1975 Trade Wind site hookup

[CMSmith]

I am going from a pop up with a cassette toilette to a Trade Wind with full hookup capabilities. I do not know what to do, though, nor what all the valves are for or where they are located. I have ordered the manual, but I do not know if I will get it in in time for a trip we are planning this weekend. (We just bought it this past Friday). I see the big black connector at the rear of the trailer with the water hookup right next to it and a small valve handle. Inside the bumper box is another small valve handle. On the control panel, there is a reading for main tank and another tank. Is the main tank the grey water? Will it empty though the same port in the back? When hooked up on site, do you just have the valves open and let everything free flow into the sewer or do you need to let the tanks fill and then empty them? Is it dangerous to have the valves open because of sewer gas? Thanks for any information that can be offered.

[azflycaster]

Congratulations on he purchase of a 75 Trade Wind, my favorite!

The Black water (toilet) is the Main tank and the valve for that tank is located inside the rear bumper in the middle.

The Grey water (sink & shower) is the Aux tank and the valve is located next to the sewer line connector on the street side of your trailer.

Always dump the black first and only when the tank is getting full, if possible. A fuller tank will carry the wastes out better then a partially full tank. We always dump a few gallons of water down the toilet after it has drained to make sure there are no objects left behind. The grey tank is drained next which will help rinse out the sewer hose.

The tanks are small, around 10-12 gallons each and fill quickly and the gauges are not always reliable. You can visually see the level of the black tank with a flashlight . You can not see the level of the grey tank, but if water backs into the shower, it is full.

Have a great first voyage and be prepared to make a few mistakes along the way. We have all been there...

[CMSmith]

Certainly ready for some mistakes!! so neither is free flowing. What is the grey fills before the black? Is it ok to drain the grey when the black is still not full?

Just trying to be ready for all my mistakes. Thank you for this info...anything else you can offer to help prepare me?

[TG Twinkie]

If you are connected to a sewer at the campsite you can leave the grey water dump valve open. Whereby the grey water tank does not fill.
The black water valve should remain closed until the tank is 2/3 to 3/4 full. The reason for this is to flush the solids out of the black water tank you need a significant flow. It is actually better to empty the black water tank after towing the trailer for a while. The moving trailer caused sloshing in the tank and breaks up the pyramid of solids just below the toilet.
The reason for dumping black water first then grey is more for convenience than anything. The grey water helps flush the hose after the black water has been dumped.

[Skater]

We usually leave the gray open (draining into the sewer connection) until ~24 hours before we're ready to leave, then I'll close it. That way, I'll have some in there to "flush" the sewer pipe as was mentioned when I'm ready to leave.