Which portable black water cart do you have

[Trainman]

Well like they say, don't buy it till you have missed it twice, we have missed it three times now, so we need to purchase one. From what I see on Amazon I like the Camco Rhino ones, mainly because they look like they can do the job and the wheels are larger, they should pull better to the dump station behind the truck. Just let me know what works for you and why, I'm not totally sold on any particular one at this time. 

 

trainman

[topgun2]

Trainman -

A number of years ago I purchased a fairly large one of these puppies and found that while it held a bunch of "stuff", it was difficult to handle - (read that - it was heavier than sh**).  So, I sold it and got a smaller one.  I don't remember the exact size, but, it is small enough that in the event that there is no dump in the area, I can simply wheel it into a regular toilet or pit toilet, lift it onto the commode and dump it there.  Yes, I might have to make more than one trip but the smaller size is much more flexible with regards to where I can get it emptied.

Bill

[Landrover]

I also like the rhino. My question would be size, Ollie has an 18 gal back tank. Would a 21 gal be a good size. But still small. I don’t think anyone would go to the 18 gal back tank capacity before dumping. But the extra 2-3 gals would be for quick rinse and anything left in the black piping?

[Trainman]

15 hours ago, Landrover said:

I also like the rhino. My question would be size, Ollie has an 18 gal back tank. Would a 21 gal be a good size. But still small. I don’t think anyone would go to the 18 gal back tank capacity before dumping. But the extra 2-3 gals would be for quick rinse and anything left in the black piping?

That's what I was thinking, 21 gal. Rhino. I took the trailer to the dump station when the gauge read 80%, I felt I was pushing it at that level. You never know when you might have a run on the black tank, right.

trainman

[Mainiac]

My question, if your black tank is larger than your tote, are you subject to overflow? An overflow would mess up the campsite, and make storage and cleanup of the tote tedious. How do you know when the tote is almost full? Would it gush out a vent? It would be nice if they had some kind of gauge.

[BackofBeyond]

I realize this is about black water - but I don't have black water, just grey. On our last extended trip we periodically stayed several days in one spot - in a real organized campground - and I simple used a 5 gal bucket to transfer grey water to the dump location. A little work, but turned out fine. I imagine I'll look for something small - no more than 20 gal - and mount it on the rear, under my bike mount. But then maybe not.

RB

[Mike and Carol]

We don’t use a tote, but if we did it would have a larger capacity than the black tank, I’d go with at least 21 gallons. If you go smaller, say 15 gallons, and you’re trying to put 16 or 17 gallons of stuff in your tote I would imagine once  the tote was full everything would stop and you’d be left with a hose full of stuff and no elegant way to disconnect from the tote without a mess.  Mike

[topgun2]

For my "smaller" tank that I described above I got one of these:

Waste tank level indicator

As long as I watch the indicator I don't worry about overfilling the tank.

Bill

[Townesw]

Disregard 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Townesw

[Landrover]

I think the 21gal size will work ok. The next size is 28gal too big to lug around.  The best way to know will be a dry run with filling the black tank with plain water. And monitor that way if over filled no nasty mess just water.

[Trainman]

I went with the 21 gal. Rhino. Will probably dump our black water tank when it gets to 75-80 % full. One problem I have is I will add around 4 gals. of water to the black tank when I empty it, plus the orange pill, I've always done this as I think a solution in the black tank is needed for proper waste flow and waste management in the tank to start with. This now puts my 18.5 gal. black tank at 14.5 gals. reserve with the 4 gals. I have added to start with. I now can only get around 4 days use of the black tank before I have to dump it. All being said, it's just part of camping, this poses no problem for us. 

trainman

[Landrover]

Trainman let me know how the 21gal works out for you. Let’s hope it’s large enough 😳🤢

[Trainman]

Hopefully we won't need it that much, our camping style is more on the full hookup type of camping, we just purchased it for those campgrounds that have no sewer hookups and we will be staying there 4 plus days or so. I've only had to break camp twice in the last 3 years for dumping needs, so our use will be very little.   

trainman

[Patriot]

Ok gents as a brand newbie here to OTT and to the Camco honey tote I just have to ask. Those that carry  the tote where do you store this honey hauler during travels? 

Edited February 4, 2020 by Patriot

[topgun2]

Mine is in the bed of the truck usually propped up on its side.  I've never had one hint of a leak - but - I really don't use it very often either.

Bill

[Trainman]

1 hour ago, Patriot said:

Ok gents as a brand newbie here to OTT and to the Camco honey tote I just have to ask. Those that carry  the tote where do you store this honey hauler during travels? 

Will carry ours in the pickup bed, but may in the future carry ours on a rack that fits into the rear Oliver's rear bumper bicycle rack. Northern Tool has an aluminum rack for $100, it does go on sale at times. As I said above we went with the Camco 21 gal. unit, I tried to pick one that would pull behind the truck to the dump station that looked the strongest and made and larger wheels.  Note here that one person in the reviews had a wheel come off, the snap on cap on the axle came off and then the wheel. Camco did replace his tote and on his new one he drilled a hole in the axle and put carter pins with washes to prevent this from happing again. I will do mine before our first trip with it just to be safe. It seems like everything I buy I have to modify it to make it better them the factory did, they all cut corners to save money.

trainman

[DavidS]

3 hours ago, Patriot said:

Those that carry  the tote where do you store this honey hauler during travels? 

We have a 12 gallon tote that we carry in the storage basket on the tongue, along with fresh water containers. We use the tote to offload grey water, and the fresh water to refill the water supply. We never use the tote for black water. 

[Patriot]

1 hour ago, DavidS said:

We have a 12 gallon tote that we carry in the storage basket on the tongue, along with fresh water containers. We use the tote to offload grey water, and the fresh water to refill the water supply. We never use the tote for black water. 

Thanks David, man this photo is awesome! 

[Mike and Carol]

David, where did you take that picture?  Looks like somewhere I need to go!  Mike

[DavidS]

2 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

David, where did you take that picture?  Looks like somewhere I need to go!  Mike

The picture is from a BLM campground called Goose Island, near Moab. The campsite is right on the Colorado River. More pictures and info in this earlier thread. 

Edited February 5, 2020 by DavidS

[Patriot]

On 2/4/2020 at 7:56 PM, DavidS said:

The picture is from a BLM campground called Goose Island, near Moab. The campsite is right on the Colorado River. More pictures and info in this earlier thread. 

DavidS, what is the item/box mounted just below your Ollie front graphic and just above the dog house where the tubs join? Care to share?

Edited February 6, 2020 by Patriot

[DavidS]

59 minutes ago, Patriot said:

DavidS, what is the item/box mounted just below your Ollie front graphic and just above the dog house where the tubs join? Care to share?

That is a level. I followed @John E Davies's excellent installation instructions HERE. I positioned it so that I can see it in the tow vehicle's rear view mirror. With curved levelers under the wheels, it is really easy to level! 

[Patriot]

21 hours ago, DavidS said:

That is a level. I followed @John E Davies's excellent installation instructions HERE. I positioned it so that I can see it in the tow vehicle's rear view mirror. With curved levelers under the wheels, it is really easy to level! 

Thank you! I will view the link.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Patriot

[hobo]

16 hours ago, Patriot said:

Thank you! I will view the link.

I use the same level on my trailer but I placed it on the front of my storage basket.  It shows up very clearly in my rearview backup camera and I didn't have to mess with trying to attach it to the trailer hull.

[jo79RI]

You don't have a black water tank?  I am guessing you have the compost toilet?