Just towed. ~2200 miles and had a blast. Need a few things, hope you can help me out.I finally fully understand my coupler lock. I need a pin, or better yet a little lock to secure it. Any tips?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?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 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?We took 5 of us for 8 days to Yellowstone and the Tetons and had a great time.

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.

Back from first long trip and need a couple things

rvshrinker
Explorer III
Jul 08, 2018
2112 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.
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

the outlet itself was probably lower, but it required an elbow (which I have), and then the way the screw were aligned, it was only snug when the elbow was pointing straight up. So the effluent had to be high enough to get into the part of the tube pointing straight up, then into the elbow, then into the outlet. With a well aligned support/cradle, the force of the effluent might have been enough but as it was, I walked it out repeatedly (five people showering daily means lots of grey water).
rbpru
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2018
I bought one of those hose bridges to provide the proper slant to the dump pipe, it was one of those things you cannot live without. I have never use it in four years of cross county camping.

We started with full hook up campgrounds but always seem to have the whiff of sewer gas from one of the campsites in the park. Now we usually just stay at State or National parks with just electricity and at times water. It opened up a lot more camping options .

Even with full hooks ups we rarely connect the sewer line, we dump when we leave. We do that so we have a fair amount of black water in the tank to avoid the dreaded poop pile. So too the gray water so we can flush the black water from the slinky, then rinse it. I prefer to do this at a dump station rather than at the campsite. Rinsing the slinky splashed water all over.

As far as winter tank drainage is concerned, we dump the black and gray water before storage and drain the fresh tank. What little water remains is not enough to damage the tanks when it freezes. Plus, it picks up the excess antifreeze when we winterize the fresh water lines and drains.

In the spring we do the standard fresh water spring bleaching. The hot water tank drains from the bottom, leaving little water. After bleaching the fresh water lines we open the bypass. Our hot water is very very hot, so sanitizing it is not necessary for us.

Good luck
wnjj
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2018
2112 wrote:
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.

Bolts work in a pinch but these pins are much easier and more secure. https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Pins-and-Clips/Redline/14-212TR.html
rbpru
Explorer II
Jul 08, 2018
We use on of the hitch pins shown above. I is simple and effective plus I do not drop the nut into the grass. :)
seaeagle2
Explorer
Jul 09, 2018
I hate extra keys so I use the Bolt locks for the coupler and the receiver and I have a pad lock too.
rvshrinker
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2018
Oh, and I discovered I wasn’t using the breakaway trailer brake lanyard correctly. :o

Now have a solid carabiner attached and it hooked up to my TV frame, as I’m supposed to.

still torn on that sewer line brace. I’m not going to invest in a macerator at this point.

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Back from first long trip and need a couple things

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