Bare Bones Boondocking or Dry Camping anyone??

[AMANDASMITH911]

We are new to a PUP but have been TT camping for three years.

I want to go camping this year off the beaten path and out of the campground once or twice, just for two nights or so at a time. I see all these post about batteries and generators and such. Well I don't want to fork out the dough for 12v/6v battery, little alone a generator right now. So does anybody camp off the beaten path really simply?

Our first trip will likely be at a friends property by his lake as a sort of test run.
Here is what I am thinking. and i would only consider camping this way if the weather was forcast to be pretty darn good.. for now.

most of the regular camping stuff we take with us except the microwave and awning lights. (we don't take much, not even a Television)
a full tank on the TV
a lot of campfire wood
Water- lots of water
full on board propane
Coleman Stove and propane bottles
2 Coleman Lanterns with more propane bottles
LED head lamps and or flashlight and extra batteries
Cooler with homemade plastic cup block ice and maybe freeze some of the stuff we plan to eat on the last day
Battery powered radio/NOAA radio with back up hand crank
Garbage bags to carry away all our trash
porta a potty and or a shovel

ANyone do this? anyone camp without a generator or 12V /6V batteries?? what am i not thinking of? i guess I am just cheap and I just don't see the need for the battery and generator.

?


AS

[Chuck S]

We dry camp frequently as many Ohio state parks are still not electrified.

We had no issues with our '02 Coleman Bayside and the single, inexpensive Group 24 battery on the tongue for two days.  Rationing electricity is vital.  As is starting with a full battery.  Check the electrolyte level and fully charge at least overnight before departing.  Do NOT run the refrigerator on 12v unless you have the 12v line from your truck and the truck is running.  These are propane refrigerators.  Run them on propane.

Our trusty Coleman dual fuel lantern under the canopy provided more light than we usually needed.  Small flashlights did the rest.  The occasional ceiling light is fine.

Don't worry about the water pump.  Draws about 4 amps, but doesn't run much.  The furnace is the battery killer but unlikely to be needed this time of year.  You'll go thru a battery before going thru a tank of propane.

Likewise don't worry about the refrigerator on propane.  Typical popup refrigerator will run nearly a month on one tank.

That's about it.  We have a dual 6v GC2 battery setup on our Roo 23SS as the camper has more 12v electrical appliances.  Never run out of battery on long weekends with either trailer.  Your first weekend will provide useful data.  The second even more.  The ideal test site is an electric site where you can recharge is necessary.  Use the lights, etc., as you would on an electric site and see if you get thru the weekend.  Alter your electrical use if necessary on real-dry sites.

-- Chuck

[Unstable Tripod]

I assume the OP doesn't have a battery because says she doesn't want to buy one.

Yes, AMANDASMITH9, you can camp in a PUP as if it were just a tent but I don't think very many folks here do that.  GIve it a try and see how it works out for you.

However, a warning about something important: You should have brakes on your trailer and you need a battery to power the emergency breakaway switch.  Once you have that you can operate as Chuck S has described.

[knobbyhead]

AMANDASMITH911 -

People have been tent camping since the beginning of time (and still do) witn no big 12v batteries or generators.  And since a PU is a big tent on wheels i do not see why you can't. 

I think your list is fine.  I would suggest a small battery powered led (or two) lantern that could be used in the PU at night for light. Your other lanterns would be fine for light at night.  I usually just use a single mantle lantern with a few tiki torches and I am good with light at night.

As for propane, I use a propane "T" and hook it up to one of my 25 lbs tanks.  I power my stove and lantern with it.  I find that it is easier and cheaper then using the small propane bottles.  I also find that if the lantern are not running at full brightness the little propane bottles go further.       

[Merks]

We boondock only and took out our pup for the first time yesterday, For a one nighter, we brought along a 5 gallon jug of water and only used about 1/2 of it.We had now water in the pup. like the other poster I would bring a battery powered lantern or a flash light. We never go into the pup till it's time for bed so lights in side are not needed, we have the flash light for finding our way to our potty, which is a hole dug in the ground with a camp chair that has a hole cut out in it over the top. It was made for us by one of DH's friends. your list sounds good. Just think of it as tent camping and you'll have what ya need, also bring a note book and pen to write down things you notice you may need or want the next trip. Great advice I got from others here.

[AMANDASMITH911]

Thanks for all the advice! Off to get a battery powered lantern and a few other things. Then get out the manual and read about this battery break away trailler brake stuff and then

off camping!!

Amanda

[ngatel]

I camped for 11 years in my first PU without a battery. It is easy.

[thebakers]

Thanks for all the advice! Off to get a battery powered lantern and a few other things. Then get out the manual and read about this battery break away trailler brake stuff

I received a self-contained battery powered break away switch for my PUP as a Christmas gift; we don't have a battery for "her". Inexpensive and works great!

Check my (lame) review here.

[retiredtraveler]

We dry camp a great deal in the NP's, but not boondock. Water is your biggest issue. It's amazing how much you can use in a very short time. So, you will want to limit any activities such as washing dishes.
   We've gone an 'intermediate' route. We want to have a heater to use in the morning to get us going. There are all kinds of auxiliary heaters out there. I decided to (very sparingly) use the onboard heater which uses a fair amount of juice to run the fan. I now take a 2nd battery. I have a solar panel for charging, but can't assume I'll have the sun to adequately use it. We only use the heater for 20 minutes or so --- that's it. So we can get some 'creature comfort' in the am and we're good the rest of the day.
   As others stated, LED lantern for inside and propane for outsite --- or led for both if you wish.

[Spirit Deer]

We use 12-LED headlamps for reading and general purpose stuff like walking to the bathrooms at night.

We have an LED light bar over the galley.  This runs on AA batteries.

[Old Granddad]

Mostly dry camped in our Chesapeake since the only electricals on it were the overhead lights, and the faucet was a rocker pump which drew from a five-gallon portable water tank.  The portable water tank could be easily refilled even from an old fashioned hand pump, so there was no need to break camp to find a hose bib to refill an internal tank.

I'd take along the propane lantern and an electric lantern or two for light.  The Chesapeake had a portable ice box, so no worries there for the first five days or so.

Now we have a Sun Valley, with a lot more bells and whistles, so our primary concern will be battery (group 29) conservation.  The newer pup has an electric water pump (not that big a draw) and an electric roof winch.  GOTTA have enough juice left to use that.  I also use a CPAP machine, but it draws only 1 amp on 12V power.

We haven't yet tried dry camping with the Sun Valley, although that will happen this summer, inasmuch as I prefer to camp in National Forest campgrounds, none of which around here have any hookups.  We'll just have to see how all this shakes out.  Hope we don't find ourselves missing the Chesapeake, 'cause it's gone for good.

[AMANDASMITH911]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We just got back from Dry Camping in the Clark State Forest in Indiana. We had just our regular stuff , a propane lantern,a rechargable lantern for inside, two five gallon water containers and a one gallon water container and lots of fire wood for cooking fuel. It went fine. I am a lot more confident for next time we camp without ammeneties.
there were three of us for two nights.

Thanks, Amanda

[Merks]

Glad it all worked out for you. We just came back from a 2 1/2 day trip didn't even use all of one 5 gal water. no lanterns for inside and ran the heater both nights with 5 of us and no probs, see not son hard is it?

[lqthornton]

There are some really nice undeveloped campsites on forest roads in the Green Mountain Natiional Forest of Vermont and the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire.  It really beats being in a campground.   I have a bare bones Fleetwood Neon popup.  I have stands for my Coleman stove and cooler, which also provide space for cooking items and other things.  I bring plenty of water because there are no sources of it.  I like to bring three or four coleman lanterns, because I collect them and the spaces are far apart so you don't blind out neighbors.  Once one experiences this adventure, it is hard to be in a campground.

[Tenttrailer]

Sounds like you have done some good planning.   We use to do a lot of dry camping.   

The only 12v elec we used was the watwer pump and once in a while a light if we were just going in to grab somthing.   The rest of the time we used the lantrems or flash lights.   During the summer when a furance was not need we could camp 9+ days on a single charge of the group 31 battery.   During the fall or winter when the temps were in the high 20's/low 30's with the furance only running at night we need to re-charge every 2 to 3 days.

We would recharge with jumper cables from the TV or use the charge line.  Either way a 1/2 hour connected TV with the engine running seem to give us another 2 days.

During the summer I would disconnect the propan sensor because the windows were alway open.

We would leave home with our water holding tanks full and if we conserverd water it would last about 3.5 days.  We always camp where there was available water withing about 5 miles so we brought 4 water jugs we would fill when need and if we were going by where ther was water was, we would fill our jugs even if not need at the time.

We used the propane fridge and stove. So we never need to bring the coolers or coleman stove.

We now have battery power LED awaning lights, so we would use those lights.   

Coffee, I aways thought it tasted better cooked on the stove or fire.