First-Time Experience

Having recently from nearly a week of Boondocking in the Cades Cove campground of the Smokies I thought I would share my experience for what it’s worth. Living and camping in Florida and having full hookups every time, I wasn’t sure how effectively the heater and other systems would work, though I tried everything before I left including running the heater, refrigerator, water heater, and a burner on propane simultaneously in my driveway. I packed plenty of bottled water to drink and planned on filling up the fresh water tank with water when I arrived at the campground instead of filling up with water from my house and hauling around the extra weight.

This was my first time boondocking in a trailer. My biggest concern initially was with battery power as it relates to running the propane heater fan in the TM -knowing that the weather was supposed to dip just below freezing at night for the first two nights of my stay. I have a 2006 2720SL with the original battery. The battery seemed in good shape but I purchased a spare marine battery and charged it up just in case I had to switch out batteries in the middle of the night to keep the heater running. After reading the archives, I was unclear on how much juice the heater fan would draw knowing full well that generators were not permitted between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. I was confident that with the spare battery at night and Honda generator to recharge both batteries in the morning I would be ok.

After 20 hours of driving I arrived in the dark, tired and cold as a light snow began to fall. (It wasn’t easy negotiating some of the countless ‘S’ turns in the mountains in the dark.) I didn’t see any water spigots anywhere after driving around the entire campground twice so I just picked the best campsite I could find. When unhooking and setting up, the first thing I did was to hook up and start my propane-powered little red portable campfire. This helped with some extra light, and my mood, plus it also throws off quite a bit of heat which I needed because I forgot gloves! I quickly set up the TM and turned on the refrigerator and heater and got ready for bed, somewhat depressed. I kept the heater at a very low setting the first night to try and gauge the battery usage to get a better idea. Because of the lack of water, I was unable to charge and use the toilet, but I was close enough to walk to the heated bathrooms which were very nice but didn’t have a shower. I should have brought at least 2.5 gallons of water to charge the toilet!

I got up the next morning and stepped outside…it was beautiful! The trees still had quite a few brightly colored leaves, and deer and wild turkey were wandering within 20 feet of the TM. After driving for so long by myself in the dark and not really seeing any fall colors this really started to cheer me up! The picture I am now using as my avatar was taken that day.

I checked my battery by using the gauge by the sink. It seemed fine, though the heater probably didn’t go on more than 3-4 times. My first real priority was water. I had enough drinking water as I mentioned but needed to charge the toilet and wash my hands, dishes, shower etc. Well, I found the campground water spigots during the light of day, but all were turned off because of the fear of freezing pipes! So, I went back into town (about 25 minutes) and bought 24 one gallon jugs of water at 79 cents each. They did have the 2.5 gallon size, but they were much more expensive. The cashier thought I was insane! The town was small and didn’t really have many other options. I didn’t bring any large water containers, so I brought the water back to the trailer and filled it up the fresh water tank in the TM one gallon at a time without spilling too much and charged the toilet.

The second night was a hundred times better - I was less concerned about power and turned the heater up to around 65 degrees which was plenty warm, had plenty of hot water, a cold refrigerator stocked with RC cola and other staples, had a working bathroom and started to really relax and enjoy. That night it was colder, however. The heater would turn on every 10 minutes and stay on for 10 minutes. So for that night it would stay on for 30 minutes every hour, for about 8 hours. I was really concerned with the battery in the morning, but checked the gauge again and it read in the middle, meaning I seemed to have plenty of power left. I hooked up the generator in the morning that morning and each morning thereafter for about 90 minutes to charge it back up and even to run the microwave as needed. As a side note, my heater is located in the front, inside the slide-out couch. Although it was somewhat noisy, it wasn’t much of a factor since l slept in the back and still much less noisy than the air-conditioner. Just hearing it cycle on and off was very comforting.

I set up a pop-up privy next to my outdoor shower outlet toward the back of TM and feed the shower hose inside. The privy is very roomy and I figured that after backpacking I would rinse off in it and conserve so I wouldn’t fill up the gray water tank too soon. This worked very well and is more comfortable than showering inside the TM for me. With the hot water flowing inside it actually got a little steamy which was welcome. I did bring a 10 gallon gray/black portable water tote in case those tanks filled up, but I never got to that point.

I used more propane than expected and decided to refill one of the two 20 pound tanks which was about empty. That one tank wasn’t quite full when I started, so I wasn’t able to accurately figure out how much propane I consumed. But given the heater usage, the water heater, and the refrigerator (which I had turned too cold at first) I shouldn’t have been surprised. In the 2720SL, you have to lift up the Velcro on the front shell and push in the couch slide-out to get at the horizontal tanks – a bit of a pain.
By the end of the fifth night, the fresh water tank was getting low, and the gray water tank was getting full, but it worked out well because I left the next morning and stopped at the dump station prior to leaving.

All in all, I had one of the best times I’ve ever had camping. The campground was probably 30 percent full so I rarely had anyone close to me. I was totally self-sufficient, and couldn’t have been more comfortable. My biggest concern was heat and the battery, but it turned out to be a non-issue as I never got to the lowest mark on the battery gauge, and recharged it every morning with the generator. Water was much more critical, given that I originally assumed that I would have water available somewhere in the park. Everything worked exactly as it was supposed to and I can’t wait to do it again. It feels somehow more satisfying to be totally self-contained.

I hope this was a little bit helpful to potential first-time boondockers!