Keeping travel weight down and minimizing water use when boondocking in the truck camper with no services:
Our experience has shown us that for a 1-month expedition 2 adults, 6-day restocking/refresh cycle:
We carry ultra-light Lexan dishes, cups, bowls and cutlery. To keep plates and bowls from becoming soiled with greasy and grungy food:
-line bowls with saran wrap;
-place a layer of waxed paper over dinner plates;
-always, always use Teflon cookwear.
Using the above with a little care, you will wash very few dishes. Wax paper can be burned in seconds in the fire; a weeks worth of used saran wrap and waxed paper can be bundled into tiny package and disposed of in trash. Saving substantial water from tooth brushing can be accomplished by using Xylitol chewing gum (see: NIH clinical research).
Divert rain water from roof of your TC into a light-weight plastic bucket (provided that you're not camping in the desert!) and use for bathing. Parking your truck camper rig with a 1~2 inch slope to the rear will cause water to flow back to your catchment device every time.
The sum-total of all our cookware, dishes and cutlery is: 11.4 LBS; The sum-total of all our clothing (includes toiletries): 15.7 LBS; Hiking boots: 4 LBS; Portable shower centrifugal pump system & shower phone head: 1.9 LBS; Portable toilet with chemicals: 22.3 LBS; Food (all dry-goods & drink mixes for 6 days at a time): 7 LBS; Sleeping gear (good for -8C comfort): 9.8 LBS;
--Above about 73 LBS--
Fresh water (enough for 6 days): 55 LBS;
--All above still under 130 LBS--
Laptops & peripherals (GPS, external hard drives, routers, etc): 12.7 LBS; reading materials and data (now ALL on DVDs): 3.3 LBS; LCD editing TV monitor & mount: 15.4 LBS; Ultra light 3CCD video camera & still cams: 3.7 LBS; 35 LBS of tools (including tow straps & mini hydraulic jacks, GMRS radios): 53 LBS; Super light aluminum reclining chairs & aluminum dining table: 26-LBS; catalytic heater: 5-LBS;
--All above total: under 260 LBS--
Stripped-down 8-foot Caribou truck camper (and I mean stripped-down: no furnace, no air conditioning, no water heater, no electric generator, no racks; however with two 30amp AC power extension cables used for re-charging batteries when at camp with services): 993 LBS; No pets...yet!
There it is. And, we are extremely comfortable with the above accouterments many miles from civilization.
Silversand
