Boondocking Tips

This section is meant to provide tips for boondocking.

As was stated before, your primary concern should be your safety and security. For this reason, I like to find a place where others are boondocking. I always make it a point to introduce myself to fellow boondockers. They get to meet me and we form a little comraderie to help each other if needed. Also, by meeting them, I am able to make a judgment call on if I really want to stay next to these people.

If you are boondocking for more than a few nights, it will be important that you conserve your fresh water, battery and holding tanks. Here are some tips:

HOLDING TANKS
Of course, it helps if there are public restrooms nearby that you can take advantage of. However, you will likely find that your gray water tank fills up faster than your black water tank. So, here are some tips to conserve gray water capacity:

1. When you wash dishes, don't just empty the dish water into the gray water holding tank. Use a bowl and flush it down the toilet - but first, turn off your water pump so you don't waste water when you flush the dish water.
2. You may want to consider transferring your gray water to your black water tank. This can either be done manually or with a 12v pump. There is also a new product on the market that will do this. If you opt to do this with a 12v pump, get yourself one of the sewer connectors that allows you to attach a garden hose to your sewer connection and pump into the black tank cleaner/hose rinseout receptacle.

FRESH WATER
Conserving fresh water is necessary if you plan on boondocking for a longer period of time. Here are a couple of tips to help:

1. Get a shower valve that will completely stop the water flow from the shower head.
2. One of the biggest water-wasters is waiting for the hot water to get to the faucet or shower head. Catch this water in a pot and either recycle or use for dishes or other purposes.

BATTERIES
Conserving battery power is also important. As stated elsewhere on this website, it is important for maximum battery life that your batteries NOT be routinely discharged below 50% - 60% of their capacity. Here are some tips on battery conservation:

1. Eliminate as many parasitic drains as possible. Did you know that your TV and satellite receiver draw almost as much power turned off as they do when they are turned on?
2. To eliminate these unwanted power drains, I turn off the inverter unless I need it.
3. Turn off the antenna booster. This is powered by 12 vdc.
4. Turn off the electric step. We seldom leave the step out when boondocking and never when boondocking in a parking lot. Of course, remember to turn it back on so it comes out when you exit in the morning!
5. Although costly and not nearly as efficient as you may hope, solar cells are a good way to keep your batteries charged. You may also want to look into wind power as Herb Petersen has done. This certainly will not allow you to run your air conditioner, but it beats running the generator endlessly to keep the batteries fully charged.
6. Consider installing a Perco switch if have more than one battery bank (a battery bank is two 6v batteries in series). The Perco switch will allow you to use one battery bank at a time, which will be more efficient than just having them all in parallel - which means your entire battery bank is only as good as the WEAKEST battery.
7. Consider installing an accumulator tank on your water line to eliminate the constant on-off of the water pump. The constant starting of the water pump uses more power and also wears out the pump faster.

DUMP / REFILL TIPS
Eventually, you will have to refill with fresh water and dump your holding tanks. Most campground directories and interstate exit books list places where you can dump and get fresh water. Some rest areas offer these services. Almost all Flying J truck stops (and some other truck stops) also have these services which you can use for free. There are also resources available on the Web which you can search for. Here is one link for Dump Stations. I suggest that you save each's states' webpage for future reference.

Click on the links below to learn more about boondocking:
Finding places to boondock.
Boondock Etiquette
Why Boondock?