For the next two weeks we are staying at Hillsdale State Park in Kansas. The sites have fresh water and 30amp power but for the first time we will be without a sewer hookup for more than a couple of days. The glamour ends here . . .
We generally need to empty the black tank every 4 – 5 days. I suppose we could hitch up and tow the trailer over to the dump station every 5 days. But the grey tank needs to be emptied daily with our normal routine. Most parks, including this one, do not allow grey water to be dumped on the ground – a topic widely debated in the RV community.
Moving the trailer daily would be a chore so we bought a 35 gallon Thetford Smartote to get the waste water from a > b without moving the trailer.
The tote (we call it a “blue boy”) can be towed behind a vehicle at a top speed of 5mph. The park’s dump station is a mile away. That would mean a 10 – 15 minute drive. Enough for a repeat of “Purple Rain” to be sure but I wouldn’t bet on the tote’s wheels lasting very long.
The only method I could find to deal with this problem is to leave the blue boy in the truck bed and use a macerator pump to defy gravity and transfer the waste water into it. What could go wrong? After a few minor tweaks it works as well as something like this could work. I wish it were prettier.
I haven’t figured out how to manage all the components with a reasonable degree of cleanliness since the pump is not permanently installed. So we won’t be using this to dump black water. For now we will move the trailer every 5 days to dump the black.
What’s involved?
Camping World
- Thetford Smartote.
- Thetford Sani-Con Tank Buddy with 21′ retractable hose. This is the macerator pump.
- Clearview 5″ Sewer Adaptor with Bayonet Lugs.
- Rotating Grey Water Bayonet Fitting.
- Double Pin Termination Adaptor.
Home Depot
- 1/2 – 1-1/4″ hose repair clamp.
- Plumbers’ tape.
- 12v lawn mower battery (couldn’t find a link on Home Depot but I bought mine from there).
Wal-Mart
How do you put it all together?
At the base
21′ retractable hose + 1/2 – 1-1/4″ hose repair clamp > Rotating Grey Water Bayonet Fitting + Plumbers’ tape > Clearview 5″ Sewer Adaptor with Bayonet Lugs > Thetford Smartote.
Drain pipe > Thetford Sani-Con Tank Buddy with 21′ retractable hose > 12v lawn mower battery
At the dump station
A lot of junk helps. Notice the spray can of silicon lubricant – this is good for helping the plastic connectors twist together and apart.
Thetford Smartote > Clearview 5″ Sewer Adaptor with Bayonet Lugs > Double Pin Termination Adaptor > sewer hose.
– Anthony, Hillsdale State Park, Kansas