Limiting Factor - Water, Battery, Freezer space, Toilet Paper?

[Boonie]

Dear WTW reader, forgive me. I am doing my best to conform to quarantine rules and as much as I want to run to Home Depot (and I could), I remain at home thinking of my next project on my camper build. But this forum is about sharing our thoughts and experiences, even when we are not camping, so....

In that thought process, I have realized that our campers and camping itself is a finite process. We are limited. Each of us has our own priorities and as we prepare through construction or packing, we have an end game in mind: How long can I stay out? As much as it is ideal to pour the last bit of milk on your last bowl of Cheerios on your last day before you leave for home with just enough gas in the tank to get there, I think there is always one item above all others that limits how long we stay out.

So I ask what is your limiting factor, what do you do to stretch the limits and how long is that time.
(If you are old enough do you remember the game show, Name that Tune?) I can stay out 7 days. I can stay out 8 days......

Boonie

 

[Cayuse]

The two biggest limiting factors for me are time and water. I still work so getting large blocks of time away can be tough. Water is pretty self evident, 20 gallon tank.

All that being said I've stayed out for 9 nights/days solo and still had water in the tank but have run perilously close to dry after 3 days in warmer temps with one other person and four dogs.

 

[Bosque Bill]

I won't say it limits my duration, but I seem to run out of milk for my breakfast cereal before anything else. (Yes, I'm of genetic stock that I can drink milk and enjoy it well into old age.) I now carry almond "milk" as a back-up as it doesn't need refrigeration until opened. I've been known to use a liquid protein shake as a milk substitute, but it is sub-optimal to say the least.

I once ran out of coffee near Yellowstone - almost a tragedy, but found a little store in a little town with fresh ground coffee and saved the trip!!!

 

[m.r.h.]

I have and continue to take many people into the outdoors for extended periods of time, typically 4-6 days on a river trip. Anarchy starts to set in after you run out of either TP, coffee, and/or butter. Never run out of those or a combination of those in a group setting.

Personally my limiting factor would probably be drinkable water.

 

[Smokecreek1]

There was a time when my answer to that question was easy---beer/vodka, cigarettes, water and enough gas for the truck to get me to the gas station! Twelve years ago my doctor made give up my cigarettes and I am glad,for that, however I still carry some vodka and some good beer-for snakebite or some other emergency! I admit even in those good old days before my pop-up and it's frig milk was important but not enough so I would head home when I ran out. I remember once heading out for some back packing and without thinking filling up my old army canteen with milk-a very bad idea. Today I always carry a package of that powered stuff and when my 1/2 gallon carton gets down to about 1/4 , I'll dump in the dry stuff and be the milk problem was solved.

Water is a must too; I have 20 gallons in the tank and six in the hot water heater, & that goes fast, so I carry a six gallon can and a case or two of bottled water for drinking! When the hot water tank hits about 1/4 left ,I use the water can to fill it up-like that hot water. Of late I have added a couple of solar panels , compression frig/freezer another battery, comptroller and can stay out allot longer.. I use allot less propane than before -just the heater,and the stove during bad weather (use my Coleman stove outside most of the time) and for the hot water. Love that solar!

As long as I can get water. and have some gas to get me to a gas station when I need too-no real limit, just how long i want to stay out (retirement is grand). Maybe ten days-two weeks if I can' have access to water., but I still need that gas to get me home!

Smoke

 

[Vic Harder]

with my old gas truck it was fuel for the truck that limited how long we could stay out and get to trailheads. Now, it is water that limits us, which might also change as we now have a 30gal tank in the new build.

 

[klahanie]

I'll also say time. Two weeks stretch is the longest we've had off for roadtrips except for the last trip when we both weren't working.


So we are set up to go 2 weeks without provisioning - if that's what you are asking. That would be water, food, clothing, propane. Gas in the tank, I don't get that part, depends on how much we drive, but we do have dual tanks and have carried j cans once or twice. Battery recharging we use the alternator - no solar - so we'd need to drive (or idle). Not been a problem because longest we've stayed camped in one place is 4-5 days, and that was only once in, what, 25 years.


Of course because we are usually on the move we can sometimes stop for a meal or buy food and stuff here or there. And we sometimes do as part of the fun. But we've haven't always over two weeks except for fuel, and we had lots of long one week trips (9-10 days) without taking anything on.

 

[JaSAn]

If I am constantly moving: gas is the limiter (I can usually find water along the way).
If sitting: water. I carry 14 gallons and with care lasts about 12 days.

BUT if I find a source of water, I carry a backpacking water filter and could stay out longer. With a supply of dried and freeze dried foods, I could stay out about a month. But it would have to be a exceptional trip to endure eating that swill.

The longest I have actually stayed out is 17 days without returning to re-supply.

jim

 

[ckent323]

We usually roam around a lot on our trips. Occasionally we will stop in one place for 3 - 4 days. However, we have had several trips of over two weeks and three trips over 45 days. We always carry an extra 5 gal of water, a hand pump water filter (just in case) and enough food to last several days beyond our next planned resupply stop. I also carry 5 gal of diesel in addition to the 25 usable gallons in the truck tank. That gives us a range of around 500 to 600 miles before refueling without having to fuss over the low fuel light coming on (last 4 - 5 gal).

We will do some resupply earlier than planned if our wandering takes us by a store or market just to be sure the subsequent part of our trip is not limited by food. Admittedly on the longer trips we often stop and spend a night in a motel (or at worst an RV park) every 5 to 7 days to get a nice hot shower, a nice dinner, a lazy evening lounging around and a good breakfast before heading back out. That also usually allows us to pick up any supplies that are needed. We will do laundry too during the second motel stay (usually at about 10 to 14 days).

We have 200 W of solar and 220 Ah of AGM batteries giving up to 100 AH of usable power in our 2007 FWC Keystone, which is enough power for 3 - 4 days with minimal Solar input. Since adding the solar I have seldom needed to connect the camper batteries to the truck for charging. I am planning to upgrade to 300 W of power so I don't ever need to connect the camper to the truck.

I am also a backpacker and the longest I have been out backpacking without resupply is 12 days.

 

[pods8]

Time.

Battery shouldn't be a concern, put in a decent size bank (not overkill, just decent) with a solar and tapped into the truck when running and there is low reason to run out of juice. If you're around rivers or such no reason you can't filter additional water. Etc.

I haven't looked at your build yet, not sure your water tank plan but I'm just gonna go with 6gal jugs vs a fixed tank (and I already have a brand new water tank in a box in the basement for the prior build) because after doing plenty of late fall hunting trips in various campers, we're always using jerry cans so plumbing doesn't freeze once its cold enough out. They're also a heck of alot easier to fill vs a water fill on the side of the camper, etc.

 

[Fishyhead]

I'm a solo backpacker who fell in love with camping on a motorcycle and my limiting factor was always water. On those rare occasions where I was able to pump water, my limiting factor was fuel (gasoline on the bike or food on foot).

 

[Wango]

Tough to answer, with the way we are set up now i think we could do three weeks pretty easy. We can carry thirty to forty gallons of water, two fridges and 65 gal of fuel, two full size propane tanks. Yeah, a while for sure.
We spent 11 days on the same beach in Baja, mostly because of some friends, our problem though is we both get itchy feet pretty quickly, me especially. If there were alot to do in the surrounding area, and we brought the small trailer, we could stretch that out to something crazy.
Fun to imagine this kind of stuff.

 

[craig333]

Interesting topic. I've never had the opportunity to spend more than a week on the road. I expect I'll learn some stuff the hard way once I finally set out. Power supply is indefinite. I expect water and food and laundry to limiting factors. Fuel could be but I have pretty good range with the 35 gallons of diesel.

 

[Durango1]

1. Fuel? 52 gallon gas tank so conservatively 550-600 mile range on the highway. Probably 350-400 in 4WD in the back country.
2. Water? 26 gallon tank plus we can carry two 7.5 jerry cans of water plus 8 one gallon jugs of drinking water. 12-14 days easy.
3. Food? I'm kind of a kitchen sink quartermaster. As in on even a weekend trip we could always live for two weeks with the standard supplies on board.
4. Laundry? Way too many clothes. Two weeks easy.
5. Power? 160 watt panel with two of the standard 12V AGM batteries from FWC. Also have the folding suitcase style Renogy portable panel- I think it is 100 watts with a 30 foot extension cable.

Our longest time out with zero contact with civilization? Five days on the White Rim Trail two years ago and we loved it!
Steve

 

[fuzzymarindave]

Water- I keep my backpacking water filter pump (Katadyn) and purification tablets in the camper as backup. Not likely helpful though in some desert areas.

 

[smlobx]

For us it depends on what kind of trip we’re hoping to take.

If the trip involves a lot of travel then fuel will be the limiting factor

If the trip is mostly stationary then water will be the limiting factor.

For the former of course it depends on what kind of driving we do but 3 to 9 days would be the range. When we did the Namib desert crossing in the 79 Series Land Cruisers the entire trip was either in 4 hi or 4 low. We carried an additional 7, 20 liter fuel tanks in addition to the 130 liter capacity of the truck. We made it to civilization literally on fumes and had to adjust out last day of travel to make sure we made it. That part of the trip was 9 days.

Water usage we estimate 2 gallons per person per day and in our Hallmark that will give us about 7 days. I’m contemplating carrying some sort of water purifier with us just in case. I think it may be good insurance.

When I was in grad school I met a guy who had been in the navy and served on a “boomer” submarine. He asked me what did I think their limiting factor on their ability to stay on patrol and I guessed wrong. It turns out that they use nuclear power so they have unlimited power, make their own water so food became their limiting factor. He said that when they left port food was literally stuffed in every nook and cranny on the boat!

 

[enelson]

Water has been our limiting factor. Our camper came with a tiny 12 gal tank that you’d be lucky to pull 11 gal out of due to the tap location. We are on our first trip after removing that tank and installing a 38 gal bladder from Fleximake. The bladders are good with using available space. You do need to make sure to protect them from chaffing and sharp objects. So far, the bladder has been the best mod I’ve made. I was SO sick of pumping out of jugs with a hand pump to refill our 12 gal tank.

 

[Andy Douglass]

Aside from some survival situation, comfort would be the root cause of all of our limitations:

My wife and I are limited by our restlessness. We tend to stay 1 night at most places, to cover long distances to get to a more important destination where we stay 2-3 days. I can't think of a time ever where we stayed in one spot more than 3 nights.

If we weren't limited by that, our next limitation would be comfort in terms of supplies. We would probably start to run out of the types of food/beverages we enjoy after 5 days if we planned right.

In cold weather, we have gotten close to running out of propane, but went out of our way to make sure that it didn't happen.

 

[ntsqd]

Used to be fuel, fixed that with a 60 gal. tank. Old camper only had 10 gals. of water, but we normally carry a 5 gal. jug of drinking water so that rarely was an issue. Biggest limiter was my wife's ~3 days limit on no shower or bath. New to us camper carries a lot more water (i've yet to figure out exactly how much) and has a shower so that limit has been extended. I'm thinking of laying in a large stock of this stuff to extend our water range:

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Nice to see that's "organic".
Do you get that on Amazon?
Frank