OT_Travel Trailer

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Kevin French

Dumping isn't all that bad or hard. You get yourself a good pair of gloves and have some hand cleaner/sanitizer, there will be a hose at the dumping station that you can rinse the drain hose down and clean your hands afterward.

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

John McGaw

There are basically two different toilet arrangements in campers, at least in the small ones I'm familiar with -- tank and cassette. With the tank type you have a long hose, usually stored in a compartment in the rear bumper, which connects to the dump valve plumbed to the soil tank under the floor. The cassette type has a plastic box which literally pulls out with its contents. It has a valve/outlet arrangement with which you dump the contents down the magic hole at the campground.

With care, neither one is especially dirty once you have done it a couple of times. You wear waterproof gloves and rinse everything carefully after you finish. Yeah, it can be a bit whiffy (varies with dietary choices) but nothing in the lethal range -- certainly nothing worse than changing a diaper.

There are a ton of explainers online findable with a Google search.

I was taught to

Mike L

dump the black water first and then the gray water. The gray water will clean the hoses out. It really is not that hard to do just connect the hose open a valve and away it goes. Close that valve and open the other.

As for 20 to 30K that all depends on do you want a 5th wheel or a towable etc. I would say in that range you will get into a good trailer

What are you pulling it with? Make sure you understand tongue weight. Also what ever you tow with the yellow sticker on the drivers side door jamb is the max you can legal tow along with the passengers and gear inside the vehicle.

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

jergle

Dumping the tanks is the least pleasurable part of camping, but certainly not a big deal. I usually dump the black tank, close the valve, and while the gray tank is draining, have the wife dump a couple gallons of water in the black tank through the toilet then drain that while the gray tank is finishing up. Then rinse out the hose and all done til next time. Check out irv2.com - it's a good RV / camping message board with lots of good information. Be aware, price unfortunately does not guarantee a well-built camper, even if brand new. Quality control is sorely lacking in the RV industry. Some folks recommend buying a used camper that is a few years old, so hopefully the previous owner took care of getting everything fixed!

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Philip F Duffy

Having traveled the country 3x towing a TT with 3 kids and a wife I must say the benefits far outweigh all other forms of moving x-country. Tank emptying becomes a matter of mind over matter and setting a sanitary routine. My advise is; Go for it! P.

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

walta

Have a look at the HI-LO units

If you go motorized understand the lemon laws do not apply in most states.

I understand the dealer’s service departments are overwhelmed and they can set up a December appointment or you can drive the unit back to the manufacture and they may get to it next month.

Most of the campers I can see parked at the owners homes never seem to move.

My last campground experience was less than tranquil.

If you must rent offsite storage space can get expensive.

The way I see it poop water maybe the least of your worries

How many days could you spend at the Hyatt for the same money?

Walta

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Pat Evans

Insert the sewer hose into dump station inlet. Remove the cap from your sewer discharge pipe. Connect the sewer hose to the discharge pipe. Open the discharge valve. If you mess up that sequence, you may need two showers afterwards.

I watched a guy in a rental RV do it wrong and it was awful. Funny... but awful.

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

AZ in Colorado Springs

On the USAF's C-5 airplane, the lavatories are on the upper deck. The outlet for draining them is on the outside of the airplane, nearer ground level. If they open the upper valve first, well when they go to connect the hose from the LST (lavatory service truck) it all pours out onto the ramp and on the poor guy who was going to connect the hose. Definitely a two showers situation. But your travel trailer won't be configured that way.

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Pete in Holland MI

Been camping with a hard body camper with indoor plumbing for 15 years now & love it, especially having a bathroom a few steps from the bed, rather than across the campground (we just crested 60 years old). Do your best to poop in the restroom. Saves some grief in your system.

Head to a local campground late Sunday morning and watch the activity at the dump station. It's not that bad if you're careful.

The black tank (for the toilet), gets drained and a little additional flushing of water is adequate. It does NOT need to be scrubbed clean every time you use it, as some people think. Use some of the tank "blue pellets" every time you go out for a weekend. Keeps the smell down and helps digestion.

Some people get all up in arms about touching poo. Yeah....it smells.......but gotta remember......all that stuff passed by your lips a few days ago : )

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Johanna Johanson

Hotels are thin on the ground in many places that i like to go. We have a very small camper (17 ft). Some years ago I lived in it for six weeks when I was working for a school district that had be badly damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Every two weeks I went to a gas station that had a dump station. It really is not a very difficult job. (FYI, I am a small woman of 80 years, so that lets you know it is definitely not a difficult job!)

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Curt Putnam

Trailers come with standardized sewer hose connections and all use 3" flex hose as the swer pipe. As described above, keep plenty of water in the black tank and use plenty with each flush. When it comes time to dump, connect the hoses if not already done, and then dump the black tank 1st followed by the gray tank. Some trailers come with a built in sprinkler with which to rinse out the black tank.

All vehicles come with a payload sticker somewhere on the driver's door frame. It will say something like passengers and cargo may not exceed xxxx lbs. All travel trailers have a GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) sticker near the entry door. Add up the weights of all people, dogs, and gear that will be in or on the tow vehicle and subtract that total from the payload number. Take 13% of the GVWR and compare that to your remaining payload. The 13% has to be

Curt - incomplete post? Pls continue

Re: Curt - incomplete post? Pls continue

Curt Putnam

Don't know what happened....

Subtract from the Payload stickerthe weight of everything that will be in the TV (tow vehicle) - that includes the driver, spouse, kids, toys, dogs, etc. Add 100 lbs for the weight distribution hitch. This number is your avail capacity.

On each trailer there is a sticker near the entry door that will state the GVWR for that trailer. Take 13% of the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) to give you a real world tongue weight. Absolutely ignore any stated tongue weights in any brochures as they cannot be duplicated in the real world. If you are browsing on line, the GVWR may not be given, in which case the unloaded weight and cargo carrying capacity are usually given. Unloaded weight plus the CCC will get you to GVWR for all intents and purposes.

The 13% number cannot be greater than the available capacity in your TV. If the two numbers are close then further research is required. You will need to know the load capacity of your tires and your read axle's load rating. Hitches have load ratings too.

Buy the trailer first and then the truck There are some trucks (notably Toyotas and RAMS) that remarkably smallpayloads. I made the mistake of buying a Tundra thinking it would happily pull a 10,000 lb trailer. NOT. Expensive education. Wound up with a Chevy 3/4 ton. It hauls our 9,000 lb 34' trailer up and down the mountains with aplomb. It may be in 3rd gear at 4500 rpm but it does it.

CAT scales will be your friend. Load up the family and everything that you would take camping and weigh the truck. Subtract that real world weight from the TV's GVWR to get available capacity.

One must think safety. When you have to make a panic stop while going down a n 8% grade, you want plenty of capacity margin. Almost anything will pull a trailer but can it carry the extra weight and stop it? If you meed to buy a new truck, make sure that it has the factory twoing package. Lots to consider.

Thanks for all the Help!

Re: OT_Travel Trailer

Pete in Holland MI

Really consider the physical size of your trailer as you figure your tow vehicle. If your tow vehicle says it'll tow 8000 lbs, and a camper your are looking at weighs 7000 lbs, your vehicle WILL struggle. For some reason, vehicle manufactures don't take in to effect the parachutte effect of trailers. I have a 27' bunk house trailer and my 2013 Chevy 1/2 ton with the 5.3L engine has all it can do to keep going down the express way, and that's in 4th gear (out of 6). Engine runs along at 3000 rpm at 70mph and around 7mpg.

On the other hand, I recently hauled a 9100 lb tractor on a 2800 lb trailer with that truck, and averaged 11 mpg over the 80 mile trip.

Frontal area of campers must be considered in your towing ability (the camper salesman will always refer to the vehicle specs and say it'll be fine).