RVing in Central America

[Rolling_Rolling]

Hi There all your Rvers

I wanted to put a post on here about going south with your RV.

When we started to plan our trip to Central America I found little information on here with the exception of Mexico. Now that we have nearly completed our trip and covered 8 countries in Cental America, we would like to share our experience with you.

If amyone out there is thinking of Rving down here please feel free to ask us a question.

The main thing once you leave Mexico and head south is your vehicle , we stored our large 5th wheel and purchased a Lance truck camper soley for this trip as a small RV is needed down here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Julea & Alan

[tony_lee]

A more "disposable" vehicle would be a great option, if major repairs were needed.

Because we use each of our vehicles for several months at a time over several years, we have "saved" the purchase price a couple of times over compared to the costs of renting an equivalent vehicle, so to my way of thinking, they have become disposable simply because we have obtained good value out of them. They don't owe us a cent.

The Iveco in Argentina we bought for $3000 and used it for 6 months before giving it away. Cost to rent an equivalent vehicle even long term would have been about $100 a day including insurance, so that purchase repaid itself 6 times over.

So a disposable philosophy is not a bad idea, certainly if you buy the vehicle in the country it broke down in. Problem south of the border in some countries anyway, is they are very particular about foreigners adding to the huge number of abandoned vehicles littering the streets,so they insist you don't leave the country unless you take the heap of junk with you.

Just needs a bit of care to make sure you break down in the right country. Argentina and Uruguay are good.

Wondering if we need our tow car

Might pay to check the rules on all border crossings to see if two vehicles are allowed, whether you would have to drive them across separately etc etc.

[Dyngbld]

The main thing once you leave Mexico and head south is your vehicle , we stored our large 5th wheel and purchased a Lance truck camper soley for this trip as a small RV is needed down here.

Storing of the coach for us would not be a problem I haven't purchased it yet. 🙂 Still it would not be an issue. I never gave a thought to getting a truck camper just for a southern trip. I like it. Less to worry about, small foot print, less to get damaged on some of the less paved roads. I was in Guatemala and Belize a couple of years ago, and some of the "roads" we had to travel on, well I was glad it was not my vehicle we were driving. A more "disposable" vehicle would be a great option, if major repairs were needed. I would love to do a tour of South and Central America, We may have to plan for that in the future.

[Onedriver]

We are planning a trip from Oregon to Panama this fall in our Coach House 272 Platinum XL. Planning for about a 7 month trip. Wondering if we need our tow car or just electric bicycles and kayaks. Rather not tow car, but your comments would be appreciated. Spent 3 months in Mexico last winter, loved it, but never visited Central America. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks, Mo & Donna

[Onedriver]

Rolling Rolling wrote:
Hi There all your Rvers

I wanted to put a post on here about going south with your RV.

When we started to plan our trip to Central America I found little information on here with the exception of Mexico. Now that we have nearly completed our trip and covered 8 countries in Cental America, we would like to share our experience with you.

If amyone out there is thinking of Rving down here please feel free to ask us a question.

The main thing once you leave Mexico and head south is your vehicle , we stored our large 5th wheel and purchased a Lance truck camper soley for this trip as a small RV is needed down here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Julea & Alan

[Onedriver]

Rolling Rolling wrote:
Hi There all your Rvers

I wanted to put a post on here about going south with your RV.

When we started to plan our trip to Central America I found little information on here with the exception of Mexico. Now that we have nearly completed our trip and covered 8 countries in Cental America, we would like to share our experience with you.

If amyone out there is thinking of Rving down here please feel free to ask us a question.

The main thing once you leave Mexico and head south is your vehicle , we stored our large 5th wheel and purchased a Lance truck camper soley for this trip as a small RV is needed down here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Julea & Alan

[briansue]

Tony,

Not sure how you use your Sewer Solution but your experience seems to be considerably different than ours. We have been using one for over 7 years now and have a completely different take on it than you do. Perhaps you are not using yours properly. I am not sure of the math formula (there is one) but shooting water through a 1/8" jet into a 3/4" drain hose means it takes about 10% (relative to the black) or less of flush water to dump the black in our tank - I have measure this many times at different pressures over the years and no way do we use anywhere near the amount of water you claim to use. We have been in any number of outback areas with very limited water and have always been able to dump with little or no problem. I also did state that we do use bleach - and I have also dunked our hose in a 5 gallon bucket from time to time. What the smooth lined hose does - or I should say doesn't do - is not collect the solids that build up in those grooves and ridges in the slinky hose. We also rinse our black tank with fresh water and then dump again. We employ a number of other procedures to do all we can to keep our system clean that are not possible with the Slinky. We have never ever had to use chemicals or other things in either our black or gray tanks to fight odors etc. in 8 years of fulltiming. That is what I mean by clean. There is no way any sewer system is going to be drinking water safe and I never said it would be. But we do try to reduce the opportunities for disease to breed in our system. Two people in any size RV will probably have a similar amount of black water to dump unless they spend a lot of time behind bushes. It is not the size of the RV but how much waste the occupants generate.

[tony_lee]

tony lee said "they work but they do double the amount of waste"


Briansue said Not sure what this means?

Simple. We are talking about disposal of black water in countries that don't cater for monster RVs with 100 gallon black tanks so if you use a sewer solution to empty a full tank, you are going to have to dispose of 200 gallons of contaminated water rather than just 100 gallons. Less waste and less fresh water wasted the better and of all the possibilities mentioned, a sewer solution is by far the worst in all respects.

The Sewer Solution is certainly not totally sanitary but it is a great deal cleaner than the slinky - no matter how much rinsing you do.

Not really. From a health risk point of view, unless you soak everything in a strong bleach solution, it must be regarded as contaminated and stored away from the rest of your stuff. Guess the test is to fill a bucket with clean potable water, soak your disposal system in it for an hour and ask yourself whether the water is safe to drink. If the answer is no, your equipment is not clean.

[tony_lee]

"they work but they do double the amount of waste"


Not sure what this means?

Simple. We are talking about disposal of black water in countries that don't cater for monster RVs with 100 gallon black tanks so if you use a sewer solution to empty a full tank, you are going to have to dispose of 200 gallons of contaminated water rather than just 100 gallons. Less waste and less fresh water wasted the better and of all the possibilities mentioned, a sewer solution is by far the worst in all respects.

[briansue]

they work but they do double the amount of waste

Not sure what this means?

We use water to force the waste down the hose? Is that waste? If we use something like what most RVers use - what we refer to as the "stinky slinky" we either put it back filthy as a breeding ground for disease or we try to rinse it clean and sanitary which is impossible to do with almost any amount of water. The Sewer Solution is certainly not totally sanitary but it is a great deal cleaner than the slinky - no matter how much rinsing you do. So you either use some water or you put filth in your living quarters. We find the SS does not use as much water as you might think and we almost always pump from our fresh water tank when in Mexico. With a little creativity it is not that much of a problem to store lengths of PVC on/in any rig - we would never buy 100' of hose when PVC is always available anywhere - and you can cut it to length to fit anywhere - 1" of pipe can be tied to the side or roof if space is really that tight.

I have tried to find a simple explanation of Venturi jet propulsion and it is to complicated for me. Simply put - if you have a 1/2" pipe at 15psi feeding a 1/8" jet you get increased velocity. The SS uses this principle so as the water jets through the orifice it increases speed and the waste dropping down from the black tank is drawn down at increasing speed and forced down the 3/4" drain hose. The amount of water going through the 1/8" jet is greatly reduced and once the waste is completely evacuated the jet sends clean water down the smooth surface 3/4" hose to rinse it clean - a tiny bit of Clorox added will sanitize the entire hose. We all have different opinions of what "clean" means.

Since the macerator and other methods of sewage removal were brought up I threw in the SS. Back in the old days we pooped in a plastic bag and put it in a garbage can - just as we do with our dog poop these days. If you really want to KISS you can find a bush.

[tony_lee]

KISS is what to aim for. No Camping World, no Good Sam and sometimes huge official obstacles (or poor delivery infrastructure) in getting parts in from other countries.

Sewer solution?? Yes, of course they work but they do double the amount of waste you have to get rid of and do require a pretty reasonable water supply and of course somewhere to put the other end of the hose and those three requirements are rarely obtainable at the same time. Most overlanders are very restricted for storage room and a sewer solution with 100' of delivery hose isn't going to fit anywhere very well.

[briansue]

If you are thinking macerator you might look into . . . http://valterra.com/product-category/rv-products/aftermarket/sewer-sanitation/sewersolution-sewer-sanitation/ . . . The Sewer Solution. Looks like Valterra took over marketing for them. No moving parts. Water jet busts up solids. We have been using one fulltime for 7 years. Requires water pressure - when pressure is low (in Mexico) I use our pump. Can pump uphill and over distances. Hose and connections stay clean if used properly. There is a learning curve. To pump long distances we use 1" PVC pipe (thin wall) and connectors - stored in our basement or under the RV. OK to use non-potable water supply.


Product Description

The All-In-One AFFORDABLE Macerator System (1/3 the price of electric macerator systems plus no installation cost!)

PULVERIZES: Water powered high velocity jet nozzle uses Shear Force to pulverize waste and toilet tissue

PUMPS: Strong enough to pump up to 100 ft. or even 3 feet uphill. Patented system uses the “Venturi Principal” with as little as 15 psi.

CLEANS: Swivel jet nozzle cleans the whole system after dumping.

Cleans both upstream (valve/pipe/tank) and downstream (drain hose)

* Includes 10? of 3/4? smooth interior and non-kinking drain hose

* Easy to store in compact 14? spool

* Requires fresh water connection for dumping

[keelhauler1]

I use a macerator pump, it just connects to standard 4" sewer dump. You can connect a 100', 5/8" garden hose and pump into pit toilets or other authorized places.
Camping world sells lots of different configurations. Permanent or portable.
See Flojet

[tony_lee]

I thought cassette toilets, according to their websites, could just be dumped in a toilet.

Yes and no.
No if the RVer is a heavy user of formaldehyde-type chemicals and you are dumping it in any sort of long-drop, pit, environmental or standard septic system.
Yes, if you are smart and don't use any chemicals at all and there is noone sitting in the adjacent stall.

[coloradotallman]

Back to the original discussion....RV'ing to at least Panama.
A better forum seems to be ExpeditionPortal.com, check out the "in progress adventures" under the Forum section. Others currently traveling are Vango.be, DeskToGlory.Com and SongOfTheRoad.Com and one of the best sites for links at SeventeenBySix.Wordpress.com. Three are somewhere in or near Guatemala and the last in South America.