Boondocking, or dry camping, can be very enjoyable and the cost is little or nothing compared to staying in RV parks or campgrounds.
First, let me say that we are not veteran boondockers. We have been camping for over 40 years and have never dry camped for more than a night or two at a time before this trip. The fact that we now own a Honda 2KW generator makes it possible to boondock for extended periods. As I write this we have now boondocked 19 of 36 days on this trip.
The limiting factor for how long you can boondock is the capacity of the RV's fresh water and waste water tanks. Our Mountaineer can hold 60 gallons of fresh water and has enough capacity in the waste tanks to accommodate that 60 gallons. When boondocking water conservation is a must. With 60 gallons we can boondock for 10 days before taking the RV to dump the waste and refill the fresh water.
Some of the measures we take to conserve water are: Catch the cold water that would usually go down the drain while waiting for the hot water to reach the faucet. Recycle that water by using it in coffee or just pour it back into the fresh tank. In our case we cycle that water through a ceramic water filter and use it for drinking water.
The second most important factor is keeping the RV's battery charged. Veteran boondockers spend thousands of dollars for additional batteries, solar panels and an inverter to get around this problem. In our case we are still using the stock battery that came with our RV. When the battery is fully charged we can easily go all night even in the coldest weather. At present the generator needs to run about 5 hours to replenish the battery from an overnight drain using a 12 amp charger. I plan to replace the charger with a 20 amp unit to lessen the generator time required down to 2-3 hours.
Finding places to boondock can be a challenge. The best resource is the Internet and networking. Veteran boondockers, who live full time in their RV, are the best resource. A good many full time RVers belong to the Escapees RV club and their rallies and events are good place to network and collect boondocking locations. There are also a few books on free camping locations but to date we have not used them. Since we have just started boondocking we still have a lot learn.
