Boondocking Water 101: How to Plan, Conserve, and Refill Off the Grid

Your first boondocking trip teaches you one thing fast. Water is the clock. There's no spigot at the site and no hookup to fall back on, just whatever's in your fresh tank and however long you can make it last. Get your boondocking water plan right and you stay as long as you want. Get it wrong and you're packing up on day three to go find a fill station.

Water off the grid isn't complicated, though. It comes down to three things: knowing how much you need, using less of it, and having a way to refill when you run low. Here's how to handle each one.

What Is Boondocking?

Boondocking means camping without hookups. No water, no sewer, no electric. It usually happens on public land like Bureau of Land Management (BLM) areas and national forests. You'll also hear it called dry camping, and on public land it's often listed as dispersed camping. Many of these sites are free or close to it, and most come with a stay limit, commonly 14 days, so check with the local land manager before you settle in.

What you give up in convenience, you get back in space, quiet, and views you won't find at a campground. The tradeoff is that you're running your own utilities. For a lot of RVers, water is the one that runs out first.

How Much Water Do You Need for Boondocking?

There's no single number, but there's a simple way to figure out yours. Start with your fresh tank capacity. On most travel trailers and motorhomes, that falls somewhere in the 20 to 100 gallon range. Then estimate how many gallons each person uses per day.

With full hookups, it's easy to use a lot more water than you realize. Experienced boondockers often get it down to a few gallons per person per day.

Here's the math:

Fresh tank capacity ÷ (people × gallons per person per day) = days of water

Say you've got a 40 gallon tank and two people using five gallons each per day. That's 40 ÷ 10, or about four days. Cut it to three gallons each and you're closer to a week.

Two other limits are worth checking before you trust that number. First, your gray tank. Every gallon that goes down the sink and shower drain ends up there. If your gray tank is smaller than your fresh tank, it may end your stay before the water does. Second, your tank sensors. They aren't always accurate, especially as they age, so learn what your tanks actually hold instead of trusting the gauge.

How to Conserve Water While Boondocking

Showers, dishes, and toilet flushing are where most of your water goes. Cutting back doesn't mean roughing it. It's mostly small habits that add up.

• Take navy showers. Get wet, turn the water off, lather up, then rinse. A regular shower can burn through several gallons in a few minutes, so this is where most people save the most.
• Use a showerhead with a shutoff button. You can pause the flow while you lather without losing your water temperature.
• Catch the cold water. While you wait for the hot water to come up, catch the cold in a jug or bucket. Use it later for flushing or washing dishes.
• Wipe before you wash. Scrape and wipe plates with a paper towel first, then wash everything in one basin instead of under running water.
• Cook meals that dirty fewer dishes. One pan dinners and simple breakfasts go a long way.
• Flush with less. Hold the pedal only as long as you need to.
• Fix drips before you leave. A leaky faucet or loose fitting can quietly drain gallons over a long stay.

Plan Your Water Before You Roll In

The easiest refill is the one you do before you leave town. Top off your fresh tank at a campground, dump station, or fill station on your way in. If you're filling at a dump station, use the fresh water spigot, never the rinse hose. Before you settle in, it's also worth looking up where you'll fill up next. Dump stations, some truck stops and gas stations, and some visitor centers can all be options, and apps and RV forums keep running lists.

Then there's weight. Water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon, so a full 40 gallon tank adds more than 330 pounds. That's why some people travel with a partial tank and fill closer to camp. Either way, check your rig's weight ratings before you haul a full tank down a washboard forest road. Jugs and collapsible water bladders help here too. They let you carry extra water in a truck bed, or bring water back to camp without moving the rig.

How to Refill Your Fresh Tank Without a Hookup

On a longer stay, the tank will eventually run low. You've got two options: bring water to the rig, or bring the rig to water. Moving the rig means breaking camp, so most boondockers would rather bring the water to them.

Jugs and bladders. Fill up in town, haul it back, and transfer it into your fresh tank. Smaller jugs can go in through a gravity fill with a funnel, if your rig has one. Bladders and larger containers usually need a pump.

Lakes, rivers, and streams. If you're camped near water, it can top off your tank too, with the right filtration in between. Surface water carries sediment, silt, and organic debris you don't want in your tank, your lines, or your water heater. A few ground rules:

• Check local regulations first. Some areas restrict pumping from lakes and streams.
• Choose moving water over standing water when you can.
• Skip any source with visible scum, algae, or an off smell.
• Draw upstream of campsites, trailheads, and grazing areas.
• Keep your intake off the bottom so you're not pulling up silt.
• ALWAYS be mindful of local water conditions and any current boil advisories.

Where ARX+ Fits

ARX+ is Blu Technology's battery powered water filtration system with four stages of filtration, built for exactly that second scenario. The water is right there. The hookup isn't.

Instead of relying on pressure from a spigot, ARX+ runs its own 12V pump on a standard M12 battery. Drop the intake into a lake, stream, jug, or bladder, run the output hose to your fresh tank, and it pulls water at up to 3 GPM with 6 feet of vertical lift. One charge moves about 90 gallons of filtered water, and the system is rated for 1,000+ gallons per day.* It ships with an AC/DC charger for recharging between fills. No hookup. No shore power. No moving the rig.

On the way to your tank, water passes through four stages of filtration. A 20-micron stainless steel mesh pre-filter on the intake is the first line against sand, grit, and debris. The system also runs a 2-micron LONGEVITY™ filter that helps reduce finer sediment, plus the 2-in-1 OFFGRID+™ filter, which combines two filtration stages in one and includes a carbon block core to help improve taste and odor. The OFFGRID+™ filter is third-party tested by IAPMO and certified to NSF/ANSI standards.

The whole system weighs 12 pounds and measures 8.5" x 6.5" x 14". It packs into its own carrying case along with a 5' stainless braided intake hose, a 25' stainless braided output hose, and quick connects. With a UV resistant aluminum frame, polycarbonate canisters, and stainless hardware, it's built to sit outside in sun and rain.

A few practical notes. Filters last 1 to 3 months, depending on how much sediment is in your source water. The operating range is 40°F to 125°F, so plan around freezing nights. And ARX+ is built for unpressurized sources, not for sitting on a pressurized campground hookup.

ARX+ is designed and assembled in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by a veteran-owned, family-owned team. The concept behind it was named a 2021 Fast Company World Changing Idea.

*All claims based on manufacturer representation.

Stay Longer, Haul Less

Boondocking water is mostly a planning problem. Know your numbers, build a few habits that stretch your tank, and have a way to refill that doesn't mean breaking camp. Do that and water stops being the thing that decides when you leave.

If you're spending more nights off the grid than on it, see how ARX+ fits your setup.

Boondocking Water FAQ

How long will 40 gallons of water last while boondocking? For two people, about four days at five gallons each per day, or closer to a week at three gallons each. Your gray tank size may be the real limit.

Can you fill an RV fresh water tank from a lake or stream? Yes, if you have a pump to move the water, filtration between the source and your tank, and local rules allow it. Choose moving water, avoid visible algae or scum, and keep your intake off the bottom.

What's the difference between boondocking and dry camping? Both mean camping without hookups. Dry camping can happen anywhere, including a campground site with no utilities. Boondocking usually means camping off the grid on public land like BLM areas and national forests.