Boondocking is something most RV’ers have done and having enough water is always the biggest concern. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s the same as dry camping. No hookups for water, sewer or electric. Whether you’re moving from state to state and just stopping overnight or planning on spending 4 winter months in AZ on BLM land, the concern for having enough water is always part of the adventure. If you’re planning for a long winter stay and will be Boondocking, here are some great tips for saving those precious drops.
Know before you Go
Knowing how many gallons your water tank holds and understanding what that means in practice comes with experience. You need to be able to convert the gallons in your tank into how many dish washings, showers, or jugs of KoolAid you can get out of your water tank. For most RV newcomers, it’s not nearly as many as they assume.
One common mistake people make is failing to fill their hot water heater tank at the same time they fill the fresh water tank. If you fill the hot water heater using the water pump when you are at the campsite, it just to moves it from the fresh water tank to the water heater tank, when you could have increased your water capacity by filling the water heater ahead of time.
Saving in the Kitchen
In the kitchen, don’t drain the water. Catch it and find a secondary use for it. When doing dishes, don’t rinse with running water – fill a basin and rinse in there. Regardless of what your mother may have told you, the residue of a couple of soap suds on your dishes never killed anyone. Then find a use for the rinse water once the dishes are done. Never run the water just to let it warm up. Instead, run the water into a pan, heat it up on the stove and then transfer it to wherever you need it.
Navy Showering
For showering and bathing, the shower is usually the biggest culprit for unnecessary water usage. Try to cut back to a few showers a week and do sponge baths in between. Install a water saving shower head. We recommend Oxygenics RV Shower Head. It uses 20% less water. Another option – use pre-moistened body wipes for sponge baths. Dry shampoos also extend the times between hair washing. Dove Dry Shampoo will take that flat lifeless look while absorbing oil. It smells great and a little goes a long way. A Navy shower is the best way to save water. Get wet, turn the shower off, soap up, show back on and rinse. Do your hair at the same time so it’s an all body rinse. Finally, use biodegradable, low suds soap for a quickly rinse.
Last but not least-The Toilet
Last big water saver, the toilet. To reduce the water consumption, use the campground or public toilets whenever possible. Always try to reuse water from kitchen or other uses for flushing toilets. Avoid flushing toilet paper where possible and use rapid dissolving toilet paper. Instead, deposit in a plastic bag and put it in the trash. Wash hands and clean the bathroom with pre-moistened cleaning wipes, again saving precious drops. Last and not to be crude but if it’s yellow let it mellow and well, you know the rest.
Most important, our ruggedized portable water pumps, the Glacier XE or Yukon XL will help fill your tanks quickly and with less stress. Boondocking comes with great peace and quiet and beautiful nature. Just plan ahead and let the water concerns set with that amazing sun setting over the mountains.
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