Our new Trailer 1975 Scamper

Sorry - can't advise you on the pump, but your camper is awesome! I like it - very retro.

I like the camper, it's really cool looking.
As far as the pump you can buy a pump from any RV dealer or camping world. Camping World pump

As far as use you just wire the pump up to 12 volts with a switch. when you get to your campsite you turn on the switch. the pump will run for a minute and pressurize all the water lines and then it will automatically turn off. When someone opens the faucet in the sink the pump will sense the drop in water pressure and turn back on again. When the faucet is closed the pump will turn off again.

If you're leaving camp you should turn off the switch in case a line bursts it won't pump the contents of the tank into the trailer without you around to hear it running.

As far as the destroyed fitting it could be one of a few things. If the fitting is above the tank it could be a gravity fill port to fill the tank with a garden hose.

If the fitting looks threaded (think garden hose thread) it is likely for a city water hookup that will provide pressurized water into the trailer without running the pump.

If the fitting is down low it is likely a drain for the tank when you are done camping.

You have done a lot of work to remodel a great little trailer. You have gone this far, why not just go to camping world and buy a water pump. Being conserative and living in your trailer in a primative manner just dosent make sense. Creature comforts like having running water at night to use the john crapper just makes sense to me. Just MHO.

Zacvv wrote:
Would i need to turn the switch on evertime i need water?

No, even the air-over-water system used the switch only to send power to the pump and the pump senses drop in pressure.
If you can post a picture of the pump and tank, it would help.

The exterior connection may have been a supply line for park hookup. This would have been an easy way to plumb the water supply without pressurizing the tank.

It sounds like you have an on-demand system and a pump replacement is the cure. A picture or identifying name/number will clear that up. Have you tried to turn the pump on?

Would i need to turn the switch on evertime i need water?

No this is a small plastic tank looks stock i think. SO a sureflow water pump would be sweet...

Hi,

Cool looking trailer. Remember back in the 70's, sometimes the water tank was made of steel, and there is a air compressor. That will pressurize the tank, and then water comes out of the faucets. If you have a plastic tank, then it would be connected to a water pump that has a built in pressure switch, and will run just like the systems in use today.

If you need to replace the steel tank with a plastic one, you might find one here. Tank-Depot.com Then you will require a demand type water pump. Look for a SureFlo rated around 2.2 - 2.7 gallons per minute.

If you "Plan" on using the existing steel tank, first check out the tank, and make sure it is not full of rust, (or leaking water or air) before investing the time and money to replace a air compressor or something.

Also you will typically have a factory installed "Converter". Modern RV's since about 1990 have electronic converter that in reality is a battery charger, and can accept anything from about 95 volts to around 135 volts, and will properly charge the battery at 13.8 volts, then drop back to a holding voltage around 13.2 volts.

Your converter will have two circuits. One might be a 40 amp circuit that is running from a fixed winding transformer, so with 120 volts in, you might get 13 volts out, and higher input means even higher output, and more frequent light bulbs overheating and burning out. 105 volts in means dim lights. The second circuit might be 5 or 7.5 amps (pretty small number) that is a dedicated battery charger coil. Also poorly regulated, it is a small coil to limit the amount of water it will boil out of the coach battery once it is full. However it is a VERY slow charger, and back in the 80's it was common to use a portable battery charger if recharging from a generator to speed up the process to less than 8 hours.

Have fun camping!

Fred.

love vintage... congrats

Not that im aware of... It has a pump.
It is very strange the little tank has a T join just outside the outlet that had one hose going to the pump the other went to an old destroyed valve on the outside. Im thinking that this used to be a way to empty out the tank when not in use.
It seemed like it had been leaking so this outside valve been destroyed by sun and age is making me think it was just this.

Zacvv wrote:
Thanks for the advice how are you using the small tanks for gravity feed? Up high in the cabinets? Just a valve and a hose?

I just really dont wana screw around with the water tank we have to take water to the sink to wash up and what not.

Where should i buy one? Are they automatic when the tap turns on?

Most folks would laugh- I keep a half-dozen of these filled with water. One fits nicely on a shelf above my dinette, and when I stick one up there I jam a piece of tubing on it that goes to a bracket above the sink. At that end there's a "faucet" consisting of a shutoff from an old water jug. Works like a dream!

Per buying a replacement electric pump: any RV place would have them. But I have to ask:

Doesn't your trailer have a "hand pump" feature right there at the sink? Most from that era do/did (my own present trailer is a 1978, so I know whereof I speak). Hope yours does, because even though you'll only get a couple of ounces a stroke, they work pretty well and without any electric input at all.