With the upsurge in the use of free/low cost camping, many councils and other authorities are now starting to demand that only RVs that are fully self contained may use their sites. I realise this topic has been somewhat covered in Techies Corner, however the ideas suggested were of little help in our situation.
We have a Goldstream Camper Trailer which isn't fitted with either a shower or toilet. When we are away from C/Ps we use a shower tent and a chemical toilet.
The grey water from the kitchen sink is easily captured via a big 20lt bucket and then transferred to a similar sized container which is mounted on the rear bumper of the van until it can be disposed of properly. Obviously, the toilet is emptied into the nearest dump point. However, has anyone any ideas on how to capture the water used in the shower, so that we don't run foul of the requirement to "Leave no trace" when we free camp.
GerryP said
02:33 PM Jul 24, 2014
Whilst I sympathise with your predicament, I'm not sure that even if you achieve all that, it would get you into a lot of the "self contained" places anyway. Most insist your shower and toilet are "built in" to the trailer/van, thus porta potties and even portable grey water containers are often not accepted.
We are here at Julia Creek at the moment and the Council run free camp will not allow portable cassette toilets under any circumstances, even though there is a dump point there. However, I do believe that they are not so fussy about grey water. Their main aim for this is to eliminate the rolls of dunny paper blowing in the wind.
Fortunately, for the places we go, there doesn't seem to be too many issues... yet. But I'm sure it's coming.
Gerty Dancer said
02:55 PM Jul 24, 2014
GerryP wrote:
Whilst I sympathise with your predicament, I'm not sure that even if you achieve all that, it would get you into a lot of the "self contained" places anyway. Most insist your shower and toilet are "built in" to the trailer/van, thus porta potties and even portable grey water containers are often not accepted.
We are here at Julia Creek at the moment and the Council run free camp will not allow portable cassette toilets under any circumstances, even though there is a dump point there. However, I do believe that they are not so fussy about grey water. Their main aim for this is to eliminate the rolls of dunny paper blowing in the wind.
Fortunately, for the places we go, there doesn't seem to be too many issues... yet. But I'm sure it's coming.
????? I don't understand... can somebody please explain this? ?????
As far as capturing your shower water when using a shower tent, have you tried one of those blow-up kids swimming pools in the bottom of the tent? In theory you can then tip the water into a container, but its a lot of effort.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Thursday 24th of July 2014 02:57:36 PM
GerryP said
03:38 PM Jul 24, 2014
Hi Gerty,
I don't really understand it either, but that's the way it is. There is a camp host that screens all comers and apparently makes no exceptions! There are quite a few disgruntled travelers passing through here and you only need to read the comments on WikiCamps to see what's happening. Both the caravan park and the free camp are run by the Council and I can only assume that this is their response to a previous problem with stray toilet paper.
We actually opted to stay in the caravan park to catch up on washing and to top up the tanks. We got 3 nights for $52 powered, so more than happy with that.
It's actually a really nice, generally RV friendly town and we have really enjoyed our 3 days here.
cooee said
03:57 PM Jul 24, 2014
GerryP said
<<We are here at Julia Creek at the moment and the Council run free camp will not allow portable cassette toilets under any circumstances, even though there is a dump point there.>>
I have spoken to the visitors responsible for Julia Creek and have been assured that the ruling is;
There are to be no outside tents or other outside setup for toilets or showers.
If the toilet is in the van it is OK. If it is outside the van it is not OK
If you do not have a shower facilities inside you van that is your business but you cannot setup a shower of any kind outside the van ( in other words if you want to have a wash or wipe inside the van that is OK )
You can stay for 4 nights
"Outside the van" includes the annexe, the toilet and shower must be inside the van.
-- Edited by cooee on Thursday 24th of July 2014 03:58:07 PM
-- Edited by cooee on Thursday 24th of July 2014 04:12:21 PM
GerryP said
04:15 PM Jul 24, 2014
Many thanks for that clarification Cooee. That does indeed make a bit more sense than what I was led to believe.
Cheers
P.S. You wouldn't happen to be married to Jeff by any chance? Bought his book in Camooweal only last week - a good read!
Fastcoach said
04:28 PM Jul 24, 2014
Hi GerryP and Gerty Dancer,
Thanks for your suggestions and the tip about the caravan park at Julia Creek. At around $17/night with power, it makes a pretty compelling case.
I couldn't agree with you more about the "Kleenex Streamers" being a concern, but I would have thought these party items might have been left around by those that didn't use a toilet of any sort in the first place. Many is the time we have gone around a site with a pair of industrial strength rubber gloves, a face mask and a big garbage bag collecting used ribbons. We have this belief that if others see these things lying around, they'll think it's OK and add to the mess. A bit like graffiti.
As far as the kids inflatable pool suggestion goes, we had also thought of that as a possible solution. Unfortunately, the pools we have seen are slightly too big for our shower tent. Maybe we can find a very large bucket to stand in which will prevent leakage of the used shower water. We only use about 5Lts for our showers most of the time and I would have thought that such a small amount of grey water is hardly going to turn a site into a seething cesspit!!! Obviously the Council doesn't share that view.
jules47 said
04:40 PM Jul 24, 2014
The technical term for "blowing streams of toilet paper" is - "bumwiperum of the genus sorbatica" - according to Solo Steve.
Jenzarl said
07:05 PM Jul 24, 2014
Hey fastcoach you could get on of those plastic tubs frome Bunnings it is only 7 bucks
Below is a copy of the link for you to copy and paste to have a look
Thanks Jenzari for your suggestion, I'll give it a crack. At $7 it's a steal compared to another similar thing we looked at on ebay for $30 plus $9 postage. Seriously.....are they fair dinkum!!!
cooee said
07:15 PM Jul 25, 2014
Hi Fastcoach
By the sound of things it will be difficult for you to camp in Motorhome /Caravan fully self-contained area in a camper trailer setup as that setup is not a Motorhome or caravan, it is more aligned with a tent which is not permitted.
This would only apply to sites that stipulate that it is only available to motorhomes or caravans.
GerryP said
08:18 PM Jul 25, 2014
We left Julia Creek this morning after 3 really enjoyable days and have arrived in Richmond. The free RV camp here also insists on vehicles being self contained for black and grey water. However, nearly everyone in this park is using buckets and containers. So it seems there are very few with in-built tanks, but the Council is being quite "flexible" in their interpretation.
I notice that the park in Hughendon also stipulates "self contained", so when we get there we will definitely check it out.
It seems a lot of places are being fairly accommodating as long as people do the right thing, but I certainly get the feeling that things will tighten up as time goes by.
With the upsurge in the use of free/low cost camping, many councils and other authorities are now starting to demand that only RVs that are fully self contained may use their sites. I realise this topic has been somewhat covered in Techies Corner, however the ideas suggested were of little help in our situation.
We have a Goldstream Camper Trailer which isn't fitted with either a shower or toilet. When we are away from C/Ps we use a shower tent and a chemical toilet.
The grey water from the kitchen sink is easily captured via a big 20lt bucket and then transferred to a similar sized container which is mounted on the rear bumper of the van until it can be disposed of properly. Obviously, the toilet is emptied into the nearest dump point. However, has anyone any ideas on how to capture the water used in the shower, so that we don't run foul of the requirement to "Leave no trace" when we free camp.
Whilst I sympathise with your predicament, I'm not sure that even if you achieve all that, it would get you into a lot of the "self contained" places anyway. Most insist your shower and toilet are "built in" to the trailer/van, thus porta potties and even portable grey water containers are often not accepted.
We are here at Julia Creek at the moment and the Council run free camp will not allow portable cassette toilets under any circumstances, even though there is a dump point there. However, I do believe that they are not so fussy about grey water. Their main aim for this is to eliminate the rolls of dunny paper blowing in the wind.
Fortunately, for the places we go, there doesn't seem to be too many issues... yet. But I'm sure it's coming.
????? I don't understand... can somebody please explain this? ?????
As far as capturing your shower water when using a shower tent, have you tried one of those blow-up kids swimming pools in the bottom of the tent? In theory you can then tip the water into a container, but its a lot of effort.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Thursday 24th of July 2014 02:57:36 PM
Hi Gerty,
I don't really understand it either, but that's the way it is. There is a camp host that screens all comers and apparently makes no exceptions! There are quite a few disgruntled travelers passing through here and you only need to read the comments on WikiCamps to see what's happening. Both the caravan park and the free camp are run by the Council and I can only assume that this is their response to a previous problem with stray toilet paper.
We actually opted to stay in the caravan park to catch up on washing and to top up the tanks. We got 3 nights for $52 powered, so more than happy with that.
It's actually a really nice, generally RV friendly town and we have really enjoyed our 3 days here.
GerryP said
<<We are here at Julia Creek at the moment and the Council run free camp will not allow portable cassette toilets under any circumstances, even though there is a dump point there.>>
I have spoken to the visitors responsible for Julia Creek and have been assured that the ruling is;
There are to be no outside tents or other outside setup for toilets or showers.
If the toilet is in the van it is OK. If it is outside the van it is not OK
If you do not have a shower facilities inside you van that is your business but you cannot setup a shower of any kind outside the van ( in other words if you want to have a wash or wipe inside the van that is OK )
You can stay for 4 nights
"Outside the van" includes the annexe, the toilet and shower must be inside the van.
-- Edited by cooee on Thursday 24th of July 2014 03:58:07 PM
-- Edited by cooee on Thursday 24th of July 2014 04:12:21 PM
Many thanks for that clarification Cooee. That does indeed make a bit more sense than what I was led to believe.
Cheers
P.S. You wouldn't happen to be married to Jeff by any chance? Bought his book in Camooweal only last week - a good read!
Thanks for your suggestions and the tip about the caravan park at Julia Creek. At around $17/night with power, it makes a pretty compelling case.
I couldn't agree with you more about the "Kleenex Streamers" being a concern, but I would have thought these party items might have been left around by those that didn't use a toilet of any sort in the first place. Many is the time we have gone around a site with a pair of industrial strength rubber gloves, a face mask and a big garbage bag collecting used ribbons. We have this belief that if others see these things lying around, they'll think it's OK and add to the mess. A bit like graffiti.
As far as the kids inflatable pool suggestion goes, we had also thought of that as a possible solution. Unfortunately, the pools we have seen are slightly too big for our shower tent. Maybe we can find a very large bucket to stand in which will prevent leakage of the used shower water. We only use about 5Lts for our showers most of the time and I would have thought that such a small amount of grey water is hardly going to turn a site into a seething cesspit!!! Obviously the Council doesn't share that view.
Hey fastcoach you could get on of those plastic tubs frome Bunnings it is only 7 bucks
Below is a copy of the link for you to copy and paste to have a look
https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.com/Product-800x800/9dcec15f-f9ae-42f3-b055-299973520d30.jpg
Hi Fastcoach
By the sound of things it will be difficult for you to camp in Motorhome /Caravan fully self-contained area in a camper trailer setup as that setup is not a Motorhome or caravan, it is more aligned with a tent which is not permitted.
This would only apply to sites that stipulate that it is only available to motorhomes or caravans.
We left Julia Creek this morning after 3 really enjoyable days and have arrived in Richmond. The free RV camp here also insists on vehicles being self contained for black and grey water. However, nearly everyone in this park is using buckets and containers. So it seems there are very few with in-built tanks, but the Council is being quite "flexible" in their interpretation.
I notice that the park in Hughendon also stipulates "self contained", so when we get there we will definitely check it out.
It seems a lot of places are being fairly accommodating as long as people do the right thing, but I certainly get the feeling that things will tighten up as time goes by.