Oct 7, 2009 - Black Tank, Boondocking/Dry camping, Campgrounds, Canada, Grey Tank, Law and Government, Plumbing, Technical, Travel, Yukon    1 Comment

Life Without Sewer

I’ve entered my third week of life without sewer and I’ve decided that it sucks. :) My black tank can last for over two weeks, but if I take even a short shower each night, I can’t go longer than a week with the grey. I took advantage of the dump station when I moved up to the restaurant, so my black tank is still fine, but the grey is full again. *sighs* Here is how I’m dealing with the situation:

  • Using Less Water: I only shower twice a week, Navy-style, and bathe in the sink the rest of the time
  • Using the Black Tank’s Extra Capacity: I do the dishes in a large mixing bowl and throw that water into the black tanks. Same thing when I bathe in the sink.
  • Using a Bucket to Dump: Since my sensors are useless, I only know that the grey tank is full when it backs up into my shower. When that happens, I dump a couple buckets worth of water and haul them out to the dump station. This gives me just enough space in the tank to last a couple more days.
  • Not Getting Too Comfortable: I leave the rig in a semi-packed state so that it only takes fifteen minutes or so to pack, unhook, and go dump when the black tank is full.

    • My grey tank contains nothing that is environmentally damaging, just some biodegradable detergents. I’m sure that it’s more damaging to the environment to fire up the ol’ engine and drive the klick round trip from my site to the dump station. But the fines for dumping on the ground are scary and there is also the threat of jail time, so I choose to remain law abiding even if the law does not make sense in my situation.

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    1 Comment

    • Kevin October 8, 2009 at 5:04 am

      “But the fines for dumping on the ground are scary and there is also the threat of jail time,”

      Can you give me references for this please Rae? Or is this just a rumour?

      The city of Ottawa has dumped over 750,000 litres of raw sewage into the Ottawa River this year. I have a hard time thinking that my 150 litres would harm anything.

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