Bus Conversion Endurance Time Totally Self Contained

[HB of CJ]

Rather an unusual subject.  How long in days could we ENDURE in our Bus Conversions if absolutely required to do so?  An example would be riding out the aftermath of MAJOR disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes.

Not talking about the usual 3-7 days.  Taking about weeks or months.  How long could we go...without ANY outside resupply, water, food, energy, social interactions; with minimal trips outside of the coach at all?  Curious how long. 

Reason I'm asking, the subject came up at one of our club meetings regarding typical disaster planning and various post strategies including the need to keep ones head down and maintain a low profile.  Thank you.  HB of CJ

[JohnEd]

Water primarily limits me.  Showers eat most of my water.  I can get by with less than a gallon per shower every other day.  It takes practice!  1 g for washing, 2 qts for cooking and drinking, 2 qts for toilet.  Say 2 gals per day per person at severe restrictions is possible.  For survival....2 qts per day.  What kind of disaster are we talking?  It had better be serious for me to go 5 days without a shower in a coach.  I would have no friends atol.

musings,

John

[oldmansax]

Water would be my limiting factor as well. It would also be the limiting factor on about anyone else. Look at any suvival sites & they will tell you how hard it is to deal with water consumption if there is no permanent supply.

TOM

[Tenor]

Something that Sean mentioned a while back - He installed (and so did I) a seperate tank for drinking water.  With that, you could use a second water pump to refill your non drinking freshwater from a natural source.  Of course, one should be careful to test the water first and treat if necessary.  I figure, if you can swim in it, you could shower in it.  With that addded to my bus, assuming there is fuel available, my family should be able to full time in mine in an emergency.  FWIW  Neat topic!

Glenn

[belfert]

In a true emergency nobody would need a shower.  Food and fuel are likely to be limiting factors as much as water depending on your holdng tank sizes.  Fuel could be a huge issue in the winter for heat.

The real issue could be in an emergency would there be an opportunity to stock up on food and fill the fuel tank?  A lot of us keep the tank full, but what about if we have to drive a fair distance?  Many of us run the generator off the main tank and sometimes a diesel heater too.  We may not have a chance to buy food especially if there is a panic and stores are cleaned out.

We may not need the refrigerator long term as the perishables will need to be used first.  This would reduce the need for electricity or propane so the generator would not have to be run as often.  Those of us with solar would not have as big an issue for electricity.

[Sean]

OK, as long as you brought my water system up...

Our separate tank for drinking water holds 43 gallons.  An activated charcoal filter lets us use that supply for several weeks without any kind of stale taste.  If you follow conventional guidelines of about a half gallon per person per day to stay hydrated, that means we could go about six weeks IF we had the foresight to fill the tank completely before the disaster.

Our separate 135 gallon fresh water tank normally lasts us two weeks.  But we do carry a small pump and 150' of hose, and we could refill this tank from a natural freshwater source.  We carry bleach for sanitizing the tanks, and an ounce or two of bleach per tankful would take care of any harmful bacteria.

We also have an absolute 0.5 micron ceramic filter, so in an emergency we can transfer water from the fresh tank to the drinking tank.  Between the bleach and the ceramic filter, the only thing we would have to worry about would be dissolved chemicals, and even then, the charcoal will get many of them.  So, theoretically, if we parked next to, say, a mountain stream, we could go for as long as the food and diesel holds out.

Here again, if we had the luxury of knowing about the disaster ahead of time (a big if, IMO), we could top up our 300+ gallon fuel tank, which, at roughly 2 gallons of diesel per day for electricity, heat, and hot water, would let us go for about five months -- more if we have good sunlight on the panels and get ultra-conservative.  That's a lot of Spam, crackers, and canned green beans  

Of course, if you park in one spot without hookups that long, it brings up the question about what to do with the waste.  We do have a macerator pump and 50' of dedicated hose, but you don't want to be living just 50' from an open sewer.  With careful planning, you can send the waste into a makeshift septic/leech system without contaminating your fresh water supply.

More practically speaking, we routinely go two weeks at a stretch when boondocking, and the longest stretch we've done was about 17 days.  But then again, we designed the bus from scratch with a two-week minimum boondocking requirement.  Hence everything on board is high-efficiency, and we even have a system to recapture the fresh water that is otherwise wasted while waiting for the shower or kitchen tap to get hot.

YMMV.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[cody]

Can we expand on this thought a little and ask ourselves a couple of 'what ifs' that would go along with the concept?  Is anyone prepared or could become prepared to endure a lengthy period of instability where jobs were scarse or unavailable and along with that the associated problems.  Is anyone able to provide heat or food for themselves either in a sitting bus on property or in some other structure for an extended period of time, for example a year or even several years.  Are we evolved enough to look after each other and help each other without question or would this type of situation destroy us, would we find garden space for our friends and neighbors that didn't have any, or would we be arming ourselves and standing over our garden plot.  How many here have a wood stove or access to wood for heat, how many have a yard that would sustain a garden.

[Van]

Good point Cody ,answers to your first 4 questions is yes.Question 5,Ionly hope that we would look after each other,the latter would depend on how dire the situation has become .Again so far as heat we all have access to materials that can be burned,so far as a garden that would be a big plus.
 
Training is the key,prepare for the worst hope for the best,my mom had to do it when the Nazi's took over Holland during the war and still keeps the the pantry full .

  Preparedness ,each region of the world is different and is unique unto it's self,I'm including this link for the U.S Army's survival manual which can help in that area of training and awareness.

http://www.equipped.com/fm21-76.htm

  In closing ,Man has survived the ice age and now has the technology to use the planets resources more effectively than the cave men did.Excellent topic ,way over due,study plan ,stay prepared . .This manual can be easily adapted to non combat situations should that apply.search the chapters for all topics of survival

[busshawg]

Your all wecome at my place, I have 340 acres, 180 that is burnable bush, I still have the wood stove too.  Lots and lots of deer to hunt, a running stream good enought to just bend down and drink from, and on sundays we can maybe get a rabbit. Ha ha but I bet your all gone come winter!

[John316]

Thanks BHG,

I will keep that in mind . We can have our own little gardens and everything... . Oh, Yes. One other thing. Do you have WIFI? I think that is pretty necessary . 

No really, that is a kind offer.

God bless,

John

[bobofthenorth]

Remember guys - its Canada so you have to hunt the rabbits with large rocks.

[gyrocrasher]

Busshawg:
Sounds great! We'll see ya Tuesday. 

[John316]

AW, c'mon Bob. Can't I use my slingshot?

God bless,

John

[pabusnut]

Without even having my bus finished I know how long WE could go fully self contained!!!!



ONE WHOOLE MORNING!!!!


Explanation---- I still have a teenage daugher at home who would consume all the water and LP gas on her first shower of the day!!!!   ----But I love her anyway!!!

Steve T

[Chaz]

Has anybody thought os using "food grade" Hydrogen peroxide to help kill the bad stuff in their water?? My understanding is it does a great job.

  Chaz