When living full-time in a travel coach, water is available in several ways. Most of the time, we access water in garden hose type spigots. The same thing, you have to water the garden. Some are the water spigots on the side of a house, some are frost-free water spigots, and all of them are supplied by a variety of water sources. Campground systems, local water plant systems, wells, springs, and collection tanks.
We operate out of our fresh water tank about 99% of the time. We don’t have to worry about hoses becoming frozen or damaged, and circulating the fresh water tank helps keep it clean. This method also increases our boondocking opportunities. We don’t have to be within hose reach of a spigot, and we come with our own water filtration, so we have that covered too.
We boondock in some spots where our fresh water hose reaches the spigot. Easy-peasy. We simply hook up using a small sediment filter and fill our tank. It holds 55 gallons and can last up to two weeks if we watch our usage. When the pump comes on under demand, the water leaves the tank and goes straight through an onboard sediment filter, carbon filter, and UV chamber. Thoroughly scrubbed, it is plumbed throughout for our daily use.
If we are too far from a spigot to reach with the hose we have on hand, I use a fifteen-gallon water bladder on the roof of the van. It’s super handy, folds into an envelope for storage, and weighs just a few ounces. If the fresh water tank is empty, it takes about three trips to fill it. It’s a really easy process, since the bladder fills and travels on top of the van, no pump is required. Gravity and the siphoning effect empty the bladder quickly and quietly. I use this method the most at campgrounds when we park in primitive sites.
But this week we found ourselves on a property with no city service and no well. They haul their water in and deliver it to their own reservoirs buried in the yard. The water source is a water tank filling station about seven minutes away. I thought I’d take the water bladder over and fill it up, but there isn’t even a hose there small enough to connect to. Luckily the property owner offered to strap a tank to a trailer and haul the water. We ran to the water supply in town, Lamber, Wyoming, and put on one hundred and seventy gallons. Drove it back, and parked it next to our place. Upon arrival, it became apparent the valve on the water tank we just filled, was lower than the fill hole on the side of the coach. Time to assemble some gear.
Using an extra twelve-volt RV water pump I had on the van, my buddy and I plumbed it to connect to freshwater garden hoses, we then wired the pump to plug into a twelve-volt outlet in the electric access nearby. Using water hoses I have on board, we transferred the water quietly, and without complication. Fifty-five gallons of hauled water. Once our tank was full, the pump easily disconnected, and the hoses were drained and put away. The trailer will stay where it is, with more water in the tank ready if needed.
We have lived in our little coach for just over three years this week. And we are still amazed at how many things we still learn, build and implement. Things that used to take a lot of time to do, are accomplished in a fraction of the learning time now. I always wondered if we would get far enough from water convenience that we would need a transfer pump. This week we did.
Live and learn.
We’ll probably transfer water again before we go. We plan to stay here for at least several days. Maybe a couple of weeks. Maybe we’ll stay long enough to drain it dry and run for more.
You never can tell when living life on the road.
