Re: [A/S] Black water portable tank?

["Jim Dunmyer" <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dana,
 If you don't want to go with the composting toilet, you CAN use a blue tote
tank. Get one that's at least as large as your trailer's black tank,
probably 30 gallons. Bear in mind that it'll weigh about 250# when full, so
you'll need some sort of ramps to get it into your P/U truck for hauling.

If you want to DIY, you can install something like a 55-gallon drum buried
near your trailer, with a trench running out laterally. Install a length or
2 of leach field pipe (4" PVC with largish holes on one side) laid in
stone/gravel. You should have an open-ended 'Tee' fitting inside the drum
like is in a regular septic tank, to keep solids from flowing out into your
leach field. The 'Tee' is vertical, with an opening on the top and bottom,
with the side fitting connected to your leach field. The top opening on the
'Tee' should be extended out the top of the drum, with a 10' length of PVC
sticking straight up into the air. This is necessary to vent the system; it
probably won't work at all well if you don't. Besides, you don't want the
surge from dumping to overflow into your leach field. (see below)

If your ground is sandy, this will work very well and will cost not much
more than the load of stone. It can all be installed with no more than a
shovel, so nosey neighbors don't need to know. Naturally, you'll make sure
that everything is on grade. (slight downhill slope, etc.)

Note that if you do this, you will want to keep your black tank drain valve
CLOSED until the tank is 1/2 full or more, then dump it in one fell swoop.
Don't be too miserly with water when using the toilet, or you'll have an
unpleasant situation on your hands. Don't ask me how I know this.

Two Honda e2000i generators can be coupled together and will run an A/C,
while allowing use of just one if you don't need the cooling. If you plan on
battery charging with a generator, be sure to get an Inteli-Power converter,
as the standard one won't work at all well, especially with the generator.
The UniVolt, et. al. require many hours to charge a battery that's "low",
where the I-P with Charge Wizard (or similar) will give you an 80% charge
quite quickly. You can probably get by with 2-3 hours/day of runtime, with
the occassional 10-hour run to get the batteries topped off.

Hauling water is easy also. Get a plastic 55-gallon drum, either new or from
some sort of food application, and buy a new ShurFlo pump from Camping
World. Drop the suction line into the drum and connect the output directly
to your trailer's city water input, no need to go through the on-board tank
at all. (This may or may not be practical in your particular situation, but
will work for some people.) You can also buy sprayer tanks from people like
Northern Tool (http://www.northerntool.com) or farm supply places. We use a
25-gallon one for dry camping, but we're always within a couple hundred
yards from a water source. These tanks come in sizes up to 1000 gallons or
maybe more.

Some folks are very frugal with both water and waste, and claim to be able
to dry camp forever. FWIW: we use almost exactly 15 gallons of water/day for
the 2 of us. That's showers and dish washing. Our 30-gallon black tank is
good for 7 days.

                                                               <<Jim>>