[Other uses for Black Tank with composting toilet]

1 hour ago, Overland said:

It's been discussed several times before, but to my knowledge, no one has followed through with anything.  I removed my black tank and use the space for storage, if that counts.  

I'm certain that something is possible, but only with a lot of work and lowered expectations.  And I think that combination, combined with plentiful, inexpensive, and much simpler solutions for storing extra water elsewhere, is why no one ever follows up.  

Specifically to what you're thinking - I certainly wouldn't want to use the black tank for both fresh and grey water - I don't think you can sanitize it nearly as thoroughly as you'd need.  

I do think that you could fairly simply transfer fresh water from the black tank to the fresh, but you'd have to remove the drain connection between the black and grey tanks to prevent contamination, and then remove the check valve on the cleanout port so that you could use to it both fill and empty the tank.  Perhaps replace it with a manual valve.  And you'd have to add an overflow of some sort.  But if you did all that, then you could just simply run hose from there to the boondocking port and pump the water in.  

But, I think that's a lot of trouble when compared to a couple of $15 plastic jugs in the bed of your truck.  

Yep - definitely good points and sounds like far more trouble than it's worth.  Taking the tank out and using the space for storage definitely counts!  The reason I started thinking about this was storage space in the first place - trying to conserve some space in the back of the truck if possible.

[Other uses for Black Tank with composting toilet]

Hi all, I've been reading and learning all about the fresh, gray and black water tanks.  Fresh water and/or filling up the gray tank seem to be the main drivers of having to pack up and leave your dry site (assuming the gray tank cannot be emptied on-site).  Our Ollie will have the composting toilet option since we plan on boondocking often.  I confirmed with Oliver sales that the black tank is still installed and just not used, so I'm thinking that it would be great to take advantage of that to increase the capacity of both the black and gray tanks.

Has anyone with the composting toilet ever done anything innovative with the spare tank?

Based on the assumption we will always have filtered and/or bottled water with us and will never drink or cook with the water from our fresh tank, would this be feasible:

- Pre-campsite, fill both the clean fresh and black water tanks with fresh water.  So 32.5 + 18.5 = 51 gallons of fresh water to start with.

- when 18.5+ gallons have been used from the fresh water tank, transfer / pump the fresh water in the black tank into the fresh water tank (essentially, refill it back to 32.5 gallons). 

- transfer / pump 18.5 gallons from the gray tank into the now empty black tank to make room for the new water in the fresh tank.

- leave campsite when there is no more water in the fresh tank and the gray and black tanks are both full of "gray" water

- Empty tanks in a legal place, rinse, wash/bleach and repeat. 

I'm looking into various water storage solutions and before I buy anything I'd like to see if this is a possibility.  Any thoughts on this appreciated!

Thanks!

John

[Poll: Sleeping direction on Ollie LE2 Twin Bed]

Although we don't have our LEII yet, we have had extensive discussions about this so it's funny DavidS is polling this topic.  Based on our discussions, it's not surprising the split is roughly 50-50 so far.  My wife was assuming we would sleep with our heads towards the rear due to the configuration of the nightstand.  What good is the nightstand with your feet next to it she asked?  Well, I'm voting for head towards the front for two reasons already mentioned....  lack of room for side sleeping arms in the back and who would want to set up a mirror just to watch TV  when lying in bed?  🙂  I'm definitely adding the beautiful view John D. shared as another compelling reason - both for sleeping head towards the front and for not turning on the TV at all! 

I also said no one would stop us from sleeping in whichever orientation we like, even if it's in opposite directions!  That seemed to be the strangest idea yet - I wonder if anyone has tried that yet?  🙂 

[Joining the family soon!]

35 minutes ago, DCdude said:

Welcome, we have a Nov 11 date so if you are staying at Davy Crockett, we may see you there.

And, an advanced welcome to Tennessee!

Hi DCdude, we pick up on the 18th, so we likely will miss you unless you are stuck at Davey Crockett.  🙂  Thanks for the advanced welcome to TN - never would have guessed you are from there with your call name!

[Joining the family soon!]

51 minutes ago, TexasGuy said:

Congratulations! I have to wait for May for my Elite I.   I will be getting my TV this year as son gets current one.  Was considering diesel on 150/1500 truck but not sure if I want payload trade off.   What is maintenance like on them?

Hi TexasGuy, the maintenance on my Silverado has been normal (I'm the original owner), and I consider that a win.  Aside from regular maintenance and replacing things that naturally wear out with use, I've only had to replace two "big ticket" items just recently...  the first was the turbo and the second was the transfer case.   What I like most about my diesel engine is that I really do feel it has a lot of life left in it after 225K miles.  Only time will tell.

[Joining the family soon!]

Hello to all from Chapel Hill, North Carolina!  My wife, Anita and I have just sent in our 2nd payment for an Elite II.  If all goes well we will be making a trip to Hohenwald in mid-November to pick her up!  We have camped off and on over the years, but always in a tent, so this is really going to be a huge step up for us.  We've always had a plan to treat ourselves to a travel trailer one day and enjoy seeing North America from the ground up, so it has been a lot of fun preparing to realize this dream.  I definitely owe everyone that participates in this forum a huge thanks for being so open, honest and helpful.  This is without a doubt one of the most respectable forums I've ever come across - kudos to the moderators!  I think I've read just about everything in this forum since "search" seems to find everything except what I'm actually looking for. 😉  We'll be pulling the Elite II with our trusty 2006 Silverado 2500HD Duramax Diesel, which is barely broken in at 225K miles!  Hope to meet some other Oliver owners in person on the road someday soon!  Best, John