How much is too much?

Cloak · Guru

How much is too much?

KFT · Guru

Bulk water can usually be purchased from a council standpipe or via an authorised water supplier/carter

I would be asking the council first and they may direct you to a supplier

frank

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Most city taps is the same as your drinking water in the house .. I would use a separate container for river water so it doesn't contaminate your main tank.. Some water steriliser added to be sure ..

oldtrack123 · Guru

Hi

I doubt if anyone would be happy with you taking 2000 Lts of water, more so in dry country

You would need to do some careful planning ahead

.Remember much of the bore water is not suitable for human consumption [very high mineral content]

PeterQ

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

We take big separate water bottles from Aldi etc for drinking water..

hako · Guru

We've just passed through W.A. and S.A. and most if not all servos on the highways have big signs stating "do not ask for water" or words to that effect. Also many highways have large signs warning "no water for next 200km" etc. We also found that in towns with an info office, some would require you to ask for a key to turn the tap on to fill a container only.
Caravan parks attached to roadhouses in these states generally do not have a tap - you must use your onboard water.
I reckon if you were caught taking water in some of these outback towns they'd skin you alive.
Last few days we've been passing thru the Murray/Murrumbidgee area which has many waterholes or flooded plains etc - most had signs stating do not come in contact with the water due to blue green algae.
We carried 60l onboard and 4 X 10l separate containers and with free camping we sometimes had to be very careful.
I reckon trying to find 2000l would be pretty difficult.
Good Luck.

The Phantom · Guru

I cannot believe the angst, bullsh*t and fairy tales that accompany the numerous threads associated with "Where do you get your water?"

Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.

How simple is that?

The Phantom

Legendts · Senior Member

Spot on Phantom. We came across from Qld via Longreach, down to Broome and heading south. Never had an issue getting water anywhere. We also buy drinking water and top up our dedicated drinking water tank that way.

-- Edited by Legendts on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 10:28:44 PM

rockylizard · Guru

The Phantom wrote:
~~~ Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.
The Phantom

Gday..

Probably 90% of the time, this is possible and practicable. However, in many "outback" towns in QLD, for instance, the bore water that you connect to is not something you would want to have in your van's tanks - particularly for drinking.

Water is a scare and valuable commodity in the vast majority of inland towns.

cheers - John

The Phantom · Guru

rockylizard wrote:
Probably 90% of the time, this is possible and practicable. However, in many "outback" towns in QLD, for instance, the bore water that you connect to is not something you would want to have in your van's tanks - particularly for drinking.
Water is a scare and valuable commodity in the vast majority of inland towns.
cheers - John

If a park has water available as potable water, then that is what it is.

If it is bore water and non potable then you don't use it. It will have a sign saying "Non Potable" or words to that effect.

If you have 2,000 litres on board, as the OP states, then you can drive 3 times around Queensland without refilling. The place isn't that big.

The Phantom

oldtrack123 · Guru

The Phantom wrote:
I cannot believe the angst, bullsh*t and fairy tales that accompany the numerous threads associated with "Where do you get your water?"
Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.
How simple is that?

The Phantom

Hi

Wouldn't it be great if some poster's before posting theirB**^^_would read what the op asked

He is talking About GOING INTO REMOTE BUSH CAMPS

I doubt they will be near too many even cheap cps with good water supplies

PeterQ

The Phantom · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:
The Phantom wrote:
I cannot believe the angst, bullsh*t and fairy tales that accompany the numerous threads associated with "Where do you get your water?"
Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.
How simple is that?

The Phantom
Hi
Wouldn't it be great if some poster's before posting theirB**^^_would read what the op asked
He is talking About GOING INTO REMOTE BUSH CAMPS
I doubt they will be near too many even cheap cps with good water supplies

PeterQ

You are the one that should put you glasses on, sunshine.

The OP asked My question is where can one fill up with that much drinking water?

The Phantom

oldtrack123 · Guru

oldtrack123 wrote:
The Phantom wrote:
I cannot believe the angst, bullsh*t and fairy tales that accompany the numerous threads associated with "Where do you get your water?"
Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.
How simple is that?

The Phantom
Hi
Wouldn't it be great if some poster's before posting theirB**^^_would read what the op asked
He is talking About GOING INTO REMOTE BUSH CAMPS
I doubt they will be near too many even cheap cps with good water supplies
AS far as driving around Qld, perhaps he wants to have extended stays from ONE REMOTE bush camp to another & not go near any of those Cps or any other source of readiy available good quality water.
WE have found fuel stations were even IF you bought 150Lts of fuel would not even sell you water
It was too precious !!

PeterQ

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 11:41:43 PM

D and D · Guru

2000 litres is a hell of a lot of water particularly if you're carting it around. Where would you be going where you would need that quantity of water?

oldtrack123 · Guru

Legendts wrote:
Spot on Phantom. We came across from Qld via Longreach, down to Broome and heading south. Never had an issue getting water anywhere. We also buy drinking water and top up our dedicated drinking water tank that way.

-- Edited by Legendts on Wednesday 20th of August 2014 10:28:44 PM

IT seems some cannot differentiate between driving regularly & finding a water source ,to Staying for extended periods in one remote place to another without going NEAR a service station town ,cp etc.

My suggestion to OP, is do not put all your eggs in one tank

Use the formula of at least two Litres per day per person for cooking/water x the expected time between possible refills then get one tank that size & reserve it purely for QUALITY water for drinking/cooking

Then put whatever sized tank you wish for general purpose use , one that does not matter if it is river water, brackish bore water dam water etc .

That is the way we have often done it & had quite extended trips without seeing a town or CPs smile

But as I posted earlier you do need to carefully plan & research where water iS AVAILABLE

Remember, with many properties RAIN WATER is a very precious item.

They will not take kindly to being asked for potable water.

However 2000litres is a lot of water & a heavy load , but I do not know how many are in your party or the possible extent of your time away from a water source .

Other seem to think they know

It can be very intersting to find means of conserving water when one has to

Out go the long showers , in fact showers are one area that a lot of water can be saved

Others include only doing the washing up once a day .

Having relied on tank water for most of my 86 years I know how precious it can be biggrin

PeterQ

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Thursday 21st of August 2014 12:13:51 AM

JackoFJR · Senior Member

D and D wrote:
2000 litres is a hell of a lot of water particularly if you're carting it around. Where would you be going where you would need that quantity of water?

Yes I was going to ask that same question ,

Regards Jacko

GerryP · Veteran Member

I agree, it seems a HUGE amount of water. We have done many remote, off road trips over the years, some for over a month. The most water we have ever taken was 300 litres.

So unless you have a huge tribe of people, and/or expect to have multiple or long showers every day, my thoughts are that 2000 litres is way over the top... unless there is something we haven't been told about.

The Hats · Senior Member

G/Day mate

Many years ago when we were setting up drilling rigs in the remote desert WE carried about 3,000 liters for 5 blokes for 3 weeks, but it was all carried in tanks we had custom built each tank held 500 lts and was segmented off into 100 ltr sections. so if you had a tank split or fail in some way we only lost 100lts. my new van has 2 90 ltr tanks and I have a ultra slimline in the tug mounted to the cargo barrier as a back up I also carry 2 10 ltr bottles for that absolute emergency. As my background is Filtration I have built a system that can filter out just about any water source I come across from creeks to dams and I can produce about 60 liters an hour of pure potable water biggrin . So I think we will be OK. My rambling point is If I was you I would carry your water in as many drums or tanks as possible. If you only have 2 ICB's and on has been used and you just start on the second and I fails you have lost 100 ltrs.

Hope you can decipher my ramblings

Cheers

The Hats

-- Edited by The Hats on Thursday 21st of August 2014 11:39:12 AM

-- Edited by The Hats on Thursday 21st of August 2014 11:39:48 AM

Pejay · Guru

Not only is it an awful lot of water to carry, but think of the weight factor too!

Legendts · Senior Member

Use your head and work it out for yourself. Obviously some posters here seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what the OP is going to do with the water. If he wants to cart that much water around for remote camping then that's his choice. As far as another poster quoting my previous post, I too live where our only potable water is rain water and have done for a very long while so you're not on your own there sunshine. As far as that post goes I was giving my current trip experiences and have overnighted in several roadhouse caravan parks and have not had any issue getting water, albeit not 2,000l.
Rant over!

-- Edited by Legendts on Thursday 21st of August 2014 01:39:54 PM

JackoFJR · Senior Member

I'm not saying he doesn't need that much water and shouldn't carry that much . I'm just interested in where he might be going to need it , might be a interesting story .

Regards Jacko

Cloak · Guru

I have a quote for 2 x 1000 litre food grade tanks but after reading comments above I'll work with smaller ones. I didn't think of a tank splitting or also as important
dividing the water up into.. say town drinking water for cooking and consumption and a few with clean river water for showering / washing. The water can be divided based
on it's quality....

I'll do more sums as to what we will each need for ingestion and washing.

As for what I'm doing with it well Judie and I are huge fans of very remote camping and prospecting. As we'll have the capacity to carry 4 tonne
of stuff including ball weight of a van we thought a truck load of water. Also there will be batteries, sola panels galore and of course 8 swap over gas bottles.
This way the van isn't overloaded and Judie can live in comfort.

On shorter trips obviously the truck will stay home.

I'll put movies of us finding gold on youtube....

Cheers

oldtrack123 · Guru

HI Cloak
Yes, I do understand why you are looking at lots of water
I wonder how many on THIS forum understand what long term dry camping one place involves???
WE have done that sort of thing for a looong time
Many seem to NOT understand ,IT does NOT involve DRIVING from place to place even on a weekly basis
It means filling up supplies toward the LAST stage of the inbound trip ,& often STAYING there until supplies are near depleted.
Allowing just enough to get back to a source of filling up again

Perhaps a tip that you may wish to consider
Bathing is one heavy user of water
WE always carried one of those 5Lt pressurising garden sprays
If water was tight,we used it for bathing
you could fill it with what ever water you wished @ what ever temp you wanted [HOT showers]

A good lather up from a small dish, then the partner hosing you down with the sprayer , totaly clean & refeshing
When we took our 3kids with us ,many many years ago, that was our standard method of bathing
Clothes washing is a big user so may need to be limited.

We always kept @ least one 20L bottle of potable water for emergencies, since you have the space it may be worth considering a few of those
The main thing is do not put all your eggs [WATER] in one tank.
Our water capacity was:
2x 120L caravan water tanks
1x80L plastic water drum
all interconnected to the pump& reserved for potable water

8 x 20L plastic water bottles
& as many 2L cleaned milk bottles as we could find space for.
That could, with care ,last 2 of us around a month

Also be aware that stomach upsets can occur , so ALL our drinking was well boiled, then cooled before use,
That is our Standard practice even at home from our own tank supplies!!

Regarding large tanks you will need to ensure they are well baffled to prevent sudden weight changes, if all the water surges to one end /side

Hope you have as much fun on your trips as we did .

We were not gold hunting, but many were old bottle digging across Qld, NSW , WA ,SA & NT

Old gold fields were favorite spotsi

But others were simple enjoyment of the great australian outdoors ,sometimes remote salt water fishing

Health problems & age have put an end to all that cry

One thing to keep in mind is that all /most those place you may wish to go to will be under the control of a farmer/ grazier

Do the right thing seek permission before hand when ever possible

if you cannot do that, make sure you seek him out before you camp

When we were doing ours, not many others were ,but as time went on many others seemed to think they were in the "wild west "& could do what ever they liked.

Many owners leasees are now not being too welcoming to strangers

One final point

Remember they too often have to get thir supplies over long distances

They are not the corner store for anyone who decides they are a bit short of something.

But you are probably aware of all that

Again ALL the best

Even if you do not become rich from gold

You will be richer from the experiences

AND you will meet some great people

PeterQ

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Friday 22nd of August 2014 12:24:48 PM

banjo · Senior Member

The Phantom wrote:
I cannot believe the angst, bullsh*t and fairy tales that accompany the numerous threads associated with "Where do you get your water?"
Just book into an el cheapo caravan park for 1 night and fill up whatever you want.
How simple is that?

The Phantom

Not so simple as it may seem, currently in shark Bay in CP, and there are signs everywhere, no filling of water tanks, no washing vans, cars or boats ! Lots of places where water is too precious to allow such behavior.

We have a max capacity of 300lt fresh and if heading bush always carry a couple of 10 lt spring water from supermarkets, mainly just or drinking, never been short of water in 2 1/2 years full time on the road.

I do know people who have the usual 90lt tanks(s) in van but also carry a bladder of maybe 100lt if free camping for a while.

Back to the thread though and I think carrying that much extra weight in water and the associated problems of filling it would be silly IMO.

-- Edited by banjo on Friday 22nd of August 2014 01:49:23 PM

Wombat 280 · Guru

Unless your off to the Simpson Desert to live for a year 2000lt of water and the weight of the van will put you over the weight limit of the tow bar manufactures . It appears that the weight that can be towed is governed by the towbar specification. I would completely ignore the statements by others to covertly fill up at an elcheapo van park (where ever you find those beats me ) People out west are in a constant struggle to get enough for their own needs and while willing to share their meager supplies and don't appreciate us on the road stripping what little they have just to go holidaying in the sun .

I live on the east coast and my area is on water restriction level 2 all year and have now gone to level 3 so the school holiday makers can shower 3 times a day and wash their cars , we pay the highest rates on the entire NSW coast and have no water to waste .

jules47 · The Happy Helper

You can buy a bladder - 200 litre and 30 litre I have seen recently - 2000 litres is a lot of extra weight - each litre weights 1 kg!!!!

Heaps of ways to save water on the road - showers being the first - we do a shower every three days, making do with a wash or baby wipe cleaning in between. Baby wipes are invaluable when travelling - washing your body, face, feet - and if you spill something on your clothes clean it up straight away with the baby wipe - stain gone! Never travel without them.

We have 100litre tank, and also carry an extra 55 litre or so - some places have water filling spots available, ask at a visitors info centre - the one in Karratha WA, charge $1 for 50 litres - no limit - and the one at Roebourne nearby take a gold coin donation.

When and if, it rains, put buckets out to catch water, some even have a system on their awnings for this, and use for washing yourself or your clothes.
I wash in a 20 litre bucket, put about 10 litres in the bucket with some eucalyptus wool wash, put the lid on tight, stand it in the shower (in case it falls over, mine never has) - the swishing will wash your clothes very well - and they are ready to hang out when you arrive at your destination - no need to rinse with eucy!!!!!

-- Edited by jules47 on Friday 22nd of August 2014 08:50:41 PM

Cloak · Guru

All the water will be carried on the truck definitely not on the van.

oldtrack123 · Guru

Cloak wrote:
All the water will be carried on the truck definitely not on the van.

Hi

That is the way I understood your post biggrin

PeterQ

Cloak · Guru

Thanks Pete, always good to hear from someone who's done it before.

Shame you can't get out there again before this great country turns into... well, something else.

Cheers mate.

SnowT · Guru

Hey cloak had a read..

From your read I'm assuming that the Tanks your Talking about are 1000lt Food grade IBC's.. Most Probly used to transport something like glycerine or such..
they are a great buy I use them for my Aquaponic setup's.. good Fish safe tank's..

A few Issues..
One issue is if you get an leak, there goes 1000lt of so of water..
2nd Issue .. The tanks are not baffled so if the water starts to move it is classed as a LIVE load.. Could cause the truck to not be stable and could cause an accident..
3rd issue .. Relates to first issue but in a Contamination issue..

If you are using the IBC's I hope your not paying more than $100 for them.. I had a source where it was costing me $50 each....

I do like the idea of carrying extra Water.. but Personally Work out what you need for Drinking/cooking making coffee's etc and carry many smaller containers instead of 2 huge one's..

At the moment My Bus has 4 90lt tank's 2 main one for Drinking the rest will be for other thing's..

I like Julie's idea of the bladder's..

Juergen

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.