Northern Lite campers No Black Tank Clean out

[Spruce_Dually]

Newbie here.
I am very close to purchasing a new truck camper.
Wifey and I have narrowed it down to the Northern Lite 10-2 or the Bigfoot 25c10.6.
Mostly leaning toward the NL. However i have noticed that the NL does not have a black tank
clean out system where the Bigfoot does.
Keith at NL tells me that it is not necessary if you use the proper chemicals.
Any thoughts or experiences?

Thank You

[billtex]

Spruce Dually wrote:
Thanks Bill
The hot soapy water sounds like a good idea. I've heard others say Water, Water, Water.

The Eagle Cap is a nice camper. We spent quite a bit of time looking at them. I drove from California to Oregon (approx 1k miles round trip) to look at the EC campers. Sutton RV and Apache. We looked at the 960, 1160 and the Adventurer 910db. I don't believe that they had an 850. I Liked all of them. Still do.
EC seems like a class act. Really nice inside and Out.
I noticed that all of the EC campers have the black tank flush system. So did the Adventurer.
I was really surprised that the NL did not.
What I am hearing from everyone is that the Black Tank Flush is not necessary (not a deal breaker anyway) but nice to have.

Do you have the 850 on a long bed or short and do you have the Generator?

Jim

Currently 850 is on SB SRW (with suspension enhancements). Great camper, very comfortable, lots of storage inside/out.
We have a 100W solar panel and 2 GR 31 6V that get us through just about anything (we don’t require a lot of power). We have a honda 2k, but only carry it for ski camping (not much sunlight here in NE in winter).
Our EC sees lots of use... but the campers you are looking at are top notch also. A slide was a must have for us after our first (AMLRV) non slide camper. But that’s personal choice...wasn’t trying to sway you from BF or NL. Both good choices. Spend time in both, take notes/pics and think about how you will use them. Spend time in the bathroom, and looking at storage.
Good luck,
Bill

[otrfun]

Photomike wrote:

Spruce Dually wrote:

Photomike.
Which kill switch are you referring to.
Please excuse me I don't have a camper yet.
I think that you would want to be able to kill the power to the jacks and not everything else.

Jim

To the jacks for most of the time, but an overall kill switch is a good idea as well for times of maintenance.

For late model NL owners, don't count on the "battery disconnect" switch on your NL to disconnect the batteries from all the DC power circuits in your camper (i.e, the jacks). On our '19 NL 8-11 the battery switch (when off) only disconnects the battery from the interior DC fuse/power panel (FWIW, DC power from the camper/truck 7-pin connector remains connected to the DC fuse panel even if the battery disconnect switch is off). The frig DC heating element, primary power to the jacks, and solar panel, are not connected to the interior DC fuse/power panel. They are connected directly to the batteries via dedicated resettable fuses, and are not affected by the battery disconnect switch.

[Photomike]

Spruce Dually wrote:

Photomike.
Which kill switch are you referring to.
Please excuse me I don't have a camper yet.
I think that you would want to be able to kill the power to the jacks and not everything else.

Jim

To the jacks for most of the time, but an overall kill switch is a good idea as well for times of maintenance.

[Spruce_Dually]

Burningman
It seems that I read something about this. Didn't know what to make of it.
Wow, I can imagine what it would be like to (all of a sudden) have your jacks start extending or retracting.
It sounds like a jack disconnect is definitely needed. Sounds like to manufacturer should install one.

Photomike.
Which kill switch are you referring to.
Please excuse me I don't have a camper yet.
I think that you would want to be able to kill the power to the jacks and not everything else.

Jim

[Spruce_Dually]

Thanks Bill
The hot soapy water sounds like a good idea. I've heard others say Water, Water, Water.

The Eagle Cap is a nice camper. We spent quite a bit of time looking at them. I drove from California to Oregon (approx 1k miles round trip) to look at the EC campers. Sutton RV and Apache. We looked at the 960, 1160 and the Adventurer 910db. I don't believe that they had an 850. I Liked all of them. Still do.
EC seems like a class act. Really nice inside and Out.
I noticed that all of the EC campers have the black tank flush system. So did the Adventurer.
I was really surprised that the NL did not.
What I am hearing from everyone is that the Black Tank Flush is not necessary (not a deal breaker anyway) but nice to have.

Do you have the 850 on a long bed or short and do you have the Generator?

Jim

[Photomike]

burningman wrote:
Oh, here’s an important tip on HappiJacs: install a switch in the power lead to the wireless controller.
There have been several reports of them catching some stray signal or for whatever reason randomly activating a jack while the camper is parked, rolling it over on its side.
There was discussion of it on here, with a few people saying they’d had it happen.
Also, why have constant power draw, even just slight. When you’re not using the jacks, turn that thing off!
I think this is probably a good idea no matter what brand. There shouldn’t be anything with no switch to shut it off.

Put the kill switch inside, if the power is off harder for someone to steal.

[burningman]

Oh, here’s an important tip on HappiJacs: install a switch in the power lead to the wireless controller.
There have been several reports of them catching some stray signal or for whatever reason randomly activating a jack while the camper is parked, rolling it over on its side.
There was discussion of it on here, with a few people saying they’d had it happen.
Also, why have constant power draw, even just slight. When you’re not using the jacks, turn that thing off!
I think this is probably a good idea no matter what brand. There shouldn’t be anything with no switch to shut it off.

[billtex]

A little tip on dumping (BTW our EC does have a black tank flush); when packing up, the last thing I do is dump a large pan of hot/soapy water in the toilet. Let this slosh around on the drive to dump station and then let ‘er rip. Our tank never stinks, and amazingly the gauge still reads accurately. Lack of fluid is the problem with black tanks, the soapy water seems to help us.

OP, I agree with your observation on dinette bed length. One of the reason we chose our EC. Could make a big difference if you ever expect overnight guests.

Good luck, Bill

[Spruce_Dually]

Burning Man
I'm with you on the sick campers.
I'm going either NL or Bigfoot.

I believe that Bigfoot is using the same jack ?

I have been doing a little research online and it seems that at least some of the issues come from bottoming out the jacks at either end of travel, Damaging the drive. I also see some controller issues.
Perhaps Happijac should run end of travel cushions or limit switches.
I'm just going on what I have read. I might be all wet.

Once I get the camper ,if I ever do, I plan to carefully (using the manual drive) find the end of travel, back off a bit and paint a stripe around the jack extension. I will also paint a yellow warning stripe to let me know when I'm getting close.

If this jack problem continues, eventually NL will have to address it.
HappiJac better get on it also. If they don't no-one will want to have anything to do with them.
Do you know if the Rieco Titan's are any better?

Jim

[burningman]

It’s easy but expensive to swap jacks.
Cost may be offset by selling the brand-new CrappiJacs.
NL’s choice of jacks is a big bummer but I’d sooner deal with that than the guaranteed-to-leak stick-built design campers.

[Spruce_Dually]

WyoBull, Burningman and Siletzspey

Thank you for the replies.
Yeah, Keith from NL told me that there was no reason to carry a wand if you use the proper chemicals and wait until the tank was at least 75% full to dump. Apparently he was correct. I have asked people with other RVs about the black tank flush system and most(repeat most)of them say that either the don't have it or don't need it.
I have also heard of the bag of Ice trick.
It sounds like it could work.

I have always liked the look of the Bigfoot camper, That was what I wanted until I looked at the NL.
I was able to look at the Bigfoot and the NL at an RV show.
Wifey and I went back and forth between the two and both of us prefer the NL.
I actually spent about 4 hours talking to the NL rep.

We also looked at the Artic Fox 865 and really like it. In fact it was the first TC that we saw at a dealership. The panoramic view out the rear of the camper is fantastic.

After doing some research, I found that it was too much weight for a single rear wheel truck (at least in my opinion). It was certainly more camper than I would want on single rears.
I thought that I might buy a Mega Cab Dually (short bed) and go with the 865 short bed model with a Generator but decided against it.

I started thinking about the Dinette in the 865 as the only place in the camper to sit and decided to keep looking.
One of the features that we really like about the NL 10-2 is the long u-shaped dinette. I believe that it s 75" long. wifey and I would be more comfortable with this if we were stuck inside for an extended amount of time.
We also looked at the single, double and triple slide units but decided to steer clear.
We just keep coming back to the NL. I like the way it and the Bigfootses are built.
So Now I am seeing some issues with the HappiJac jacks and I am wondering how big of an issue it really is. I see that Artic Fox is using the Rieco Titan jacks.
How hard would it be to switch to a different jacks?

[Siletzspey]

We have a 2018 9'6" NL, and besides the can being directly above the tank, the outflow dump pipe and value is at most 18" long and fairly straight, so it doesn't seem to accumulate gunk. On the road we just dump black, then run some fresh and dump, then drive off with 1-2ga fresh and some chem to slosh around and take care of the sides. Somewhere I read a recommendation to use bags of ice before a windy-road trip if you need some scrub action. Just this week I got the Camco flush device, and FYI you can turn the water value on one way to shoot the water UP into the tanks, and the opposite way to shoot water DOWN the drain pipe. My gray tank drains slowly, so I hope forcing some water in from the bottom better cleans things out.

--SiletzSpey

[WyoBull]

We have a 2017 Northern Lite 8.11 SE and I have never felt like I have needed or wanted a black tank flush system. I use the Thetford chemicals and have never had an issue. I see no need to carry a wand with you while camping to use every time you drain your tanks.

Northern Lite is a great camper and I would say in the hard side, non-slide space they make the best camper. That being said, all of them have their down sides and can have issues but the ones I have had were with the components and nothing to do with Northern Lite. My refrigerator went bad and had to have it replaced under warranty and then my HD antenna was bad (bad batch during manufacturing) and that was replaced under warranty as well.

We looked at other campers like Northstar and Adventurer. Both of those campers are well built and nice but what I really liked was the clam shell design of the NL, which reduces the chance of leaks over traditional manufacturing processes. Not saying they can't lead because you still have vents etc. on the roof but the chances are a lot slimmer.

We also looked at Arctic Fox and they are also very nice but very, very heavy so that put them out of the running for us.

[burningman]

I went to Apache Camping Center in Everett, WA. They have both Bigfoot and Northern Lite, side.
I came in to buy a Bigfoot, but I bought a Northern Lite.
In person, the NL is just so much nicer for so many reasons.
However, if you want to custom-order and have special modifications at the factory, you need to talk to Bigfoot.
I don’t know if new Bigfeet come with CrappiJac jacks like NLs do... it they do, see if they will install something else for you. Anything else.