gray water

[russellsue]

I have a 1969 safari im sure your aware there is no gray water holding tank I did find a small outlet in the rear I attached small tubing to it secured it with a hose clamp and run it into a portable(blue) tank. Anybody have any better suggestions Im all ears

[Melody Ranch]

On the 69, the grey water is run to the main dump BELOW the dump valve. With a hose connect type cap you can have the grey water run to/thru that hose with the main dump valve closed. Like it was designed.

[Belegedhel]

You could install a couple of grey water tanks from Vintage Trailer Supply. Not an easy fix, but will definitely spare you from future hauling of the blue tank.

[russellsue]

Thanks for the advice I cant find the value your talking about and I thought about installing a gray water tank my rv guy says no room under the belly pan

[Belegedhel]

The tanks I mention above are very shallow and specifically designed to fit inside the frames of vintage trailers. I installed two of them in my '73, and they are not visible below the belly pan. Other Forums members have installed grey tanks that are more conventional (an off the shelf item from a general RV supply place). These tanks are deeper than the frame, so the belly pan has to be cut away to allow the tank to hang down. This will change the look of your trailer and reduce your clearance, but some folks are content with the arrangement.

[Belegedhel]

The picture below is of the frame of my 21' GT, flipped upside down with the two VTS tanks in place.

[Melody Ranch]

Grey water tanks are over rated. A kind of feeding frenzy here in the Forums. A hose for appropriate places or a simple, inexpensive, functional blue boy are fine....for me.

[TG Twinkie]

My Argosy has a 12 gallon tank. I used a Blue Boy for a few years. But then decided to install a 21 gallon tank under the curb side bed. When the original tank gets full. I simply pump the grey water into the new tank. Now I have 33 gallons of grey water capacity.
I piped the discharge from the new tank into the galley sink drain line.
I empty the original tank first. Then open the dump valve for the new tank. It drains thru to the old tank and out the hose.
A friend of mine has an earlier model A$ with no grey water tank. He followed my idea and installed the same 21 gallon tank with a pump and valves. He turns the pump on when showering or using the sinks. When it is time to empty the tank. He switches the valves and pumps the water out of the tank using the same pump he filled it with.
It's easier than dragging a Blue Boy to the dump station.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by TG Twinkie

It's easier than dragging a Blue Boy to the dump station.

But the whole point of a Blue Boy is that it's easier to drag to the dump station than it is to drag the whole trailer there. I fail to see the benefit.

At the time the older single-tank trailers were built, it was generally considered acceptable to let graywater run out on the ground. These days, with so few places that allow direct discharge of gray water, one does have to capture the graywater. A Blue Boy serves that purpose admirably, with the added advantage that where you are allowed to direct-discharge, you still can, and all with no plumbing or structural modifications at all. And a lot cheaper as well.

Even though my Interstate has both a black tank and a gray tank, I still bought a Blue Boy for extended stays where I know the gray tank will fill up before I'm ready to check out, just so I don't have to break camp to hit the dump station halfway through my stay only to set up camp again after I'm done dumping.

[Mexray]

Some States (CA included) have come to realize the folly of running all home 'grey water' through the sewer lines by allowing separate 'grey water' drainage systems (with some piping restrictions) into outside garden/foliage areas...

Were these home grey water systems utilized to a greater degree, it would take a LARGE burden off the municipal sewer systems - and - save lots of potable water now used for home outside irrigation...

Is it only a matter of time before camp-sights have facilities to accept grey water only for local irrigation - or - would irresponsible campers ruin it by trying to add their 'black water' to these systems..???

Just some thoughs...

[mikextr]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

But the whole point of a Blue Boy is that it's easier to drag to the dump station than it is to drag the whole trailer there. I fail to see the benefit.

At the time the older single-tank trailers were built, it was generally considered acceptable to let graywater run out on the ground. These days, with so few places that allow direct discharge of gray water, one does have to capture the graywater. A Blue Boy serves that purpose admirably, with the added advantage that where you are allowed to direct-discharge, you still can, and all with no plumbing or structural modifications at all. And a lot cheaper as well.

Even though my Interstate has both a black tank and a gray tank, I still bought a Blue Boy for extended stays where I know the gray tank will fill up before I'm ready to check out, just so I don't have to break camp to hit the dump station halfway through my stay only to set up camp again after I'm done dumping.

I am restoring a '67 Overlander and have considered adding a gray tank when I get around to doing the plumbing. Then it occurred to me that there will be situations where I will have to break camp just to empty the gray tank. So now I'm thinking that I will not install a gray tank and just use a Blue Boy. Seems to make sense.

[Hittenstiehl]

We also installed 2 slim grey tanks between the frame bays. (from vts) in our 65 TW. They are plumbed to drain out the back and we also added two drain plug valves underneath in case we needed to empty without breaking camp. (Not on ground, into a device)

[Belegedhel]

Perhaps there is no right answer--its just a matter of preference. My preference was to go ahead and install the grey water tanks as long as I was rebuilding the trailer from scratch anyway. I figure that I now have about the same capacity of fresh water as I do grey + black waste storage. Therefore, I can go boondock, and I should reach the point where I need to refill my fresh tank at about the same time I need to empty the waste. With a little discipline, I am confident that I can go three days without a refill/dump, which is generally as long as I stay in one place anyway.

Supposing I have a shore water connection but no sewer hookup, I could always add a blue boy to the mix to haul waste water around. Haven't done that yet, might be inspired to someday. One thing for sure, if your only grey water trap is a blue tank, then every time you camp without a sewer connection, you will be emptying the blue tank.

Seems like I read some time back that one of our forums members had tried to camp at a campground that mandated that all campers be fully self-contained, and did not allow the hauling of waste in a blue tank, due to the risk of spills. I figure if I have grey water tanks at least I can't be excluded because of the need to use a blue tank. They may think of other reasons to keep me out, however...

The OP started the thread by indicating that he drains grey water into a blue tank and asked if there was a better way. I offered installing grey tanks as an alternative (though arguably better) method.

[68 TWind]

I have been camping with a "blue boy" for my 68 for 4 years. Yes a big grey tank would be nice, but we have had no real problems using the blue boy. We get about 3 days being careful with water use before I need to empty it (we use campground showers). I also like having the ability to dump the black tank if needed without moving the trailer (never had to do it could). Of course the down side it it takes up room in the back of the truck. We mostly camp at full hookup sites so for short trips to a known campground, I don't take it. We have a Thedford 18 gallon model
tank and really like it. The tank has a full size sewer type hose that attaches to the drain of the trailer. Finally, if your dump valve is original it will be a Thedford. The new blue boys all have Valterra type fittings (even a Thedford blue boy). You can get a Thedford to Valterra adaptor from Vintage Trailer supply.

[TG Twinkie]

We rarely stay more than 2 nights in one place without sewer hookups. So the additional 21 gallon capacity means that I don't have to make any trips with the Blue Boy.
We have a 30 gallon FW tank. Which means we run out of FW before any of the tanks are full.
Just one more thing I don't have to haul in the truck or trailer.