support" of the filter issue. If I lay the top half tank on its side then the stress will be on the filter connections. Hope my question makes sense.
William Foster - Hi, I do NOT disassemble it in any way. I manage how full it is on the day before travel (allow only 2-3 inches of water in the dispensing chamber, and little in the filter chamber). My under sink cabinet is tall enough for me to stow the Berkey in the back corner, and it rides very well there. I have toyed with the idea of attaching straps somehow and leaving it on the countertop in a corner, but right now this is working well for me. Good luck! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!
My husband and I just want to say thank you for all your awesome and informative videos! We just bought a 29' 2005 RVision travel lite from a dealer and were terribly disappointed and frustrated that there was no manual in print or online available and the "walk through" at the dealership with our rookie salesman was a joke. He literally knew nothing about anything. We have learned so much through your videos!
Our pleasure! Thanks for your kind comments!
Thanks for another great video. I do a lot of boondocking and when it comes to showering, I have noticed it takes a while for the hot water to get to my shower from the hot water heater in my vintage Airstream 310. I have measured the water it takes until the warm water starts flowing, and it comes to over a gallon. So, in order to save that water, I have a large plastic container where I point the shower nozzle into to save the fresh water. I then can either use it for my coffee, cooking, or simply reintroduce it back into my fresh water tank. I have found that method to save me a lot of water. I have calculated that when boondocking alone, I can stretch out my water to 2 weeks
....Russell D. in Olympia, WA
Two things learned on our first full time trip. 1. Make sure when flushing the black tank you allow ALL the extra water to run out ( I didn’t and got about 4 days before having to flush again). 2. We showered way too long.
We did add brown lunch bags for unflushable items that goes into trash. This is very helpful and a good reminder
Once again an awesome video. As the wife and I do 99.9% of our camping in primative campgrounds we bought two 15 gallon water containers that I ratchet down in the truck bed. I also bought a small electric pump from Harbor freight to pump the water from them into our smaller two 5 gallon jugs. We use the the small 5 gallon jugs outside for washing our hands, face and cleaning up the small amount of dishes we use while eating. I have found Dawn dish soap works great for washing your hands and doing the dishes. That way we only have to have 1 type of soap outside, plus it's supposed to be safe for the environment. We will sometimes brush our teeth outside if we are in a primative camp ground. Also if the campground has bathrooms we use those during the day and only use our toilet during the night. Its amazing how much water we conserve in the trailer by using the two 15 gallon water containers and the campground bathrooms.
Also, start with plenty of water in the black tank. Don't worry so much about the black tank filling up. It won't fill as fast as the grey. When I am starting out on a trip, I fill the fresh tank, and also put 5-7 gallons of water in the black tank. Having plenty of water in there helps keep it in a liquid form. Another tip people don't think about is if you have a dump location at your next stop, like when you are going back home or to another campground, dump your black tank going in or some place back in your home town. This allows the black tank to slosh around on the highway, further breaking down the solids making for a cleaner flush out. So many people use their black tank at the campground, it just sits, then they drive 200 ft to the dump station and find there is the dreaded poo pyramid. Lots of water folks, and if you can, drive with the contents of the black tank.
joeuncoolio excellent advice. Only difference for us that if we know we can fill our fresh water when we get to our destination, we only carry enough FW to flush and rinse during travel. It cuts the weight of the rig drastically. But always, always keep a few gallons of water in the black tank. If you don’t, it will not end well for you🤢
Great advice! Just bought a 2017 Jayco Jayflight 28RLS that we are picking up in a couple of weeks (first RV). I grew up camping with my family but my dad never let us use the bathroom or shower (don't ask...lol). So, while I'm familiar with almost every other aspect of an RV-ing, using and maintaining the water tanks isn't one of those areas. Great vid and awesome advice (like this one) from commenters.
Thank you, Sean and Kristy for this video! You guys rock! You have taught us more about RV life than anyone else. You helped us out of a very stinky situation. We bought a used motorhome almost a year ago. It came with that blue stuff that you use in the black tank so we had been using it just because it was there. We were following the directions on the bottle. Soon after we started using the motorhome in earnest we started noticing a stinky smell. We tried with no luck to find the problem. We talked to other people who RV-- no answers. For months we put up with it. THEN WE SAW THIS VIDEO!! On your advice we immediately started putting more water in our toilet bowl between flushes and started using Bio-Paks. In about 24 hours the smell was gone!! Thank you so much!! We are so very grateful. We are happily RV-ing with no bad odors. We continue to learn more and more from you guys as we watch your videos. Thanks again. Safe travels and God bless--John and Patti
Thanks John and Patti for this post - it made our day! Stories like yours are very encouraging to us. We remember what it’s like when starting out, and we continue to learn something new every day. Cheers, safe travels and God bless you too. -Sean & Kristy
Man, you guys do such a better job than the guy who did the walk through when we bought our TT! When I was a kid (I'm 65 now) my family went camping in a travel trailer (with my brother and I in a tent) for weekends, holidays and many vacations. Our travel trailer didn't have ANY tanks or electricity (or a bathroom). I can hear my dad laughing now that "we should have such problems" as how to conserve water in the shower. To paraphrase a saying, He was a life long RVer before RVs were cool. I only wish I'd have paid more attention to his techniques when I had the chance to learn something (damn teenagers)! Thanks for the tips.
long distance sailing is very similar to boondocking. Last delivery from French Polynesia to Oahu was 33 days with 60 gallons of water plus 4 cases of bottled water, 1 liter bottles. Due to heat I drank a liter per day, coffee and food prepp about 2 liters and no fresh water showers. Salt water baths and also some cooking with a 60/40 mix. This turned out to be a 33 day trip. finished the trip with 25 gallons of water. The point is if you actively mange your water, you can go a long time. I have used those basic principals while RVing and it does work. You need water more than you need food so be aware of water usage.
Thanks for the video! Two water hose hints I've learned. First, I keep the water filter on the faucet end of the hose (along with a pressure regulator). That way only filtered water ever touches the water hose. Secondly, I put a shut-off valve on the RV end of the hose. This makes one-person filling/attaching/detaching so much easier. Just turn on the water source, and control flow at the RV end of the hose. Also, when boondocking we wash pots/pans/dishes outside when weather allows. A couple collapsible washtubs, and we're all set. We can save enough water in a week for two extra showers that way!
Agree with your tips. We do most of those. One tip to keep bathroom orders down, is not to flush with your exhaust fan on. It will draw the orders out of the tank when you flush. Another tip is to use a dishpan in the kitchen sink. You can water the local plants with that grey water (assuming you are using biodegradable soap). We also use a pitcher in the shower to capture the water while waiting for it to heat up. Then we can use that captured water for the toilet.
LORI: great idea on capturing the water.
That's a great tip!! The shower one.
We have lived in Idaho, where there isn't much rain water, and learned to conserve early on. We have also lived in Michigan, where there's plenty of water, but out in the country, we get many power outs, therefore no water (no pressure from pump). Great way to learn how to conserve water.
-Geo method in the tanks (bleach, calgon, dawn). TSP helped clean our old rig's tanks.
-Basin inside the kitchen sink (when appropriate).
-Big bucket (3-5 gallon) in the shower for running cold. And catch what you can. Use for flushing.
-If your rig allows, equalize your grey into your black.
-Keep a full 5+ gallon water jerry can in your dinghy. We dump all the dish water we can, so we burn through our 80 gallons fresh well before we fill our grey/black.
FWIW, we've been dry camping (with power) for the past 6 months, we've kept our pump on continuously.
Brief your guest. Our sister-in-law helped do the dishes and managed to fill the grey water tank, thanks Suzan for all your help.
Hi guys, I do a lot of birdbathes indoors of course and wash my hair outside in a basin with heated water in the kettle. Love doing this under the tall evergreens! I don’t use my shower too much moisture in my 21 ft trailer. But I certainly could.
I bought a 1994 35 class A to restore and travel in. Within 6 months of weekend trips to get used to the rig while we were restoring it, a horrible smell filled the rig after one weekend boondocking trip that didn't allow for the dumping of the tanks. Really thought the smell was so bad it had to be the blackwater tank. Turns out to be the grey water tank, that was about 3/4 full and soaked the layer of accumulation of food sludge that accumulated after miss management of the tanks. Dumping the tanks into the sewer at my house brought out the neighbors to find out what the smell was. It was that bad. After several flushings and biologic treatments everything broke loose and we successfully flushed out of the grey water tank. No more smells since. Moral to the story, do not store a RV without flushing tanks and always treat both tanks with biologic treatments.I have owned this rig for two years now and I am convinced that the hardest thing on a RV is lack of regular use. I have spent more time and money repairing and renovating systems due to lack of use than from repairs due to systems being worn out.
This is great advice, especially for the new and inexperienced. I like the idea of trying to boon-dock at a full hookup campsite and keeping a log to track all water use to determine your water usage and possible longevity while actually dry camping.
Homemade tank solution - 1 cup liquid laundry detergent, 1/2 cup bleach, 1/2 cup liquid water softener plus 3 gallons of water in the black and gray tank after dumping. Nice video!
2023 - I realize this video is 4 years ago but found it very helpful as we begin experimenting with boondocking and dry camping. We’re taking a trip in March and while at the RV campground we may just dry camp and do a one or two day experiment to start assembling our numbers and see where we’re at. Thanks for the info in the video!
Thank you for this video. Helpful for us newly retired Newbies. Glad that you are not silly in your videos.
Loloho! We are half newbies to RVing (hubby Jim traveled with parents as a teen), but have been dry tent camping for 4+ years. Have a 22-ft TT & just took our first 5.5 day boondocking trip! Love your site and videos. For our recent trip, we kept with our tent camping dish washing concept - low fill wash tub for dish washing and rinsing and dumped the water safely nearby so as to not fill the grey tank. Also filled two hand-carry tanks totalling 13 gal for drinking water. All went well, even after discovering an open faucet (but closed shower head) in our outside shower which lost us probably 5+ gal of fresh water. We're using Bio-pak also and will see how it does for us. Thanks for your newbie videos- we watch each one to learn! Looking forward to more adventures!
Forgot to add our greatest camp "shower" tip... Baby wipes! Beautiful things. If you can have a campfire, they are burnable!
Our Lance holds just 26 gallons of fresh water, so we carry 4 large 6 gallon tanks in our tow vehicle, our beautiful Ford F-150.
To conserve water, we'll use a spray bottle with dish soap to wash dishes and one with water to rinse. We'll also do Navy showers. This saves a lot of water. We're getting a composting toilet to save even more water when boondocking. We get about 8 days now and will probably be able to get 2 weeks once we add the composting toilet.
Thank you, thank you. Just bought an RV last week, have no idea what I am doing, lol. So many more bells and whistles than my camper van. Super helpful video.
Talking about black and grey water tanks, it is worth noting that in some RV, it's not ONLY the toilet that goes to black water. Our Minnie Winnie also has the bathroom sink plumbed to the black water tank! I think they do this for convenience since it's so much closer to the black water tank, but it really caused some confusion when I was running water into the sink to flush the grey water tank out really well, but instead the black water tank filled up and nearly overflowed! Moral of the story; know your individual rig's plumbing!
When we are boondocking we use two small tub for doing dishes we put about two quarts in each The one we wash in we heat about half the water on stove then mix it back in The wash water. We. Wash then rinse. Then put the rinse dishes in a sink drainer.The rinse water is then left on the counter to put soiled dishes in and the wash tub is dump in a small bucket and is use to flush the toilet . And yes we do wipe off the dishes before washing them the small amount of food. Particles that are put into the toilet won't. Matter. Good bid.
Good info! Thanks!
Love your suggestions for multi-purposing water usage.
Just watched your segment on water and water conservation; and, Sean's mention of the "navy shower" reminded me of my late father's story. He was in WWII and shipped out of the West coast heading for Brisbane, Australia. Needless to say, water was at a premium aboard ship. So they were allowed 2 containers of water day for showering and shaving. He said he was able to get it down to one container for showering and shaving; and, one container for drinking. 😁
I wet my hands, turn the water off and lather up, then quickly rinse.
We always find that dishwashing really fills up the grey tank. Washing in tubs, straining out food particles and disposing as shown in this leave no trace video may be good options.
Consider too bringing extra water containers.
Most importantly, leave the teen at home. 🙂🙂🙂
I probably spent a total of four days (a few hours here and there) in our Coach on our driveway just planning for the things I thought we would need for our first trip. But the real test was actually being away from the house and you have to make do with what you have or don't have. I recommend that you start with soup and sandwiches, simple simple meals. Start cooking breakfast the next trip and so on and so forth. Expect to have to take your RV in for service after the first or second trip, start slow. Plan your second trip for another few weeks or the next month, time to recover. Good luck, happy camping, don't break a leg.
We love your videos❗️we r newbie airstream owners. I come from cruising a sailboat ⛵️. Never flush paper, any paper❗️(Not worth taking apart black pipes. Pretend you live in MX😁.) Have a tiny garbage with a plastic Liner (u dump every 24-48 Hrs. into a LG garbage bag) next to toilet or in the vanity cab. Used bio cleaner for the toilet. To extend water tank, take a teapot shower. Fill lg teapot and stand in shower for body. Then Hair is a 1-2 teapots every 3-5 days. Bleach destroys rubber seals. But in fresh water tank use a tiny bit of bleach ever few months. The inside of the fresh water tank will eventually develop some growth. Then flush the fresh water tank. If you need more storage Use bungee cords and pad eyes to anchor items and nets to walls.
Thanks for the tips, the wipes to clean the toilet are a good idea. We have been full time in our motorhome for 5 years. Longest we have gone dry camping ( 80 gal water, 40 gal each gray and black tank) is 13 days before dumping our tanks (tanks were not yet red light full). We use public restroom whenever possible and take 2 quart showers. Also we only do dishes once a day and use no more than 2 quarts of water. The 2 quart showers work well and we also save on our propane because we use our induction cooktop to heat the water while the coffee maker is on ( doesn't overload our generator) and charges our house batteries at the same time.
These videos are really well edited. I can only imagine the amount of time Sean spends on these. Not to mention how much footage y'all must have stored from all your trips!
Friendly reminder, support the content creators. Watch the adds, and buy products from their affiliate links and they get a small percentage of the purchase. Click directly on their link, rather then keeping another window open and buying as you go.
Thanks Jonathan. Honestly I have at least a dozen hard drives loaded with over a decade of footage. Crazy! It gets to be a lot to manage. Thanks also for your message. The Amazon store has been great for us. We did this for years without making enough spare change to buy a taco dinner, so it's nice to see it finally coming together. Cheers and safe travels to you!
@@LongLongHoneymoon , please explain in detail the process of purchasing an item through your store. I was a bit confused by Jonathan Olsens comment concerning opening windows and buy as you go. Other readers might be helped as well. Thanks.
@@williambranham6249 THANK YOU for asking. Really, it's quite simple. If you start your "shopping experience" at Amazon.com/Shop/LongLongHoneymoon we will get the credit. It's a few pennies on the dollar, but it all adds up and is really a big help to us. You can buy anything so long as you start at that link. Cheers and safe travels!
This was just what we needed. As a long time Airstream camper, we have finally decided to boomdock. Could be a result of both of us retiring. Thanks so much.
That's why my wife and I enjoy watching your videos, though I knew much of this from working in & around RV resorts & RV's, we picked up some NEW tips and information that I was unaware of before. It's always good to keep an attitude of knowing that you can always LEARN something new! Thanks again for the tips! 👍😀😇
Hello Sean and Kristy. As a retired sub sailor, our showers on my 1st sub were restricted to one gallon for drinking and one for showers per day. Most of the time we drank the other gallon after a week or so everybody smelled the same way and it didn't bother you. You made up for it when you returned to port. Well you guys have a safe journey. Bye now.
Daniel Grosscu
Great video! Been camping for almost 50 years and I STILL learn things from you guys!!
One of the best tips I got from your posts is the oxygenics shower head. It tripled the number of showers we were able to take.
Thanks for doing this video. It always amazes me how many people with RVs don't dry camp/boondock, I hope this info encourages them to try it out :-).
Other things we do to conserve water:
Use disposable paper plates, then dispose of them in your campfire.
Wipe out pots & pans with paper towels to cut down on biomatter entering the gray tank(s) (and then burn them in your campfire)
Use dishpans to wash dishes instead of the sink (also works when you have access to communal water spigots)
Use a wet rag to wash your face & armpits instead of taking a shower (wash your face *first*!)
Cut your hair before leaving on your trip
Shower at night instead of the morning
While waiting for the shower water to warm up in a bucket capture it in a bucket, then use it for cleaning, flushing the toilet,etc.
Use shaving cream that comes from a tube (like Trader Joe's Honey Mango Moisturizing Shave Cream) instead of a can
When you finally return to a place that has hook-ups, spoil yourself and luxuriate in a long, uninterrupted shower :-).
One thing we don't scrimp on is adding water to the black tank, especially after pooping. Usually we'll fill up the bowl twice; adding water helps the poop break down faster, cleans the sensors, adds volume when flushing the tank and avoids the dreaded "pyramid of poo" ;-). I haven't used black water tank additives for a long time, adding a couple of gallons to the greay and black water tanks each seems to be enough to allow whatever's in the tanks to break down and a little dish soap added is enough to lubricate the flush valves ;-).
The best filtration system I've heard of uses reverse osmosis; they are spendy but if you're worried about water quality then that's the one to get.
"Also the Academy of Neurology recently declared that fluoride is a neurotoxin, especially in the first 3 years of life." -- That is a FALSE claim based on deliberate misinterpretation of a study. Also, professional associations do not make such declarations -- only government agencies do. You probably followed a click-bait link to one of those scam "alternative medicine" sites that want to sell you untested crap in a bottle. Speaking of bottles, there is NO PROVEN LINK to cancer. Your health is probably placed at greater risk by reading all these transparent scare-tactic articles. Glad I could Google that for you. Next time, you try it before repeating unsupported allegations made by non-experts trying to sell you something!
in between full showers, we use paper towels+water+ rubbing alcohol on our body. On our private area we use Walmart Equate flushable wipes, but place them in the trash. No rinsing required and only a pint or two of water used. This will get you by to skip a shower without being nasty feeling and smelling. We do not do this all the time in place of showering, however it will extend your stay in your favorite boon dock location without becoming a Neanderthal. Sorry if not PC. Don't want to offend any Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon out there in Bedrock.
We have an 2008 Airstream Classic 25fb. 39 black, 37 gray, 37 water. We have managed to go 10 nights in a dry climate before dumping but had access to water to refill the freshwater tank via external containers using an external water pump. In a humid/hot climate I’m not sure we could go that long as more showers would be needed. For kitchen we use a plastic tub in the sink and use two strainers to filter out food debris. We can often only use 1/2 to 1 gal to clean dishes, cutlery and pots/pans. It also gives us the option to drain the kitchen water in the toilet. For showers we do military showers and strip washes. When running the shower we use a one gallon bucket to run water until the warm water starts running. We use that water in the toilet for number 2. Shower rinses are less than 30 seconds. For holding tank treatment we use Happy Camper. One scoop mixed with a toilet bowl of water keeps the tank smelling clean. We also close off the drains in the shower, bath and kitchen when towing. We use an On The Go external water softener and water when filling the water tank via city water and external containers to keep hard water from affecting our Truma on demand water heater and faucets plus soft water feels good when showering.
We've had an Airstream for two years and another camper before that and we still learned a few things on this video.
Thanks for posting it guys.
TheCorbinpilo i
TheCorbinpilo I
We love to boondock. Some times water is available. Sometimes not. I heat water on the stove for breakfast and wash water. You learn to use less water to wash dishes and I recommend using a small dish tub to wash dishes in. We don't use much battery and save it for the water pump. We spit bath with the extra dish rinse water. We boondock as much as possible. We have a 24.5 ft Nash 5th wheel. We use it lots and it is so fun. Thanks for the videos. We enjoy them. We also just love our Honda generator. We had fun driving to Alaska last year and we boon docked as much as possible.
This is the kind of information that may seem obvious to some people, or even common sense, but it's so nice to have condensed into a succinct video, and truly is wise information to live by when conserving water is a must. We recently purchased our first travel trailer and have yet to take it out. I've learned so much from your videos that would have taken many trips and failures to iron out best practices. Thank you so much for this and your other valuable content!
Another great video. Look forward to them every week.
On our first-ever RV trip, we left the water pump on while hooked up to city water. Every time we turned on a faucet or flushed the toilet the valve to the tank opened and fresh water flowed into the tank until it overflowed. No harm done, but the sound of water gushing out of the overflow tube at 2 am was a little disconcerting!
Also, don't forget to sanitize the fresh water tank at least once a year with a bleach-water solution. After connecting the drinking hose to the RV, we use a funnel pour the solution into the drinking hose before connecting it to water and filling the tank. That sanitizes the hose at the same time.
I use a collapsible basin in my sink whenever dry camping, and dump it carefully into areas where the plants need the water. In dry California or Arizona sites, this is recycling the water and not filling up my Grey tank! And also use very little soap and rely on the hot water and several clean dish towels, which I can wash later in when I have full hookups!
One of the places that we camp at frequently has power and water hookups but no sewer. I have installed a sewer cap on our trailer that has a garden hose connection on it. This allows us to get rid of our grey water while holding the black water. We carry a 25 ft. garden hose that we use solely for this purpose and leave our grey water valve open while using it. There is a steep grassy bank behind our trailer where we let the grey water seep as we use our sink and shower. We find that with careful use we can go for 2 weeks before we have to dump our black water.
Use leave in conditioner. Also, get a membership at a national fitness club like planet fitness. Use their showers.
I have used most all the tank treatments, Geo Method, pods, etc., and hands down, Happy Camper. Eliminated all the smells which can occur when the fan is on. Even in 100 temps here in Palm Springs. 100 percent recommended....
I also use Happy Camper - for 15 years or so now and it is much, much better than the formaldehyde-based additives. If you've been using the formaldehyde-based chemical you do have to rinse, rinse and rinse again your tanks before the first use of the enzyme-based additives.
I installed a Natures Head composting toilet this spring and LOVE it. It saves water and added a lot of length between emptying. typically we go 3 weeks of constant use, My wife thought I was crazy but she loves it too. If you boondock or drycamp it is worth it!
Dopey me. I had watched this video a couple of weeks ago, but due to having an ice maker in the freezer we usually travel with pump ON. You guessed it one day, as we were coming south from a three week trip we stopped to fuel up after driving a particularly scenic road ie. Winding and bumpy and saw water leaking out bothe sides of the camper. When we opened it up the lower part of the fifth wheel had standing water and the kitchen sink was on. It had overflowed and sloshed out on the floor. We sopped up as much as we could with towels and a blanket and then stopped at a WalMart and bought a wet vac and got out another three gallons from the carpet. Went to a campground that night and set up fan on the floor and cranked the AC to pull moisture out. Lesson learned. Now we travel with pump OFF.
Paul: awful experience I'm sure. Sorry that happened.
Always appreciate you taking the [time and effort] help to remind us not to lose track of the basics ....
Ex-inlaws taught me that cast iron cookware (like you might use in a camp fire or dutch oven) can be cleaned first by burning out the contents (turn upside down in a campfire for a minute), then scrubbed with local sand to scrub off all the heavy stuff, then clean with newspaper and vegetable oil or fat. Essentially, iron cookware can be cleaned completely without water at all, thus recommend using it for dishes you know will create a lot of cooking mess.
We use clorox wipes for the shower too. We have one of those behemoth motorhomes with what I believe to be the largest available grey tank at 80 gal. We have 105 gal fresh and 60 black. I bought a 50 gal collapsible water bladder so we can stop and get water if needed. I have two tricks to save grey water space. 1. Wash dishes in a plastic tub and dump it into the toilet. 2. Use the outdoor shower, if you have one, as much as possible. I saw one are that allowed dumping grey tanks into ditches.
That burger made me pause the video for 5 minutes just to fantasize about eating it!!!
We also use the Bio-Paks in the black tank. But we use a liquid treatment for the grey just because it's easier to dump down the drain. I also have long hair and use the leave in spray conditioner. We purchased the oxygenics shower faucet and it's so much better than the stock one that came with the trailer. Thank you Sean and Kristy for recommending it.
When we’re boondocking and I can no longer stand my dirty hair, I wash it over a two-gallon bucket using the outside shower. The bucket helps me monitor my water usage. And when I’m finished, I carry it the campground sump and dump it.
Dianne McDonnell why not use that water to flush with?
I appreciate your matter-of-fact presentation style. It is pleasantly instructional without drifting into time-consuming entertainment. I've learned a lot from your videos. Thank you.
I use Happy Camper in both gray & black tanks...I've been very happy with the product.
That's what we us also. A touch more harsh then the Bio treatment but works better at different temperatures. Warns you not to eat it.
I bought some to and Very pleased!!! Left my unopened and 3/4bottle of smelly camco brand at the sani dump for somebody else to use...I really wanted to leave a note saying..Im leaving this cuz I switched to Happy Camper😁😍😎
Thanks for the suggestion to practice at a full hook up site! That's what we will do on our next trip.
So glad you guys are back doing videos. Hope all is well Sean
One thing I am amazed at is you really should remind people that the only place water out of a hot faucet goes in down the drain. You should never ever use hot water out of the faucet for ANYTHING that goes in your body. One reason I kept and am rebuilding my old (make that ancient) '91 34 foot Southwind motor home is the tanks... 75 gal fresh, 45 gal gray, and 30 gal black. My buddy's 2006 35 footer has HALF that. And... I now have an additional 36 sort-of fresh gal tank. I have troubles with my joints, especially ankles and wrists but sometimes knees, hips, and elbows. The only way I can reduce the pain is to take long very hot (112 degree) showers or a 108 degree bath. Either of which will kill even a 75 gal tank. So... I set two 36 gal fresh water tanks on the pass-through in the basement that is over the frame and centered them as well as I can between the front and rear axles. Through a complicated valve system, I can (through a separate water pump) switch the hot water tank input and cold bath faucet over to pull from the full 36 gal tank. The floor drain also switches over so the water drains into the second empty tank. I don't ''wash' just soak so there's no soap or anything in the water. Afterwards, I will pour a teaspoon of 'pool' chlorine down the drain and switch the pump over so it pumps the water back into the original tank. It sound complicated, but it really isn't. And it proves that, with a bit of thinking, almost anyone can go boondocking. A friend was dumbfounded. My budget is $6,000.00 for my rebuild. Had a pro valve job on the heads, then installed an RV cam in and headers and a Holley aftermarket fuel injection on the engine myself. My baby already had fuel injection and got 8 - 8.5 MPG on the flats pulling a Dakota, so hoping for even more. Removed the AC coil in front of the radiator and install a FIVE core radiator (ain't gonna overheat). Installed drilled slotted vented rotors and full ceramic pads front and ceramic shoes and finned drums rear so it is going to stop! No dinette, sofa bed, or extra side chair inside now... just a drop-leaf with two chairs and a reclining love seat. Tons more room. Nothing on the roof except nine, count 'em, nine 275 watt solar panels and the tanks vents, bathroom power vent, and the skylight. Picked them because six mounted long-wise in front on the outside edges leaves a 15" walkway between them, and three mounted the opposite way behind the skylight leaves room to come up the passenger side rear ladder. Also, the space between the six in front, and from the ladder to the front, have slotted aluminum walkways. With all of this, the roof is shaded even when parked out in the full sun!!! The panels are hooked three each on three series feeds. This will provide up to 96 volts through three MPPT controllers to a bank of eight plus two 6 volt golf cart batteries. Won't take much sun to get 13.8 volts out and to the batteries with that... and the full charge will be right at 150 amps, just what Crown say to have (amp-hours times .13). One charge controller is run through a battery isolator and current limiter to the separate two batteries as a bad night carryover. If the eight main batteries drop below 75%, the inverter will shut down and a power loss switch will fire up a smaller inverter on those two batteries and change over to keep just the house style frig and chest freezer running. Will have a 12,000 btu mini split in front above the windshield and a 9,000 in the rear with the outside units (on R-410A compliant rubber hoses) down in vented basement storage areas. These are amazing extremely low power draw heat pumps and will be able to run BOTH off solar after the batteries peak and still have some left over to charge the batteries... and can hopefully run the rear AC all night??!! All that, and a separate 135 amp alternator on the engine can charge the battery banks while driving down the road. The BIG 8,000 watt genset is gone (over a half gal per hour even with no load!!!) and a small Champion 3100 inverter/generator is in its place. All total, will have $6,000.00 in the rebuild. Of course, my buddy says, "You could have bought another one for that". Yeah... in the same shape as mine BEFORE all the mods. With mine all done, will be able to camp pretty much anywhere on full solar with tons of water. Looking to complete the rebuild THIS fall, sell the house, and then... hope to see y'all out west.
Hi Sean & Kristy, great advice. When Sheila and I are boondocking, we supplement showers by using baby wipes every other day or two. This is a carry over from tenting days when water wasn’t as accessible. Others may have already mentioned this that we didn’t see their comments, but this also saves water by limiting showers.
Great video! We are seasoned RVers but I can remember our first trailer and dealing with water conundrums. We learned as we went because RV owners manuals are useless, as we also learned. Man I wish there had been good ol’ TH-cam back then!!!
Wow as a newbie, this was great information. I plan to start dry camping and needed some serious info. This did the trick and I am really grateful!
I took my 1st camping trip to Bah Habah this past weekend and used this very technical shower technique, It did save me water. I also met the Russo's at the Atlantic Brewing Co, another couple I subscribe to. What a small world...I was shocked and excited.
Oh, sorry, but, yes, I did secure blueberry ale.
Robert Mycroft when I was a kid in the late sixties we stayed at a place called Pirates Cove in Bar Harbor. We had a blast.
Bought my RV 3 years ago, but your info has some GREAT reminders...thank you !
We have been RV'ing in our 30ft motorhome for a little over a year now, we have learned all the water tricks, but I learned something new from you today! I didn't know that if we kept water in the toilet it would keep the bad odor away, after not using our MH for a few weeks the odor from the bathroom was aweful, so after watching this video I went straight out to the MH and poured a bottle of Aqua Kem in and flushed then poured some water in several inches from the drain. Thank you for that tip! I am always learning something new!
I'm getting really close to purchasing a Toy Hauler and I cannot thank you enough for posting these GREAT informative videos. As I continue to watch these videos my Toy Hauler wish list is getting longer and longer. Thank you so much for doing what you do.
Great information. Something you didn't touch on is how to sanitize the system. I bet there is anouther video on that.
I definitely agree on using a filter like you do when hooked up to shore water. One suggestion I always turn on the water before hooking up to the filter and let some flush out the campground line. I have seen some nasty slugs of rusty, or muddy looking water come out. I would rather dump that on the ground rather than catching it in my filter.
Bill
WILLIAM COOLEY 👍🏽good tip, thanks!
Very practical with a smooth delivery. Thanks
Learned a few good tips and we trailered full time for a couple years.
Great videos. We have just recently watched all of your videos from the first to this one. Took us about 2weeks to catch up. Your videos very very instrumental in helping us pick, buy a new travel trailer as well as prepare us for our adventures using it. We like state and federal campgrounds and most have electric and fresh water hook ups but hardly ever have sewer hook ups. To help extend our time and not have to move the rig to dump I acquired one of these 55 gallon white barrels and went to Lowe’s and pieced together a valve to fit it I have a nipple on the end that you can slip a 1 1/2 inch coragated hose to it. I went to Harbor Freight and purchased a 12 volt pump with standard garden hose connections on it. I took a 50 ft garden hose, cut it in half and added the 2 ends to each half. I bought a tank cap the the hose connection on it and when we set up camp I take the original one off and put that one on. I attach one half of the garden hose to it and the other half to the pump with the other half of the hose going from the pump to the barrel. I pull the grey tank release valve and cut the pump on. Takes about 2 min. to pump my 40 gal grey water tank to the 55 gal barrel in the back of my truck. I then take the barrel to the dump station and dump it. After the grey water tank is empty I close the valve and leave everything hooked up for next time. From strat to finish takes about 15 minutes. Works dry camping too. We only use it for grey water not black. Just a idea that helps us extend our camping time. Thanks again for all you videos. Look forward to them every week.
Great tips! One thing I was hoping to see... We are going to start RV living full time in about 9 months from now... how often do you sanitize your fresh water tank. And what do you use to sanitize the fresh water.... keep up the great content!
Sean and Kristy just wanted to say I've really enjoyed the videos. My wife and I are new to the RV world and after a lot of looking and research we purchased our first TT a few weeks ago. Sorry it wasn't an Airstream but we have a TT that will accommodate both my wife and me as well as our two huskies. Your videos have been very helpful in answering many questions we have had. Just wanted to say thanks and keep on doing what you’re doing.
Thank you Sean and Kristy for all your helpful videos. I'm a newer subscriber and a rookie "RV'er". Your videos have been very helpful and educational for my wife and I. Thanks again and keep the videos coming.
Sean Another tip for the black water tank is when you are on your way home or another camp ground to through in a bag of ice. That will help clean out the tank.
Newbie here (pre-newbie: I haven't purchased any rv yet) how do I get the ice into the black water tank? Won't it melt if I put it down the sink? Sorry if that's a stupid question. Subconscious incompetence here - I don't know what I don't know. Thank you - cindy v
Gotta say that being new to the camper scene, your videos have been priceless. Thank you so much and keep posting great content and safe travels!
Very informative video thanks. A few things I've done over the last 3 years of RVing. I use the same toilet paper in my RV as I use at home, Charmin. Never had any problems.
I always put some dishwasher detergent and chemical treatment in my black water tank and every so often in my gray water tank.
Twice a year I sanitize my black water and gray water tanks by filling both tanks half full with bleach, double strength if I can find it and unscented. Then fill both tanks to full with water. Then I drive around for at least an hour to make sure the bleach reaches everywhere in both tanks. Then I leave both tanks full of bleach and water for at least 2-3 days. This makes sure the bleach and water mixture gets everywhere in the tanks.
The first time I did this I had just finished flushing both tanks until the water ran clear. Then I went to Las Vegas for 4 days. When I came back I again drove my RV around town for an hour and dumped the tanks. Even though both tanks had been flushed 4 days ago both tanks had dirty water coming out. The water from the black tank was especially dirty. I can only imagine how long that muck had been in my RV. My RV was 5 years old when I bought it and I had owned it for 3 years. Had some of that muck in the black water tank been in my RV for 8 years? That thought alone is horrifying.
Another useful item to take when boondocking are solar water bags. These bags come in sizes ranging from a couple of gallons to 10 gallons. Fill the bags with water before going boondocking and when needed place the bags in the sun to warm the water. Hang the bag in your RV shower or outside (make sure you're totally alone if taking a shower outside) and take a shower. I have 4 bags and they definitely make showering while boondocking easier and save water in your fresh water tank.
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=solar+water+bag+5+gallon&sprefix=solar+water+bag%2Caps%2C236&crid=1HFJBTX01Y02Y
One tip would be is something called a shower pill. It's basically a giant wet nap. But works so well. I keep some in camper as well as my truck.
Guys -
I'm really enjoying your content. We stumbled across it a few months ago while researching the Airstream we are considering, and wow, you guys are awesome. The water conservation/management episodes have been especially enlightening and helpful. The Bulletproofing of your truck also will prove helpful as we look at a tow vehicle to choose. Really great stuff, guys.
In terms of the uber-intellectual, ethereal conglomeration of omniscience that IS Campfire Questions, I would respectfully ask that you please edit the intro of the video segment to show that your wife does indeed have a full body, and not just a floating head ! Freaks us out EVERY SINGLE TIME!
Have a great one, guys. You're awesome and appreciated.
Haha we probably need to take a fresh look at that Campfire Question intro. Thanks much for your post, Chris!
Good evening! These are some great tips that will continue to linger through time. Ha...we will be almost exclusively boondocking. So, we need to do some Boondcocking 101 schooling. No doubt, that will result in "Well....I guess the tanks are full and we are going to have to leave now" at greater occurrences than we'd like initially.
Safe travels!
I have been watching you videos on and off for a few months now. On the 17th of June we start out minimalist life style in our new 5th wheel. Love watching all the tips and hoping all your videos will keep us from making big mistakes. So thanks again!! Just because a follower today! Clicked the bell!
Jeremy: I don't think of a "minimalist" as one who lives in a fifth wheel. Most 5th wheels I see today are humongous. I would consider a backpacker with a tent or tarp to be a minimalist.
Hi Guys, We are not newbies by any stretch of the word but we just downsized from a class A gasser with huge tanks to a TT. There are occasions when people join us. I think I will make this video a must watch before heading out. Thanks for putting out great videos for all of us.
We always use a Clorox spray on the water hose spicket before we hook up a water line just cuts down on all the icky bacteria. Also cooking in aluminum foil is your friend if you can put the food in aluminum foil and cook in that instead of a pan you're just saving water from dishes. And with four grandkids a husband and two German Shepherds we need all the conservation we can get we're lucky we have one of those small little bathtubs in our fifth wheel so fill it up and birdbath everybody every other day unless you're filthy. If you don't have a small little bathtub you can do the same thing with a Rubbermaid small tub in Your Shower
Texas DEZTA-Nations ;79
I had an experience that concerns hooking up to city water. I hooked up to an RV parks water (with a filter) and refilled my fresh water tank. We noticed after a few hours of use a solvent smell in the sink. The city water was so foul it was unusable, and I feared damage to my system. I took 3 hours of continuous flushing to purge the smell from our rig. Now I always turn on the city water and smell and taste it before hooking up to my RV.
Interesting story. Do you still see the value of a filter? Was the RV park using city water? What did the RV park owner say? Did you follow up with the city?
I love the idea of practicing in a full hook up site first.
Wow! We just went on our first RV camping trip and we followed these minimal practices, but filled our grey water tank full in two nights and one day. It's empty now, so we'll check on the next trip. I suspect the tank was not empty. We bought the camper a year ago from a family member and assumed it was dry. I can't imagine filling it on that short of a trip using minimal use practices.
Good job and you hit all the important points. We rarely dry camp so its not an issue but when we do we fill the water as we are coming into the campground and almost always use the public rest room/shower to save water.
thank you so much. just bought a camper and it's my first time with water heater/plumbing/toilet etc. needed to get the 101 on basics. thanks for keeping it simple. ive learned a lot this week. thanks
This is an incredibly useful videos for us noobs. Thank you so much!
My wife says she is definitely not staying up for the Pay Per View showering scene. Sorry Sean. :-( Great idea practicing boondocking at a full hook-up place. We will be dry camping for the first time in August, and will be taking your advice about doing a "dry" run in advance.
Or a "wet run", as the case may be. :-)
Good tip, boondocking test with full hookups available. Thanks again
I have never heard anyone address cleaning the toliet with household cleaners. All I can say about that is: I wish I would have known a few days ago. OOPS! We are on our 4th camper in the past 20+ yrs. Thank you for the info, I have never heard before. A thousand thank yous.
I like to use a drop of bleach in the water and leave it for a while in the toilet than I flush. I don't think it will be a problem because it is so diluted. I also like the treatment called Aqua-Kem. It really works.
For the shower, I collect the water with a plastic container I stand on and afterwords I throw the water outside on the windshield or sides of the RV. This way nobody thinks I'm dumping poluted water in the environment.
For the toilet, I use a bag to collect number 2 and dump like we do with dog waste. This way you decrease odor and save some space in the tank.
Thanks for your videos!
If U really want to save water (& Black water dumping), make an OFF Grid toilet = 5 Gal pail\with Gamma Seal Lid, toilet seat (wood works best for stability), install gamma lid, put {double} heavy duty garbage bags inside. {Optional's Kitty Litter, Pine Needles\Leaves, Dirt, Whatever you like}.
To use unscrew gamma lid rest wood toilet seat on top. When finished add kitty litter or whatever, reseal gamma lid.
No Leaks, No Odours, Dispose of waste in dumpster; [there is no difference between that & disposing of baby diapers]
When we’re out on the road and forget a tank treatment liquid or pod. We always have on hand for basic cleaning around “SIMPLY GREEN”. Looking at the active ingredients it shouldn’t hurt and seals and other parts and keeps the tanks not smelly. We use about one cup in each tank.
Terrific video guys! My wife finally retired and we are anxious to get out there for some boondocking adventures. I had not thought about turning the water pump on and off each time you use it but I will sure put that recommendation into practice!
Thanks for all you guys do! The wealth of knowledge I have received from watching your videos will sure come in handy when my wife and I start our adventures (some day).
We are newbies and there is so much to learn. I don’t want to learn by trial and error 😁
I wouldn't travel without a bandana or more. For bathing, I take a cat shower by heating a pot of water on the stove (less energy/propane used than for the hot water tank) to a medium temp. Place some of that water in the bath sink and wash using the bandana. Rinse out the bandana in that water and wring it out thoroughly. Drain the water and put the rest of the water in the sink to use for rinsing off with the bandana. This can be done outside as well to avoid the mess in the bathroom. I can shower and wash my hair with this method using a small pot of water.
A great discussion- trying dry camping for 3 days this coming weekend 🥂