boondocking - Living In Beauty

Posted January 15, 2019 – Narrated by Jim

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“Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.”
– The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (audio) a poem about survival on the sea, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (full text)

Two adults. Fourteen days. 59 gallons of water. Good times!

Water is an albatross – a mixed blessing for travelers – a precious commodity but a burden to carry and maintain.

Partnering with water rather than fighting it or just giving in to bottled water is the key to making RV travel an adventure rather than a nightmare.

Whether we’re dry-camping through Paso Robles wine country or boondocking in Quartzsite, some of our best memories were made possible with water purification and water conservation technology and techniques.

RV water conservation — Dry camping at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada

No water source? No plug-ins? No sewer? No problem!

Sure, campgrounds with full-hookups are nice but this is what our Beauty was made for …

Free or almost-free campsites without hookups are usually more remote, scenic and quiet. Far from the hubbub, free public lands and Harvest Hosts are our preferred destinations.

Hiking, wildlife viewing and a serene natural landscape appeal to us more than what is offered in most developed campgrounds.

Off-grid camping is better than a crowded, rundown, full-hookup “resort” where the rules prohibit line-drying our laundry.

Successful dry-camping is a cheap thrill.

We’re still learning, but we’ve managed to live comfortably for 14-day periods without replenishing our tank – so, that’s enough of a record to share what we’ve learned about conservation, technology, techniques and equipment on the three big issues: Water, power, and waste storage.

In Vinnie Lamica and That Lucky Old Sun, we shared our power solutions so, this post will focus on potable water. Here’s a post about our black water tank protocols.

No Bottled Water

Bottled water would be a huge inconvenience for LIB – everything from the expense, bulk and waste. For us, fresh, free water filtered into our tank from a potable source is the answer to our hydration, bathing and cooking needs. With periodic tank flushes and solid filtering technology we are free from the hassles of store-bought water – and our water is delicious!

Conservation serves our lifestyle.

The average person in the United States uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. While boondocking, we average 2-4 gallons per person, per day. But even in places where we have 24-hour access to water we average only 4-8 gallons per day. At this point, it’s effortless to camp 7-8 days without replenishing our tank.

14 days on 59 gallons …

… that’s our best achievement to date – accomplished in August 2018 at Jasper National Park, Whistlers Campground.

UPDATE: We also managed 14 days on 59 gallons of water at Big Bend National Park in March 2019, Little River State Park in November 2019, and 12 days at Dead Horse Point State Park in September 2020.

Does that sound impossible?

That personal record impressed us quite a bit until Carmen’s dad shared that he and my mother-in-law, Pat, did that in Alaska twelve years ago. They have the advantage – those from an era when indoor plumbing and free-flow water was a luxury.

But it’s like learning to ride a bike – once water conservation is in your bones, you never forget it.

We think it’s fun to rein in wasteful water behaviors so we can venture further out into the world. And, having water conservation skills can be potentially life-saving during crisis conditions.

Water rationing during serious droughts and toxic blooms like the one we experienced in Salem, Oregon last summer are now common. But, with some teamwork, advanced planning, routines that border on the religious, and some specialized equipment, our water use puts us at ease that our LIB lifestyle is sustainable.

Here are our tips:

Begin with a potable water source and a filter.

All our water is filtered by a Clearsource water filter system. This system not only cleans the water and removes bad tastes and smells, it removes bacteria like e. coli and legionella, cysts like giardia, viruses, heavy metals (like lead and mercury), petrochemicals, and trace pharmaceuticals

We change the filter every 3 months with the Clearsource Premium filters.

To assure the water is flowing slow enough into the Clearsource system, we use a water pressure regulator attached to the water hose before it reaches the filter.

We use this Flexzilla Drinking Water Safe Hose to fill our fresh water tank.

Filter twice

In addition to filtering ‘all’ of our water, we have a secondary under-sink system. Drinking and cooking water is filtered through the Seagull IV.

Consistent water flavor! Whether we’re in San Diego, Canada or Florida, our water tastes the same with the Seagull IV combined with the ClearSource system!

The Seagull filter is changed annually with the General Ecology Seagull IV Replacement cartridge.

Don’t hook up!

We never hook-up to a water source. Rather, we use a potable water hose to refill our fresh water tank.
WHY (many ask)?
First, we live in our trailer full-time so constant use of our fresh water tank guarantees a fresh, properly filled and filtered tank.
Second, hooking up to a water source can flood our trailer. Pipes can break – especially in vehicles that go bumping over graveled roads and railroad tracks. A pipe break would be a catastrophe if it happened while hooked up while we were out on an all-day hike. But any potential leaks would impose minimal damage when not hooked up.
And, third, we always travel with a full tank. Though we usually have some idea where we’ll spend the night, our plans tend to get mushy when we have a blowout, truck water pump failure, catalytic converter breakdown, or when there’s a craft brewery alert on our GPS. A full tank of fresh water is road hazard insurance.

“Think Water”

Every time we wash our hands, flush the toilet, cook, do the dishes, fill the ice maker, bathe Pico or wipe down the countertops, we are mindful of our water limitations and recycle as we use.
The water pump switch is the most used inch in our trailer – we switch it on with every use. That’s right. Want a drink of water? Switch on the pump, draw water, then switch the pump into the off position. Same for flushing the toilet: on and off. Take a shower: on and off. Moisten a cloth: on and off. Yes, it’s a challenge to get in the water pump switch zone and to maintain that behavior. It is the opposite of everything we’ve been conditioned to. That’s why we stick to the on-off technique even when we have an unlimited water source. Recently at a friend’s house, Carmen paused before the kitchen sink feeling she’d missed something … But, dedication to the water-pump switch is the first inch toward serious conservation and is impossible to learn fast. We get into the groove early because the first day of extreme conservation is the most important. Waste on the first dry-camping day sets the pace. Our plans can be ruined if we’re not in the zone.

Using the switch dozens of times throughout the day is not just a mechanism to retrieve water, it’s also a reminder to conserve.

Restrict the flow of water.

Water in a RV usually exits from 4 places, and each place provides an opportunity to conserve.

1. Kitchen faucet

We replaced our old kitchen faucet with a new 1.5 gallon per minute Moen with a built-in sprayer that uses very little water with high efficiency.

Kitchen tips
MEAL PLANNING. Before setting out to boondock, we do a lot of pre-cooking. We bake sweet potatoes, beets, spaghetti and acorn squash – we boil eggs, make cauliflower rice, make a tortilla or crespéou, we smoke fish, grill carnitas and pre-marinade raw meats we plan to grill.
ICE – Also during extreme water conservation, we buy ice instead of using our ice maker. We store the ice in our cooler.
COOKING: We clean as we go – no hardened food on dishes, pans or cutting boards. It requires less water to wash hot pans before they cool, handling them carefully, if necessary, with silicone mitts.
After scraping solids and hot fats into the trash with a silicone spatula or a wet paper towel, we go over them with a brush dipped into a cup of hot soapy water as a pre-wash.
A potable water source is within walking distance is gold. But most dish-washing stations in many state and national parks do not offer hot water. It is common to see campers struggling with the sink, overusing water unnecessarily to try to get oily dishes clean in icy cold water. Here is our technique if there is a pump or a sink nearby.
- Fetch the water in a bucket. We use a rectangle, collapsable silicone bucket which fits beautifully into one side of the sink.
- Carefully place the bucket full of water in the sink. Divide the water into washing water and rinsing water. The rinsing water goes into a pitcher and the washing water goes into a kettle.
- Heat the water until it is sufficiently hot to clean dishes.
- Pour the hot water into the silicone bucket.
- Wash the dishes … or soak them for a while if the water it too hot to touch. A long handled brush is a good tool for the job. Place washed dishes on the empty side of the sink or in a large bowl.
- Rinse the dishes by holding them over the silicone bucket and pour water over them from the cold water in the pitcher. This is to avoid overfilling your gray tank.
- Cloth dry, or drain the dishes on a rack.
- If your dish brush and scouring tools need to be cleaned: reserve some of the water in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil, add a couple of drops of soap and allow the tools to soak. When cool, wipe them with a paper towel.
- Take the bucket with the used dishwater back to the dishwashing station and dump it in the designated receptacle. If there is no dishwashing station, a toilet is also appropriate for this small amount of water. If the campground allows dispersement of grey water, then do so away from your rig to avoid attracting varmints.
We use two spray bottles to wash dishes. One bottle for hot water mixed with a couple of drops of dish soap and another bottle filled with warm rinse water. Clean ups are nearly effortless.
We really don’t like to use paper plates, but will use them occasionally if we have to.

2. Bathroom faucet

We replaced the 2.2 gallon per minute faucet aerator with the Danco 0.25 gallon per minute model. It takes less than a minute to replace.
- What a difference! This was exactly the fix we needed to tame our problem gusher sink.

However, be warned – this aerator severely restricts flow – the Danco gives a wide, strong spray with a range that suits our sink and our needs, but may be too extreme for some.

Here is an aerator that is not as extreme and you can quickly and easily adjust the water volume.

3. Toilet

We recently installed the new Dometic 310 with attached spray head. The 310 uses one pint per flush.

The Dometic is very efficient and everything goes down where it needs to be … but when dry-camping we only water-flush when necessary. Water-flushing down your #1’s will run you out of water in no time!
For those #2’s, we have a handheld sprayer. The sprayer uses half the water of the regular flushing mechanism and is more efficient.

When extreme dry-camping, we clean the toilet with water captured from the shower (see below) – also to flush, and to make a ‘water seal’ which prevents black tank odor from escaping.

4. Shower

Replacing our old shower head with an Oxygenics Shower head greatly increased our conservation. It uses only 2 gallons per minute at full flow.

Adjusting the shower to half speed – with the faucet water handle pulled out only half way – results in basically the same experience while using half the water.
Avoid the drip, drip, drip… Yes, the Oxygenics is great water saver, but it drips when turned off at the shower-head (it’s designed this way) – so, we turn off water at the faucet handle instead.
Capture cold water – Our shower releases about a quart of cold water before hot water arrives – so we capture that precious quart in a handy plastic pitcher and use it for other jobs throughout the day.

Capture grey water – A large shallow bowl on the shower floor captures water while bathing. The toilet gets a good scrub from that leftover warm soapy water – and sometimes we use it for Pico’s dirty dog feet.

For the notorious Military/Birdbath Shower– we use a gallon sized shallow metal bowl. Fill the basin with about a quart of hot water and a few drops of soap. With a clean washcloth begin working from top to bottom and rinse off with the shower head. It’s amazing how about two quarts of hot water does the job!

Hair conditioner – We find that occasional hair washing is fine as long as we don’t use traditional conditioners which require way too much rinse water. So, when dry camping, we use a leave-in hair conditioner/detangler.

Campground showers. Most boondocking campgrounds don’t have showers, but we use public showers if they are available, in good condition, and have hot water. Water is the ticket. So giving our shower a break means more water for a longer stay and more freedom to change our plans. When dry-camping in urban areas, we use the locker room showers at public pools and the YMCA.

General water saving tips

5-gallon water can – If, despite our best efforts, we still run out of water – and our gray water tank is not full – we access our emergency ‘jerry can‘ filled with fresh filtered water. Five gallons is plenty for one more day.

Nano Towels– Our Nano Towels keep everything clean with less water and without chemical cleansers. Reusable and durable our Nano’s keep dishes, countertops, cabinets, floors, and upholstery nice and clean. Our set has lasted for nearly three years and they still look good.

Okay, that’s the best we can do for now, but we’re always learning. If you have any other water saving ideas, tips or suggestions please leave them in the comments section below. With your help, this post can be a fantastic ongoing resource for water conservation!