RV boondocking: water, waste and energy budgets

Plan a no-hookup stay from available fresh water, free waste-tank space, usable energy and fuel, each divided by expected use. The shortest budget limits the example, then a reserve and site rules can shorten it further. Solar, a larger battery or extra water solves only the resource it changes.

Small tanks can set the limit before electricity

Scamp’s applicable 13-foot configuration lists nominal fresh, gray and black capacities of 12, 21 and 6 gallons. Use those capacities only as upper bounds: actual usable water, initial contents and a reserve change a trip calculation.

The assumed eight gallons of fresh use splits into six gray and two black. Even this simplified balance leaves fresh water as the shorter upper bound. Food, drinking water carried separately, flushing arrangements and the unit’s actual plumbing can change the balance.

Use energy, not battery amp-hours alone

For an assumed 1,200 Wh usable battery budget and 500 Wh daily demand, division gives 2.4 days without recharge. That is not a forecast for every refrigerator or battery. Include inverter losses and all loads in the measured or specified demand.

Do not assume every 100 Ah lithium battery has 80 Ah usable, every lead-acid battery has 50 Ah usable or every day has four effective solar hours. Use the installed battery and charger instructions, operating conditions and a conservative recharge plan.

Capacity does not establish permission

BLM’s New Mexico guidance illustrates a 14-in-28-day camping rule with local conditions. A resource budget cannot extend an allowed stay or permit waste discharge. Use the site-permission guide separately.

Account for colder-weather heating loads, battery charge-temperature limits and protected plumbing. Recheck the calculation with the installed equipment rather than applying a fixed percentage increase in propane consumption to every rig.