7'*18' V-Nose Cargo Trailer Toy Hauler Conversion

[flboy]

Iconfabul8 and Mcdave, Thanks both for the plumbing tips. I had looked into a trap-less system previously and just let it go (posted somewhere on tnttt), but I am going to seriously take another look before I install the plumbing. If I can use the Hepvo with out air admittance valves at each entry (sinks, shower), that may a benefit and then the space savings with no trap.

I think that either way I go, that I will still build the shower up some off the floor for two reasons. First, I need to join the kitchen sink plumbing with the the plumbing to the gray water tank somewhere and the shower will be closest to the tank and can conceal underneath. The second reason is so I can have access to the plumbing underneath to work on it. I tend to build things with the thought of how I will get at it if I ever do need to work on it.

I appreciate you guys commenting and keeping me thinking!


McDave, I'll need to check the weather... I haven't been keeping up on that! It is hurricane season here. Hoping to have this trailer done soon so if we have to evacuate, at least I'll have a place to hole up a few days somewhere out of the path of storm.

[Tommy B]

Flyboy, I made it to your build sight. Wow to say the least. Master builder for sure. Im speachless. Now when I look at mine I go ughh chit man! Hope to see that rig up in Delancey in November. There is a host and many white forest trucks come through all day long. Groom trails in November for the hunters .
Again just wow on what you have going on. I am blown away. If you ride as well as you build C.Ts ....please wait for me...a minute or two please.

[flboy]

Flyboy, I made it to your build sight. Wow to say the least. Master builder for sure. Im speachless. Now when I look at mine I go ughh chit man! Hope to see that rig up in Delancey in November. There is a host and many white forest trucks come through all day long. Groom trails in November for the hunters .
Again just wow on what you have going on. I am blown away. If you ride as well as you build C.Ts ....please wait for me...a minute or two please.

Thanks for the nice words. This is my second build so I have learned a few things from the college of hard knocks! And don't be down on your build at all. I can tell you 95% of the folks out there wouldn't even attempt to build their own. I agree with what MCDave said previously... I could go write a check for a store bought trailer, but I'd rather get the satisfaction of building it myself and learning some new skills along the way! My guess is that you could do the same, but would rather learn knew things and enjoy building things. You should be proud of that and your work.

I am not so fast on the bike... at least anymore.. I don't heal as fast as I use to and I 've messed up my knees and shoulders a bit after taking many "soil samples"... I know my limits now.

[Tommy B]

Yes, knees and shoulders, oh I know. Just fast enough to keep it on top of the sand. I have many questions about riding but more about your build.
I have purchased the Valterra flush king and will experiment with it while every thing is clean. I cant imagine not having it if it works. How to you plan on flushing your tanks? Also I mounted that Extreme rotating tank vent on top and will also see how well it pulls via experiment. Did you mount something similar?
Thanks Don

[flboy]

Yes, knees and shoulders, oh I know. Just fast enough to keep it on top of the sand. I have many questions about riding but more about your build.
I have purchased the Valterra flush king and will experiment with it while every thing is clean. I cant imagine not having it if it works. How to you plan on flushing your tanks? Also I mounted that Extreme rotating tank vent on top and will also see how well it pulls via experiment. Did you mount something similar?
Thanks Don

I haven't really thought too much about flushing the Black water tank yet. I am hooking up my gray water and black water together at the dump outlet so I can flush the "stinky slinky" with the gray water after dumping the black water first. That should work well for that part of it.

The other thing I am thinking about doing is something that conserves water when boon docking by flushing the toilet with water from the gray water tank instead of fresh water. I'd be able to switch between the fresh water and gray water as needed with a ball valve since it takes a while to get some water in the gray water tank. It would just require a connection to the gray water tank and a dedicated water pump and a 2 to one ball valve down by the toilet.

I could also install a spray handle on the same gray water line for cleaning the bowl and flushing the black water tank via the gray water when dumping. I will wait before I do that to see if it is really necessary; however.

In any case, I didn't think the tank needed to be flushed very often if you used proper chemicals and just dumped it after a usage. I know the level sensors can get gummed up and need rinsing off every now and then. There is a wand that can be hooked up to a garden host to clean it out every so often.

I haven't installed the vent top yet. I just bought the standard hat top. Hopefully that will work well enough. As long as there is not positive pressure in the tank, there should not be much updraft at all when the toilet is flushed. We'll see.


I'm about a month away from all that hooking up the toilet stuff. I need to get the walls up and Air-conditioner operational before start running plumbing and working inside. I am back at work after being off last week, so it will be slower going. I typically only have Saturday, a few hours on Sundays and an hour here an there during the week to work on the trailer.

Glad you got the pics working!

[KCStudly]

I'm not an expert plumber, and certainly don't have any RV specific systems expertise, but I am knowledgeable about sanitary food grade process system components, arrangement and cleaning. In other words, I design systems that need to keep microbes down to a minimum.

If you cross connect the gray and fresh water tanks via a single ball valve, how do you keep "bugs" (bacteria) from the dirty side of the ball valve from cross contaminating your fresh water? Ball valves are notorious for holding "stuff" behind their seats, which can cycle around with the ball or burp when operated.

As I understand it the water closet performs a critical function isolating between fresh and toilet bowl using an air gap and water trap. Your sink and shower perform the same function, but not if you tie gray back into fresh, and especially not if you also cross connect gray to black.

The best way I can see to flush with gray is to have a separate fill into the water closet; turn fresh off and supply the toilet with gray thru a completely separate feed directly into the water closet (i.e. separated by air gap from fresh). That is, if the toilet even has a tank.

Maybe that's the part I'm missing. How does an RV toilet flush system work? Is it the same as a household toilet or more like a boat with on demand rinse?

Another option might be a back flow preventer valve (double inline check with anti-reversion) and isolation of the fresh water upstream of the gray water tie in at the toilet feed.

Either way, I would make sure there is no chance for contact between the non-fresh and fresh, and be sure to chlorinate your water.

[Iconfabul8]

I'm with KC on this one. "Fresh away from gray and never the twain shall meet." Once it is in that tank I really don't ever want to see or smell it again. Also I have heard people complain that their gray water can get stinkier than the black. One other thing to be careful of, is not to have the exhaust fan running when you flush the pot. It will suck huge amounts of nasty gas right out of the tank. This is one of those "you will probably only do this once" pieces of advice. Better yet would be to reverse the fan when flushing. As far as fresh water, I am thinking along the lines of a blue 55 gal drum with a hand pump in the back of the truck for extended trips.

[flboy]

Good points on the cross contamination. I'll have to make sure I get the switch over well isolated. In anycase, this is done often in the RV community and is used when dry camping. I can see the gray water getting smelly if a lot of food stuff is put down the sink. For the most part, the bulk will be shower water. In any case, it is there only when needed. One of my goals for this build is to be able to go off the grid for extended periods. This is one way to stretch the water supply and balance out tanks.

Google " RV Gray Water Recycling" . Many RV links come up.

Following is a good link. The schematic does show a check valve for the three way valve to isolate the fresh water and a filter for gray water.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... -i85onBivw


Need to be careful for sure. Thanks for the reminder. I really do appreciate it.

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[McDave]

Hey Don,
I'm "knee deep" in the black tank adventures myself. (Shakes head, rolls eyes) What the hell happened to us? Remember when we'd strap a bedroll to the forks with a can of corned beef hash, a Mexican speed wrench and a buck knife inside?
A boot flask full of Jack, .45 in the belt a pocket full greenbacks and whitecrosses, and we were GONE BABY! We didn't worry about details like hygiene and sanitation, current draw of LED light systems and air conditioning? WTF!!! 20 yrs of "domestic bliss" will knock all the sharp edges right off a man.
So here I am engineering a way to carry my poop around and have a nice hot shower so's I can smell purty. Lawd help us......Where's Capt America when we need him?



So now we are "civilized" and socially acceptable.....What's next?






Livin' in a world I was never made for....

McDave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzTU7VAPLY

[flboy]

Hey Don,
I'm "knee deep" in the black tank adventures myself. (Shakes head, rolls eyes) What the hell happened to us? Remember when we'd strap a bedroll to the forks with a can of corned beef hash, a Mexican speed wrench and a buck knife inside?
A boot flask full of Jack, .45 in the belt a pocket full greenbacks and whitecrosses, and we were GONE BABY! We didn't worry about details like hygiene and sanitation, current draw of LED light systems and air conditioning? WTF!!! 20 yrs of "domestic bliss" will knock all the sharp edges right off a man.
So here I am engineering a way to carry my poop around and have a nice hot shower so's I can smell purty. Lawd help us......Where's Capt America when we need him?



So now we are "civilized" and socially acceptable.....What's next?






Livin' in a world I was never made for....

McDave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzTU7VAPLY

This wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't true. I actually have a cross country trip on my cruiser with nothing but a backpack on my bucket list. Will do within 2 yrs. when I throw in the towel on corporate life.

Until the last 5 years or so, I always tent camped, but being alone most of the time now and riding out.. the camper provides a little security.

In any case, what are we suppose to do after work but engineer blackwater systems. Certainly better than the crap on TV and watching the culture disintegrate. Man.. I must be getting old! :-)

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[McDave]

Somebody say Amen! Amen.

McDave

PS. On the bright side, a couple more years, we won't have worry 'bout black tanks. Just Depends......
McDave out.

[flboy]

I didn't make a lot of progress today, but I made some. I got the insulation taped off and started the plywood re-installation. I hope to have this done all the way around tomorrow.

With the plywood back in, then I can start the Luan Paneling on the ceiling. After that the floor, then the fun stuff. :-) I wish I had another week off... but I'll just have to make progress when I can.

[lrrowe]

Yours may work
I had a little GE 5500 btu unit that had no problem in ECO mode. This AC is only 6000 btu and it won't do it. It is not a huge deal as the AC works just fine in normal mode. Oh well. Good luck with yours.

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With my Yamaha 2000 on Eco mode, the AC turned on ok without shutting the generator down. It could be I am just lucky with the unit I have. But nevertheless, I am having air flow issues as posted in another thread. Nothing is ever easy.

[flboy]

With my Yamaha 2000 on Eco mode, the AC turned on ok without shutting the generator down. It could be I am just lucky with the unit I have. But nevertheless, I am having air flow issues as posted in another thread. Nothing is ever easy.

What thread? Curious what trouble you are having. (edit... found it... Hacking the 5000 BTU.. tough problem to solve... maybe bigger hoses or an assist fan? Is there any way on your trailer just to make a hole to place the AC in when you need it... then cover the hole when not needed.. I did this in my last CTC after experimenting a bit with a portable AC... it worked best that way )

In any case,I am glad to hear that you Yamaha kicked over you AC in ECO mode.

[lrrowe]

Don, since my "brilliant" and " not so clever" engineering is not working right now, your suggestion is on my list of more drastic solutions to consider.