20 replies to this topic

[Dutchman]

I tried a 10 gallon blue portable tank for awhile.  Partially emptying a 25 gallon grey water tank, or the 15 gallon black water tank, into a 10 gallon blue tank takes some careful monitoring, even with the little pop-up thingy. Obviously, you can't dump the full tank. The low end of the sewer exit on my 17SD does not help much either. Hooking up to the back end of my 4Runner was not a big problem, dumping and lifting the tank was not so much fun.  In the end it was more work than expected and I gave my blue tank away.  I mark my desert spot with chairs, carpet and what have you and have gone back to regular dumping. Some parks allow grey water dumping - if it's allowed I switch to biodegradable soap.  Also, I've added a strainer in my sink, this traps almost all food scraps. I tip and empty the strainer into the garbage can multiple times a day.  I found my grey water smells less since.

 

A fun memory from about eight years ago. I was parked in Pancho Villa State park.  The manager allowed grey water dumping (it's a bone dry desert after all).  I ran my hose into a bush.  To my surprise, within days Gambel Quail came by every afternoon to flap their wings and move about in the soft moist earth before retiring for the evening.  

 

Dutchman

 

ps: I often forget to check the date of the original post.  It may well be that the original poster has switched to a 45ft motorhome or has moved to Timbuctoo.  Hope my post still has some value.

Edited by Dutchman, 29 August 2018 - 05:09 PM.

[Meadowlark]

Off topic, but several years ago we were driving in the high desert of Oregon on our way to Malheur. We'd just gone through a gully washer of a rain storm. We saw droves of California quail drinking the water out of the grooves of the rumble strips on the sides of the road!

 

when we plan on being in a camp site for a few days, we take a large shallow pan, a five gallon jug of water  and a water dripper, or most recently, we dug a shallow hole at the edge of the campsite, lined it with heavy duty pool liner and set up a water drip over it (for my husband's photography hobby). Within a day or so we have towhees, quail, and even chipmunks coming in for a drink.

yes, of course we restored ithe site to its original configuration when we were ready to pull. It was sad to see the birds coming and looking in vain for their water feature.

Edited by Meadowlark, 09 September 2018 - 06:17 PM.

[f_stop]

when i'm going to be camped on the same site for a while with city water i use "water meter" attached to the inlet hose.  they're found in just about any hardware store and only cost a few bucks.  i've no idea what they're used for in the non camping world but they measure the gallons of water going thru the hose and have a built in counter wheel that gives you a visible readout. these little plastic gizmos are not terribly accurate but they give you a rough idea of how much you've put into the trailer.  i figure that "most" of that water goes to the grey tank so when the meter indicates 30 gallons i start thinking about finding the dump station (i have a 40 gallon grey tank in my 16'er, the same tank that's installed in the 17' casitas and just like your 17'er it doesn't fill to 40 gallons).  while a certain amount of the water winds up in the black tank it's never filled before the grey tank.  if it does you should probably look for a doctor instead of a dump station.

 

p@

[clover]

Off topic, but several years ago we were driving in the high desert of Oregon on our way to Malheur. We'd just gone through a gully washer of a rain storm. We saw droves of California quail drinking the water out of the grooves of the rumble strips on the sides of the road!

 

when we plan on being in a camp site for a few days, we take a large shallow pan, a five gallon jug of water  and a water dripper, or most recently, we dug a shallow hole at the edge of the campsite, lined it with heavy duty pool liner and set up a water drip over it (for my husband's photography hobby). Within a day or so we have towhees, quail, and even chipmunks coming in for a drink.

yes, of course we restored ithe site to its original configuration when we were ready to pull. It was sad to see the birds coming and looking in vain for their water feature.

Meadowlark you might find this interesting. My son gave a commencement speech at a Qual Master Graduation event (this is a master's level course specifically on Quail Conservation) That day the class was given a tour of a ranch north of Abilene that won the Lone Star Land Stewardship Award. Rob Hailey was able to reclaim a family ranch back to native habitat to support wildlife, with quail as the primary focus. He had a unique watering system he came up with that really helped the baby quail flourish. He has been told by the experts that quail didn't need watering holes because they got their needed water from insects they ate. This ranch had been in his family for several generations. Over grazed and over farmed. The amount of time, money and  personal sweat he put into this reclamation was nothing less than gold medal. 

 

He was a decorated Green Beret in Vietnam and a retired IBM executive that choose to put his money back into the land and wildlife. 

 

https://www.nrcs.usd...rcs144p2_002556

[Meadowlark]

Wow. That's so encouraging!!! It annoys me when "experts" say things like 'quail don't need water'. My foot they don't need water! Even here in the Pacific NW, we put out water for the wild birds and they drink a LOT of it, every day.

 

Congratulations to your son. These days the environment needs all the help it can get. It helps, too, that quail are just so adorable....;-)

 

Most of my work in biology (both paid and now, through my own choice) involves environmental restoration. My own property had been overgrazed and then scotch broom took over. It took a lot of work, as we don't use herbicides, but we got rid of the broom  and now it is grassland and the birds are everywhere. We also get deer, coons, weasels (you haven't seen fun until you see a family of teenaged weasels playing), snakes frogs, etc and every once in a great while, a black bear, sniffing around the back fence. RIght now there are about 80 juvenile and adult American goldfinches wolfing down the thistle feed.

 

All wildlife need food, water, cover and a place to live.

[Jerrybob]

It always helps to make sure the front and curb side of the trailer are high when you dump.  Sometimes I have to block the wheels to make it that way.

An Andersen leveler works great for this purpose.  Easy to use as well.  Safe travels.