Dry Camping and What I learned - Page 5

Greg In Austin · 06-30-2008, 09:36 PM

Daveb,

Those are the Scepter cans they make for the military and had been selling to retail folks as well....

Ours are working nicely, but we got in before the door closed (last year).

Our water were blue.

Good Luck.

Joanna · 07-01-2008, 07:00 PM

OK, mine came in the mail (why it cost $32 UPS to send 2 light plastic cans which themselves cost $32 from Seattle, I'll never know). Next time I WILL send my daughter.
Here's my question:
Do you think it's safe to transport diesel in the cans, inside the Baja box? Folks carry their generators there. It's hot as hell right now, I don't need an explosion. I'm toying with not filling the yellow can until I'm actually going on a trip.

Velogeo · 07-01-2008, 10:18 PM

$32 makes no sense. That stinks, sorry. I know some of the carriers charge by volume not just weight. I don't know if it would have been cheaper to use another one. I know they give you a couple choices at least.

I plan on doing it -- carrying diesel in the baja box -- on a future trip. I'd be a little hesitant to down south because of the heat. Diesel is difficult to make burn, but heating it up will do it. I'd be curious what the internal temp in a black baja box would be in the hot Texas sun. Pretty scorching, I bet.

Jammyauto · 07-02-2008, 02:00 PM

Not trying to offend anyone but I'm just wondering why you folks want to carry around diesel fuel. I've traveled all around Baja and Death Valley and other remote spots and never found my range to be an issue. My SMB can go minimum 400 miles on a tank. I've been on a few trips with some VWs that required extra fuel to complete the trip but the SMB has always been adequate.

I can see extra water as the SMB tank is quite small at 10 or 16 gallons. I have a 29 gallon water tank directly over my rear axel between the wheel wells. My isotherm hot water heater holds an additional 6 gallons and I also have a built in 8 gallon drinking water tank. That's 43 gallons of water total. Even then water is our limiting factor when boondocking. Of coarse we are 4 people so others may not need as much.

I think that I would explore other possibilities before adding all that extra weight hanging off the back bumper myself.

Velogeo · 07-02-2008, 02:17 PM

I agree about the weight issue and don't relish all that weight off the back bumper. I'm hoping my air ride will help with it a little.

My son and I are planning on driving the Dempster highway this coming winter or the next. My concern is only partially how many miles I can cover, but also probably needing the extra fuel because the engine will rarely, if ever, get turned off.

The Dempster is the road they're covering in Ice Road Truckers this year, so that's fun to see.

Jammyauto · 07-02-2008, 04:32 PM

Ooh that soulds like a fun trip. I drove up to Denali NP and then Anchorage about 15 years ago in a 4wd toyota van in the summer. Really enjoyed the trip and hope to return to Alaska again soon although realistically it will be a couple years intil then.

Velogeo · 07-02-2008, 05:16 PM

We're both looking forward to it. Ice Road Truckers makes it sound like death is at every turn. We're hoping it's not quite that bad.

Once our youngest is a little older we'll be doing some trips to Alaska as well. That's where my wife is from, so we have family to go visit.

Ford_6L_E350 · 07-02-2008, 08:03 PM

The Dempster in winter!!!! Now that is an adventure!

Hopefully it is nice and cold for you - with cold (below 10-15F) you get decent traction on the snow. And you can drive across the Peel and the MacKenzie instead taking the ferry. Hmm, sit and watch a big truck go first, then follow.

Years ago, I met a guy who road his motorcycle down the Dalton highway and he never shut the bike off until he got to warmer temps or heated, indoor parking! He was in -20 to -40 degree temps for a good part of the trip.

I'm either too old or too wimpy to try that in winter. I've done the Dalton in summer and enjoyed it and would like to do the Dempster, but in summer.

Good luck and let us know about your adventure.

Mike

Joanna · 07-03-2008, 01:25 PM

Jammyauto, the only reason I want extra diesel is because I will be using my van to evacuate my mother from any hurricane that comes this way. The county tells those of us that live on the island that a big problem they anticipate is folks running out of fuel while bumper to bumper on the only road out of town. During spring break it can take 2-3 hours just to get across the bridge and after that, the roads are not freeways for quite a while. They plan to have fuel tankers positioned on the highway for those who run low, but my mom is 87 and once I get her in the van, we are not stopping.

Jammyauto · 07-04-2008, 11:57 AM

Joanna, I still don't think you'll need the extra fuel. From what I have gathered the 6.0 uses about .5 to .8 gallons per hour idling. Even if you round that up to 1 gallon per hour and assume only 35 gallons available to you from a full tank that's 35 hours total. You should be able to creep along in stop and go traffic for over a day!
I'm stuck inside today watching them fight the gap fire which is about 1.75 miles from my house currently. Tankers flying very low overhead. Too smokey to be outside. SMB loaded and ready if the need arises. Photo albums and personal papers onboard.