IMHO The Best Arrangement For Dry Camping

[Philip]

Why do my wife and I try to dry camp as much as possible. We would like to dry camp more but we generally only find acceptable dry camp sites ~70% or so of the time. We really could dry camp ~95% of the time as we rarely need electric. First for the seclusion and beauty dry camping offers over most all commercial sites. Second it is often cheaper and more readily available. Also the Trailmanor offers great accommodations in a compact area which often matches dry camping sites. This is our experience during extensive camping around the nation in National, State and Forest lands parks.

Realizing this to be our primary camping interest we set upon a mission to make dry camping as practical/comfortable as possible for long durations. After refining our arrangement over many years of experience I thought I would share my evolved system with everyone as everyone else on this forum have shared their improvements with us. My hope is that members will benefit from this sharing.

If you are not really interested in dry camping, no need to read on and be bored as this post by necessity is quite long. So here is what we did to our 2008, 2720 Trailmanor. The changes were not cheap but we did save by not having to buy a generator which we wanted to avoid.

1. Purchase some really good deep cycle marine batteries. One of the best on the market is the Lifeline AGM(Absorbed Gas Mat) design of batteries. These batteries are maintenance free and very rugged. They can be discharged very deeply without damage, quick charging and have a very low discharge rate at rest. When I disconnect them during the winter storage here in PA they are still at 12.80 volts(fully charged) when I hook them up in the spring without ever charging them during the winter. We have two GPL-4DA Lifeline 12V batteries in parallel for a little over 400 amp-hr. capacity. They fit perfectly into the original battery holder on the TM behind the propane bottles. We did place a 1/2" plywood board under them to distribute the weight over the angle iron battery case. These batteries are by far the most expensive part of the system at nearly $1200. However I will never have to buy batteries again as these will last the life of the TM. We can dry camp for about seven to nine days before having to recharge when the batteries get down to 50 or 60% discharged.

2. Install a good battery monitoring system that keeps track of the discharge percentage and battery voltage. We have a LinkLITE which works very well. Anyone who lives off the batteries for periods of time should have one of these. You just cannot know the depth of discharge with only a voltmeter.

3. Here is the key to long term dry camping with out a generator. Connect the TM batteries directly to the TV batteries using very heavy cables. I used 1/0 AWG welding wire. Be sure to get the extra flexible type which though being very heavy is still very flexible. Not cheap, ~$80 for 25 FT. but well worth it as it is easy to work with. I connected these cables to the battery on my TV(2005 Toyota 4-Runner) and ran them along the frame to the back of the 4-Runner. Use wire ties to hold them in place. Connect the other end of the cables to a heavy duty
two pole plug and mount this to the rear of the TV. My TV had a factory towing package and oddly the opposite side of the tow bar from the factory connection plug there was a plate ready to accept this new plug mounted onto an adaptor plate I made for this plug. Connect the male end of this plug directly to the TM batteries. Make sure the negative cable connects to the negative of the battery monitor which then goes to the battery negative. This will assure that the battery monitor will keep tab of amps during charging from the TV. These heavy cable connections to the TM from the TV will allow the TV alternator to charge the batteries at a very high rate whenever the batteries get low. I can charge at ~50 amps when the batteries are low(50% or more discharged) while the TV is at idle. The reason you only get approx. 10 or less amps charging with the standard connection to the TV is that the wires are way too small and the resistance is thus too great to allow a high amp flow from the TV alternator. Realize that the TV alternator only puts out approx. a max of 15 volts for charging. The voltage drop in the small wire standard plug connections is so great that you end up having a very small difference between battery voltage and the voltage from the alternator at the battery thus you have very little driving force to push amps into the battery. It is true that even with the heavy cables I have that the amps going to the battery start to cut back quite a bit as the batteries approach 80% of full charge. This is the case with most all charging systems. This wiring system allows me to charge the batteries to nearly full charge when towing for a day. I am also able to just connect up the heavy plug on the TM to the TV when dry camping and let the TV idle for and hour or two to charge up the batteries to the point that I can get another four days or so before having to do it again. No generator necessary. No noise, no fuss, no maintenance!

3. Our TM came with the optional 40 gallon tank and it comes in handy for water when dry camping. I purchased one of these bladder type water carriers to lay on the back floor of the TV with back seats set flat. It holds 40 gallons and folds into a small box when not in use. I use a small 12V shureflo pump clipped to the TV battery to pump the water out of the bladder into the TM. Works great and all it requires is time - no heavy lifting. I also purchased a large(40 gallon) waste tank tote with a handle and four good wheels that can be connected to the tow ball on the TV. I tow the waste to the dump and put the tote in the TV on return. Again; only time and no heavy lifting.

I can go on indefinitely with this system while dry camping in comfort. I hope this lengthly description helps people enjoy dry camping more while paying something back to all the people who have help me with their posts on this forum. I also hope I didn't put too many people to sleep!

Comments are always welcome as I am always looking for improvements.

Take care,

Phil