BIG Waste Water Tote Wanted

You could always fashion this concept into a portable waste tote:

How often are you expecting to dump your black tank? We've never filled ours up in over 10 years.

fred42 wrote:
dcmac214,
I wanted you to see this since I think you have a pickup truck tow vehicle.
First, be warned that my projects are only offered for amusement value or for someone to extract a small bit of useful information. I would not want anyone to do what I do without careful research and perhaps therapy. I have a history of going crazy with RV projects without any regard to cost effectiveness or future utility. Sadly, I have too much time on my hands and just enjoy doing this kind of design and construction work.
95 Gallon Tote Tank
Homemade waste pump and sewer hose support

I like that setup! It's not along the line of what I was originally thinking but with a few minor modifications it would work for us.

I thought about this when researching buying and customizing an enclosed cargo trailer that would be towed behind the motorhome I'm planning to get. This is intended for boondocking, where I would locate a large (100-300 gallon) tank between the axles of the trailer and have a Jabsco inline waste evac pump (similar to a macerator pump, but doesn't grind up the waste, and uses a diaphragm method, so it can be run dry without issue) for dumping the tank.

The advantage of this is that with the weight between the axles, the trailer's stability was fine regardless of how full the tank was. With a vent on the roof, the tank wouldn't cause any odor issues in the cargo trailer, allowing the trailer to still be used for sleeping in case of emergency.

However, the disadvantage I encountered is weight. A 200 gallon tank is a ton of sewage.

My compromise (and this trailer is slated to be worked on after I get a decent motorhome) would be specific tie-downs or ramps so I can roll 2-4 Barker 42 gallon totes into the trailer. The advantage of this is that when that much waste capacity isn't needed, the totes can stay at home, and if I can't really move the trailer, I can roll the totes around.

We have the Barker 42 gallon tote which is the largest you can get I believe. Unless we stay for more than a week or have a lot of people using the toilet we don't need to dump the black tank until we leave. The grey tanks are another story. My wife uses water in the sinks and shower like she has her own private lagoon out back.:(

We keep our 5th wheel on our lot year round with only water and electricity. My hubby will spend a couple hours dumping our huge tanks with our current tote. We will be getting the 42 gallon tote before the summer. Then he will only have three trips instead of six or more. There is no way we are going to unhook everything, put stuff away, pull slides in, etc., just to dump the tanks.

fred42 wrote:
dcmac214,

I wanted you to see this since I think you have a pickup truck tow vehicle.

First, be warned that my projects are only offered for amusement value or for someone to extract a small bit of useful information. I would not want anyone to do what I do without careful research and perhaps therapy. I have a history of going crazy with RV projects without any regard to cost effectiveness or future utility. Sadly, I have too much time on my hands and just enjoy doing this kind of design and construction work.

95 Gallon Tote Tank

Homemade waste pump and sewer hose support

Are you related to "Tim the Tool Man Taylor?" LOL

dcmac214,

I wanted you to see this since I think you have a pickup truck tow vehicle.

First, be warned that my projects are only offered for amusement value or for someone to extract a small bit of useful information. I would not want anyone to do what I do without careful research and perhaps therapy. I have a history of going crazy with RV projects without any regard to cost effectiveness or future utility. Sadly, I have too much time on my hands and just enjoy doing this kind of design and construction work.

95 Gallon Tote Tank

Homemade waste pump and sewer hose support

When pumping with a macerator to truck setup the stinky hose does not drain. You have to remove from macerator and hold over head to drain to elevated tank. You can get doused with sludge if not careful.

dcmac214 wrote:

mowermech wrote:

dcmac214 wrote:
Thanks all.
Fully aware of the weight, nightly used to haul 3 full 55g drums around ranch to water seedlings. No thought about using what muscle I have to drag it around, tow with pickup only. The (city) campgrounds we repeatedly go to have water & electric, but only a community dump station. Looking for easier way to dump than drag the 5er up every other day.

Not trying to be rude, crude, and harsh, but IMO if you have to dump the tanks every other day you and your family need to learn how to conserve water!
What would you do if you went camping in one of the Forest Service campgrounds or state parks that has no water hookups and no dump station, and the nearest dump station is anywhere from 10 to 40 miles away?

Bwaha! Easy to say if you're not camping with six teens & tweens. If we didn't run the kids thru the shower daily the trailer would smell worse than a pig barn!
We like our comforts and at minimum insist on at-site electricity and running water. The trailer's fully capable of dry camping but that's not something we care to do.

I was thinking the exact same thing. No way would my gang (especially the women!) EVER want to do without at least water and electricity hookup at the site, as well as taking a shower in the camper every day. And, with 4 people taking a shower at least once a day, yes, I'm hauling off grey water at least every other day if we don't have a sewer hookup. Thats just how it is for us.

We use a 25 gallon Barker 4 wheel tote tank, when camping at places we know we won't have a sewer hookup at our site. I did the pneumatic wheel upgrade on it many years ago as well. I do sometimes wish we had the larger tank, as I can only empty out about 70% or so of our grey tank at once. However, any bigger and we couldn't stow it quite as easily as we can now, so the 25 gallon tote will have to do.

Like already said, any bigger than 42 gallons (the biggest Barker makes), and you'd have a mess of a time moving that much weight around. Even if it was 4 wheels, just moving that much weight from your sewer outlet over to your vehicle to tow it, and maneuvering it into position at a dump station would NOT be fun with anything over 42 gallons.

Yep, if you need to carry off more than 42 gallons at a time, its time to get a collapsible tank you put in your pickup bed, and use a pump to fill it.