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Topic Closedwater bags for dry camping
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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Posts: 18 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: water bags for dry camping
    Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 6:02am
Hi folks.  Just completed our first dry camping trip in the rpod.  Since we weren't sure what we were going to encounter, we brought two kinds of water carriers - a 5.3g smart bottle water bag (good) and a 5g Coleman water carrier (bad).  ((The Coleman had a poorly designed cap/spout threading that led to the cap popping off unexpectedly more than once, sloshing huge quantities of water everywhere...would not recommend).  The smart bottle water bag was nice in that it folded down completely (unlike the Coleman), the cap that came with it fit properly and we also had the option to buy accessory fittings available for hose connections (which came in handy when emptying the bag into the storage tank).

However, this thing is HEAVY when full of water.  And our tank holds ~30g, so need to fill up about 6 times, which meant just manually holding the thing up over the tank while it drained six times...exhausting.  I was wondering if anyone has figured out a way to hang a water bag on the side of the rpod?  I was even thinking about pulling the car up alongside to sit it on top of that for additional height, but the configuration of this campsite made that impossible.  Like I said, it's heavy, so I wouldn't want to just drill some holes in the side of the rpod for hooks as I'd worry that would tear the side open.  But maybe some kind of counterbalance thing across the roof?

Curious as to what others may have jerry rigged for this purpose.  (Also I looked into using a drill pump...there are NO potable water friendly ones I could find on the market.  There is one sold by the smart bottle people for $400 (!) that all they've said is that the original manufacturer grease was changed out for FDA food grade grease...but they still won't warrant it's for potable use because the original manufacturer won't warrant as such, so not really sure what that gets you, for an expensive price).  Same with a jiggler pump...they're all for gasoline, none for water I could find (and anyway the one we experimented with was far more difficult to use than just holding the water bag up).

I'm happy with the water bags, just not happy serving as Charles Atlas beneath them.  Any thoughts/suggestions on how to rig a hanging setup?
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GlibGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 65 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 6:36am
At a recent dry camping event in South Texas one of my neighbors had mounted a water pump (just like the ones in the rPod) on a short piece of wood.  He ran it off the battery to pump water out of 5 gal containers.   No lifting.  Worked well.
MICK
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 7:05am
Where is all the extra water you are putting in the fresh water tank going after you use it? Are you using a blueboy to empty the gray water tank? All 3 tanks are 30 gallons but not much water goes into the black tank usually so your gray tank should be filling up before you need much extra fresh water.

Don't try to tow with more than one tank full at a time. If two tanks are full thats 500 lbs of water, 3 tanks is 750 lbs.
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jato View Drop Down
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Posts: 3227 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 7:32am
Originally posted by offgrid

Where is all the extra water you are putting in the fresh water tank going after you use it? Are you using a blueboy to empty the gray water tank? All 3 tanks are 30 gallons but not much water goes into the black tank usually so your gray tank should be filling up before you need much extra fresh water.

Don't try to tow with more than one tank full at a time. If two tanks are full thats 500 lbs of water, 3 tanks is 750 lbs.


+1

We go 10 days at a time boondocking before having to think about getting additional water but also carry a couple of 5 gallon Coleman jugs.  We have had them for 8 years now and have never had a problem with them leaking or having any issues with them, except for the fact that indeed they are heavy when full.  At the end of 10 days or longer when we get low on FW it is S.O.P. for us just to dump both tanks.  AS OG wisely states, you don't want to be carrying 2 or 3 30 gallon tanks around that are full, it could prove to be a potentially disastrous situation.
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Olddawgsrule View Drop Down
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Posts: 1014 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 8:41am
The water bandit and 2 collapsible hoses. Best buys I made! Some areas I found water just didn't have the hose connection and the water bandit worked great!
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 9:18am
Just use a cheap freshwater RV water pump you can buy on Amazon or ebay....less than $20. 

Mount it to a board and attach some tubing and a couple of 12v battery clips....and carry a motorcycle battery....

Or just transfer the 5 gallons once per day instead of all at once. 

And as OG mentioned, you don't want TWO full water tanks on an r-pod anyway. 
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StephenH View Drop Down
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Posts: 6288 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 10:57am
If you can figure out a way to put a valve and hose connector on your water jug, you could place it up on a high enough surface and use a hose to transfer water from the jug to the tank by taking advantage of gravity feed. You would not need a pump.
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Colt View Drop Down
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Posts: 383 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 3:54pm
While in E KY last month, I was unable to get to a potable water faucet, for several days.  I went to a store and bought 1 gallon jugs of water and poured them into the fresh tank.  The tall square jugs work well, those shaped like milk jugs spill the last few ounces.  They were 78 cents each.  Cheap to get coffee and a shower after a while. 

Since my Coleman jugs were such a failure pouring into the fresh tank, I bought 2 blue kerosene jugs and an old style gasoline can spout.  After a washing, that worked well, but you can't get around 5 gallons of water weighing 42 pounds.  
John
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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Posts: 18 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 9:07pm
Yes, a poop truck for the waste.

Not towing with the water.  Driving to site empty, then filling it there (with a hose attach if available, or by water bandit).
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campingtrio View Drop Down
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Posts: 18 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2021 at 9:10pm
That's exactly what we did.  The water bag has an optional hose connector, which we bought, then a short length of water hose, and the Coleman water intake valve thingie that goes into the tank.  That was all good.  But standing there for 10 minutes x 6 bags at 42 lbs got to be unfun.  

These bags have heavy duty grommets so they look like they are meant to be hung.  I'm thinking of thowing some line over the roof and tying it to the steps on the other side so I don't have to hold them up the whole time.
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