Seeking Tips For Refreshing Water On The Road

Andrew Cushingham

Andrew Cushingham

Novice
We are planning a 30 day trip on the road and anticipate frequent refreshing of our water supply. Our family of 5 works through thoat 8 gallon water tank in a few days. What are your best practices to dump and fill the water when on the road? Does anyone bring additional water with them? What do you carry it in?

For filling, we currently have a typical walmart sourced Camco drinking water safe 25' garden type hose with a basic RV filter that we use for water fillups. I don't love the hose since it is so rigid, but it can be coiled up and live in one of the cargo spots below the bed.

What are y'all doing for sourcing good water when on the road?
 
Andrew Cushingham said:
Do you drip the gray tank on the road? Our experience leaves quite a bit of splash on the bumper and underside.
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That would be illegal in some places --- don't get caught doing that in Texas! They take it seriously there.

I, however, do drip mine. Once I hit a side road after leaving the park, I'll do a safety check and flip the valve. Empties in a few miles and no one is the wiser. If there's a lot of cars, I'll wait. The sun will kill any bacteria in a few minutes...I never noticed any splashing or anything. But I keep my trailer (except for an annual waxing, which its due for) natural and embrace the look. You'll never keep it perfect.


Andrew Cushingham said:
We are planning a 30 day trip on the road and anticipate frequent refreshing of our water supply...

What are y'all doing for sourcing good water when on the road?
Click to expand...

I travel with full fresh everywhere. I fell at home, and as we are leaving a the campground.

With 2 of us, I can go 4 days, using Dawn Platinum Dishwash Spray has helped us extend our use.

If we're going to be in a fixed place for a while, state parks almost always have water, and I will refill with smart bottles. I love them. They collapse completely flat, are cheap, and there's a magic trick included.

When you remove the cap, the thread nearly fits inside the fill port on the camper. So so, then lift the other end since the bag collapses there's no vacuum to restrict the flow, the bottle will empty in a few seconds. I probably lose a quart. But that's a small price to pay for filling the tank that quickly.

Mrs Sweeney showed this trick to me -- I was floored and did my best "neo" impression when I saw it....whoh...

If you don't have water at the park, then these totes can be filled and transported. I haven't had a problem with leaking yet.
 
When we are dry camping in the desert we carry two five gallon water jugs, tied down with two five gallon gas cans in the back of our tow. It is a lot of space and weight, but running out of either water or gas in the desert is a bad thing. I built a tie down system that secures the four jugs, the fridge, and the auxiliary battery from moving around on bad roads.
 

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We carry a 3 gallon jug that we fill if needed. Also use it to fill the freshwater tank with one of those siphon hoses that you shake up in down. Jug sits on the kitchen counter and we siphon water in to the tank. It is much easier than pouring with a funnel. We almost always dump gray tank at the dump station, if there is one. If we are in a campground long enough that we have to empty the gray tank we empty its in to a collapsible 5 gallon water jug that has a small pin hole leak. It does not leak fast enough so we can put it in the back of our pickup and drive it to the dump station. We have also emptied in a toilet in the bathroom.
 
We carry a 7 gallon Reliance water container we purchase from REI. The container is sturdy and has handles in the right places, so the load is balanced when pouring. If 7 gallons is too heavy, don’t fill it.

We will often put the water jug on the picnic table and draw water from it. This reduces the number of times I have to take the extra step of pouring water into the tank.

We use an angle funnel for filling the tank and always break camp with the fresh water tank full.

If we need to drain gray water while in camp, I use a 5 gallon collapsible bucket and haul it to the bathroom. The bucket I use is a Sea to Summit, purchase at REI. Folded into its carrying case, it’s small enough to fit in my pocket.

I’ll open the gray water drain valve once we’re on the road. At slow speeds it leaves a small water trail, but above 45 MPH it looks like it turns to mist before hitting the pavement.

We’ve taken many 4-6 week trips. Our longest was 13 weeks, and this works great for us.
 
I like to take a sponge bath every evening when dispersed/dry camping and 8 gallons doesn't last much more than 2 days. I was tired of handling the aquatainers so installed a 25 gallon auxillary tank in the bed of the pickup. Have a 12 volt pump on it and run a hose back to the camper when its empty. I can go a week w/o needing to refill. The aux tank has to be drained and the pump removed for winter. Actually today I put the pump back on it and filled it with water and a cup of bleach. I'll drain and flush it tomorrow. Camper tank is also soaking with bleach water.
 
Andrew Cushingham said:
Do you drip the gray tank on the road? Our experience leaves quite a bit of splash on the bumper and underside.
Click to expand...
I put a six inch hose extension on the used water side. At camp it helps drain into a collapsable water tank that I can then pour from. I used to drip a lot but laws have gotten stricter for grey water (they can’t tell the difference between sewage and rinse water) . The National Park Service once had a pdf on how and where to drip that recommended dripping on paved secondary roads.
 
Andrew Cushingham said:
We are planning a 30 day trip on the road and anticipate frequent refreshing of our water supply. Our family of 5 works through thoat 8 gallon water tank in a few days. What are your best practices to dump and fill the water when on the road? Does anyone bring additional water with them? What do you carry it in?

For filling, we currently have a typical walmart sourced Camco drinking water safe 25' garden type hose with a basic RV filter that we use for water fillups. I don't love the hose since it is so rigid, but it can be coiled up and live in one of the cargo spots below the bed.

What are y'all doing for sourcing good water when on the road?
Click to expand...

We use 3.5 gallon waterbricks for our drinking water and use the 8g camper water for washing dishes and brushing teeth. WaterBrick Stackable Water Storage Container, 3.5 Gallon
 
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