That is almost impossible to answer. It depends so much on your personal water usage.
Washing technique, thirst, van water reticulation, menu design and time between water points all vary greatly. Each factor could swing the answer from a minimum of say 1 litre, up to something beyond your storage capability. Free camping or staying in places with reticulated water will also change the calculations dramaticaly.
Only practice will tell you how much you need for your particular circumstances. But it will change for every trip.
Regardless of the calculations for the van, carry 5 litres in a separate container in the tug for emergencies - blown radiator etc, washing a flesh wound, cleaning up vomit, getting a drink on a hot day while away from the van, or having temporarily mis-placed the van keys.
So do a self-survey of how much you use per day on average, study the menu, multiply by days between water fill points, add extra for unknowns, then add extra for accidental spillage and a bit more for luck.
Your calculations might say you need 20 litres per day, or something beyond your tank size. If the latter is the case then start cutting back on usage, or modify the trip design.
It never hurts to arrive home with water to spare.
It also depends on where and how you travel.
We carry 310L in the OKA, but if we spend a month crossing the Simpson, that is only 10L per day.
Our usage (including the frequency of hot showers) is determined by when we expect to have a replenishment source.
The new build will be able to carry 390L.
Having lots of capacity does not mean that the tanks all have to be full all the time. Empty tanks don't weigh much, but they do provide capacity when it is needed.
Cheers,
Peter
The amount of water to be carried is very much about personal lifestyle choices.
A reason that we rarely 'bush camp' is because of my wife's love of an evening shower and one in the morning that includes hair washing.
For my part, I have a quick evening shower (water on briefly to wet the body to facilitate soaping up & then on again to rinse off) ... if there is no cleanish stream nearby.
I take a walk when she is showering so that I can't hear the water pump going. Helps keep the peace.
This means that our two, about 75L, tanks last at most 3 days .. supplemented by a 20L container or two of drinking & cooking water.
As was previously stated the amount of water required depends mainly on your chosen lifestyle. SWMBO places high value on her daily abolitions as described above & doesn't enjoy the experience without them .. so we rarely bush camp except for a very rare overnighter where there are others around or we are traveling with friends or relos and I'm fine with that.
Oh yes .. almost forgot .. if we sit around the fire at night, the hair must be washed before bed to get rid of that 'terrible' smell. The clothes go into the wash too.
I like lounging around in a well set up, isolated bush camp for a few days but our compromise is fine. I can always go bush camping alone or with a mate if I really need a fix.
BTW, a friend describes their shower routine where they use a 12v pump to suck up water from a plastic tub in the shower cubicle. It goes to a hand held shower for the wife's 'perhaps' daily shower, who is standing in the tub. He then uses that used water from the tub for his shower & after finishing, the twice used water is used a third time to wash the day's 'smalls'. I think that they have sponge baths on alternate days when they really want to save water and prefer to swim as an alternative to bathing, whenever they can.
When we were kids in the 40's, we used the same bath water for a tribe of 4 kids for our weekly bath - as the youngest, I went first so all's good ... bird baths standing in a metal washing tub in front of the wood fired stove, for the rest of the week.
We're all different.
-- Edited by Cupie on Wednesday 13th of November 2024 11:45:11 AM
We have 2 x 90 litre tanks for clean water, 1 x 90 litre tank for grey water and at least one 5 litre bought water for drinking, because we don't have sufficient faith in the cleanliness of the double-filtered (including silver) tank water. Several previously minor bouts of upset stomachs have made us wary of the tank water so the easy solution is bottled water for drinking. We are not frugal users, enjoy daily showers, but have never run out of water to date. We rarely free camp more than a couple of consecutive nights and top up the tanks whenever convenient. 1 x 90 litre clean water tank would probably be sufficient for us, and as others have said, it really depends on your individual attitudes and usage as to what you need.
