Question about "dry camping"

[auntie]

We're looking to camp with our travel trailer at a county park not to far from our home..only it doesn't have electric or sewer. Now..it does have a dump station..so no problem there. It also does offer water connections. Just no electric. I have no experience in this regard. In the nine years we've had our trailer, we've never dry camped. Always full hook ups. We don't have a generator, and the campground limits when you can run one even if you have one. What exactly will work if we run off of the battery..and for how long. Lights?..how about the TV? Can I expect that to run off the battery? Thanks for the input guys. I figure the fridge can work off the propane. Hopefully it will be cool enough so as to not need the a/c.

 

[disney4dan]

We dry camp frequently at our local state parks, and we invested in two golf cart style batteries which are 6 volts each. Put together, these batteries can get us through 4 nights of camping using our lights in our old trailer, plus the water pump for about 40 gallons of water. Our hot water heater was propane without electric start (good old fashioned pilot light) and the fridge ran off propane. The furnace will kill the batteries pretty quick, as will any motorized items like the power slides I am told.

In any case, you can pick up a good 12-volt marine battery that is likely to hold a charge for quite a while, and just keep swapping them out. Maybe find a way to recharge the spare battery off the tow vehicle if you do any travelling during the day.

You can get more life out of the batteries by using propane lanterns outside most of the night, as well as using flashlights as much as possible. This will allow you to save the trailer battery for the water pump. We prefer camping this way, things seem a little more basic.

Send photos of the place, I'd like to see it!

 

[auntie]

Don't plan on using the fresh water tank as there is a city water line supply. Now..I know the hot water can run on either propane or electric. If that's the case does the propane still have an electric start?..Since we've never used this option, I'm not sure how it works. Gotta look in the manual I guess. So am I to understand the battery you use when you dry camp is not the same battery you normally have on the trailer....or that you swap it out for the golf cart batteries?
Guess we could bring our golf cart battery along as well.
Putting the slide out... would that be an issue running on battery?..Oh and what about the Television..would that work running off the batteries?..or is that too much? Thanks for the help..appreciate it.

 

[stacktester]

I'm not sure if you need the golf cart batts or not. Make sure your tt battery has water and fully charged before you go. The trailer when plugged into the truck will use power from it until you unplug. I'd put the slide out and anything needing power while the truck is running. When we go to the races or 4 wheeling in the woods I try not to use any battery powered items. When you shower, it's get wet, turn water off, lather and then rinse. This will save water, battery and gray tank space. Like Dan said a furnace will wear a battery out quick. Good luck.

 

[RvUsa]

Well, it usually involves lots of rubbing together with your clothes ON.... Oh wait, you said dry CAMPING!!!

Phyllis, think of it this way, if it plugs into the wall, with a cord you can use in the house, it won't work off the battery. So no TV, microwave, toaster, blender, etc. Your A/C won't run on battery either. I would not worry about the hot water heater, the electric used to light it on gas is negligible. It's the same with the fridge, there is only a little tiny spark to light both, and then they run on gas.

We go dry camping once in a while, and what I did was replace the TT battery, when it went bad, with a deep cycle dry cell battery from sears. That thing is amazing, it doesn't corrode the cables/terminals, and lasts forever. We do have a generator, that we run for a couple hours a day just to charge it back up. But it would last for days even not doing that. We ran for 2 days without charging, running the furnace at night without any problems.

Honestly, try it, you will have a blast, and it opens lots of new places go camp, like wal mart parking lots, road side rest areas, and truck stops.

 

[auntie]

Okay..but if we have a city water connection..we won't have to use the fresh water tank. My concern would be having hot water...which I understand can run on the propane..except for the electric start, which would require power from the battery. Have I got that right? We already checked out the comfort stations and they were very clean..and likely we would use them to shower anyway. Will do as you suggested Donnie and put the slide out while still connected to the truck. I'm gonna have the truck with me, so Bob said he'd show me how to connect so as to recharge the battery should I need it. I'm not too worried, as he will be there after work, and if worse comes to worse and it's not working out..I can go home..it's only about 30 minutes from my house.
My daughter started working in this area back in February, and I've had to drive her to work a few times..that's when I spotted this park. Once you enter, the road meanders quite a bit and brings you to the campground and there's also a beautiful fresh water lake for fishing or rowboating. While they have signs up for no personal water craft...if you're camping there you can bring in your own kayak. I think we're gonna give it a try. We went there yesterday just to sit near the lake and watch people row boat(very funny..and a whole other post..shoud have taken some video)

 

[ntsammy5]

Good Lord Phyllis - I thought you wee talking about alcohol free camping and I was aghast, I tell you, simply aghast!!!!! My heart can't take many more shocks like that.!


When backpacking (and other times) we carry some water but look for clean streams and use filtration products - but I always carry a small bottle of wine, just in case. I fear my serious backpacking days are over though My "good" knee is starting to act up and I can't go alone anymore and the kids can't take the baby yet - all I'd do is slow my SIL down anyhow. Getting old sucks - I may have to see about surgery for it. It never, ever gave me problems before.

 

[disney4dan]

So am I to understand the battery you use when you dry camp is not the same battery you normally have on the trailer....or that you swap it out for the golf cart batteries?

Instead of one 12 volt battery that is the same size as a car battery, we have to 6-volt batteries hooked together to make a longer lasting battery. It's mainly in the way they are built so that they keep the charge much longer - kind of like a regular battery on steroids. They also weigh a TON and are fairly tall, so they take a different size battery case.

They are used in place of a single battery (kind of like flashlights that use 4 D size batteries instead of one 6-volt).

Hope you have a great time!

 

[auntie]

Al.....Don't be ridiculous! That's insane.
Strikes me that the more "dry camping" one does...the more alcohol needed!

John, We went to Sears today and bought a new 12 volt marine battery. Bob said it's a good one, and it cost some $130.00 so hopefully we'll get a good while out of it. We needed it anyway..ours was long over due for replacement.
As far as the tv...no biggie, I figure I'll bring along a good book.
I think I'll wait for the weather to cool down. Although it's been a relatively cool summer so far. Yet the past couple of days it seems the humidity has finally made it's way to Long Island.
We may even wait until September. This spot has got to be beautiful in the fall when the leaves change.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Good Lord Phyllis - I thought you wee talking about alcohol free camping and I was aghast, I tell you, simply aghast!!!!! My heart can't take many more shocks like that.!

Wanna hear something else thats HORRIBLY WRONG,,
the Jack Dainels Distillery is located inna dry county !!!!

 

[ntsammy5]

Wanna hear something else thats HORRIBLY WRONG,,
the Jack Dainels Distillery is located inna dry county !!!!

Yeah, I know - I could never figure that one out!

 

[BRDof3]

Yeah, I know - I could never figure that one out!

It's the only way to make sure at least some of it makes it out of the county for th erest of us.

 

[LarryJ]

We're looking to camp with our travel trailer at a county park not to far from our home..only it doesn't have electric or sewer. Now..it does have a dump station..so no problem there. It also does offer water connections. Just no electric. I have no experience in this regard. In the nine years we've had our trailer, we've never dry camped. Always full hook ups. We don't have a generator, and the campground limits when you can run one even if you have one. What exactly will work if we run off of the battery..and for how long. Lights?..how about the TV? Can I expect that to run off the battery? Thanks for the input guys. I figure the fridge can work off the propane. Hopefully it will be cool enough so as to not need the a/c.

With a single 12 dual purpose marine battery like a later post suggested you bought you should be good for a weekend as long as you don't use your onboard water pump and only use the trailer lights one or two at a time and for just a few hours at at time. The refer and WH on propane use very little 12V and the biggest 12V user is the furnace which you won't need. I would get a couple of the portable electric lanterns/lights for general use to save the battery.

Since you usually have full hookups be aware that you will fill up that grey water tank much quicker than you realize so no showers and be conservative on washing dishes and things especially if you are hooked up to an ever ending supply of FW like you will be based on your post. You can easily go thru 20gal of grey water in a day if you are not careful and only the very higher end/larger TT have grey tanks of 40 gal or more with many being in the 30gal range.

Larry

 

[auntie]

Thanks Larry. Good to know. The more I think about it..the more I think we would probably make use of the comfort stations in the campground as far as showers. Bob took a look at them and said they were nice and clean.
Sept. looks like the best time this season for the trip. Figure on cooler nights..won't need any A/C and still warm enough that we wouldn't need heat either.

I've read Bob all the suggestions here..and John..he couldn't get out the door fast enough to go look at generators. So..thanks a lot for that one guy!
He's always saying we should have one in case of a power outage for the house. When I read him your post earlier, I got an immediate "See..See... I told you we should get one"..
Oh well, I knew this dry camping stuff was gonna be trouble.

 

[RvUsa]

Phyllis, tell him there is nothing better than a honda!!! We have the eu2000, and it awesome! The thing runs everything but the A/C, but it is the size of a small suitcase, and weighs about as much.

Here is a picture of one.

If money is no object, bigger is ALWAYS better lol, and you could get the 3000, I have also heard good things about the new yamaha's as well. But I like our little 2000, when our electric went out in the house for 6 days, it ran the fridge and the freezer, a bunch of lights, and of course the TV, the Router, and modem and the laptop , had to have the important stuff like the internet and cold beer!

 

[disney4dan]

I would agree with John on the type of generator to get, either a Honda or Yamaha like the one shown in the photo. They will probably set you back somewhere between $1,200 and $1,500; but they provide very "clean" electricity meaning no spikes of voltage, and they are very quiet.

I have an inexpensive contractor style generator that we picked up during the ice storms last December. Running one of those at a campground is going to put you on everyone's naughty list. Even though this one only generates 68db of sound, it is ANNOYING. Of course, it was only $299 at Cabela's with free shipping, so we took the plunge. I look at it as cheap insurance that we will never lose power again!

By the way, if your trailer has the room, you could always hook up 2 of those RV Marine batteries and probably get 3 days out of them with a good charge. Maybe 4 days. The advantage of having two 12-volt batteries is that you can take one off and charge it while the other still runs things that are necessary on the trailer like the controller on the fridge. I've heard of people putting spare battery boxes in the tow vehicle with a power charger so they can keep charging one while driving around checking out the sites.

 

[LarryJ]

Phyllis, tell him there is nothing better than a honda!!! We have the eu2000, and it awesome! The thing runs everything but the A/C, but it is the size of a small suitcase, and weighs about as much.

Here is a picture of one.

If money is no object, bigger is ALWAYS better lol, and you could get the 3000, I have also heard good things about the new yamaha's as well. But I like our little 2000, when our electric went out in the house for 6 days, it ran the fridge and the freezer, a bunch of lights, and of course the TV, the Router, and modem and the laptop , had to have the important stuff like the internet and cold beer!

That's the one we have and like you love it. I even throw it into the Van when on a trip, just in case. You can also put two in parallel and have more more that you would need. They are pricey, but overall IMHO worth the expense.

Larry

 

[stacktester]

I have a Yamaha 2400 that I was hesitant about buying because I didn't think it could power my a/c. A friend told me his powered his horse trailer a/c so I borrowed his and it did the job. It will not run a hair dryer, coffee pot or anything that draws a bunch of amps up front. It pretty much runs the tv and a/c and lights. They're about $1,200 last time I checked. Oh and it's really quiet and fuel efficient. I can run my a/c for about 5 hours on a tank of gas.

 

[auntie]

Whoa.... whoa... back it up...back it up there a minute.

Do you mean to tell me that I can't operate a coffee pot on battery
or with a generator for that matter?
You mean to tell me that you spend over thousand dollars for a generator and you can't have coffee?......

Okay this gives new meaning to the phrase "NOT A HAPPY CAMPER"

That's it...we can only dry camp in a 7/11 parking lot..so I can have my morning coffee.

 

[disney4dan]

Whoa.... whoa... back it up...back it up there a minute.

Do you mean to tell me that I can't operate a coffee pot on battery
or with a generator for that matter?
You mean to tell me that you spend over thousand dollars for a generator and you can't have coffee?......

Okay this gives new meaning to the phrase "NOT A HAPPY CAMPER"

That's it...we can only dry camp in a 7/11 parking lot..so I can have my morning coffee.

I'm with you, Phyllis, regarding that morning cup of coffee. I've also had the percolators which do a great job, but take so long that it's almost time for a beer before perc'd coffee is ready.

I discovered this handy little gadget at a camp store and always have it in the trailer. Seeing that I was the only one who drank coffee for a while, it was a lifesaver for a quick cup of coffee. Especially on road trips, could stop and make a decent cup of my own coffee for the road while taking a bathroom break. Just boil up some water, pour it over the coffee grounds through this cone, and you've got a single cup. Also meant that Nancy could have tea with the boiled water, no need for heating two pots.