We lived in an RV for a week in our driveway while they replaced the floors after a water leak in our house. The adults both agreed this was not going to work for us again or as a longer term solution. We have different work schedules and none of us really got any sleep that week. The only way it would work for us is if we had one each.

The more you make it like a regular house and less like a trailer, the better chances you will have for success. The number of people living in the 5th wheel will also have a great effect.

Years ago I worked with a guy that lived in a trailer while building his house. It was obvious his trailer did not have a shower.

I plan on only filling the tanks about half way and using my tractor to lift them to and from the truck bed.

Would it be easier to just flush?

Given that you must have the septic system working before you can live in the house, why wouldn't you get that hooked up first? Until you have an acceptable means of dealing with human waste, the house is only a spacious and expensive storage shed

i suppose the black tank in the camper itself is 42 gallons or so. I assume that will last us a week or so. hopefully more. We Will have to test that out. But, there is a campground very close to us that I plan on taking the portable black water tank to dump before I can have the septic portion installed. I will have to work with the builder to find exact location of septic and house before I can really just install the system.

The black tanks won't last nearly as long as you think.

Will you have kids living inside with you? Have you ever done any sort of camping in an RV/5th wheel before? I ask because DH and I were convinced we wanted to buy one, but we decided to first rent an RV last summer for 10 days when we took our kids to Alaska. By Day 2, we both had decided that we no longer had any desire to do so.

I have no personal experience with this, but DS and his wife and toddler borrowed a large, elaborate 5th wheel camper for a 7-day vacation last summer. By day 3, they had decided 'never again.'

No kids and we expect this to be an adventure for sure.

With no kids, it *might* work but both of you need to be easy going and have a good sense of humor. If you're on FB, there is a group for full-time RVers that might interest you.

42 gallons is nothing if there are kids and/or pandemic hand washing involved. Try dumping every 24-48 hours or so. Or have it overflow. This is why RV hookups include discharge as well as water and electricity. If you can’t even manage to have basic campground amenities set up for your camper, you will never make it through.

Set up a site cam, because the first time you dump 40 gallons of sewage onto yourself will be worth it for the home video show market! The second time you do it, you’ll be out of there. And that’s just within the first two weeks of giving it a go. Plus, unless you’re really skilled with a boom pole and rigging, and have the HP of a real sized tractor, there went all of your water too.

If you‘ve never camped in an RV, which it’s obvious that you haven’t, you’re lying to yourself about making this happen without real hookups. It’s also an issue when summer gets here and you don’t have the electrical capacity for your hookup to run the air. Then there’s the winter. And heat. This isn’t going to be a short stay.

If you can’t get the septic, water, and proper electrical hookups onto your site? Just stay down the road at the campground that has all of that.

Why park it inside a pole barn? The lack of natural light in the RV inside a pole barn would be a big stop for me.

Again, the gray water will be dumped separately from the black. That will be dumped On property. I would hope 42 gallon tank would last more than two days when operating like that.

Why not stay at the campground while you run electrical, water, and septic? If you are determined to live without those basics, plan to hook up the fifth wheel and drive to the campground to dump. What do you plan to do about showers, washing dishes. Spend a week in it now and do what the Navy calls a shake down cruise.

1. Staying in the pole barn will help with extra security from weather/etc and I can use make a patio outside the door for a larger table for eating. Maybe add a tv out there. The barns have big sliding doors we can open up.

2. Maybe I did not explain this well for water. for water I will fill the campers 57 gallon fresh water tank with the two 250 gallon water tanks I have. I will fill those tanks and then pump the camper with water as needed for our water needs (shower/sinks/toilet water/etc).

since I will be dumping the gray water tanks separate, I anticipate the 42 gallon black water tank will not need dumped as frequently as usual (Generally dumped with gray water).

Again, do not underestimate how quickly a black tank will fill up. Water will also go into that tank when you flush and to get a proper #2 flush, it takes quite a bit of water. Is there no way to go ahead and put your septic tank in and be able to use it for your 5th wheel? That would be the most ideal situation.

We had travel trailer at our farm for many years that DH used when we lived off the farm (2.5 hours away). He had it parked under a pole barn and had the sewage piped to a septic tank. The gray water disposed similarly to what you propose and he had a large propane tank. It was suitable for HIM but when we were both there, it was claustrophic and it was VERY hard to sleep. Anytime someone gets up in the middle of the night, the whole thing will shake. Unless you're a very deep sleeper, plan on plenty of sleepless (or near sleepless) nights.

We lived in our fifth wheel on the property while our home was built. We were seasoned RVers and my other half ensured we had septic on sight, we refilled our water tanks from a tank on a trailer set up with a pump, and we had electricity. We had all the amenities except a bathtub and washer and dryer. We chose to do it as an adventure and didn’t have the luxury of any other structures on site. Our water needed to be filled from the larger tank about every four days. We showered daily but took what we call RV showers. You don’t run the water the whole time.

We figured out how to entertain and hosted regular dinner parties. I visited a laundromat once a week. We learned a lot about how much space, stuff, and water we can manage without. If you have camped much and think you can manage it, go for it. I was glad when the house was done but we have good memories and great stories from that eight months.

It was just two adults in the trailer too. I wouldn’t recommend it with kids although we did get a puppy!

Since we are living this right now I can share our experience, for what it’s worth :-). 2 adults + 2 dogs in a 28 foot travel trailer with a super slide. But we have water, power and our gray water is hooked up to our sewer... so the black tank is the only thing that we have to dump. We’ve been in the trailer since last Sept and have never had to dump the black tank more than once a week, although we also have a porta potty that is used more during the day. I assume you’ll need a porta potty for anyone working on the project. Originally we also were dumping the gray water but that tank filled up really quickly... (within a day or two), so that got old fast. The only other things are that we need to refill our propane every 2-3 weeks (used for heat & cooking) and weekly visits to the laundromat. Sunday is laundry date day :-)

Although we’re both ready for the house to be done I’m glad we went this route... It’s enabled us to keep a much closer eye on things & has also made it a lot easier for my husband since he is doing quite a bit of the work. But we are also used to camping/rv’ing.

Having to use a portable tank to dump your black water seems like it would get old very quickly... wonder if you could get the porta potty service to dump your tank for an extra fee? No idea but seems like getting your septic sorted or something like that would be more tolerable.

I wish we had put a small travel trailer on site when we built 20 years ago. It would have been wonderful to have an air conditioned space that was private and secure, a place to work, and especially a place to rest and eat simple meals. We lived only four miles away so we would have gone home at ten pm or so. But you are underestimating the amount of free time to fill tanks, empty tanks, driving around that tractor. Building a house is exhausting and time consuming. We had no spare time. Try to make your living arrangements as easy as possible.

My folks lived in their 5th wheel for a year, after moving to Texas from Arizona, and parked at an RV/Trailer Park. Mom had no problem with it. Dad, on the other hand, had one major issue. Every time anyone walked around in it, it would rock from side to side. They had camped in it a thousand times before, for up to a month, but 6 months was a bit too much for Dad, and he stuck it out for another 6 months on top of that. He is former military, and isn't known to have motion sickness or seasickness.

Have a backup plan, just in case you get physically ill while living in it, and it takes longer than you think to finish the house. :-(

Any build that can’t prioritize the septic and water as the first thing that happens, before anything else, deserves the massive wasted energy and discomfort of living without it. There are enough challenges with building without adding on avoidable headaches that take away effort from the real task at hand.

Is it possible to put a small bath in the structure you are parking in first?..