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Originally Posted by Shelly
I've just finished reading the great thread on boondocking and propane usage. Since my 2363 doesn't have very big gray and fresh water tanks I've been pondering my options for refilling and emptying without having to rehitch/unhitch and relevel the trailer. I've heard of a couple gray water options:
1) a tank on wheels that one fills with gray water and takes to the dump station
2) a hose adapter that allows midnight gray watering of bushes (sounds bad but the tent campers throw dish water on the bushes too). Ranger Rick and Smoky Bear probably frown on this option too.
Any better options?
What about refilling the fresh water? Any creative ideas there?
What's the best way to recharge the batteries assuming one does not own a generator, without moving the trailer?
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A couple of thoughts....
For gray water, I have three 5 gallon plastic jugs that I picked up from the local grocery store. They get their fryer oil in them, and just throw them out when done. They weigh next to nothing, and let me pull off 15 gallons of gray water at one time.
The NYS Parks campgrounds here severely frown on dumping grey water on the ground, but as you say, tenters have been tossing dish water in the bushes for eons and still do. Given the variety of stuff that goes down the drain in the TT, I opt to just put the jugs in the back of the pickup and go to the dump station. Saves a confrontation with the park ranger.
For charging the batteries, you could always hook up your jumper cables from the tow vehicle battery to the trailer battery and idle the TV for an hour or so. Probably a good idea to pop the hood on the TV to help keep it cool.
We've had several discussions here back a few weeks about energy conservation, and all of them apply when boondocking. Be creative about saving 12vdc energy. Propane useage is much less of a concern to us, but there maybe situations where you've got to be conservative there, too.
Fresh water is going to depend on what's available in the campground. Here in NY, the state park campgrounds have water spigots every few campsites. Many of them have no garden hose threads on them to discourage folks from hooking up directly.
First, you can get yourself one of those nice 6 gallon fresh water jugs and haul the water from the spigot to the TT. Gets kind of old after the second trip, but it will do the job.
Second, you get yourself a water thief and temporarily hook up to the spigot, run your hose (presuming you have enough footage to reach) and fill 'er up. A water thief is some kind of adapter that lets you clamp on to the unthreaded spigot. It has a garden hose male on the other end. I have several home made ones which are made out of different size hose to fit on different size water outlets. You can also find commercial versions in your RV store's parts department. They all fasten to the spigot with a worm clamp and can handle around 50 pounds of pressure.
If your hose won't reach, partner up with a neighbor and combine your hoses and fill both your tanks. Offer to fill other's tanks as well when you hookup like that. I currently carry 175' of hose when going to a known boondocking CG.
I always put a "Y" at the spigot end, just in case someone else needs water while I'm refilling. That way, no one has to wait for water. I try to stay by the spigot while filling to make sure that person knows the "Y" is there and they are free to use it.
That's what we did. 
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