Boondocking

[Suzanne1122]

Hello all! I'd love your feedback. My husband and I will be spending our first time in our Jayco. We are currently boondocking...as eventually we'll be building on the same property.
We are on an acreage in western NC. We are permanently parked and will have to caddy out our black water. People are telling me We can just let gray tank empty onto the ground. We are in bear country. Any thoughts on this?

[herewego]

Should not be issue on Gray water ,its just dish /shower water

[Onyrlef]

Originally Posted by Suzanne1122

Hello all! I'd love your feedback. My husband and I will be spending our first time in our Jayco. We are currently boondocking...as eventually we'll be building on the same property.
We are on an acreage in western NC. We are permanently parked and will have to caddy out our black water. People are telling me We can just let gray tank empty onto the ground. We are in bear country. Any thoughts on this?

There's a vocal contingent who'll swear you just as well may be clubbing baby seals, but I doubt your gray water is going to tilt the planet off its axis.

[Randy]

We did the same as we built our house many years ago- Just because, I dug a hole about 20 feet away, put a little gravel in, ran a 20 foot PVC pipe to the hole, put plywood and a little dirt over the top, to keep the flys out- When done, filled the hole in. I am in bear country too--

[Kim Gass]

Sounds like you will be on a well in your country home.. We are in the country too have bears but they have enough food in the woods so for 21 years not a problem. When we have a drought we often throw dishwater out to water the plants and not waste water and help avoid the well getting too low. Water recycling in a form

We compost too sometimes.

Consider running the grey water into a container so you don't make a mud pit in one place. Disperse with the container.

The dry well idea above is great too.

[Jerry713]

Yes you should be fine it's not waste just mostly soapy water. Instead of having to carry your waste out you might look into something like in the video below. It's certainly not TCEQ approved so check with your local codes but for a "temporarily parked RV" I don't think it's a problem and probably works better than some 20-30 year old septic systems currently in use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRoGDa7sCgM

[Kim Gass]

It used to be common in rural areas to have a dry well for grey water and a separate septic tank. We had such an arrangement once.. Septic tanks in the day were quite small.

Of course check with your local zoning board.

[mini4mw]

Depending on the length of stay;
2-3 months, just run a line away from the RV downhill and you should be good. Check for erosion and adjust as necessary. Try as best as possible when using the sinks not to let any food go down.

Longer than 3 months I'd dig one or more holes a few feet wide and few feet deep, fill with gravel 1/2 way, then put in a drainage PVC (one with holes in it) and a dirt sleeve, stick it out the top, gravel the remaining way up, cover with something, put an elbow on and connect to RV in some fashion. Depending on how porous the soil is, make the hole deeper and wider as necessary.

[gypsmjim]

We have a permanent setup in bear country as well. An d deer, turkey, feral cats, racoons, etc, etc.

We often find bear "plops" on our lawn. And of course deer "balls" are everywhere.

I figure if these animals can spread their black water all over, a little grey water isn't so bad.

[TaftCoach]

As long as food scraps are kept to a minimum, and it's your property, it's fine in my book.

I'm also one of those that believes dumping gray water for the next camper to enjoy isn't cool.

[FPM III]

When we built our home in the Fayette Ridges of PA, we were still living in our original home that was 60 miles away. Like you, I wanted to park my TT on our lot to avoid the costs of lodging but was faced with the same boondocking issues. I was able to work out a deal with a small "bare bones" campground (just FHU a bath house and a playground) that was five miles away from our lot. I was able to keep the TT on a campsite for $50/mo. (the same cost as I was paying to keep it at a self-storage yard back home) and pay $28.00/night for when we occupied it.

Construction started on MLK day in January of 2014. When the workers ended their work day, they went home and didn't return again until the middle of March because of the severe winter we had.

I'm glad I didn't the keep the TT on the lot because construction is messy, to stay the least. Our lot was two acres of trees and just clearing enough of it to build the house created a muddy mess like you wouldn't believe. See the picture below for proof.

[RichCarter]

Originally Posted by Suzanne1122

Hello all! I'd love your feedback. My husband and I will be spending our first time in our Jayco. We are currently boondocking...as eventually we'll be building on the same property.
We are on an acreage in western NC. We are permanently parked and will have to caddy out our black water. People are telling me We can just let gray tank empty onto the ground. We are in bear country. Any thoughts on this?

Though there is probably nothing in the gray tank that would be offensive, there may be food scraps and other attractant smells. You might consider finding a way to dispose of the liquid away from your RV or perhaps a french drain.