By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Sometimes as RVers, we aren’t sure of what gear to carry. After all, there’s only so much space in the rig—being piled from floor to ceiling isn’t conducive to moving about freely. But there’s one thing you may want to carry more than one of: a water hose.
Keeping a long water hose in the rig is always a given, particularly if you frequent RV parks with hookups. But a short, coupled water hose, just a few feet long, can make life a whole lot easier when on the road.
We’re accustomed to lots of boondocking, meaning we’re away from hookups for days, even weeks at a time. Pulling into an RV service station to dump tanks and take on water is something we just work into our trips.
In national parks it’s not uncommon to find those tall, tower-like water stations, where a hose hangs above the ground supported by a spring structure that keeps the hose off the ground yet easily accessible for use. Not so on one of our park stops.
Here were the towers, but no hoses
Happily, the rangers had left a rope tied to the towers so you could pull down the “business end” of the tower. That was fine for rinsing our black water hose, but when it came time to fill up with drinking water, there was no way to get the water into the tank.
We’d left our “short” six-foot watering hose back at base and found ourselves stuck dragging out the long hose and hooking it up, then after the fill, blowing the water out of 25 feet of line and wrapping it all up.
There are times, too, when even if the fill station provides a convenient hose, you may be better off using your own. Some folks, for some perverse reason, insist on using an available fresh water hose for cleaning their sewer hose.
If in doubt, disconnect the available hose, maybe even clean the tap threads with sanitizer, and use your own. A tank full of bad bacteria will make for a memorable RV trip, and using your own “known clean” hose can pay dividends.
##RVDT2498
Carry a “Y” water connector. Never know when you may have to share a water tap. We carry a 10 ft and 25 ft hose in our bay, plus another 25 ft in rear bay. Have had to use all of them.
I use a Y also. Easy way to release water pressure when disconnecting hose when pulling up camp.
I carry 3 water hoses. All are coil hoses. I find them easier to deal with. Plus all are quick disconnect. Long traditional hoses are cumbersome and take up a lot of space.
There is a potable water version of the ‘pocket hose‘. While 25’ (expanded) is the shortest version, it ‘shrinks’ considerably when empty. I store it and my filter & regulator while travelling, in a 1.5 gallon bucket. The bucket catches any leftover drips and is plenty big. There is no need to coil a cold-stiff hose.
We carry an extra splitter for sharing, a dozen inline filters and roughly 60’ of 5/8” fresh water hose. When boondocking in the mountains, there’s a beautiful stream I’ll tap into for water hence the lengths carried.
Along with our 20’ of slinky, we carry 20’ of macerator discharge hose so we can macerate waste into vault toilets if no dumps are available.
When at an RV park, I put a splitter on the spigot, hook up my primary water hose and add an expandable hose with a small high pressure nozzle. Good for cleanups, but also a potential lifesaver in event of a fire.
Those spring loaded hoses are nutz..Almost always broken. After camping at an Idaho hot springs and not wanting to move to a spigot. Someone would have slid in and claimed my spot. I found myself 10′ feet short of hose..
I ended up filling 16 ounce Dr. Pepper plastic bottles and topping off my tank..
Thankfully retired and needing a break from soaking, no big deal..Now I carry short-long-medium hoses, just in case….(;+)……
Got sidetracked….I carry a “Y” to connect to the outlet in my Winnie and another to the campground post. I like to give myself a splash in hot weather and also ask the campground if it’s OK to put a sprinkler out on the grass needing a drink..
They always are happy to say “YUP!”…..
Thank you, Russ and Tina! Good suggestion. Have a great week and safe travels!
No kidding about using your own hoses. I’ve seen more than one stick the drinking water hose into their Black tank hose. I haven’t bothered to call anyone on their nasty habits. No need for a gun battle to try and fix really stupid.
I just do things the right way and move on down the roads.