We just returned from THE best RV trip ever to Oregon. However, a problem 4 days into the trip threatened to put a serious dent in our plans...
Just before leaving Ainsworth State Park in the Columbia River Gorge, I went to dump the tanks and, lo and behold, I fell backwards when the Gray Tank T-Handle came out! A close inspection revealed that the end of the handle is threaded (female). I stuck it back in the 3/8" diameter hole and could feel the male end in there, but it was impossible to rethread these 2 together with no visual contact. NOW WHAT? I called local mobile RV repairs and they were backed up anywhere from 2 to 9 weeks! I called the local Camping World store in Wood Village (just east of Portland) and, of course, this time of year they are also backed up. I made the decision to continue to our next campground at Ft. Stevens State Park just outside of Astoria.
The Gray Tank is enclosed within another shell, through which the T-Handle passes through, which insulates the tank in cold weather. This hole is very tiny and you can't see into it, even with a flashlight, much less with the T-Handle in it. I made one last desperate attempt to not only "find" the male end, but to somehow get both ends threaded together by "feel" only. SUCCESS! How lucky! If that failed, I was going to drill a bigger hole in the tank enclosure until I could actually see the male end and work with it. Let this be a lesson to all that each time you dump your Gray Tank, be sure to turn it Clockwise to verify it is not coming unthreaded, with disastrous results!
