To Tote a Tote or not to Tote

I finally broke down and bo9ught one. We do a lot of state parks and few have sewer.

You can get a Barker 22 gallon on Amazon for $117 delivered.

Its a good unit. Some of the are really poorly made with inadequate tires.

We normally can go a full week without dumping, but for those situations where it doesn't work out, we carry a small 6-gallon Tote-n-Stor and a 7-gallon repurposed water jug. The Tote-n-Stor is normally used for black and/or grey waste, and the ex-water jug only for grey waste. One or two "dump runs" is usually enough to get us to our destination date. The two containers easily fit in one storage bin along with our waste hoses and fittings. If it was more of a problem for us, we would have a larger capacity tank of course, but this setup has worked well for us so far with minimal inconvenience.

General observation from campgrounds from Maine to Florida to Texas to California. Class A/ Class C rigs/folks seem to be able to pull in the slides and drive to the dump. Folks with 5ers and TT seem to be the ones using totes more often.

I have a 27 gallon Thetford. Wish I had bought a Barker Blue-Boy due to how dumping the Tote works.

Anything over 30-32 gallons is too much for most of us to move easily from the dump on the rig to the truck/ road. 27 gallon tote when full weighs about 230 lbs.

It takes three trips to the dump station to empty my 37 gallon black tank and my 37 gallon grey tank. If my rig wasn't such a pain to setup with no automatic levelers and chinese puzzle box packing with slides on both sides - it would be easier to take the TT to the dump than use the tote. A smaller tote than 25 gallons would require a fourth trip, and that would definitely be worth packing up and towing the rig to the dump station

I think a 4 wheel model is much easier to use than a 2 wheel model.

We end up using our tote about four to seven times a year. The hassle also forces me to spend $200-400 per year on campgrounds with sewer connections rather than ones without.

The COE campground closest to our doctors and grandkids is where we use it the most. There isn't a sewer connection CG with 50amp power which is critical for Texas summer temps (Apr 1 - Oct 31) closer than 40 miles.

If I could solve that issue - i.e. get the DW to change doctors, or daughter move - I'd get rid of the tote.

I have an older Thetford tote. While on a week long camping trip, I need to empty the gray tank multiple times and the black maybe once. I hook the tote to my bumper ball and tow it to the dump station.

The alternative is to break camp and drive your RV or tow your TT to the dump station when needed.

It gets me out of helping cleaning up after breakfast or dinner.

Get a Barker with pneumatic tires.