Newbie! Wanting to boondock

[Zcashio]

So, I'm new to airstreams and basically new to camping. We have a '72 sovereign 31ft and are wanting to boondock when it's all complete. We are doing a shell off, and thank goodness we did because the rear part of the frame where the toilet was was rotted out. I'm in the process of working on the frame right now.

So that brings me to questions.. possibly dumbs question, but Hey we are gotta start somewhere.

Obviously our AS did not have a gray tank. Only fresh and black. With that being said I want to use our black tank for our waste from showers and sink.

1. Do most people add another black tank to equal out the fresh tank since it's 40 gal? (I'm pretty sure that's what it is)

2. We are going to buy a new fresh tank since ours was very nasty and old and my wife just wants NEW.. so could we possibly use it as our gray tank? Has anyone done this? Would it be possible?

3. And lastly.. (at least I think so for now) what do all you boondockers do once your gray tank is full? Since it's not exactly #1 and #2 and basically just drainage water do you just let it out wherever you are or do you need to find somewhere to dump it?


Thanks for any great advice and comments. We are young and have had an airstream dream for a few years and are finally getting there. Slowly but surely. 1 kid that's 2 and 1 about to born. So our/my time is very limited with the project. But we aren't letting the dream go.

[n2916s]

Most municipalities and most government run camping areas prohibit dumping grey water. While not as nasty as black water, it is still pretty foul. Remote BLM areas out west are an exception as are other odd places.

If you are going to be replacing tanks anyway, you want as much gray/black storage as possible as many government campgrounds are two-way (water and electricity). You will always produce more grey water than black. I would go with large grey and fresh tanks and a smaller black tank.

[garykendrick]

In National Forest and BLM lands gray water is usually defined as human washing water only - NO DISHES. When dumped after washing dishes small amounts of food scraps will attract wildlife. Gray water can be really foul and may contain human fecal coliform bacteria. This being said some areas do allow gray water dumping and many do not. Always check local regulations.