Water, water, everywhere.....but not a drop to drink.

Hi all,

Those of you who travel with a caravan will know that two things, above all else, limit your ability to spend long amounts of time "bush camping". They are water and electricity.

We have the electricity problem well and truly sorted....we have 513 Watts of solar panels on the roof of the van and another 123 Watt panel that we carry on the car. The latter can be connected into the van and then used as a point-and-shoot panel that we can aim at the Sun to maximise the amount of solar energy that we can harvest.

In addition to the solar panels we have a 2.4 KVA generator that is powerful enough to charge the van batteries and run the air conditioner simultaneously. The generator will run all day on a single tank of fuel and we can carry enough fuel to fill the generator three times. So, electricity is not a problem.

Water, on the other hand, is a perennial problem. We both like to have a shower at the end of a hard day's touring, and no matter how carefully we try to conserve water we can last a week at best. Typically it is more likely to last about five days. The van has three 80 litre water tanks. Two are for general purpose washing, showering, toilet flushing and doing the dishes, while the third tank is for drinking water only. We can stretch the drinking water a bit further than the general purpose water.

For our trip this year we bit the bullet and purchased a water bladder that can hold a further 90 litres of water. This bladder has been custom made to fit on the rear of the van, in the recess in the rear tyre frame. While this tank will add 90 Kg to out towing weight, it will also has a positive effect on the weight  on our towball as it will offset nearly all of its 90 Kg. This is a real bonus when you have a van with almost 400 Kg of ball-weight.

90 Litres of water should buy us an extra two to three days of bush camping or, at the very least, allow us to do a couple of loads of washing without drawing on our "usual" supply. The bladder has the advantage of folding down to a quite small object weighing just three kilograms when not in use.

I will be setting the bladder up over the next few days, so check back for some photos.