Boondocking – Part 2

Howdy !

We left off from part one of some boondocking thoughts by suggesting that to get the maximum out of our RV’s self contained operating abilities we might need to do some modifications not only to our lifestyle but also to our rigs.

How well our RV’s work without hook-ups is more up to us and how we utilize the built-in systems of the vehicle, plus how well we can conserve it’s resources within the basic capability or the RV. There is not much we can do to expand our storage tanks. We could carry large water bottles to supplement our fresh water tank, but that same water has to go out the gray tank. Blue boy portable waste water tanks will empty the gray and black tank but then we have the hassle of dumping the tanks into them, carrying the critters to a dump site and then dumping them. The best way to control the fresh and old water is conservation. For example, the water you would normally run in the shower waiting for it to get hot. Collect that water and use it to cook with. After cooking you might want to toss the dirty water down the toilet instead of the gray tank sink. Why? The gray tank will normally fill faster than the black tank so if you put some of the waste cooking water in the black you extend the use of your gray tank. Some of the cooking and dish washing water can also be used to flush the toilet instead of water from the fresh tank so you save two ways. You can even make it a game on the best ways to extend your water and tanks.

How about propane usage? When camping off the plug most of use propane to power the furnace, the refrigerator and the water heater. Let’s look at these systems one by one. The furnace uses a 12VDC motor to run the fan and LP as a heat source. Atwood and Suburban supply most of the forced air furnaces for the RV market. Any forced air unit will consume quite a bit of LP and 12VDC. An effective alternative is the Olympian catalytic LP heater from Camco which uses a special pad to radiate heat so the propane usage is very low and there is no 12VDC usage at all. About the only other way to save here is wear a sweater in the house and conserve your LP and battery’s or better yet hitch up and move someplace warmer!

Dometic and Norcold are the largest suppliers of refrigerators to the RV market. These are advanced systems that can operate on 120VAC and LP. Both also use 12VDC to operate the control boards and regulators. When operated on 120VAC the units draw a low level of power. On LP the usage is also very low. The biggest problem is that people forget that RV refrigerators are passive in nature and that there is not a fan inside to circulate the air. Packing the unit tightly with food and drinks restricts the cold air at the top of the box and the food at the bottom does not get properly cooled. Buy one of those small cube refrigerator fans from Camco or Camping World to move the air.

The hot water heater is a power pig! It uses LP or electrical power at a very high rate. When doing the dishes you might want to try heating the water in a cooking pot rather then using the water heater because it uses much less LP that way. Those of us who spent time in the military know about “Navy showers” where you turn on the water to wet your body the shut off while you soap-up. After getting suddzy you turn the water on again to rinse and you’re done. Your water usage should only be a couple of gallons this way instead of the normal 15 to 20 gallons used for a shower.

Power is the problem for most of us. A single group-24 has only 124-amp hours of power. In real world terms thats only 62-amp hours of usable power because you never discharge a battery lower then 50-percent of the rated capacity. If your heater uses about 7-amps an hour then you could only run the heater for about eight hours, assuming that no other 12-VDC items are being operated. The average RV uses around three amps an hour from parasitic loads. These are the system boards for the refrigerator, water heater, furnace, LP and CO2 detectors and the like. The more up-scale the RV is the more of these hidden loads there will be.

If you want to add larger and/or more batteries you can but this soon reaches a point where there is no functional space left in the RV for them. Recharging batteries can also be a problem. The converters in most RV’s are not really very good at providing a full charge unless your willing to run a AC generator for a long period of time. If your RV is a motor home or, if your trailer has a charge line in the cable from the tow vehicle, to the trailer you could run the vehicle engine so the alternator` charges the batteries, buy thats sure going to eat up your fuel.

If your lifestyle leads you to travel the boondocking trail and have the power without using the genset or power hookups then photovltaics, or solar power, might be what you want. Let’s get the bad news over with quickly. The initial cost of buying solar panels, battery charge controllers, batteries, cables, wire, brackets and other items will run you from several hundred to several thousand dollars to have the 12VDC power taken care of – BUT – if you want to use solar power for running your 120VAC equipment then you still need an inverter to change 12VDC into 120VAC. The entire system for the 12VDC and 120VAC power normally runs into several thousand dollars. The good side is that once the items are paid for that’s the end of spending on your power system. With a little forethought during the installation you can move all the equipment from one RV too another without to much trouble. There is no generator maintenance, fuel cost or repair expenses to deal with and you have the sound of silence while making power.

Xantrex owns the Trace, ProSine and Heart brands of inverters and solar power controllers that you may have been familiar with. They have become the largest player in the alternate power arena for RV’s with proven equipment and service. AM Solar is the largest single supplier to the RV market with their 100-Watt AM-100 solar panels and Hellotrope power controllers. Dedicated to teaching solar and it’s applications they can design and supply complete systems to fit your needs. Magnum Energy Inc has just released it’s MM models which come in two sizes; 600 watt with an optional 30 Amp PFC charger and 1200 watts with a 70 Amp PFC charger standard. All models include an automatic transfer switch and optional LED remote, or use the full featured ME-RC remote. Several models are UL listed for use in mobile RV and Marine applications. Another inverter and solar controls manufacturer to look at is Outback who’s expertise is in the home power market but has been making inroads into the RV market.

These companies have a long history of alternate energy involvement and can assist you in developing your system but like everything else in the RV’ing world, the lifestyle determines the amount of power you need and the ultimate size of the power system needed to sustain it. Make it a part of your plan to have expansion room to add more the system if you need to. Believe me, this can save some major headaches!

Now that your’re all ready to try out this new life of free roaming without “Plug Dependence” where are you going to go? Most humans have a bit of hesitation at starting a new adventure so we might want to use guides written to assist us in our travels. Woodalls has several travel publications for RV’ers as well as Rolling Homes Press which offers detailed camping and travel guides. As you travel through the United States you will want to see some of the wonderful small town RV parks listed in Don Wright’s East and West coast Free Campgrounds guide from Cottage Publications who also offer the Camping with the Corps of Engineers guide. Look on Amazon.com for other titles under RV or camping for more books and guides.

Our freedom of movement and a sense of wanderlust is one of the greatest things that we share as RV’ers so go on and find out what’s behind the next hill without regard of “Where is the next Good Sam, TTN Reserve or other RV park?”.

Latter – –

The Old Ranger