Things I learned on a bad camping trip

[trumpetguy]

On August 5th, 2016 My wife and I set out on our annual trip to North Carolina to escape the steamy weather of Northwest Florida.  Our plan was to work our way up the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina and into Virginia, then maybe on to PA as time permitted.

 

My first mistake was thinking I could tough it out with a torn Meniscus in my left knee.  It soon became apparent that the act  of kneeling, stooping, hauling, and all the physical activities associated with setting up and breaking down camp place a huge strain on the knees and pain became a constant companion making me a miserable companion.

 

So after only ten days we gave up and headed home.

 

A few things learned...

 

Camping is physical and you need to be healthy.

 

Some things on the Oliver are just not designed for function.  ie.  The sewer connection is very difficult to reach when your newly purchased Rhino hose separates from the fitting.  I will be modding this to extend that connection to outside the bumper.  Lesson learned...always check the connection before opening the gate valve.

 

The water connections are just inconveniently located.  Not only must you kneel to access them, they are underneath the trailer so you must kneel And reach.  OK if you are healthy but a real struggle with a bad knee.  Again I will mod these somehow so they are easier to reach.

 

The fridge is way small, and again down low so that you must kneel to gain access.  Holy cow...even the $30,000 Escape has a 7CU fridge mounted at eye level.

 

Rain.  What can I say.  Just no good solution to living indoors when it raining and your campsite is a lake.  100 square feet and no comfortable chairs gets old after a few days.

 

One good thing we learned is that the shower curtain my wife made works great and having a shower inside the trailer is a real bonus.

 

I suppose we all will experience some bumps in the road and this will not be our last less than good trip.  In the twenty months we have owned our trailer we have had over a dozen great outings, all in the Southeastern U.S. and all but this last one have been great.

 

I see the surgeon tomorrow and hopefully the knee will get repaired soon.

 

My new mantra is "Always check your sewer connection".

 

 

 

 

[Hap]

I've used several hoses for our Oliver. I threw the Rhino hose in the trash can and bought a Valterra D04-0450 Viper 15' Sewer Hose Kit from Amazon.   You can get it either at Amazon or Camping World. I also bought a 10 foot Valterra extension hose and attached it. Now I have a 25 foot sewer hose that stays permanently attached to the Oliver until I take it off when I get home for cleaning. I have never had the Valterra pull apart like the Rhino. Unfortunately the part that goes into the sewer hole will not fit into the rear bumper compartment so I just detach it and keep it in a breadbox in the rear storage compartment until needed.  If you do a little research, you will find out why the Valterra is much harder to pull apart than the Rhino which scared hell out of me every time I used it.

 

For water hose and black tank hook up, I bought from Home Depot three Garden Hose Quick-Connect Kits. They cost about $7 each. I screwed the male ends into water connections on the trailer black tank, city water, and  water tank connections and leave them permanently attached to the trailer. I leave the female connected to trailer male section until I start to use it, then disconnect the female - screw it onto the water hose, then reattach it to the trailer, then turn water on. The Quick-Connects make using water lines very, very easy.  When traveling, I screw the black dust caps onto the Quick Connects.  I'm sure your quite confused by my pitiful attempt to explain all of this, but if you purchase the Quick Connects and play with them for a few minutes you'll get the idea.

 

Can't make any suggestions for rainy days other than to say that in 2013, we bought a new 40 foot Tiffin diesel pusher which we had for about seven months, until a very large semi totaled us. We bought an Oliver Legacy Elite II and  have traveled for about 40,000 miles all over this country, including Alaska. Ask the Oliver folks and they will tell you this is true. We loved the very expensive Tiffin, but my wife and I love the Oliver much, much more.

 

Sometimes at our home in Florida but today we are in Wyoming.

 

Hap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Commanche]

That's a good idea using the quick connects for the water hose. I always seem to struggle with the hose, to get it tight enough so it doesn't leak, then I need a slip joint pliers to get it off, and I don't like doing that.

 

 

 

Stan

[trumpetguy]

Yesterday I added a pvc nipple with quick connects to all three water connections.  No more kneeling and reaching under.

[trumpetguy]

Thanks for the reply.  Yesterday I installed three pvc nipples with quick connects.  This allows me to connect the water hoses wjthout kneeling.  The nipples extend the connection just to the edge of the riser in the hull.  My next project is to cut a hole in the bumper anf install an elbow so the sewer hose can be connected without dropping the cover.  I will use hose clamps to attach a six inch pvc pipe beneath the trailer for hose storage.

[trumpetguy]

This is a simple mod that will yield a lot of benefit for me.  Eliminates stooping and reaching under the trailer to connect the water hose.  This act becomes problematic when you have a bad knee, or even when the front of the trailer has to be raised for leveling, making the rear end even lower.

 

All the components are at Lowes and Home Depot.  garden hose male and female adapter with a 1.5" nipple of 3/3" schedule 40 PVC.  Quick connector for the water hose.

 

 

 

I disconnect the female end of the quick connect, screw that to the garden hose, then just push the connector into its receptacle.

[Hap]

Thanks for the picture -  there is always more than one way to do everything. Quick Connects are really great to make connecting water lines to the Oliver trailer easier. Personally, I prefer the Home Depot  Garden Hose Quick-Connect Kits. They fit neatly onto my trailer and are made out of solid brass for durability. Just my opinion.

 

Also when I get home in a couple of weeks I'm definitely going to give Buzzy's variation on the sewer connection a serious look.  I learn something every time I read the comments on this forum.

 

Sometimes in Florida - but now we are in Dodge City, Kansas meandering back to Florida. Who turned on the heat? Two days ago in Wyoming we were having morning temps of 36 degrees. I think it hit 100 in Dodge today.

 

Hap

 

 

[trumpetguy]

We live in Gulf Breeze, FL where heat index is about 109 every day.  Five weeks to coller temps here.

[donthompson]

Hap,

 

You must leave the quick connects screwed into the female water line connections on your Ollie. These are usually "sealed" with the black male plugs that come with the camper. Are there any issues involved with leaving these connections open to the environment with the quick connects attached? The idea is intriguing. Would make it very easy to hook up water.

 

Whoops! I should have read from the beginning. I understand how you do it now!

Don

[topgun2]

Don,

 

I know that there are "caps" and/or "plugs" available for these quick connectors.  The only problem would be that they would not be on those nice little chains like the originals.  But, I'm guessing that if you are really OCD even that problem could be overcome.

 

Bill

[trumpetguy]

I just use the caps that came with the Ollie.

[donthompson]

I have to swallow my pride and admit that I have had a mishap emptying my black tank. As many have observed, it is difficult to reach the connection in the bumper compartment. It is also difficult to see it. An added complication is the inherent design deficiencies of the bayonet connection. My mishap occurred when I didn't get my sewer hose attached to all of the bayonet pins. I missed the one on top and you know what happened as a result. Luckily I caught it very quickly and the spillage was minor.

 

I stumbled on this Waste Master system. I like the idea of a cam lock to replace the bayonet fittings, but as you can see in the first video, making this switch means you can't go back. You have to remove the bayonet pins (think hacksaw) to make it possible to install the cam lock.

 

Please take a look at this and post your comments and opinions.

 

https://store.lci1.com/waste-master

 

Thanks,

 

Don

[ScubaRx]

I'm confused,  we have owned two Olivers over the past eight years and I have never undone the sewer hose from the connection up inside either Oliver. I simply leave it connected all the time and stuff the hose back up into the bumper after I'm finished using it. We even keep a second hose stored there also.   Is there a reason that most people seem to undo this hose after dumping?

[rideandfly]

I’m confused, we have owned two Olivers over the past eight years and I have never undone the sewer hose from the connection up inside either Oliver. I simply leave it connected all the time and stuff the hose back up into the bumper after I’m finished using it. We even keep a second hose stored there also. Is there a reason that most people seem to undo this hose after dumping?

 

We leave the drain hose connected to the Ollie all the time, too.

[Commanche]

Guess I never thought about keeping the hose connected, I just figured you unhook it and wash it out. Yeah, it was a pain reaching up there to hook it up, so I bought a clear plastic short piece about a foot long, which makes it easier.

 

Stan

[bugeyedriver]

Mine stays connected and after using it, I fill up the black tank twice and give it two good flushes.  While I've never had a full on "burst at the seams" sort of accident during a flush, the hose did come apart from the connector as I was inserting it into the ground connection one time, before pulling the lever (whew).  So now, I occasionally ensure the brown hose is secured into the orange connector before releasing the "stuff".

[bugeyedriver]

Mine stays connected and after using it, I fill up the black tank twice and give it two good flushes.  While I've never had a full on "burst at the seams" sort of accident during a flush, the hose did come apart from the connector as I was inserting it into the ground connection one time, before pulling the lever (whew).  So now, I occasionally ensure the brown hose is secured into the orange connector before releasing the "stuff".

[bugeyedriver]

Mine stays connected, and after using it, I fill up the black tank twice and give it two good flushes.  While I've never had a full on "burst at the seams" sort of accident during a flush, the hose did come apart from the connector as I was inserting it into the ground connection one time, before pulling the lever (whew).  So now, I occasionally ensure the brown hose is secured into the orange connector before releasing the "stuff".

[Mike and Carol]

Mine stays connected and after using it, I fill up the black tank twice and give it two good flushes. While I’ve never had a full on “burst at the seams” sort of accident during a flush, the hose did come apart from the connector as I was inserting it into the ground connection one time, before pulling the lever (whew). So now, I occasionally ensure the brown hose is secured into the orange connector before releasing the “stuff”.

Same here.  We leave it connected to the trailer all the time.  Dump, two refills/dumps, then the gray tank.  I have a clear section to watch for the last clear flush before doing the gray.

[Free2Roam]

 

Same here. We leave it connected to the trailer all the time. Dump, two refills/dumps, then the gray tank. I have a clear section to watch for the last clear flush before doing the gray.

 

Mike,  when you refill the black tank for your extra rinses, how full do you fill it?

 

Also, when you dump before storing (between trips), do you fill it with water/chemicals/magic positions?

 

We’ve got 1 trip under our belt and so many questions. -Angela

[STEVEnBETTY]

Mike and Carol wrote:

Same here. We leave it connected to the trailer all the time. Dump, two refills/dumps, then the gray tank. I have a clear section to watch for the last clear flush before doing the gray.

Mike, when you refill the black tank for your extra rinses, how full do you fill it? Also, when you dump before storing (between trips), do you fill it with water/chemicals/magic positions? We’ve got 1 trip under our belt and so many questions. -Angela

Not Mike, but the method that works best for me; When we go to dump, if the tanks are not "full" we add more water, the key is sufficient water for a good flush, then when you use the back flush feature I close the black tank valve and fill to approximately 3/4 then drain until it runs clear, if I feel it needs more I do it again, experiment, see what works for you. I don't use chemicals in the tank, if you use enough water to clean it, it doesn't smell.

[donthompson]

Headed to Hohenwald to have the Nature's Head composting toilet installed. Plan to empty the black tank the last time Tuesday morning at Fall Hollow Campground!

[Mike and Carol]

Mike and Carol wrote:

Same here. We leave it connected to the trailer all the time. Dump, two refills/dumps, then the gray tank. I have a clear section to watch for the last clear flush before doing the gray.

Mike, when you refill the black tank for your extra rinses, how full do you fill it? Also, when you dump before storing (between trips), do you fill it with water/chemicals/magic positions? We’ve got 1 trip under our belt and so many questions. -Angela

We usually fill it to 80% for the extra rinses. I’m outside and Carol is inside watching the level readout. She tells me when it hits 80% and then I pull.  I just leave the water running while it’s draining, then do it again.

 

We drop in a detergent pod and a little Calgon water softener with some water after we dump. If we’re putting it away I also add some Happy Camper powder and a couple of gallons of water in both the black and gray tanks.

 

Mike

[Free2Roam]

 

Not Mike, but the method that works best for me; When we go to dump, if the tanks are not “full” we add more water, the key is sufficient water for a good flush, then when you use the back flush feature I close the black tank valve and fill to approximately 3/4 then drain until it runs clear, if I feel it needs more I do it again, experiment, see what works for you. I don’t use chemicals in the tank, if you use enough water to clean it, it doesn’t smell.

 

STEVEnBETTY,

 

Thank you for sharing your method.  I greatly appreciate all info! This is all so new to me and of everything involved, the black tank and its care is what freaks me out the most. I have this fear of "doing it wrong" ????  -Angela

 

 

[Free2Roam]

 

 

 

We usually fill it to 80% for the extra rinses. I’m outside and Carol is inside watching the level readout. She tells me when it hits 80% and then I pull. I just leave the water running while it’s draining, then do it again. We drop in a detergent pod and a little Calgon water softener with some water after we dump. If we’re putting it away I also add some Happy Camper powder and a couple of gallons of water in both the black and gray tanks. Mike

 

We filled it about 20% full on our flushes (did 3). Wasn't sure how much to fill. We had only used it about a day and a half. When you are "leaving the water running while draining", are you leaving the valve under the dinette seat open too or do you mean you close the valve and let it fill back up while draining?

 

Also, question for anyone, we have the macerator and I was wondering if you are supposed to turn it on and then pull the black tank lever or pull first and then turn it on. I also assumed we leave the macerator going for the gray tank too.  -Angela