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Old 10-12-2008, 07:14 PM   #1
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Longmont , Colorado
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8
Black/Gray water capacity

Hi,

Can any of you with a 16' or 19' Bambis tell me, realistically, how long 2 people might be able to use the trailer before having to dump the Black/gray water? The 16' has a very small tank and I would hate to break camp every couple of days to dump.

Thanks!!
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Old 10-12-2008, 07:41 PM   #2
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2007 25' International CCD FB
Gahanna , Ohio
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 157
Hello,

What capacities are you looking at in the Bambi for each tank?

Black water is usually not a problem, it's the gray water that tends to fill up quickly from showering, washing dishes, brushing teeth etc. If you haven't looked into yet, they do make portable dump takes in various sizes that prevent you from having to haul the whole trailer to the dump station.

yakman
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Old 10-12-2008, 07:49 PM   #3
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1992 29' Excella
2010 22' Interstate
Van By The River , Georgia
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We Use Less Than 4 Gal/day/person

We don't have a Bambi but I think our water useage can be extrapolated down to fit your rig. We have 30 gal black and 30 gal gray. The gray almost always fills up first for us. For 2 people we can go 4 days easy and 5 days if we really conserve.

So consider the gray tank which fills up more quickly.... 30 gallons divided by 4 days divided by 2 persons = 3.75 gallons/day/person. If we focus on conserving we can go for 5 days. We've never had a need to go more than 5 days without a dump (excuse the pun). The black tank has never filled up for us in 5 days time and we use the bathroom in the trailer almost exclusively - after all, that's why we have an RV.

We take very brief showers in our trailer - the so called Navy shower - wet, lather, rinse. Turning the water off between steps. We don't hesitate to wash dishes in the trailer but we are very conscious of how much water we use. To further reduce demand on the gray tank wash dishes outside or catch the drain water in a basis in the sink and throw it out if you are not opposed to such things.

On the other hand, some of our friends that we camp with can barely make it 2 days on the same 30 gallon gray tank. It's all about conservation.

Lucius
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1992 29' Excella Classic / 2010 Interstate
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Old 10-14-2008, 06:23 PM   #4
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1992 29' Excella
2010 22' Interstate
Van By The River , Georgia
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Interested in Your Capacity/Rate

I know the subject matter is not the most interesting but I'd like to hear replies about gray water capacity. If you put your gray water use into terms of per person per day I think the information will be useful to many of us regardless of whether we have a Bambi, a larger trailer or even a motorhome.

I've searched many of the existing threads on the subject but most topics discuss how to install, repair, replace gray tanks.

Lucius
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Lucius and Danielle
1992 29' Excella Classic / 2010 Interstate
2005 Chevrolet Suburban K2500 8.1L
2018 GMC Sierra K1500 SLT, 6.2L, Max Trailering
Got a cooped-up feeling, gotta get out of town, got those Airstream campin' blues...
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Old 10-14-2008, 06:55 PM   #5
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2004 25' Safari
. , Illinois
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You would be hard pressed to fill the 21 gal gray tank on the 19' unless you literally emptied the 23 gallon fresh tank into it, which you'd be pressed to do if you used the head at all. If you are on city water hookups, then it would be very easy to fill a 21 gallon gray tank...heck it would be easy to fill any tank, even my 39 gallon gray tank if I showered in it daily with city water hookups. If I were on tanked fresh water, again, I would have to put every gallon from the fresh to the gray to fill it.

Now the black tank, even in my 25' SS, I have the same black tank as in the 19' (18 gal). For two folks, you could last well over a week and not fill it. I had three adults in my trailer and we didn't fill the black or the gray in a bit over a week.

The combo tank found in the current 16' unit, IMHO could be an issue, at least for me. In some remote campgrounds you can dump gray water if you have a gray tank, but if you have a combo tank, and it's that small, you could fill that 21 gallon tank pretty darn quickly given that all the contents of the 23 gallon fresh tank, plus the extras from the bathroom deposits made would most likely go to that one tank.

When I boondock, I bring one of those 5 gallon portable coleman jugs that I keep outside for washing hands and washing some dishware. I do this for a few reasons. First, it helps conserve my fresh water tank level. Second it keeps the tanks less full if you can't dump the gray water (which some campgrouds don't allow). Third, it stops a lot of in and out of the trailer letting bugs and worse into the RV.

In the end, I was very happy with the 19' Bambis tanks. Fresh water was a bit small as was the interior space for 2 adults with a 65lb dog. I love the 25er and the larger tanks are a bonus as is the added real estate.
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