Yep, since this video we've done the same for the RV. Our Blu Tech R3 water filtration system has a 0.2 micron safety filter that lets us draw water from any ground source: ruclips.net/video/X8tTn4wh3WY/видео.html
I usually empty my holding tanks into the water bladder, empty it at the dump, rinse it out real quick a time or two, then pump my fresh water into the bladder and head back to fill up my RV. That way I make it a multi-tasker bi-directional system. Works great!😄
So easy. I was overthinking it. I have an off road style pop up with 35 gallons + 6 gallons in the water heater that I wasn’t about to break down and drive off to refill for a extended weekend. We like to boondock and my wife and kids love a shower after day 2. This covers that want. Thanks !
You're so welcome! FYI Amazon has stopped stocking that particular pillow tank, but Camping World has them online, or Amazon has different pillow tanks available.
That's a great idea. Better than lugging and storing Jerry cans. I have to watch this again to see where you found the water bag. Thanks for the info. Kim and Vinny in CT
Thanks, Kim and Vinny! There's a link in the video description to our pillow tank on Amazon, but it's currently out of stock. The exact same one is currently available through Camping World.
Yup, we know Amazon stopped carrying them. Camping World still has them, or there are other bladder tanks available in various sizes and constructions but the principle is the same.
Hey, nice shirt! 😀 Thanks for the water fill tip! We didn't know about those collapsible pillow tanks, they seems like a great option! Nice of the campground to let you fill for free. We can't wait to camp at Lone rock beach! 🏖️ I (Brad) grew up in St George and spent a lot of time there as a kid but haven't been there for many years
Those pillow tanks are the bomb. Patricia has much room for improvement when it comes to water use and conservation, so ours has come in handy on more than one occasion. When we were in Arizona, between Flagstaff and Sedona, I even filled it before arriving at the site, so that we'd have a second tank full of fresh water to work with. Lone Rock Beach rocks -- we did a separate travel episode from there, where we got some really cool footage: ruclips.net/video/ZGlbYKsD7xc/видео.html . It was our second visit there, for we were at Lone Rock Beach tent camping for a lunar eclipse back in 2012 when the sand was admittedly deeper and more difficult to negotiate. We're based in SLC, but travel often to southern Utah including the St. George area. Let me know when your travels bring you back through here and we'll try to connect, as we enjoy your channel immensely and we're intimately familiar with stellar boondocking sites across the whole state. As for the shirt, we've gotta support Brian and the crew! They provide a wonderful service.
Grand Adventure We'll definitely holler next time we're in the area. Brad's family is still in Utah, so we roll through occasionally. We'll check out that other video! 😎
Tote it to a dump station when necessary, or put some in a bucket to flush the toilet because the black tank fills much more slowly. Some also have a grey tank much bigger than their fresh tank.
We've actually used it a bunch of times. It's definitely earned a place in our bag o'tricks. And because it packs so compactly, it's always there until that moment that we realize that we need to use it.
@@laughingram7287 we do not. We thought about getting a tote, however it takes us a good 10 days or more to fill a black tank. We have 50 gallons of grey water capacity and 25 gallons of black water capacity. Our grey water is also split between two separate tanks, one for the bathroom and another for the galley, so we can use the bathroom grey for flushing the toilet, dousing a campfire, etc.
25 gallons seems small, but I guess if you do it right and not flush every time it wouldn’t be bad. Nice to have a split gray tank. We just have the three tanks and they are each 45 gallons. I can definitely see using the portable water tank. Even if you are in a place where there is water available, but not at the site, you don’t have to move the trailer, just move the truck. Much better. Thanks again Marc.
Charles, that's a good question, as the tank is still relatively new to us. However, I wouldn't think that bleaching would be that bad -- add the bleach first, then fill the tank and drain it as you normally would to dilute the bleach and wash it around. I'd think that would be relatively painless.
Where did you find the hose adapters to put on the water pump. Water pump has two 1/2" male ports, which of course don't connect with your rv fresh water hoses.
Yes, our pump has two male fittings. But our pillow tank and RV gravity fill adapter both have female fittings, so we don't need any kind of adapter for our hoses. If you do need some kind of hose adapter, you can find almost anything on Amazon to fit the bill.
@@GrandAdventure Thank you for answering I was looking at that one to if I get one I will let u know how it works out Thank u again u have a great day and be safe.
Question.....assuming you did not embark on your adventure with an empty water tank apparently you used it enough to warrant needing to refill it. This indicates that either your grey or black tank has content equal to the original capacity of your fresh tank (distributed between the two). How will you handle the disposal of the two tanks without breaking camp to empty them?
In many rigs including ours, the waste tank capacity far exceeds the fresh capacity. We have a 48-gallon fresh tank, and two grey tanks of 25 gallons each and a black tank of 35 gallons, for 85 total. So we can store nearly two full fresh tanks' worth of wastewater.
This is a great idea. I have a much smaller fresh water tank and carry the blue jugs for additional water. This would be much better. I clicked on your links for the products on Amazon and have a question about the pump. My truck has a 12 volt plug in the bed, the pump comes with alligator clips. Is it an easy task to change from the alligator clips to a 12 volt plug in connection?
It's simple to do, Dian, and I explain a bit more detail below. The problem with using a lighter socket is that there are only so many amps you can deliver to the pump in that manner. Now, I don't have my pump in front of me so I don't know how much current it draws. However, high draw items like an air compressor or to a lesser degree a pump, will operate more efficiently with a more direct battery connection. Furthermore, if the cigarette lighter in your bed was installed at the factory it may or may not have a big enough wire gauge to support that long a run from the battery without substantial voltage loss. As it stands, you could use that pump right out of the box by simply hooking it to your tow vehicle battery, or to your house battery in your RV. What I did in my truck was to run a dedicated fused 10 AWG line from my battery, down along the frame beneath the truck and up to the bed (just zip-tied to the frame). From that I feed 3 always-on cigarette outlets, a couple of SAE connectors (I hooked onto one of those in the video), and some switched LED lights on the ceiling of the shell. Those items are then all grounded to negative to complete the circuit. I hope this helps!
We've had ours for 2 years now, no leaks or other issues to report. Amazon has stopped carrying them but Camping World has them: www.campingworld.com/portable-rv-fresh-water-tank-45-gallon-1605.html
I've found that to be a handy little item. While it may be off by just a couple of percent, it's useful to know that I really have filled my RV's fresh water tank as completely as possible.
@@GrandAdventure If it is legal, why don't I hear about people doing it while boondocking?? I have thought of getting a good filtration system, with UV purification, and water pump and hose, to take water from clean streams and lakes. If I can do that, I can be truly untethered.
@@craigkdillon there's no law against it that we've ever been made aware of. We've used backpacking filters like the MSR MiniWorks EX to obtain camping and hiking water from lakes and streams for decades. The biggest impediment to an RVer drawing water while boondocking has always been the ability to do so safely, an impediment which we now use a 0.2-micron filtration system from Blu Technology ruclips.net/video/X8tTn4wh3WY/видео.html to overcome. You need a filtration system with a sufficiently small pore size to filter out giardia spores, E-coli, etc.
@@craigkdillon true. Tough to UV filter that kind of quantity, though. A multi-stage filtration system also addresses particles and other impurities that UV filtration can't remove.
Even there you have options, Ronald. You could transfer waste water to a tote tank and then bring it to the dump in your tow vehicle or toad, leaving your RV at the site. If you must bring the RV to the dump, most folks just leave some patio furniture in place to "mark their spot."
its been said in my church that in the next life they going task us if we gonna follow jesus or not for the last time and they say that even overthere some still going to follow the devil and when I see those thumb down a believe it
I purchased this from Camping world for $100+ some change. A word of caution. Rinse this thing out multiple times prior to use. Don't use it new. I was under the impression because it was "FDA" approved vinyl that the water put into it would be drinkable and be somewhat smell free. It is NOT. I barely tolerated using it to shower with which smelled like plastic water and my scalp itched like crazy the next day. On my next go around I made my own bicarbonate soda via a mixture of 3 lbs of baking soda and citric acid. Once wet this creates a bubbling action like the tablets one uses for dentures. Letting it sit in the sun for five hours and flipping it now and then in an attempt to "scrub" the inside. I rinsed the inside four times yet we still have a vinyl taste. Now I'm buying bottled water for cooking, brushing teeth etc. While the smell isn't as bad as the first go around.... it's still bad. Maybe after 75 uses the smell and the taste in the water will dissipate. I'm on use #4. Some are sensitive to heavy vinyl type smell and this is up there. OTOH it is convenient to roll up and set aside once done. However, I wish they could make the opening somewhere bigger so I can get my hands inside to clean it using a light scrubber. I'm worried about mildew and how it really takes awhile to dry in between uses. Looking for a 30 gallon stainless steel cooler asap.
Yes, it definitely has a vinyl smell when new but you're definitely more sensitive to it than we were. We just rinsed ours a few times before use, but we're impressed by the lengths you went to. When we store ours we remove the valve to allow airflow to thoroughly dry it before we put it away.
Exactly what I was looking for thank you
You're most welcome, Victoria.
A fabulous solution to something that will end your stay at a boondocking site quickly! Thank you very much for sharing your technique!
Safe travels!!
Our pleasure, Alan!
Please explain
I boughtt a fresh water system for my boat. Draw water from lake converts to drinking water. Use it on my rig too
Yep, since this video we've done the same for the RV. Our Blu Tech R3 water filtration system has a 0.2 micron safety filter that lets us draw water from any ground source: ruclips.net/video/X8tTn4wh3WY/видео.html
Thank you my friend! Awesome information!
Our pleasure, Caleb.
I usually empty my holding tanks into the water bladder, empty it at the dump, rinse it out real quick a time or two, then pump my fresh water into the bladder and head back to fill up my RV. That way I make it a multi-tasker bi-directional system. Works great!😄
Careful, someone might try that. 😉
So easy. I was overthinking it. I have an off road style pop up with 35 gallons + 6 gallons in the water heater that I wasn’t about to break down and drive off to refill for a extended weekend. We like to boondock and my wife and kids love a shower after day 2. This covers that want. Thanks !
You're so welcome! FYI Amazon has stopped stocking that particular pillow tank, but Camping World has them online, or Amazon has different pillow tanks available.
Grand Adventure I just noticed that. I saw the one for 30 gallons. That’s enough for my pop up. Thanks for all your videos.
@@ernestoluzan perfect!
Outstanding idea
Thank you! We don't have to use it often, but when we need it in a pinch it's a lifesaver.
Watching your videos is giving me the knowledge I need to get out and try new places with my RV! Thank you!
That is *excellent* and welcome feedback, Laura -- so happy to hear that!
That's a great idea. Better than lugging and storing Jerry cans. I have to watch this again to see where you found the water bag.
Thanks for the info.
Kim and Vinny in CT
Thanks, Kim and Vinny! There's a link in the video description to our pillow tank on Amazon, but it's currently out of stock. The exact same one is currently available through Camping World.
You should get a quick disconnect to go from your meter to the bag and you won't have to screw it on and off.
Thanks for sharing. Love your videos. So helpful!
You are so welcome Michelle! Glad that you're enjoying them.
Thanks for the suggestion and video!
Nice tip Marc. FYI the link for the 45gal bladder is broke.
Yup, we know Amazon stopped carrying them. Camping World still has them, or there are other bladder tanks available in various sizes and constructions but the principle is the same.
Hey, nice shirt! 😀 Thanks for the water fill tip! We didn't know about those collapsible pillow tanks, they seems like a great option! Nice of the campground to let you fill for free. We can't wait to camp at Lone rock beach! 🏖️ I (Brad) grew up in St George and spent a lot of time there as a kid but haven't been there for many years
Those pillow tanks are the bomb. Patricia has much room for improvement when it comes to water use and conservation, so ours has come in handy on more than one occasion. When we were in Arizona, between Flagstaff and Sedona, I even filled it before arriving at the site, so that we'd have a second tank full of fresh water to work with.
Lone Rock Beach rocks -- we did a separate travel episode from there, where we got some really cool footage: ruclips.net/video/ZGlbYKsD7xc/видео.html . It was our second visit there, for we were at Lone Rock Beach tent camping for a lunar eclipse back in 2012 when the sand was admittedly deeper and more difficult to negotiate.
We're based in SLC, but travel often to southern Utah including the St. George area. Let me know when your travels bring you back through here and we'll try to connect, as we enjoy your channel immensely and we're intimately familiar with stellar boondocking sites across the whole state.
As for the shirt, we've gotta support Brian and the crew! They provide a wonderful service.
Grand Adventure We'll definitely holler next time we're in the area. Brad's family is still in Utah, so we roll through occasionally. We'll check out that other video! 😎
What goes in must come out. How do you handle grey water?
Tote it to a dump station when necessary, or put some in a bucket to flush the toilet because the black tank fills much more slowly. Some also have a grey tank much bigger than their fresh tank.
Great idea! I will get one. Merry Christmas to you, happy new year!
Same to you Larry!
How did I miss this one???
What a great idea!
My wife says we don’t need this yet. 😞
We've actually used it a bunch of times. It's definitely earned a place in our bag o'tricks. And because it packs so compactly, it's always there until that moment that we realize that we need to use it.
Do you also have on hand a means to empty your black tank like a “Smartote” along with a macerator pump?
@@laughingram7287 we do not. We thought about getting a tote, however it takes us a good 10 days or more to fill a black tank. We have 50 gallons of grey water capacity and 25 gallons of black water capacity. Our grey water is also split between two separate tanks, one for the bathroom and another for the galley, so we can use the bathroom grey for flushing the toilet, dousing a campfire, etc.
25 gallons seems small, but I guess if you do it right and not flush every time it wouldn’t be bad. Nice to have a split gray tank. We just have the three tanks and they are each 45 gallons.
I can definitely see using the portable water tank. Even if you are in a place where there is water available, but not at the site, you don’t have to move the trailer, just move the truck. Much better.
Thanks again Marc.
@@laughingram7287 25 gallons would indeed be small for a family, but as it's just the two of us it's not that bad.
Thanks for listing the equipment.
What about keeping mold growth down on the bladder tank between uses? Bleaching seems like a PITA.
Charles, that's a good question, as the tank is still relatively new to us. However, I wouldn't think that bleaching would be that bad -- add the bleach first, then fill the tank and drain it as you normally would to dilute the bleach and wash it around. I'd think that would be relatively painless.
Where did you find the hose adapters to put on the water pump. Water pump has two 1/2" male ports, which of course don't connect with your rv fresh water hoses.
Yes, our pump has two male fittings. But our pillow tank and RV gravity fill adapter both have female fittings, so we don't need any kind of adapter for our hoses. If you do need some kind of hose adapter, you can find almost anything on Amazon to fit the bill.
@@GrandAdventure Thanks.
Great Video man and awesome information thanks for sharing
Thanks for the video! Always the best information! 😀
And always the best comments -- thanks, Cindy!
What brand is the pellow tank I like to buy one thanks
Paul, unfortunately the one we're using is no longer available. For when it's time to replace, we've been eyeing this one: amzn.to/3P4aBqb
@@GrandAdventure Thank you for answering I was looking at that one to if I get one I will let u know how it works out Thank u again u have a great day and be safe.
@@paulenos9381 same to you! We'll be interested to hear your feedback on that one.
Same pump and bladder I bought. Great minds think alike!! Btw- shouldn’t you open the vent on the bladder when your draining it too??
Ha! Works great, doesn't it? And yes -- I should've opened the vent, I was too busy worrying about the camera shot. ;)
Question.....assuming you did not embark on your adventure with an empty water tank apparently you used it enough to warrant needing to refill it. This indicates that either your grey or black tank has content equal to the original capacity of your fresh tank (distributed between the two). How will you handle the disposal of the two tanks without breaking camp to empty them?
In many rigs including ours, the waste tank capacity far exceeds the fresh capacity. We have a 48-gallon fresh tank, and two grey tanks of 25 gallons each and a black tank of 35 gallons, for 85 total. So we can store nearly two full fresh tanks' worth of wastewater.
This is a great idea. I have a much smaller fresh water tank and carry the blue jugs for additional water. This would be much better. I clicked on your links for the products on Amazon and have a question about the pump. My truck has a 12 volt plug in the bed, the pump comes with alligator clips. Is it an easy task to change from the alligator clips to a 12 volt plug in connection?
It's simple to do, Dian, and I explain a bit more detail below. The problem with using a lighter socket is that there are only so many amps you can deliver to the pump in that manner. Now, I don't have my pump in front of me so I don't know how much current it draws. However, high draw items like an air compressor or to a lesser degree a pump, will operate more efficiently with a more direct battery connection. Furthermore, if the cigarette lighter in your bed was installed at the factory it may or may not have a big enough wire gauge to support that long a run from the battery without substantial voltage loss. As it stands, you could use that pump right out of the box by simply hooking it to your tow vehicle battery, or to your house battery in your RV.
What I did in my truck was to run a dedicated fused 10 AWG line from my battery, down along the frame beneath the truck and up to the bed (just zip-tied to the frame). From that I feed 3 always-on cigarette outlets, a couple of SAE connectors (I hooked onto one of those in the video), and some switched LED lights on the ceiling of the shell. Those items are then all grounded to negative to complete the circuit.
I hope this helps!
Great water tank idea. How long have you had it and has it ever got a leak. Also you link doesn't work.
We've had ours for 2 years now, no leaks or other issues to report. Amazon has stopped carrying them but Camping World has them: www.campingworld.com/portable-rv-fresh-water-tank-45-gallon-1605.html
Haven’t used it yet. Spending our last winter in Pa prepping for boondocking. Thanks for the tips how to do it!!
You'll love it!
Grand Adventure just ordered the orbit.
I've found that to be a handy little item. While it may be off by just a couple of percent, it's useful to know that I really have filled my RV's fresh water tank as completely as possible.
Good video. What do you do with the grey tank?
Btw- can you share some info on your 12v connection in the bed??
did you ever find water?...
Always. 😉
Is it legal to take water from a stream or lake?
Yes it is.
@@GrandAdventure If it is legal, why don't I hear about people doing it while boondocking??
I have thought of getting a good filtration system, with UV purification, and water pump and hose, to take water from clean streams and lakes.
If I can do that, I can be truly untethered.
@@craigkdillon there's no law against it that we've ever been made aware of. We've used backpacking filters like the MSR MiniWorks EX to obtain camping and hiking water from lakes and streams for decades. The biggest impediment to an RVer drawing water while boondocking has always been the ability to do so safely, an impediment which we now use a 0.2-micron filtration system from Blu Technology ruclips.net/video/X8tTn4wh3WY/видео.html to overcome. You need a filtration system with a sufficiently small pore size to filter out giardia spores, E-coli, etc.
@@GrandAdventure Good to know. I would use UV purification along with filtration. UV will kill viruses and germs.
@@craigkdillon true. Tough to UV filter that kind of quantity, though. A multi-stage filtration system also addresses particles and other impurities that UV filtration can't remove.
Do you have to leave to dump your black tank then go back where you were and hope nobody has taken your spot
Even there you have options, Ronald. You could transfer waste water to a tote tank and then bring it to the dump in your tow vehicle or toad, leaving your RV at the site. If you must bring the RV to the dump, most folks just leave some patio furniture in place to "mark their spot."
Tak'n a Ride Just might have to get one of those bladders, thanks for the tip
Our pleasure, Dale!
Another great informational video, thanks. I just can't get over that annoying ONE thumbs down in every video; it's hilarious.
ROTFL! It comes with the territory.
its been said in my church that in the next life they going task us if we gonna follow jesus or not for the last time and they say that even overthere some still going to follow the devil and when I see those thumb down a believe it
I don't see why people have such a problem trying to find water I never run out but that's just me
We ran out once...just as we were packing up to leave. Talk about timing!
I purchased this from Camping world for $100+ some change.
A word of caution. Rinse this thing out multiple times prior to use. Don't use it new.
I was under the impression because it was "FDA" approved vinyl that the water put into it would be drinkable and be somewhat smell free.
It is NOT. I barely tolerated using it to shower with which smelled like plastic water and my scalp itched like crazy the next day. On my next go around I made my own bicarbonate soda via a mixture of 3 lbs of baking soda and citric acid. Once wet this creates a bubbling action like the tablets one uses for dentures. Letting it sit in the sun for five hours and flipping it now and then in an attempt to "scrub" the inside.
I rinsed the inside four times yet we still have a vinyl taste. Now I'm buying bottled water for cooking, brushing teeth etc.
While the smell isn't as bad as the first go around.... it's still bad. Maybe after 75 uses the smell and the taste in the water will dissipate. I'm on use #4.
Some are sensitive to heavy vinyl type smell and this is up there. OTOH it is convenient to roll up and set aside once done. However, I wish they could make the opening somewhere bigger so I can get my hands inside to clean it using a light scrubber. I'm worried about mildew and how it really takes awhile to dry in between uses.
Looking for a 30 gallon stainless steel cooler asap.
Yes, it definitely has a vinyl smell when new but you're definitely more sensitive to it than we were. We just rinsed ours a few times before use, but we're impressed by the lengths you went to. When we store ours we remove the valve to allow airflow to thoroughly dry it before we put it away.