Rally Sewage Goes Where ??

[Distantdrummer]

Last Texas Vintage Rally had 103 units. But they were in a park. All had the opportunity to hook up to underground sewer or tanks I presume.

But what happens when there are hundreds of trailers parked in a field such as at an International Rally?
Is there some sort of field line run? If so how does it flow?
If not and everyone is boondocking there must be a hell of an aroma around the camp.
Is there a constant parade of folk pulling their blue wagons to some haunted dump site?
BTW how do you thouroughly clean out a blue wagon? Seems like those things would always be a bit stinky. Where do folks keep them?

I have no idea why this question popped into my head, but it did and now I cannot rest til I figure it out.

[Goin camping]

The Honey Wagon comes around and helps all your mealtime memories go away.

[wkerfoot]

As Milo stated there is a "honey wagon" which comes around about every 3 to 5 days. For those vintage trailers with small or non existent gray water tanks, the owners use a blue boy and then locate a dump station nearby. At Bozeman there was a 500 gallon tank for emptying the blue boy in the vintage area.

Bill

[imeynstein]

I have never been lucky enough to have been able to have attended a rally.....I am interested though---where does it go????
My husband and I have a lease for hunting. I have never been hunting until this last year, but I noticed the my brother in law took his SOB to the deer club...I noticed that there were no collection points for the black water waste and that there was a ---errr---nice-----errrr---little outhouse for us to 'use' during our stay there......I did not find this very sanitary and noticed that people were just 'dumping' on the ground......YUK!!!!!! In relation to this thread-----I am in the process of trying to redo my '74 Sovereign, but need professional advice on where I should begin!!!! I have a '74 with rear end separation and wiring issues....I expect that I, myself, am going to have to do my AS on my own as my husband is NOT going to help me...If I HAVE to remove the whole shell of my AS---can anyone tell me how they did this without damaging it????? I am VERY limited as to what I can do as I have no equipment to help me---so I am going to have to do what I can with the shell on....

[imeynstein]

Also, can someone tell me what Cleco's are, how to use them, and how and where to obtain the olympic rivets and shaver that I need???

[Ganaraska]

Cleco fasteners are a tool for holding panels together temporarily. They come from the aircraft industry and are made for fitting aluminum panels.

First you drill a hole as you would for a rivet. The Cleco goes in the rivet hole and holds the 2 parts together. It can easily be put in or removed with a special tool that resembles a pair of pliers.

You can fit the parts using Clecos, and still take them off for trimming bending and adjusting. When you are done rivet the parts together and finally take out the Clecos and put rivets in the holes.

Clecos:

http://www.panamericantool.com/products.cfm

This is a random web site chosen for the picture. Not a recommendation, I'm sure if you do a web search you can find better sites with complete instructions and descriptions.

[wahoonc]

I buy my tools from Air Parts or Aircraft Tool Supply Rivets I usually buy from one of my industrial supply houses. Vintage Trailer Supply or my "local" dealer (who ships and is vintage friendly BTW) are also good sources for many of the things you will need.

As far as the disposal goes...at my place gray water can go on the ground, we have a pumping system to empty black tanks into the septic system. I have had up to 5 RV's hooked up at my place at one time when we had a sort of mini rally going.

Aaron

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by imeynstein

I have never been lucky enough to have been able to have attended a rally.....I am interested though---where does it go????

A rally is a camping "party", and goes nowhere. A Caravan is a traveling rally.

[Distantdrummer]

Eyenstein I have seen your similar posts around here for a long time. You should certainly by now have figured out that many or most of your questions could be answered by doing a bit of searching. The search function here is not pretty and is a real PITA but with a lot of patience and some effort, it is possible.

Also you might want to think about what "hijacking" a thread is all about.
How we slid from honey wagons and rally poop to clecos and full monte instructions is a bit mind boggling IMHO.

Oh and now I know why Terry is back from his mystery hiatus....
They fired him at the comedy club...


Back on subject: How does the "honey wagon" hook up to the trailer?
Is it all vacuum done? or does gravity enter in at all?
Does the trailer owner get involved or does the "wagon master" do it all?
Does the owner pay the wagon operator at time of service? How much?
Are such transfers generally pretty "slick" or should I say seamless, or do things usually get a bit "tacky" during and after such a procedure?
Does the vacuum (if that is how it's done) pose any threat of harm to the system?

[wkerfoot]

DD,

The only time I observed the process was in at the 2006 International in Salem, Or, since the pumping was on Vintage open house day. In that case, the honey wagon operator did everything, the owner only watched, a hose was attached to the sewer outlet, the valves opened and the stuff was vacuumed out.

Bill

[bryanl]

Rally waste is a significant problem for rally organizers. There are three major types: garbage, sewer, and gray. Most RVers can handle their own waste for up to a week but it still adds up and can be a significant problem if not properly considered.

There have been cases of some highway dump stations being overloaded after a rally as participants left. The sad part is that some who found an overflowing dump station and trash barrels used the "Arlo Guthrie Alice's Restaurant" philosophy and figured one big mess was better than a bunch of little ones. That kind of thinking is why some of these facilities have closed down.

Trash and garbage are almost always handled via contract with local firms.

Sewage and gray waste used to be handled with gopher holes for each RV. Telephone company augers made it easy to dig decent holes. Nowadays the sewage at larger rallies is usually handled by local firms with pump out trucks as used for cleaning septic tanks. Gray waste is sometimes just a hose under the trailer but there is growing paranoia about that (although it does usually work well if parked in pastures and fields).

Smell is rarely a problem. If your tanks are properly used and properly vented, they should not smell. If the waste is properly handled (sewer buried, gray to quickly dry) it shouldn't smell, either. You get smell when there is too much in too little time and space. That means that there is a need for processing (sewer plant) to take care of things.

If you are profligate in your waste, most rallies have the honey trucks 'on call' for an extra fee to help you out. Otherwise you need to use a blue boy or other means to get your waste to a proper disposal site.