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EchoGale
Senior Member
Joined: 10 Mar 2019
Location: FL
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Posts: 469
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Topic: r-pod plus rhino tote tank? Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 4:02pm |
"I can’t see how fooling with pumps and hoses and dragging tanks around is easier that just bringing the trailer to the supply and dump locations."
Rdome (I don't mean to launch the debate. I really like it but it is a bit of work.)
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Julie
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posts: 5290
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Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 3:00pm |
Personally I think you are on the right track with questioning how fast you’re using water. As long time boondockers we go through the 30 gallons in about a week, which includes daily showers, by which point we’re generally on the move anyway. There are lots of water conservation tricks out there.
And yes to drinking bottled water, saves worrying about tank sanitation and extends the water supply by another day it you carry 5 gallons. We use the 2.5 gallon dispensers and leave one out on the kitchen counter.
I can’t see how fooling with pumps and hoses and dragging tanks around is easier that just bringing the trailer to the supply and dump locations. You will probably get to the point of being able to connect up, leave the leveling blocks in place, and then back the trailer right back onto them where it was before, without help if that preserves the relationship. Just takes a little practice. Just sayin’.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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EchoGale
Senior Member
Joined: 10 Mar 2019
Location: FL
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Posts: 469
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Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 1:47pm |
I'm going to get out of my lane here and attempt to share something I know nothing about. Hahae of course I've never done that before!
I watched some videos yesterday and found one about the several pretty expensive things someone bought that the thought were "worth every penny." One was a macerator that, as the described it, would pump their black tank into a holding tank in the back of their pickup. They could then drive to the dump station and empty it. Maybe someone here will now about this.
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Julie
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podwerkz
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Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
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Posts: 966
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Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 1:40pm |
If you need to move clean fresh water from a hand carried or portable water jug (or jugs) to the inlet port on your trailer, one way to do that is to buy a small freshwater 12v pump along with some tubing and a small 12v motorcycle battery. Attach two small battery clamps on the 12v pump, route your tubing, and then clip onto the battery.
It wont take long to transfer 5 or 10 gallons that way. I've done it, and it works well. It's obvious that you need to charge up the battery now and then, but it will certainly work long enough to get you thru a week or two of camping, maybe longer, before requiring a recharge.
Here is a pump you can use or you can find them at local RV supply stores or the Big River Retailer.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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campingtrio
Newbie
Joined: 21 Mar 2021
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Posts: 18
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Posted: 24 Mar 2021 at 12:50pm |
Re: " why would you need to dump before your trip is over if you’re truly dry camping? If you don’t have water at your campsite you will run out of water in your fresh water tank before your black or gray tanks are full, since all 3 tanks are 30 gal.":
We will have access to water from a fill station (which is another problem I need to post on separately...we bought a drill pump to be able to cart water over (fill up a carrier, bring it back and use the pump to get it into the fresh water tank) based on a recommendation elsewhere on this forum, only to find out the drill pump we bought expressly does not recommend use for potable water, so now we're wondering if we just use the water to wash dishes and bring separate bottled water to drink, or we skip the drill pump and find a big funnel...but I digress), and I guess maybe we are pretty generous with rinsing the toilet and doing dishes washing hands and taking showers, but we have found in full hookup camping that we do fill up the tanks after a few days. (Notably, there is a LOT MORE HANDWASHING these days....sigh) And we find attaching and moving the trailer and going through the exercise of backing it up and reparking it and releveling it and all the rest to be a giant project we really want to avoid (and one that continues to test our relationship, haha). I'd rather just cart a tote trunk once on the trip to get us cleaned out.
But...overall it looks like I just dropped $100+ on a useless and large piece of plastic. :( The only other thing I can think of is to bring an extra set of leveling blocks and put the trailer up a bit higher than usual. Which will make getting in and out of it more annoying but maybe we can deal with that.
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posted: 23 Mar 2021 at 10:37am |
There are kits you can install that use your gray water for toilet flushes. You have to be careful though, gray water can quickly become stinky black water due to anaerobic bacterial action in the tank. I had one of those systems in a class A once and got rid of it.
Also, with 30 gal of fresh water, zero gray and black water, dual batteries, one propane cylinder, and pretty modest supplies on board, I am within 100 lbs of max gross trailer weight in my 179. So, I wouldn’t want to put much additional water in my black tank plus a full gray tank and then get on the road, even with an empty fresh water tank.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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jalong
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Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: Fredonia WI
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Posts: 31
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Posted: 23 Mar 2021 at 8:48am |
Since the black tank is never full but has a 30 gallon capacity a trick I have used with a full gray tank is drain some into a bucket, then dump the bucket into the toilet. You can get a few more days of gray tank storage out of doing this.
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John & Sue
2016 179 - built in April 2015
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.6L 13-16mpg with 179 - 21-28mpg without
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posts: 5290
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Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 11:35am |
campingtrio, why would you need to dump before your trip is over if you’re truly dry camping? If you don’t have water at your campsite you will run out of water in your fresh water tank before your black or gray tanks are full, since all 3 tanks are 30 gal.
If you are camping somewhere with a city water hookup but no sewer, then sure, you can fill your gray tank quickly. In that situation we find it easier to hook up and head over to the dump station. Our blueboy is our rpod, we find it easier to go to the dump station than to deal with dumping, transporting, rinsing, dumping again, rinsing again, transporting back, then storing the blueboy, if you can find somewhere. I can’t unless it’s the roof rack of the suv, no thanks.
You mention having so many things to keep track of, but some of these are optional. Less stuff is quite often better while camping.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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Badweissenbier
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Joined: 26 Oct 2019
Location: WV
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Posts: 41
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Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 11:24am |
No that height thing is a problem. I generally have the TT up on a pad that has a gentle slope away from it(i think this is done for rain). I can usually get the tank far enough away on that downhill slope that it puts the fill level lower than the trailer dump, but I have to use the longer sewer hose.
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john in idaho
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Joined: 04 Nov 2014
Location: Eagle Idaho
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Posted: 22 Mar 2021 at 10:12am |
I have had one for years. Works well if the hose pipe connectors stay hooked up........................ Need i say more? And it is unwieldy when full. Wheels are too small tho.
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