Onboard water tanks or no? (and what/how?)

[khigh]

I think this is my last hurdle to cross before pulling the trigger - deciding on water.

I constantly debate myself. I want to be as portable and versatile as possible, but I keep reminding myself that what I largely want is a tent replacement with storage, not "all the comforts of home".

At one point I'd decided to take a rack full of carboys to fill my water needs. When I set up, I could set one up on an elevated shelf over my cook table and use it like a spigot and use a garden sprayer shower tent kind of affair for showers.

Then it struck me that one of the benefits of having the trailer in the first place is the impromptu and stealth opportunities. If I need to be 2 hours away at 6AM, why not just hole up in the closest Walmart? That kind of thing. Well naturally I wouldn't want to be setting up camp in those situations. for a one-night enclosed affair, I could make do with a sink bath of some sort, but what about the water in general.

Here are some options on the build...

40 Gallon Fresh Water Tank $111.00
50 Gallon Waste Water Tank $132.00
City Fill Assembly For Water Tank $45.00

Franky it's hard to resist the fresh water tank. Heck 8 5gallon carboys would cost more than that.

I'm not as sold on the waste water tank. If I use "camp soaps", I can collect up in a bucket and toss it, right?

And what does the city fill bring to the table? I assume that's an outdoor interface to the fresh water tank I can hook a garden hose to or hook up at a campground? What if I don't get that? How would I fill it? Or would I pretty much have to get it? I don't think it much matters for $45. If I have that and a 30 amp electrical panel, I can just pull into a KOA or whatnot and hook up, right?

They'll probably look at me funny, but I wouldn't buy any pumps or anything to start - just having that water on board would be my start. I may have to ask what the "raw" installation would be if you don't order anything like pumps - would I have to cut a hole in the floor/tank, or would I expect something like a top cap or feeder hose sticking up through the floor?

I'm pretty stalled out now, and I'm itching to get my trailer - this is about the only thing I have left.

Thanks for looking!

[jwhite]

I only have a 16 gallon tank and just about only use if for showers and being careful it will last 5days one quick shower at night, very little washing dishes.
usually freeze water and as it thaws use that in the sink if I am running low on water.
the tanks have fitting and a larger one at the top so I ran a water hose from the out side and can fill it with a water hose.
the 12volt pumps are great and I bought the last one off ebay new for around 30.00, I haven't run out of water yet.

[Hiflyer]

I think this is my last hurdle to cross before pulling the trigger - deciding on water.

I constantly debate myself. I want to be as portable and versatile as possible, but I keep reminding myself that what I largely want is a tent replacement with storage, not "all the comforts of home".

At one point I'd decided to take a rack full of carboys to fill my water needs. When I set up, I could set one up on an elevated shelf over my cook table and use it like a spigot and use a garden sprayer shower tent kind of affair for showers.

Then it struck me that one of the benefits of having the trailer in the first place is the impromptu and stealth opportunities. If I need to be 2 hours away at 6AM, why not just hole up in the closest Walmart? That kind of thing. Well naturally I wouldn't want to be setting up camp in those situations. for a one-night enclosed affair, I could make do with a sink bath of some sort, but what about the water in general.

Here are some options on the build...

40 Gallon Fresh Water Tank $111.00
50 Gallon Waste Water Tank $132.00
City Fill Assembly For Water Tank $45.00

Franky it's hard to resist the fresh water tank. Heck 8 5gallon carboys would cost more than that.

I'm not as sold on the waste water tank. If I use "camp soaps", I can collect up in a bucket and toss it, right?

And what does the city fill bring to the table? I assume that's an outdoor interface to the fresh water tank I can hook a garden hose to or hook up at a campground? What if I don't get that? How would I fill it? Or would I pretty much have to get it? I don't think it much matters for $45. If I have that and a 30 amp electrical panel, I can just pull into a KOA or whatnot and hook up, right?

They'll probably look at me funny, but I wouldn't buy any pumps or anything to start - just having that water on board would be my start. I may have to ask what the "raw" installation would be if you don't order anything like pumps - would I have to cut a hole in the floor/tank, or would I expect something like a top cap or feeder hose sticking up through the floor?

I'm pretty stalled out now, and I'm itching to get my trailer - this is about the only thing I have left.

Thanks for looking!

Only issue I see is weight. 40 gallons *8.34 lbs = 330lbs or so...

[twinight]

A large water tank needs a pump, otherwise it will be difficult to extract water from it. Pumps are relatively inexpensive (under $20).
Do you have a sink in your galley to pump it to? If you add a water tank, I would go the whole 9 yards and plumb it to the sink instead of using it for storage to fill a 5 gal portable in your galley.
For waste, I use a 3 gal water container and empty it into the campground flush toilet every day.
The city fill is just a hose from your fill connector to the tank. You can just connect a RV water hose to any camp faucet to fill connector to fill your tank. It prevents overflows, spills, and dirt that filling the tank directly from a hose can cause.