Water ... how do you do it?

[eventyr]

Ok so we are a family of 4. Mum, dad, mr 6yo, miss 8yo.

We camp with ~45l potable water in the CT and another 20l in jerry.

We don't seem to be able to last more than 3 days with that water (the 45l in the ct, the jerry is emergency spare water only), and most of it goes in washing up. I'd like to extend that to 5-7days, but the only way I can think is to use disposable plates / cutlery.

I'm sure there is a better way, how does everyone else do their washing up with minimal water?

[Jaysea]

Hi. We are a family of 5 and have a similar set up. We use paper towel and wipe all plates cutlery etc clean before washing. Means we only need a small amount of water and it stay cleaner longer. We also limit cooking rice pasta or other dishes that need water when we are on longer trips.  It also helps when I drink more beer than water


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[McTavish]

If the camper has the ability to - with regards to position and weight distribution/chassis strength etc - can you put a 2nd water tank under it?

I've swapped out the second jerry can holder for a gas bottle holder - so we will often buy 2 or three larger drinking water containers from the supermarket and place in the camper.   

Helps us having about 85ltr tank under too...

[MrCruza]

How much water do you use to do a washup? We only use about 2-3Lt per wash, always have done, even when the Princess used to come with us. Have seen others fill the sink to do a washup. If you wipe everything down first as suggested you simply don't need that much.

[Traveller]

I agree with Jaysea in that anything you can do to reduce washing up water usage is a great start. My missus is a whizz at washing with b all water and it is surprising how far our resources stretch. Wiping down plates and pots is awesome, using river or campsite water when available for washing up, having a suds, etc, and only use the potable stuff for drinking and preparing meals. If in the desert (or beach) you can also use sand to help scrub pots and pans apparently, although I have never resorted to that.

We did a 3 month Kimberley trip (2 adults only), and from memory only filled our 65 litre camper tank once, but used available water as much as possible. We finally ran out halfway down the Tanami.

Clever use is better than carry extra water/weight.

[Nomad]

As per what everyone else says.

Your kids are still small enough that you can always use one of these if necessary to carry extra water.
We use it when heading to the middle of no where.

http://www.fleximake.com.au/Home/EachProduct?Id=ee767536-c85f-43ad-bd44-50848f8813f1

 

[Bird]

what is wrong with disposable stuff?
Paper plates on top of your metal plates work awesome.. just chuck em in the fire when done, and cleaning the metal plates is left to the wipes.
I find that the Pine-o-Clean wipes are great... get most of the stuff clean...

[BaseCamp]

We do a combination of things. .

Our van has 2 x 90ltr tanks. .. but for some reason the wife likes to take a hot shower most days, so water consumption can be heavy. ...

For simple things like wet rice dishes or cornflakes etc ..   we sometimes line the bowl / plate with foil..   peel that off when done = clean plate....

Heavy greasy meals, (lamb shanks in winter etc); we eat straight out of an aluminum foil (takeaway style) container....   These can cost about  $0.40 cents each ...  but will not stress out the water reserves trying to degrease plates etc...

We also stick a lot of plates in a big (collapsible) basin with a good dose of eco dish washing liquid - and batch-wash at the end of the day. ..

We also wipe some used tableware with paper towels...  but the best thing for us (2pax) is using disposable stuff...

We use the bio friendly stuff (compressed palm fiber?); which means that it can get dispatched quick smart to the fire when done = no washing up; no water consumption; and more time relaxing...

Using this stuff isn't the cheapest;  (we are fortunate to be able to buy through trade) -- however even though ebay etc it is affordable) -

We think that for quality of life out bush; and more time for beers or relaxation -- the compressed palm fiberboard stuff maybe worth budgeting for...

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[GeoffA]

We did a 3 month Kimberley trip (2 adults only), and from memory only filled our 65 litre camper tank once, but used available water as much as possible.

That works out at about 1.4 litres per day from your tank.
Dunno about that....

We finally ran out halfway down the Tanami.

Clever use is better than carry extra water/weight.

 

These 2 statements don't seem compatible.

I'd much rather carry the weight (and we do) than run out of water....

 

[Hoyks]

I have a ute, so there is plenty of room. We carry 3 x 20 Jerries and budget for 1 a day. It is all potable water, so rarely go through it in a day as we supplement with local water for washing and showers (20L warmed and in the canvas shower will wash 3 easily).

Back when I had a wagon an space was a premium, we had 2 x 20L jerries and a bunch of 2L coke bottles. The bottles were good in that they could be shoved in spaces between stuff or under seats and then straight out of the luggage and into the fridge when the cold bottle there was empty.

My best setup was a 100L tank under the tray with a tap. It fitted between the tray rails, so you didn't even know it was there, although filling that when not at home was a bit of a pain.

I've done my time going to sleep all dusty and smelly and wearing the one set of clothes for 2 weeks, so I like to carry more water then I need and have a APC wash, or better still a shower when I can.

One day when I get more time to go camping and throw some money at the ute, I'll do some shopping with these guys. They make a lot of tanks that are an elegant solution to fitting more fluid into a vehicle into what is often wasted space.
http://www.enmachind.com.au/product-category/poly-rv-accessories/rv-water-tanks/

[GGV8Cruza]

We fill our tank with drinking water before we leave. 85l from memory. 3 gerry cans on the front full as well. The main tank is used for drinking water only and the gerry cans for washing dishes and bodies. We fill the gerry cans when ever we can and top up the main tank when we can trust the water.

So far this has worked fine on some longer trups where water is short

GG

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[nab]

A trick I have heard of (never tried it) is to have a spray bottle of water/detergent instead of filling the bowl with water. Uses minimal water and detergent, not ideal if you need to rinse everything with 20L of clean water like my mum haha!

[austastar]

Hi,
    We used to catch water off the roof of our old camper but the new one is not shaped so it can be collected easily.

We do use available water when possible, and have potable and non potable containers.

Cheers

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[slave]

Baby wipes and anti-bacterial wipes go along way and don't take up much space

[BaseCamp]

Another thing we do (at home and at camp); is always use the dish washing stick thingys that Wollies / coles sell -- that you fill with detergent and that have the small scouring foam pad at the end. ...   these are great - and water efficient. ...

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[Champin]

Don't know how you'd go in the dry country but I mostly camp next to a river and use that water for washing up.

[glenm64]

The van has 2 x 65 litre tanks, and full ensuite.
We(2) usually get around 3-4 days per tank.
Dishes wiped clean before washing up, and a quick shower each night. Toilet is vacuum so it uses bugger all. Baby wipes used to clean hands etc.
I make the sacrifice of drinking beer to save water.
On big trips I carry 90 litre tank on the back of the ute.

Cheers Glen

[HKB Electronics]

We use lots of paper towels and baby wipes!

[Paddler Ed]

45 litres in 3 days between a family of 4 broken down is:
15L/day
3.75L/person/day

VIC health recommend between 1.2L/day (kids) and 2.6L/day (adults), but that doesn't take into account warmth and running around being kids.

Based on the VIC health numbers your minimum daily intake for the family is:
master: 1.2L
miss: 1.2 (but soon 1.4L)
ms: 2.1L
mr: 2.6L
So a total of 11.1L day for drinking - therefore 3.9L isn't too bad for washing up for a day.

My concern would be that you may discourage the young guys from drinking enough if you get too fierce on water saving, and that's then a bad habit.

We do about that quantity when we're away swag camping - we often take 1 x 10L off the shelf water container that we've saved and a big 20L drum. Now I've got the trailer I've got to sort out the brackets for the 60L water tank and where we're going to run water to after that it should be easier to manage water.

Do the kids have their own water bottles? I have one that goes everywhere with me, and it's a good way for me to keep my fluids up and I know when I don't have it with me I tend not to drink enough. It's a 750ml bottle, and I know that getting through a couple of those a day is me well on the way to having drunk enough.

Not certain that's the answer/thoughts you were looking for, but there's some random musings for you to think about... It's certainly been interesting for me to read - I also found this bit that talks about a turnover in adults of 4% of your body weight in water; as I weigh 100kg I turn over 4 litres a day... I think I need to drink more...

[edz]

With the old soft floor camper we would take 5 or 6  25 ltr drums to Fraser .. Two went on the  table with fresh water from the Island and the other 3 or 4 would be filled from beach  streams through a 100 mm sand spear filter, for showers and clothes washing ..
As there is plenty of water around, shower water would be collected each day or second day .
Would use roughly 65 ltrs of fresh water for  drinking / cooking and wash up in 10 days  ..
25 ltr drum with our shower set up gives us roughly a 6 minute shower .

[Traveller]

That works out at about 1.4 litres per day from your tank.
Dunno about that....

You did read that we used other sources didn't you? Some days we didn't use the tank at all. Just because it doesn't come from your tap at home doesn't make it undrinkable.

 

These 2 statements don't seem compatible.

I'd much rather carry the weight (and we do) than run out of water....

Last day of camping out, I thought it was judged to perfection. Next day in Alice, where's the problem?

 

[GUEY]

what is wrong with disposable stuff?
Paper plates on top of your metal plates work awesome.. just chuck em in the fire when done, and cleaning the metal plates is left to the wipes.
I find that the Pine-o-Clean wipes are great... get most of the stuff clean...

This times many.  Easier to have a few packs of wet wipes and disposable plates than carry more water

[GeoffA]

You did read that we used other sources didn't you? Some days we didn't use the tank at all. Just because it doesn't come from your tap at home doesn't make it undrinkable.

Yes, I did read that. I also read that you weren't sure how many times you filled the tank.
I think you might have forgotten a couple....

Last day of camping out, I thought it was judged to perfection. Next day in Alice, where's the problem?

Pretty silly IMO. No allowance for any issues on the road......

 

[Green rv]

I can take up to 38 liters in drinking water in those water fountain type bottles
and use it on a decanter (as in link), works well and the kids can fill their water bottles themselves

http://www.montvillemist.com.au/store/c3/Bench_Top_Dispensers.html

i have 59 liters under the camper  (gp water)
can put 95 liters on the back of the ute if required  (gp water)
and always on hand the B.E.S.T water filter to refill drinking water if required.
and sometimes i take a slab of 600ml water bottles. handy and refillable

location and duration dictates what parts of the above i take

 
Adam

[eventyr]

Gals / Guys thanks for all the feedback! I certainly think we've been wasteful to date and can do it better, but it is also clear we will need to take considerably more water with us too!

Next shake down trip we'll try the wet wipes / cleaning with sand first trick too.