Going boondocking

[azflycaster]

My wife and I are going out with our recently aquired Airstream this weekend. I have a question about getting the water system ready. The campground we are going to has no hookups, so basicly we will be boondocking. I ran through testing the water system with the water pump at my house and it seemed to take a while to get water to all the sinks etc. Filling the hot water heater took the most amount of time. Do you charge the lines and fill the hot water heater before you head out? This would save some time and battery. What is the down side to doing this?

BTW, if you leave the water holding tank drain valve open, it will never fill!

[RichardT]

Yes get it ready before you go, that way it is ready to use when you need it. Also dont forget to disinfect the water system with bleach, you can find out how to do this by looking it up in search

[Rivetedude]

It's ok to charge the water lines with a hose if you want, but unless you leave the pump on the entire time you travel, you'll still have to use the pump to recharge the lines upon reaching your destination. The water heater can stay full after you fill it. If you're worried about battery power, just leave the trailer plugged into your running vehicle while you charge the lines real quick. If you're going to make a habbit of boondocking, I'd recommend a solar charger. I've got one and it has proven to be instrumental in dry camping. Good luck and have fun.

[87MH]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

...I ran through testing the water system with the water pump at my house and it seemed to take a while to get water to all the sinks etc. Filling the hot water heater took the most amount of time.

Charging the lines should only take a few seconds - and the water heater certainly no more than a couple of minutes (the pump should put out around 3 to 5 gallons per minute) - you may want to run a check on the pump output - time how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket - a low volume output would indicate a soon to expire pump or a partially blocked or separated line (could be in either the discharge or suction line)....may want to take a spare pump (or rebuild kit) and enough parts/tools along on your trip to change it out if necessary.

[Rivetedude]

Originally Posted by 87MH

Charging the lines should only take a few seconds - and the water heater certainly no more than a couple of minutes (the pump should put out around 3 to 5 gallons per minute) - you may want to run a check on the pump output - time how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket - a low volume output would indicate a soon to expire pump or a partially blocked or separated line (could be in either the discharge or suction line)....may want to take a spare pump (or rebuild kit) and enough parts/tools along on your trip to change it out if necessary.

You know, you're right. I never thought the pump might be going bad. Mine doesn't take that long to charge the lines and I open my drain valves while in storage, so I have to totally fill my lines every time. Only takes a few seconds and the pump shuts off....now getting all the air out of the lines is another story. It seems to go much more smoothly if I start at the back of the trailer and work my way forward...even though the pump is amidships. Wierd.

[azflycaster]

My wife and I did our first outing this past weekend and everything went great! We did want to share two photos (everyone loves photos) of what we learned.
1. Always have an attack dog ready to jump on anything that moves.
2. Beware of the night creatures!

[Ken J]

ohmygosh - those airstream night creatures showed up - I hear if they get too close to the trailer - they turn the whole interior pink - at least thats what I think happened to my 58. Looks like yours were just lurking outside the trailer.

Glad to hear everything went well.

Ken

[mello mike]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

My wife and I did our first outing this past weekend and everything went great! We did want to share two photos (everyone loves photos) of what we learned.
1. Always have an attack dog ready to jump on anything that moves.
2. Beware of the night creatures!

Where did you go on your first outing?

[azflycaster]

We were at a campground called Daisy Springs (no hookups) which is on the west side of Mormon Lake.

In 2 weeks we are going to Willow Springs Lake to catch Crayfish!

[flyfshr]

Those look delicious. A bucketful of night creatures. Pass the butter and cocktail sauce. Glad to hear all went well with your maiden voyage.

FF

[mello mike]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

We were at a campground called Daisy Springs (no hookups) which is on the west side of Mormon Lake.

In 2 weeks we are going to Willow Springs Lake to catch Crayfish!

Nice area. We boondocked at Amhurst Lake which is a short drive from Mormon Lake and Mary Lake.

We didn't see any pink birds, though.