I tried replacing the shower pan. Please help.

[arktos55343]

I believe the problem is....without a p-trap, fumes and 'water' can slosh out of your drain/tank while you are towing. I've seen some talk of a valve that can be adapted for this situation..... but you need something to keep all that stuff where it belongs....in the tank.... not on your floors.

[The-Marco]

A valve would be great, I'll look into it. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[RM66caravel]

Yes the shower will act as your black tank vent which would be very much smelly! You need the trap and maybe a gray tank would be much better!
Cliff


Yes I said that! Or did I?

[cwf]

Marco... i would personally prefer gray water "sloshing" up.. than the dumper... Also, Imagine...
you are headed downhill and have to slam on the brakes.. the full load in the tank moves forward....you will need a big shower basin to handle the flow...then have a nice aroma when you stop for the night.

So, I am also 6'2"... and to 'lean over' a bit, or sit on the shower ledge works great.... of course our Excella has a different shaped shell..

Why not build the correct height base and add a seat in the 'shower'? or, do like the SOB's... cut a hole in the roof and install a dome... you can shower and look around outside at the same time!

[The-Marco]

Hey Cliff, sorry for my cruddy diagram, but that pie shaped thing is the black tank, it would have its own vent. The box on the bottom is the gray tank.

I looked for a 1-way drain valve thing that would prevent the water and fumes from coming back up- such a thing doesn't exist, so all you inventors out there, I can't speak for everyone, but I'll gladly pay $30 for such a thing.

My best plan so far would be to have a drain I can plug when I'm not using it. I'm still all ears though. I imagine I'd use the plug no matter what anyway.

Cwf,
The dome thing... no. The seat, maybe


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[reinergirl]

Here's something that would need less clearance. Hepvo Waterless Valve

Hepvo Waterless Valve

Do a search on the forums, I think a few members have used them

Great job you've been doing!

[Becky B.]

We used the Hepvo Waterless Valve in our shower as well as the galley sink. So far so good! I think Airstream uses them in the Interstate RV's....not positive tho.

[The-Marco]

Reinergirl and Becky,
This thing looks like some kind of evil witch sorcery.... And I'm all about it!!! Thank you so much, this is PERFECT! I'm going to get 3 of these puppies.

P traps seem like a bad idea in a trailer that will be bouncing around, or sitting for a long time, the water will either shake out of the trap or evaporate. But the gremlins that live in this valve will do an amazing job! Thanks again!


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[The-Marco]

So my hepvo arrived today and I can now stop procrastinating on my holding tanks designs... (Needed to know how big that thing was)

My current plan involves having the hepvo located outside the frame in outrigger territory so I can access it by removing the corner banana wrap if anything ever goes wrong. (The corners are the easiest to remove because they are not sandwiched in). Then the water will pass through a hole I cut in the frame into the gray tank.

The tanks are WAY expensive so I'm considering making my own gray and black out of stainless steel like they do on some boats. The fresh I will go with buying a plastic one. All of this is pending everyone's approval of course


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[MaggieMarty]

The-Marco,
have you considered installing a composting toilet and eliminating the need for a black tank altogether? The principal is that you separate the liquids from the solids, since this is what makes the smelly sewage. The liquid is either collected in a bottle, that will be emptied every few days in a toilet (or in the bushes in a remote area), or can also be routed into the gray water tank with some set-ups. The solids are kept in a sealed container as long as possible. One throws a handful of peat moss, sawdust or coconut coir in the container after going #2. Once the container is full, you pour the dry matter in a garbage bag and discard it in a trash bin. Every user claims that the only thing you smell is an "earthy, dirt smell".

You'll use much less fresh water since flushing is eliminated, and you don't have to drive around with your own sewage.

I did a lot of research on composting toilets and it is definitively the way to go for me. There are tons of positive experiences on the web by boaters and RVers alike. The brands that come to mind are Nature's Head, Air Head and C-Head. I might event build my own using the separating toilet seat "Privy Kit 501".

Check it out, it's worth while considering it…

Martina

[Shaggy1970]

Marco,
Its been my experience that when I try to create something in-house to serve a purpose that has already been tried and proven, I end up with a superior product as compared to the original, but ends up costing me more money than if I had gone with the original option. Stuff I produce is better and will last longer but ultimately cost more in terms of parts, supplies, and my time. Just my opinion.

[J. Morgan]

I don't know where you are getting your tank prices from, but I am CERTAIN that I got mine for much less than it would have cost me in stainless steel alone to make them.

Stainless steel ain't cheap, and if making tanks, a sheet will disappear really quickly.

I have a couple of sheet metal brakes and a shear, and a son who can weld pretty darn well, but I never even considered making tanks.

I bought mine over the internet,,, maybe tanks.com or something like that?

They had hundreds of sizes available.

[The-Marco]

Thanks for the composting toilet tip Martina, the only brand I had checked out was nature's head, and at $1k i ran screaming. I'll look up the other ones you mentioned as well.

I was thinking of going the traditional route because I was planning on putting hookups in the driveway of my next house and using the AS as a guest house when I'm not camping.

My thinking on the stainless steel gray tank was to have it drop below the frame (but not past the skid plate) and not cover it in belly skin. I thought the exposed stainless would hold up better than exposed plastic? And look better if anyone dropped a contact lens near by.

For the black tank, figured I could make it strong enough for the toilet to sit on it without needing a wood box for support. Seems like a bad place for wood.

And while my poor sucker of a neighbor is helping me with all this welding, I might make a shower pan out of stainless too! Since I have no idea how to make a custom pan out of anything else (that won't look like junk).

I have no idea how much stainless sheets cost, hopefully less than $400 for all this stuff I'm doing :/ ugh


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[J. Morgan]

I extended my black and gray tanks into the skid plate area, it only made sense. Right now they are still exposed on the bottom, but I am going to extend a modified belly pan under them, it will be an easy process once I get to it.

I constructed a stainless shower pan but I ended up buying a 32 x 32 complete shower from Lowe's, it was just easier in the long run.

Plenty of houses have the stool sitting on wood.... It is jus important that they don't leak!!!



It seems to me that I paid about 300 for the shower, base, walls, and door.

[The-Marco]

Your shower looks great! I was going to go the mosaic route. My shower is in the corner so pre-fab won't work.

Do you have any pictures of your tanks and the underside/belly? I'd really appreciate it! Would love to see what areas I should beef up judging by the scrapes and dings in yours


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[J. Morgan]

Tile would be nice, but watch your weight in the last three or four feet of trailer.

I initially made mine too heavy here and if forced a remodel of my remodel.

The problem wasn't so much weight behind the axles as it was too much weight too far back. The weight right at the back of the trailer creates a pendulum effect adding greatly to sway.

I do have some pics but not on this device. I will see about getting those pics uploaded so I can share them.

[The-Marco]

Yeah the weight balance stuff freaks me out a bit. I was going to relocate my battery bank to the front of the axels to offset the added bathroom weight.

I had an awful towing experience pulling a forklift that rolled to the back of the trailer. At speed it lifted my rear truck tires off the road a tiny bit and that pretty much tosses me around the road left and right, swaying everything. It is a miracle I didn't flip and kill anyone. A bottomed out truck from front trailer weight is better than the alternative.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Jhawk]

Wow! It appears you know much more about what you're doing than I originally thought when I started reading this. It looks like you're doing really great work! I only hope that I will not be joining the "Full Monte" club. My dad and I purchased a 1970 27' Overlander 3 days ago but haven't had a chance to do any work on it yet. I will have many questions through out my journey. If you or anyone else has the time to help I would be greatly appreciated. My AS was already gutted when we bought it so that will save me some time. So on to the questions.

1.Do I have to pull the body to replace the floor?

[J. Morgan]

You dont have to pull the shell to change the floor, you can split the new sheets of ply and remove a full sheet at a time and replace 1/2 sheet at a time.

[cwf]

Originally Posted by Jhawk

Wow! It appears you know much more about what you're doing than I originally thought when I started ....My AS was already gutted when we bought it so that will save me some time. So on to the questions.

1.Do I have to pull the body to replace the floor?

Welcome.
Yeah you will need to remove the shell... Unless there is minimal damage. We need pics...