Camping on our C-Dory

Flint · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:50 pm Post subject: Camping on our C-Dory

We towed our C-Dory from the Keys to Charleston and after cruising on her to Hatteras Village in the Outer Banks, we are heading across the country and camping along the way. We have been in State Parks in MD and WV and we are now in a KOA in IN. We get looks from everyone as we travel and she makes a wonderful RV when we settle in to a campground. We tent camped for the last two summers and it is nice to pull our boat into a campsite and just plug her in instead of having to set anything up. I wanted to post a picture, but I don't see any option to do that. Maybe someone can guide me in that respect. See you at Lake Powell in September.

Flint and Leslie Firestone
aboard Grace Full in
Crawfordsville, IN

thataway · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:11 pm Post subject:

Send a note to the Moderators: Da Nag or Tyboo. They will fix you up with an album, and then the rest of us can enjoy your trip. Looks like you got out of the Hatteras area just soon enough! We have also had a lot of folks say "What a great idea that Boaterhome is! Have yet to have a campground refuse us (but we stay away from the fancy places!

Glad that the boat is working so well for you! Hope to see you again next winter in the Keys! (Or maybe later this summer in the PNW or at Powell.)

colbysmith · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:24 am Post subject:

Flint, they do make wonderful little campers. I just returned from 3 weeks on the road and water. You can see my posts on the San Juans 2014 forum. Colby

colobear · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:42 am Post subject:

We too have boater camped with our 22. She works great and generates interesting conversations. Once in a small campground in Nebraska we ended up meeting long lost relatives of my wife. We carry a short stepladder to ease getting into and out of the boat when. We set up a grey water drain using a length of clear hose, a rubber chair leg end, a spring clamp and a gallon bucket. It works well but not perfectly but even so we can then wash dishes in the regular sink. Pictures on page 4 of c-cakes album (don't know how to get them here Embarassed

)

thataway · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:53 pm Post subject:

Go to your album; open the photo. In the Mac, you hit control and select image address--click on that and it is copied onto the clip board. Go to your post and hit "img" at the top, paste in the link to the address from your clip board, and hit "img" again.

It has been a while since I have done this on the PC, but it is similar.

We just disconnect the hose from the bottom of the sink and put a short hose to a 2 gallon gas can under the sink--both ways do the same thing. Colobear's is perhaps a little simpler.

Sea Wolf · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:36 pm Post subject:

hardee · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:21 am Post subject:

Neat ideas, both. Thanks Barry and Joe.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

thataway · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:08 pm Post subject:

colbysmith · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:52 pm Post subject:

Ohoh, I must be making this dry camping way to simple. We just let the water drain on the ground. Of course that's pretty much all it is. Brush our teeth, and maybe a little bit of soapy water (with biogradeable detergent). Nobody has said anything about it when we dribble a little bit of water out the sink drain. (And that's what it is, a little bit.) And now that I give it more thought, does this mean all you with the hose contraptions never let any of your sink water flow overboard? Hm, what about bilge outlets, scupper valves. etc. FWIW, don't know if things have changed at Bullfrog Marina or the other marinas on Lake Powel, but if they haven't, all gray water from the houseboats just drains into the lake. Not saying this is always ok, but I guess I don't see a problem with used potable water (without any bad chemicals) being dumped onto the land or lakes. Rolling Eyes

Colby

Sunbeam · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:15 pm Post subject:

Colby,

When on the water, there are typically no rules against grey water discharge (basically anything but what goes into the toilet is grey water; the toilet is black water). There are some specific bodies of water that do prohibit grey water discharge, but those are (now) the exceptions. So the default is that it is okay to discharge greywater overboard. This is changing in some areas as noted (as is scrubbing bottoms, wash water going overboard, etc.). but "okay" is still the default unless noted.

When on land grey water is the opposite: Typically it is not okay to discharge grey water (onto the ground). There are a few exceptions, but they would not usually ever be in developed places such as a campground, Wal-Mart parking lot, rest area, or etc.

Of course sometimes people are tent camping and use a dishpan and throw it into the bushes, but whether or not that is okay (and that varies), it's still seen as different than discharging (as in through your sink drain). And many campgrounds now have centralized places for tent campers to do dishes, dump out dishpans, etc.

If I were boaterhoming I would make it a point to not discharge any greywater, even if the amount were trivial. I would do the same in a trailer but I just mean I'd be "extra wanting to set a good example" if doing something outside the norm such as boaterhoming (I do have an older/very small camper trailer that was built with the sink drain just going into the ground next to the tire; I re-worked it so that it drains into a jerry can inside under the sink.)

And I can see good reasons for this. Grey water can attract flies and pests when it sits on land. There can be bits of food, sweet toothpaste, etc. I wouldn't really want to pull into a campsite right on top of someone else's grey water discharge (even though there is nothing wrong with greywater in the right places, and I do advocate things like using it to irrigate at home and etc. with proper channels).

thataway · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:14 pm Post subject:

Colby,
Even in national forest and state park campgrounds letting grey water out onto the ground is frowned upon, and most likely get you kicked out of a campground, if you were caught.

Just as we do with larger RV's the grey water is placed into the septic sewer system. We have seen a person kicked out of the winter campground we stay at in the keys for putting a hose into the bay from his RV and letting the grey water run into the marina. (In this particular marina, there is very rare overnighting on boats.

Sunbeam's point is very well taken--that is the our dishwater has detergents, scraps of food, grease etc in it. There are a few folks who have done this type of thing in parking lots (Flying J, Cracker Barrel, WalMart--all of which allow you to stay overnight, and that has ruined it for the rest of us. Sorry to seem harsh, but those are the rules these days.

True, perhaps we did these things, and brushed our teeth and such into the bushes a number of years back. There are actually a few places in marinas where grey water supposed to be collected--where washing boats is prohibited, etc…the world has changed.

Yes, we do let our water drain overboard at Lake Powell, and in the ocean--there there is a huge pool of water for dilution (although the old adage that "dilution is the solution", does not really cut it for pollution.

colbysmith · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:26 pm Post subject:

I figured I would get some replies to my comments! Twisted Evil

Don't get me wrong, I don't drain much, but I do think some times things can be taken a bit too far. Perhaps I'm looking at this wrong. It may be that I just don't use my sink for much in my boat. (We use a lot of paper products so we usually don't have any dishes to wash.) I do disagree with the concept that what's not ok to dump on land would be ok to dump in the lakes... I do think there are ways to keep the water going overboard from being a detriment, and not calling negative attention to one's self. But I see nothing wrong with a camper (person) brushing his teeth in the woods and spitting the water out on the ground. Smile

Sunbeam · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:53 pm Post subject:

colbysmith · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:15 am Post subject:

No problem Sunbeam. I don't feel you are coming down on me, just sharing your opinion. I would not want to do anything to paint us in a negative light! When using the boat as a "boaterhome", I'm usually not parking on parking lots, but rather in public or private campgrounds with dirt, grass, rock pads. I think it's great that some folks here go the extra mile to collect their "gray" water. But as someone that does care for the environment and wants to leave my site better for the next person, I don't see a problem with "used" water dribbling on to the ground. (Or lake.) If a campground host asked me to do otherwise, I would oblige. But I have not had any issues with this the few times I've used the boat to camp on land. I have seen a lot more pollution leaking from underneath cars/trucks/RV's than what little water drains out of my sink! Smile

As for "camping" in store parking lots being ruined, I say that has been caused more by trash and local camping establishments feeling jilted.

Wondering now, might be interesting to know how many others have gray water tanks rigged up, and how many don't.

Sunbeam · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:20 am Post subject:

Glad you didn't take offense. In answer to your question, I don't have a grey water catch system set up in the boat, but I do in my tow rig (I stay in the tow rig when traveling by road).

One time the grey water system in my tow rig needed repair, and I had to wait for parts before I could do it; during that time I used a dishpan in the sink (so it did not drain), then decanted that into a jug and poured it out either in a toilet or a dump station (I was on the road so did this in rest areas).