10 RV Boondocking Tips - Dry Camping Tips For Newbies to Veterans
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
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00:00 Intro
00:48 Tip 1 Test Run
01:42 Tip 2 Research Areas To Camp
03:30 Tip 3 Top Off Everything
04:15 Tip 4 Bring Extras
05:30 Tip 5 Consider Road Conditions
07:17 Tip 6 Conserve Your Resources
08:11 Tip 7 Water Tips
10:13 Tip 8 Power Tips
12:16 Tip 9 Propane Tips
13:58 Tip 10 Leave No Trace
15:52 Closing
Do you like to go boondock camping? Ever wonder what are some tips or best practices for dry camping? Never been boondocking before and wondering what you should do to prepare for your first trip? Well, if you answered yes to any of these questions, this video is for you!
In this video I go over 10 RV/Camper Boondocking Tips. These tips are great for beginner campers all the way up to the seasoned veterans. 90-95% of the camping we do is boondocking or dispersed camping. So, we feel like we have learned a lot from our experiences and want to share that with you. If you have any other Boondocking/Wild Camping/Dry Camping tips, please put them in the comments below. Thanks for watching!
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Create a "written" checklist and use it. Everything that is important goes on it like the 10 "tips" in this video that have been translated to "todo". Just like pilots have and use. Checklists can then evolve over time and relate to your specific rig. If "check battery" is on your list, I recommend adding notes to remind you what you do to "check battery". Before a trip I checked my battery by pushing a button on a panel that displayed "13.6" and I was happy. After getting to camp site I realized that I really needed to have removed "shore power" or have thrown the AC breakers off before reading the panel so I read real battery charge and not the output of the battery charger. Another item to have on real checklist is my last one which is "Check under vehicle (towing and towed)" at time of departure. Here a note might state "Get on hands and knees" as this check is not just a "walk around" view. Maybe there is a rock you carefully drove over that you want to remind yourself to avoid when you are starting up; not just that one of your jacks is still down which can be seen by "walk around". On your belly will discover one of your kids's balls that rolled to the center of the underside that you won't catch unless you are on your belly. Top 10 items are great start and having it in writing and with you helps ensure things are checked the way you want things checked/done. I would bet that almost everyone has a "mental" checklist and almost no one has it written, available and used including myself. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for your detailed comment and sharing! Those are great ideas and would make for a great video ;) Thanks for watching!
FYI for newbies- water weighs 8 lbs/ gallon. Weight matters so take that into consideration.
Yep, thanks for watching!
Thanks
Diet water weighs less, and tastes great!
What about carbonated. It's weightless
Dehydrated water is the best way to go 👍
Even though you are out in the woods, choose a slight where you have a good view of the sky as well as a lot of trees. We learned this the hard way. We chose a spot that had lots and lots of trees. When night fall came, we took a walk up the road at night. When we came to a clearing, the night sky was breath taking!! From then on, we chose sites where we had good shade and a beautiful view of the sky!!!
Never thought of that before, good tip! Thanks for the comment and watching.
We are FTers who boondock most of the time. 3-5 gallons per person per day for water use is spot on. Good job. You never mentioned disposal of gray water, which is often our limiting factor. We find our 50 gallon gray tank fills sooner than our 50 gallon black tank, so we will sometimes transfer 10-15 gallons of gray water into our black tank to make more room in the gray tank (plus the soapy gray water it helps the black tank empty easier). In dispersed camping places, where it is legal to do so, we sometimes filter our gray water and drain some on the ground using a 20 micron Clear2o Dirtguard sediment filter, to remove the coffee grounds and microscopic food particles, so as not to harm the environment. The desert plants will thank you for it. We then disassemble and clean this filter at the dump station when we dump the majority of our gray water and our black tank. I really like your idea about using gray water to completely drown your campfire - kudos!
As far as power goes, everyone's needs are different. We live in our motorhome fulltime, so we are not "camping" with limited amenities, but living our normal everyday life off-grid. This means that we use a lot of power to run everything in our RV just like we would a S&B house, such as our 55" UHD TV, sound system, Blu-ray player, desktop computer, monitor, speakers, heater blower, fans, lights, etc.. We built a 620 watt solar array and mounted it to the side of our MH. We can easily erect it without climbing on the roof, to the precise angle needed (depending on season and latitude) to capture the most sun, making it about 20% more productive than flat, roof mounted panels, or about the same as a flat mounted 740 watt array. We have 2, 230ah (115-175ah usable) FLA CG-2 golf cart batteries now, but plan on upgrading to a 620ah (500-550ah usable) LiFePo-4 bank after the first of the year. The added battery capacity will reduce our generator run time, especially in bad weather. The price has dropped so much on lithium of late that we can build this bank using 8, 310ah prismatic cells for under $1,500 including the BMS. A bank this size cost over $5,000 not to long ago. Of course I'll have to reprogram my charge controller, swap out my converter to a Lithium compatible one and add a DC to DC battery charger so it doesn't fry my alternator, but that still puts me well under $1,900 - that's less than the price of AGMs and they will last 5-10 times as long.
Another reason we mounted them on the side of our RV is we wanted to leave the roof free for a big, 3,000 watt solar array racked above our AC units and vents. We plan on building a 48v, 14.9 kwh battery bank using 16, 310ah prismatic cells, in addition to our 12v system which we will retain. We will be using all this power to run a 48v DC mini-split heat pump to spare propane use for heating and allow virtually unlimited air conditioner use as needed. This will be expensive (in the $9k range) but should pay for itself in a 5-6 years, saving us money on gasoline, propane and the occasional RV park and CG fees. Plus it will allow us more freedom to go where we want, when we want without the noise, smell and expense of running our generator.
Thank you for the comment and sharing! It sounds like you guys have really dialed in your RV. I really like how you dump grey water. It that a setup that is meant for dumping your grey water or did you rig that up? I also really like the sounds of your solar setup! That is much more advanced than our little 200 watt system.
Your future system sounds like it is going to be pretty badass. I'm glad prices on solar setups have been coming down over the years. We will likely upgrade to a lithium battery down the road, our Gel battery has been working well for us so far. I also really like how a lot of campers come prepped for at least a little bit of solar. Even a small solar setup makes a lot of sense for an RV. Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman Electricity is addictive. The more you have he more you'll find a use for. But certainly 200 watts is a good start. Look at it as a gateway drug. 😀
I rigged the gray water set-up myself. The filter I use is designed to be a pre-filter for fresh water entering he RV. I ended up with an extra filter because I screwed up. I connected my RV to a water spigot at the Valley of Fire CG in NM without the pressure regulator. Unfortunately there was 90 psi of water pressure and it ruptured the filter. I'm actual glad it did, as it saved the water pipes in my MH from breaking from this insane pressure. I'll never do that again. Anyway, I repaired it with some JB weld, but don't trust it anymore under pressure, so I just use it as a drain filter.
Another interesting technique I've seen to get rid of excess gray water is using a small inflatable kiddy pool as an evaporation pond. This works great in the dry hot desert. Just place a few large rocks into the kiddy pool to stop it from getting blown away after the water evaporates. Drain about 5-6 gallons of gray water into it and by the next day it will have evaporated, especially if the wind is blowing (which it almost always is in the desert) and you can repeat the process as needed. A crackly film will precipitate on the bottom of the pool which will easily peel off and can be disposed of properly.
@@SuperSushidog That's pretty neat that you designed that filter yourself! Thank you for the kiddy pool tip!
Sounds like you have a pretty badass rig, man. I've spent some time upgrading mine, as well, and have 1,160 watts of solar on the roof, with two 60A charge controllers in parallel. It's enough to run the A/C, or microwave, off of strictly solar power. I must say, however, I am quite curious how you would manage to fit 3kw of panels on the roof of an RV - mine is a 21ft and the four panels I have take up the majority of my roof space. Granted, my panels are a little dated, if they were 500w instead of 290w, I'd have 2kw, and with a bigger RV that could become 3kw.
@@jd7896 I have a 36ft motorhome. I could rack 9 of these 40" wide REC Solar REC Alpha 370 Watt panels on the roof in a straight line above my AC shrouds, roof vents and such. This would give me 3,330 watts and take up 30ft of roof length (by 67.8" wide.) These panels are first rate, but quite expensive. I might decide to go with 8, JA 530 watt panels from San Tan Solar. These will occupy 29.5ft of roof length, but are longer at 89.25". They will give me a total of 4,240 watts on the roof, but add 115 lbs up there as well. The big advantage of these is price, as they will only cost $2,120 for 4240 watts, vs $3,168 for the REC panels rated at 3,330 watts. My MH is only 11' 9" tall so I should still be under 12ft height for bridge clearance. Decisions, decisions. These 530 watt panels are only 44.2" wide, so 4 of them should fit on your roof easily, giving you 2,120 watts, which should be more than adequate on that small of an RV for all your power needs.
We use spray bottles to wash our dishes. One diluted soap, one rinse. We also use minnie string lights inside the camper to give us enough light to get around the camper at night.
I love your spray bottle idea! Thanks for the comment and sharing.
This was one of the more informative videos I’ve watched- thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Extra BEER ! It can go quickly, 🍺 cheers 🍻
Lol, that is a good one! Thanks for the laugh and watching! 🍻
I think I will do mostly boondocking camping when I get my trailer. This offered some great info! Thank you!
Just bought our first rv and found your channel is awesome for us. We live in northern BC and plan on boondocking mostly. There's lot of room up here for it and the tips you are showing are great. Thanks from the north.
Congrats on your first RV! That is exciting! I am sure you will create a lot of great memories in the future. Thanks for the comment and watching!
I have a 2003 35' pull trailer so I switched out all my light bulbs to LED's, Even the refrigerator bulb, I got a 200Ah lithium battery what a huge difference it's made.
I agree, it makes a huge difference! Thanks for watching
Great tips and some you don't see in a lot of videos. Using water from your grey tank to put out the fire was really good.
Thank you! I can't take all the credit for that idea, we had a friend show us that. It worked out great this weekend to put out our fires every night!
Dont forget to check your fire extinguisher
Good call!
Loved your tips Brian. My favorite was spending 5 minutes leaving your site clean! Thank you for that. As as to LP, our little Bambi came with 2 30lb tanks upgradable to 2 40 lbs, I know most campers have one or two 20 lb tanks so maybe they can upgrade to something larger
Hey Joe! Glad you like the tips! I didn't know they made 40lb tanks! That is great! We have the 30lb tanks and I love them, much better than the 20lb tanks. Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman i haven’t been commenting like i used to but I watch all your videos 😊
@@Joe-cu4hi No worries Joe! Thanks for your patronage!
Great tips. I'm making tons of lists from your vids. Appreciated.
Thanks Marty! I am glad my videos have been helpful. Thanks for watching!
Great video and thank you for sharing some awesome tips. I have purchased a truck camper for boondocking and look forward to using all your tips.
You're welcome! Congrats on your purchase! I had a truck camper for years and loved it. Thanks for watching!
I would generally choose not to dump gray water at a camp site due to odor and moisture in dry environments drawing in predators, and pests like rodents and flying insects but dumping gray water on a fire pit is BRILLANT! Even if you're not in a self-contained unit you can store your gray water in a five gallon bucket and douse the fire pit you used. FANTASTIC IDEA!!! You might consider making the dousing of fire pits a stand along video. You could capture some imagery from Colorado forests destroyed by fire, include statistics like the loss of life and property, and maybe tie into a recent fire with a catching title like "How the xxxx fire could have been prevented". I've seen a lot of videos discussing how to extinguish a fire but none included this method.
Thank you! That is a great idea for a video! And one video that is definitely needed. People need to get that message. Thank you for watching!
I'd like to add is possible for things in your gray water to be poisonous if heated or burnt (chemicals from soap and runoffs from showering after using pesticides come to mind but I'm sure there are other possibilities), If you leave that out, and it doesn't rain enough to wash it off and someone ends up cooking over that flame I can't help but imagine that it could at the very least make their hotdogs and marshmallows taste funny.
Great stuff Brian! All great tips. Some other small ones . . . bring little solar lights for evening camper illumination before bed. My latest purchase was a Jackery power station because my biggest need boondocking was keeping my phone, tablet and laptop charged, so rather than tax my single camper battery, I just use the Jackery. They gray water tip is great for putting out the fire! I would also consider it for washing off muddy shoes, equipment, or other uses too.
Thank you! Those are great tips, I really like the Jackery power stations. I've considered getting one. That's cool that you've been getting some good use out of it. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Great tips man love your channel thank you for your service
Thank you! I am glad you enjoy the channel! Thanks for the compliment and watching!
Glad to be your newest subscriber. I hope to be full time nomad in a year or so. I am watching and reading everything I can about boondocking. Colorado will be one of my main go to's during the summer to avoid the heat.
This was a excellent video......off to watch and learn more from your other vids!
Thanks for subscribing Richard! I saw all your comments and appreciate you binging my content! Good for you for doing your research and looking into things. I would love to be able to travel more. Colorado is a great place to visit in the summer. You can go to the mountains and escape the heat. We just got back from a trip to the mountains and daytime temps were mid 70's - perfect IMO! Night time temps got low though, mostly 40's and one night it got down to 30! We were camping at around 10,000ft though. Thanks again for subscribing, commenting, and watching my videos!
@@ColoradoCamperman Thanks my friend, those temps. are what I consider perfect. We honeymooned in CO. Springs some 45 years ago. Drove to top of Pikes Peak....loved that trip! Visited Denver, went through "Big T" Canyon. Less than a year after the tragedy.....very sad. Stayed in Estes Park.....my favorite area! Can't wait to get back!
@@richardkoch8752 Man you hit all the hot spots! I am familiar with all those areas. I lived in Springs for a while and I'm from Loveland. We used to go up to Estes Park all the time. It was great growing up but now it is insanely busy :(
Great video; thanks for posting.
You're welcome! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Just sold my sailboat yrs of sailing just bought a Rv getting ready for a trip from west coast to east coast ,,glad I found your channel extremely helpful cheers mste
Heck yeah, congrats! Have fun and thanks for watching!
Grey water for the fire was $. Great tips! 👍
Thank you! I can't take full credit for that, the guy that helped me flip the axles is the one who told me about that. He's in his '70s now and has a lot of years under his belt. Thanks for watching!
Just found your channel, great video!!! Well put together, really solid information. Definitely learned a few things watching. Will use the grey water idea for putting out campfires going forward.
Thank you! Glad you learned a few things. We use the grey water on the fire all the time. It gives us a really good peace of mind knowing our fire is 100% out. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Thank you so much for creating this video
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
We live in Colorado and next year going to buy our first rv full time. Can't wait.
Heck yeah, congrats! That is very exciting. Thanks for watching!
I use an “extend a stay” on my Class C. It allows me to first use portable propane tanks, before hooking into the RV LP.
Thank you for sharing and watching!
Driving semi I have used hand sanitizer to clean dishes and silverware. Followed by a wet cloth rinse. Clean, of course.
Might save a lot of water.
Good tips, thanks for watching!
Wow thank you for all of the great ideas! I'm going to be purchasing a Colman 1200rk in September and be a weekend worrier so thank you for the tips.
You're welcome! I'm glad the video helped. Enjoy your new camper and thanks for watching!
Great Tips. Keep up the great work 👍
Thanks for the comment and watching!
One should not travel long distance on the highway with a full freshwater tank. When I was taught how to tow a 5thW, it was emphasized strongly to wait until you're close to your final destination until you fill up the freshwater. A full freshwater tank can upset a trailer's center of gravity to such a degree that it will roll on while taking a corner at 65 mph. I always check where I can get water before I leave home. It's not that tough.
Thanks for sharing and watching!
Charge your batteries with your tow vehicle in emergencies. Hook it up with the hitch😮 and plug your trailer into the tow vehicle. Shut all electric switches in the vehicle and trailer. Start it up and watch your battery meter.
Awesome video. Thank you for the great Boondocking tips. I’ve never boondocked on BLM land but you made me feel more comfortable. Grey tip on putting out the fire ring. I’m subscribed.
Thank you! I'm glad the tips could be helpful! Be careful, you might get hooked to boondocking, lol! After boondocking/dispersed camping, it is hard to go to campgrounds. However, it is nice going to campground and having all the amenities they offer! Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Awesome information. Ty
You're welcome! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Check battery levels before leaving. Made this mistake once. Thanks for all the other tips.
Great point! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Great tips 👌
Thanks for the comment and watching!
Good idea on the grey water!
Thank you, it works out great! Thanks for the comment and watching!
Thank Youso much.
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
That's lots of water. At Burning Man, we typically go with 1 gallon per person per day. We set up dish cleaning stations, take a shower every three or four days and drink the rest. Usually we leave water behind for the tear down crew.
Yeah, that's assuming drinking, dishes, and a shower a day. Otherwise it would be a lot less, like what you're talking about. Thanks for watching!
We use a crabby tool and a trash bag to pick up trash everywhere we camp
Good call! Thanks for the tip and watching!
yes your a good man..
a smart man
nice to meetcha and we will sub you !!
so with us we only boondock thats it !!
so anything that can make our lives easier im all about it
so we hate citi livin
thats why we put 1k watts of solar on our jayco eagle 332 travel trailer
with lithium batteries
as long as we got sun we got tons of power which runs everything in the rv
overcast we switch to generator wich we run all night then back to solar all day
our storage has about 25 casses of bottled water for drinkin
just pop 10 bottles in the fridge thats that .
about 22 bottles of propane for cookin outside for that coleman grill
that buddy heater yep got those too.
alot of my ideas i got from u.
i can stay off grid for almost 7 months at a time
before i need to hit a store or a dump station.
Dang, that is a lot of solar! That sounds like you have a great off-grid setup! Thank you for the comment and watching.
I never thought to take my stabilizer bars off!
It makes a big difference, especially when going off road and/or turning in tight spots. Thanks for watching!
Food is a big one as well bring along some M.R.E works great look them up if ur new and don't know but it's food in a bag that military uses hope I explained that right. Anyways I'm new to boondocking. Hey great channel. I'm trying to build mine. Have a great day
Good call, thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman anytime. Y I yr welcome
I loved the video, great advice, however i'm curious on why you put the chains on the rear when you were in 4wd. having grown up in Colorado i was always taught to put them on the front as its easier to pull something that way
Thanks Dave! Honestly, I've only ever used chains on a rear wheel drive vehicle prior to getting stuck in the snow with our camper. So I just put them on the rear out of habit. Thanks for watching!
i chain the front tires on my truck when I'm empty for better traction that's where most of my weight is, and towing i chain the rear using the weight of my 5th wheel for traction
Thanks for the great tips. Your tip about disconnecting the weight-distribution springs, probably cannot be over emphasized. Especially when YT is loaded with tales of RVers breaking their frames on Travel Trailers.
You're welcome! I didn't even know you could break your frame until the last few years, lol! I was amazed with some of the pictures that I have seen. I think with the RV boom in 2020/2021 you had a lot of RV newbies towing campers. I also heard there were some quality issues with campers because they were being produced at a crazy fast rate. Thanks for the comment and watching!
Microwave = Glamping..🤣
Yep, the video is meant for RVer's. The thumbnail shows a self-contained camper, not a tent. Thanks for watching.
I also take a sponge bath instead of using the shower.
That is a huge water saver right there! Thanks for sharing and watching!
The black water tank should not be empty when you set out. It should have at least 5 gal of water in it.
Maybe bring swimming suit for outdoor showering.
After we empty our black tank we usually add 2 gallons or so and a tank tablet. Good call on the swim suit. Thanks for watching!
i bought a tank for water on Amazon 30 gal ad transfer pump
35 gallons a day I got these 5-gallon jugs that you got your 5-gallon jugs having three for those per person that's 20 a person.
Those jugs work great! Thanks for the comment and watching.
A lot of parks do not allow dumping of grey water on the ground, so using your grey
Yes, that is true. Thanks for watching!
Great video!
The provincial parks do not allow you to bring firewood from outside the area because it can introduce non native species of insects or plant diseases. You are also expected not to take firewood from live trees. How do you apply a similar "no trace" practice to boondocking?
I try to go by the old Boy Scout motto of leaving the place cleaner than when you got there. If you live by that while boondocking, you'll find yourself picking up trash, cleaning our firepits, not driving where there is no road, not camping in non campsites, etc. I try to use that motto even when at campsites I pay for. Thanks for watching!
New to the channel. Thank you for putting this type of info out for us newbies! Do most RV'ers understand GVWR ratings and weight capacities, as well as balancing loads when towing? I have heard stories of people buying trailers that cannot legally be towed with full water/propane/extra gear etc. How much weight axles and tires are rated for etc.? It is great to have stuff, but not if the trailer wags the dog, and flips or worse. Any suggestions on this? (Sorry if I missed prior videos if made). Thank you.
Thanks for checking out my channel! I did a video on tow capacity. Here is the link: ua-cam.com/video/5RbqPaqtpuI/v-deo.html I don't go into detail about axles and tires, but pretty much everything else. I hope that helps! Thanks for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman This also corelates to another comment you made, fill your water at home. Good many RVs are pushing if not overweight with tanks full. Better to fill up near your site. In my case, no reason to carry around 820lbs (100gal) more. I am not overweight with the water tank full on the toy hauler, but close. Plus it is a waste of fuel and brakes hauling that extra weight around for no reason. Only good argument here, is you know your water quality at home, which is a valid point.
@@MrThisIsMeToo Very good point! Thanks for sharing and the comment!
when washing dishes outside catch the rinse water in a container to use to flush toilet
Good idea! Thanks for the tip and watching.
Wow....RVers definitely don't camp the way I do. 3-5 gallons of water per day? That's nearly a week's worth of water for me. I guess if you have the ability to carry that much, it's a great idea to do so.
3 to 5 gallons per week? How do you manage that? Heck, in the summertime, I easily drink between 90-100oz of water per day, that alone is 5 gallons per week. It definitely helps when you have an onboard tank that holds 40 gallons. Damn dishes are what always use the most water, lol! Thanks for watching.
@@ColoradoCamperman Just spent 5 nights/6 days in the Rockies on BLM land. I always have 10g of onboard water. Returned with about 5-6g of water. Water for showering using the solar shower comes from the stream and baby wipes. I wipe dishes out with a paper towel or in the stream and then wipe down with bleach water. If I didn't have a stream nearby, I'd have used probably another 1-2 gallons. Not even sure what I'd use 3 to 5 gallons of water per day for? Hot tub? Love the videos
@@theflatlandfanatic1158 Lol, I feel ya! Yeah, camping solo versus with a wife & kids is completely different. When I go Elk hunting, my usage is similar to yours. When I go with the family, we are easily using 3-5 gal per day per person. My son thinks it's cool we have water in the camper and doesn't understand we have a limited amount. Thanks again for the comment and watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman Yeah, I'm always solo. I can't even imagine what you have to go through to prepare and stock enough food, water, you name it. It's easy for me to sit back and say "don't take so much" when it's just me and there's no one there to comment on just how much I stink!! haha. Plus I SUV camp. Things are simpler for me.
@@ColoradoCamperman God Bless you for getting your kiddos out and teaching them love and appreciate the outdoors. We need alot more of that. Safe travels.
How come nobody ever mentions leaving the trailer plugged into the truck for more 12 volt power?
You can run the truck engine a few minutes each day to top off all the batteries on both vehicles and have plenty of battery power to run everything all evening and all night on 12 volts!
Running all your 12-volt stuff off the batteries will not drain your batteries as fast as going through an inverter to make everything run off 110v.
Inverters are not very efficient.
I've done that all summer without a generator or solar panels. And have plenty of battery power to run my lights, my TV, a fan in hot weather and everything else that was 12 volts on my trailer including running the fan all night long. And in the winter running my central heating all night long along with the propane that I refilled every week.
In fact there's all kinds of 12 volt electronics and kitchen appliances you can get that run on 12 volts and a few of them have dual voltage input.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Good points. Thanks for watching!
Getting into boondocking with a camper. But there are some nights when hiking I decided not to come back to the camper due to bivy camping on the trail. What would you do if leave your camper for a couple of days and the temperature gets cold enough to freeze? What would be your suggestion about preventing the pipes and tanks from freezing? Should I use running water in the camper or not, or a hybrid. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
How cold are we talking? We've been able to get by with having water in the lines during freezing temps, but we're talking 27-32F degrees. Here's a video I did on preparing our camper for winter camping, you may get some ideas from what I did in the video: ua-cam.com/video/OYmT9jX0iZw/v-deo.html Thanks for watching!
@@ColoradoCamperman Thank you for the quick response and the videos. To answer your question, I usually go in September, so temperatures are usually above 20 deg at night and warm up above freezing during the day. That being said, in 2020 there was a snow storm in earlier September and temperatures were below freezing for a couple of days. So I like to be prepared for the worst and want to do everything I can to prevent freezing pipes. I will check out the other videos and see if I can pick up any helpful hints. Thanks,
Hey Brian, you are dead on when you say that the RV furnaces are not efficient. We're in NW Minnesota. We were doing done updating in our rig last fall and we were going through (2) 30# tanks per week. I finally wised up and brought my buddy heater in to supplement the RV furnace. And I ran a little electric space heater. It stretched out my LP quite a bit. Great tips. I hope to do an axel flip on my 5er soon.
Holy smokes that is a lot of propane! I noticed in the winter time it helps tremendously to put bubble wrap on the windows. Also, skirting your camper if you can. The axle flip was huge for us and is probably our #1 upgrade to our camper so far. Thanks for the comment and watching!
The China diesel heaters are amazing. Incredibly power and diesel efficient and produce very nice heat. I added a Y valve to the fuel line for my generator, so that in the colder months, I can switch the generator to run off of the main gasoline tank, and the 20 gallon auxiliary tank then becomes the diesel tank for my heater.
Before you do the test run on the side of your house check your local ordinance. Many municipalities do allow storage of your camper on the side of your house, but they do not allow anybody living in the camper while it is stored at your house.
Yeah it's unfortunate having neighbors telling you what you can do on your own.
Good point, thanks for watching!
We poke a hole in a waster bottle for rinsing dishes.
Thanks for sharing the tip and watching!
Basically pull a camper but don't use it haha. Jkjk. We are about to buy our first camper and we are super excited, hence why I'm here.
Enjoy your new camper, thanks for watching!
Can you dig a waste leeching field while boon docking
On public land? Probably not, maybe on your personal land. You'd have to check county regulations.
6:33 can you do a tutorial video about this, lol
ua-cam.com/video/7Pk3u2rDF7s/v-deo.htmlsi=p-MO2Pdj6kEOdslP. I already did a video on this. Thanks for watching.
Need to cover that battery. The heat and sunlight will deteriorate it fast
Agreed, that battery is massive and there are no boxes for it. I'm looking at getting a small truck tool box to put the battery in. Thanks for watching!
Great video. What about poop poop????
Thanks! Lol, what do you mean?
Do you have anyone there who is using solar panels ?
I camp solo with my 2 standard poodles, and have only stayed at state parks or Recreation areas. What about safety? I carry, but I'm still kind of scared to go off on BLM land alone.
Thanks for the comment. We have always felt very safe when camping on BLM or NF land. We have never had any issues with theft (knock on wood!) or have never been in any unsafe situations. We've actually had more issues camping at state parks than we have had while boondocking!
With two large dogs and carrying, I would definitely feel comfortable camping by myself. Give it a try! If you go here: www.campendium.com/free-camping you can find places to go. People will rate areas and give reviews. They also have listed on there if there is cell service, which helps if you are work camping. Hope that helps! Thanks for watching.
I backpacked and slept in my car or on the grass near my car. I got a little trailer now but still not plugged in just parked here. I don't even have a truck so I can't move it. Not an adventure just unfortunate
Sorry to hear that. Thanks for watching!
You also want to make sure you don't have any propane tanks and just to let your generator to run everything and get rid anything that runs off of propane and put everything in that runs off from electricas so when you're stranded on the middle of nowhere you don't have to worry about what am I going to cook use to cook food how am I going to keep the fridgerator and freezer cold and this way you only have to rebook to a guy enough power to run the 850 watt split air conditioner heat instabeauty run all those toys I want to be able to watch like the TV and my phone and everything I don't even use propane for grill I use burkes in little pieces wood and I save thousands that way. And I even grow some of my own food. Yes bring extra fuel called solar panels just in case your solar panels and enough make sure you have a few extra solar panels to help charge your electric generator charge your batteries for your inverter and make sure when you go out camping just kiss you out of there for a couple years have no food for that even if you're only going up there for a couple weeks or a couple months because you know things can pop up some things can go wrong but if you have electric generators electric converters and batteries you should be just fine with everything else. It's called being smart about things.
Having backups is always good!
Seeing the same drone shot going by a camper and then a tree gets annoying. Other than that I really appreciate the information!
Thanks for watching.
It’s so sad how poorly people care for disperse camping. Why some of the free dispersed camping is closing.
I agree 100%, it is very sad. We always pick up trash when we go dispersed camping and unfortunately it is usually a lot. Thanks for watching!
Why on earth would you have a jell battery with solar. A lifepo4 will charge faster using more of the solar power.
We've had that battery for going on 4 years. It's done extremely well and we're very happy with it. 4 years ago a lithium battery would have run us $1,000. A gel battery fit our budget and it still performs well with solar. Thanks for watching.
I used agm batteries on my sailboat no problem at all charging by solar and wind genny ,,agm s work fine
If I’m gonna not have electricity and water, I’d rather use my tents. Makes no sense to me taking an RV that far out to live priming
I understand where you're coming from. I enjoy tent camping still as well as camping in our camper. Thanks for watching.
Sounds like a huge pain in the ass just to hang out in the brush.
Lol, sometimes I think the same thing! Thanks for watching!
Use common sense!!
Agreed, thanks for watching.