portable holding tanks

[FLSTS03]

OK you boon-dockers out there. We have several nice corp campgrounds close to home but they have dump stations only. Whats the best way to handle full grey water/ galley tanks, ie portable tanks?

Steve

[DHenry]

I would try to be very conservative with the usage of the water, showers and waste. By doing so use the facilities that are available at the campgrounds during the daytime. I have gone 11 days before dumping and guess I could have gone a little longer but we left the area after the 11 day stay. I did have to bring water to the 5th wheel but that was it. Some do use the little blue portable tanks but so far in my boondocking career I have not needed one.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Agree with DHenry.

We can go 15 days in the summer with 60 gallons of water on board. We never add more, we use the campground facilities as much as possible. Washing dishes with small stream of water, or a gallon of soapy and a gallon of rinse, the ole tent camping days way, and a lot of paper plates, you can get by. Grill meat, save pans!

Another trick we use, is to turn the pump off at night. First it does not kick on and make all that noise. Second, you can do several quick flushes (we call em POWER flushes) of "tinkle" (sorry, is there a better word, that is not offensive???) without the pump needing to run.

[Note: this is a time where you really have to be careful about putting the toilet paper down in the holding tank, LESS PAPER, MORE WATER, but this is when you don't have the water to spare, so the Less paper is even MORE important. The lightly used ALWAYS goes in a small trash can.]

We actually have had fresh water left over after 15 days, just about every year. And, yes, we have the twins, and our kids come for a long weekend, so we are cooking and cleaning for up to 13 for a few days of that 15.

Conserve, and use the public facilities. Worth it for some of the campsites and fun times.

An aside: Not sure the pure definition of Boon Docking, but, in my mind if ya got electric, ya ain't boon docking! Is there power at the corp campgrounds??

[ols1932]

When we're boondocking, we use small dishpans in the kitchen sink and in the bathroom wash bowl. We then pour the used water in a 2-gal pail that we keep by the toilet. When we need water to flush the toilet with, we just dip in the 2-gal pail with a styrofoam cup and pour it in the toilet. The same goes for saving the first water you have to run in order to get the hot water out of the shower. That water also goes in the pail for future use.

Using this method, and putting the daintily used toilet paper in the waste basket, we can go for quite a while without having to dump. Taking "Navy" style baths (soaping up and rinsing off) also adds to the conservative use of water.

Orv

[OntMont]

Almost every situation is a bit different, so it is hard to give a definite answer. We do have a blue tote tank that we sometimes use when we know we are going somewhere with less than full hook-ups. If the dumping station is close, and roads are paved, I will tow it behind the truck. Other times I use a small pump to transfer the grey and galley water.
One of those macerator pumps would be handy for black, but I don't have one and pretty much follow Carol's approach. Our blue tank is an older two wheel model, the newer ones have 4 wheels that might make them easier to handle. Remember that water is heavy, a 20 gal tote tank is going to weigh around 175 lbs when full. With care, you can last quite a while on your tanks, I would try it see how you make out, at worst you would only have to move the trailer to dump.

[FLSTS03]

Thanks everyone, power 50amp, and water, just no sewer. Since we are weekenders, a few days on the tanks should not be a problem. The sites are beautifull and well worth a little effort to conserve. Here ia a link, find one close to you. With gas/diesel so high I think we can rough it for a few days in order to drag the 3400rl only 23 miles to weekend (we use to overnight on our ssailboat-the Monty is a castle compaired to our old catalina 25). Steve

http://www.recreation.gov/welcome.do?topTabIndex=Home

[bob n pam]

We use the blue tank when necessary. Bob keeps it in the back of the truck and uses the macerator pump to load it up, then lifts to dump. Much easier than dragging it to the back of the truck. It helps to catch your dishwater and beginning of shower, when waiting for it to get hot, in a dishpan and use for black tank flush. Thanks for the website. We, too, like Corps campgrounds

[bigmurf]

Steve: One thing we done was install a dump valve on the outlet pipe. This allows us to open both gray and galley tanks to gain some extra shower water space.

[mustang92]

Just completed a workcamping project and stayed at a CG with only a dump station. To avoid unhooking the Monty to go to the dump station, I used one of those blue portable containers. I WILL NEVER EVER TRY THAT AGAIN! Even the smaller ones are very heavy when full; almost impossible to use without at least some spillage; potential for a BIG mess; and probably more time consuming than unhooking and taking the Monty to the dump station.

[garyka]

Is there a coupling out there that lets you connect a sewer hose to the portable tank like a male to male.

[Ms McGyver]

I agree with the person who said that if you've got electric you're not dry camping. We've camped in state parks where there was one spigot for 10 campers, 1 power pole for 6 sites, and not "dry camped" even though we've had to move the rig to dump.

We dry camp on two friends property at least 2 times each per year. We take our genny but sometimes don't even fire it up--it depends on the weather. We have whatever we brought as far as water is concerned, and no place to dump until we get home. We don't stay long, usually a weekend, but the practices shared here do come into play.

It's fun sometimes to go back to the tenting ways, itsn't it?