Back from first long trip and need a couple things

Master lock makes a pin type lock that I picked up at Walmart. Do not ever tow without something in that little hole to secure the latch.

There are plastic ones and metal ones. Walmart again has those although they may not have the metal ones. A trailer supply store like Camping World will have them or look on line at a site like Etrailer.

It is said to not attach the breakaway switch cable to the hitch itself as the hitch could possibly fall off of the vehicle in a failure situation. That said there is no good spot on my truck to hook it to other than a hole on the receiver on the truck. That's where I hook mine. I put a carabiner through the loop on the cable and I use that to attach it.


Drain the tank is all I do for storing between trips. Chlorine is your friend in this situation. I sanitize my fresh tank in the spring and then I don't worry about it any more other than draining it. Same with the water heater. drain it. Just don't forget to refill it before you try to use it again.

do yourself a favor, trash the stinky slinky, get either a sewer solution or macerator pump instead. much cleaner/easier/etc.
fill the water tank with chlorinated water to begin with and no problem. add a small amount of chlorine if needed.
bumpy

I use a coupler lock similar to this when towing to ensure the coupler latch doesn't disengage while towing and a coupler lock like this when the trailer is parked on a campsite.

An alternative to using a stinky slinky and support is a waste macerator which will pump the waste even when there is a negative slope.

In theory the breakaway chains should be connected to the TV itself but like most others I simply snap them on to the hitch bracket which has holes in it for just that purpose. The key is to make sure the coupler is correctly latched to the hitch ball in the first place, in which case a total breakaway is highly unlikely. Simply put, I've got better things to worry about. ;)

I sanitize the fresh water tank in the spring with a bit of chorine, then fill the tank for the season and don't empty it fully until I winterize. Any water we ingest I bring from home or if on a long trip simply buy it as we go along.

I use a long shank master lock thru the coupler to ensure it stays latched,and also to prevent someone to fool with it when we stop for fuel or to eat.

As far as the hose goes, as long as the outlet on the TT is say 6" or so or more above the CG sewer inlet, you can just dump as usual and then raise the hose up at your TT end a bit and "walk" it along the ground to get what's left in the hose out. Way faster and easier than setting up a hose support. We bought a Camco hose support in the very beginning but only used it a few times and haven't used it in years. Still have it in case a CG somewhere ever insists on using them. The majority of folks in CGs that I see don't use a sewer support.

We have two outlets on our TT and I regularly walk it to the 2nd one every time I dump and it can sometimes be full of effluent the entire length. Very easy to do. On the rare occasion that the CG sewer inlet is on the wrong side of a site , I end up needing to crawl partly under our TT so it won't drain back out. But you can buy a cap for the hose end if you want.

The sewer hose supports or ramps are simply a waste of time IMHO plus they take up valuable storage space. Some states or CGs require them to be used but I always see folks without them and no issues. They don't help the effluent flow any better.

An ordinary padlock will work on most couplers.

The sewer hose does not have to perfectly straight or sloped, with a fast dump, the stuff will follow OK, and when doing the final dump before leaving, lift the low spots to fully drain.

I disagree with Ken. I sanitized my fresh water tank before every trip and monthly when on a long one.

I bought a kit that included a coupler lock, receiver pin with lock and a ball with lock to leave inserted into the coupler so that nobody can disassembler the coupler to get around the locks. I paid about $25 for the set and all of the locks use the same key. It included 4 keys.

Couple of the places we camped had sewer dumps which were elevated out of the ground so that gravity wasn’t effective at draining the stinky slinky.

Was the dump inlet higher that your trailer outlet?

For the coupler I used a 3/16 X 3" bolt with a nylon lock nut. I would hand tighten the lock nut onto the bolt.

I used a carabiner to connect the breakaway cable to a bracket under my bumper

rvshrinker wrote:
I finally fully understand my coupler lock. I need a pin, or better yet a little lock to secure it. Any tips?

I have one of these Bolt padlocks. It is keyed to my truck ignition key so I don't have to carry yet another key.

rvshrinker wrote:
Couple of the places we camped had sewer dumps which were elevated out of the ground so that gravity wasn’t effective at draining the stinky slinky. Time to buy one of those whatchimacalits that guides and cradles/supports the sewer line to the dump. What is it called? Any things to look for?

I, also, am of the camp (pun, pun) that doesn't bother with those. After I dump (but before closing the valve since you need a vent) I lift the stinky slinky and walk it to the dump station. That completely empties it. Much easier and faster.

rvshrinker wrote:
The safety chains from my trailer cross and then hook onto my TV. There is a final wire from the trailer which is also supposed to provide a measure of last resort if the chains break. What do you attach that to, and what do you attach it with?

I use a large carabiner to hook that wire to a pair of holes in my truck's frame behind and to the left of the receiver. I don't hook to the receiver, itself, because of the vanishing small, but still real, risk of the receiver failing and falling off the truck.

rvshrinker wrote:
I was thinking about long term storage of water in the frest water tanks. Or even if mostly empty, say I drain it when I get home, but naturally there’s still some moisture in there. How do you prevent mold, or worse, listeria, from growing in there?

I use bleach (1/4 cup per 15 gallon capacity of the water tank for 4 hours) to disinfect the tank every spring, and if the trailer sits unused for more than 4 weeks. Otherwise, I trust the chlorine in the water to keep it clean. If you have well water, or another non-chlorinated water, you will need more aggressive treatment.