Boondocking Tips

In my Internet travels to find more information about boondocking tips, I came across a really great article written by Norm and Linda Payne. I couldn’t help but reprint it here as I thought that the info was just so good. 

Please enjoy and thanks to Norm for his permission to reprint his original works!

 Some boondocking tips:
(These tips are for serious boondocking of a week or more and not for overnighting.)

* Do “G.I.” showers every other day. Turn on water, get wet, turn water off, soap up, turn water on to rinse. Takes two gallons or less. Wash using a sink or small plastic tub the next day.

* While waiting for hot water to reach the faucet save water in a container and use it later for coffee or washing dishes.

* Brush your teeth with water in a small cup and then rinse your mouth with another small cup of fresh water.

* Wash dishes and utensils in small plastic tub to save water. Pour water outside if possible.

* For people with long hair wash your hair in a small plastic tub in the galley sink using one quart of water to wet hair and rinse. Then use about one quart fresh water for the final rinse.

* Use a five gallon collapsible fresh water bottle to store extra water.

* Turn on water heater 5-10 minutes before you need hot water and turn it off immediately after water warms.

* If your toilet has a sprayer use it to quickly rinse the toilet instead of holding down the foot pedal.

* When possible use restrooms in stores, restaurants, service stations, etc.

* Use restroom facilities in campground if available.

* Use disposable paper plates, bowls and cups and plastic forks, spoons and knives.

* Use only one light at a time and it should be the smallest light to do the job.

* Use fluorescent lights instead of incandescent lights.

* Limit use of large electrical loads like TVs, microwave and hair dryer.

* Turn inverter off when not using it.

* Turn off all 12 volt loads that are not being used – clock, radio, TV antenna booster, plug-in cubes for cell phones, printers, computers, etc.

* Before boondocking cook meat and freeze meat with broth in plastic zip lock bags. This will cut down on cooking and cleanup.

* During cooler weather close bedroom door at night to keep bedroom warmer. This will save LP.

* In cool weather face the sun and let solar warm the RV. In hot weather face away from the sun and open your awnings.

Compliments of Norm Payne, http://www.seeya-downtheroad.com/ for his boondocking tips.

Boondocking

Boondocking when it comes to RV’ing, means to make camp without any external hookups. No electricity, water or sewage. With the rising costs of nightly camping, boondocking can be a viable option when you are on route to your destination but just need to stop for the night. Or just to save a couple of bucks.

To be honest, I just heard of the term boondocking and I’ll be sure to post more as I learn more. But here’s a rundown of what I’ve discovered with a bit of searching on the Internet.

Always the biggest problem is getting enough water and electrical power to cover your needs while unhooked. Fortunately electrical can be covered by the fact that if you have a generator in your unit and it has the right capacity, then your are covered. I’ve been told that a general rule of thumb when boondocking with air conditioning, you will want to have at least a 3,000 watt generator. Or else you could burn out the air unit or the generator or both.

With using a generator, you have to realize that you are using diesel to run the generator and one writer mentioned that you can eat up $10 of diesel overnight running the generator to run the air conditioning. Good point. I’ll add more here when I find out more details.

Second, is the water. That is an issue. You only have a finite amount of water and you have to conserve it. You can make use of facilities that allow you to replenish like the Flying J’s in the states. So, I guess one could over come this problem. But if you are in the bush far away from replenishments, that could become an issue very quickly.

I’ve read that you can normally boondock for up to four or five days without getting water. So, that’s a good point to remember for remote travelling. But I’m thinking of keeping to civilization, so I’ll just have to plan out the replenishment points while boondocking every three or four days.

Where to boondock?

I’ve also read that most have never been turned away from any place they’ve wanted to boondock. Stores such as WalMarts and Targets as well as truck stops like Flying J’s welcome overnight camping. (It’s recommended that you don’t say 24 hours. You’ll surely get a knock if you try to stay more then that.)

Many have boondocked in church parking lots. Driveways and side yards of relatives are another great idea for boondocking. They take our home to visit their homes while they visit their families.

Out west many have found many “safety rest areas” just off main highways and even stayed at visitor centers. Some membership campgrounds offer boondocking sites and we always use them. Some of the best boondocking areas are state and national parks and national forests where camping is often free.

So, boondocking looks like quite the viable option. I’d love to hear your experience good and bad regarding boondocking! Thanks!