Safari 30' Bunk: why 18 gallon black tank?

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Dureedesign

please enlighten me....I have a '66 Overlander and it's total holding capacity is 13 Gal. (I think) for everthing!

Trailers prior to '73/4 did not originaly come with grey tanks, some did not come with any. But your '66 only has a black tank, unless a PO retrofit in a grey, which it doesn't sound like they did. The way our '64 is set-up is there is a 'Y' in the plumbing below the black tank valve which allows the grey water to come out when the valve is closed. When you are camping with hook-ups, the grey water just goes down the sewer drain. When you don't have hook-ups, you have several options:

1) allow your grey to go on the ground or in a gopher hole as the previous owner suggested - however, most places won't let you do this anymore.
2) capture your grey water in an exterior tank - called a Blue Boy, Blue Tote, etc.
3) put your dump cap on the sewr outlet, open up the black valve and let the grey water back-up into the black tank. This can be tricky, because #1, your tank MUST be below the floor or lower than the shower because the water will come out at the lowest opportunity and #2, you must CLOSE the valve before removing the cap or else your entire tank contents will come spilling out. As it is, you will end up with a smal amount of "nasty water" that will come out when the cap is removed anyway...be prepared with a container. Another problem is, you usually don't have much warning as to when the tank is "FULL"...and as you know, the tank is very small.

We opt for keeping our grey & black separate using a blue tank when we aren't camping where we can use a golpher hole or hook-ups.

Shari

[InsideOut]

Looks like we were all responding at the same time!

Shari

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate

The fresh water tank is located transverse between the axles on the 30' and the gray water tank is located transverse behind the rear Axel. Both span the width of the trailer so really, the black tank can't be over/between or behind the axles. I guess Airstream could have extended the black tank under the vanity cabinet, but I don't think there is room for the tank and to also have the ductwork for the furnace to be run to the bunk area. My guess is that was the largest that could be installed without a separate frame design or other out of the ordinary configuration that might not have been desirable.

We'll remember I'm no engineer, but if one really wanted to, maybe, one tank in front of the front most axle, one tank in between axles and one directly aft of the axles. Maybe be the same setup as found on side bath units.

In the end, I agree, I really like having black and grey seperated. In some areas, you can discharge dishwater, but in no areas I know of can you discharge black contents to the ground. I particularly like the fact that when I dump the tanks, I pull the black, then close the black and open the grey to get out any other materials that may be lingering in the hose.

FWIW, 18 gallons of black, even when boondocking in my case works well up around a week....your mileage may vary.

[Dureedesign]

Thanks all again, you are the best...I think I understand.......A.

[InsideOut]

Here's a picture of the "business end" of our plumbing...you can see where the smaller grey water comes into the larger sewer outlet - on the right. The black valve is "upstream" of the "Y" on the large pipe...



Hope this helps make things a little clearer Andra.

Shari

[SafariSS]

Wow, thats a little closer to the poop shoot that I wanted to be with a large monitor! Maybe use a little bleach!

[thecatsandi]

Mine in my Classic 31 is nearly 40 gallons. Way too big. I would gladly give up that space for some more grey water space. 25-20 for the black and nearly 60 for the grey would be perfect.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by SafariSS

Wow, thats a little closer to the poop shoot that I wanted to be with a large monitor! Maybe use a little bleach!

Geeez - give me a break! It's 43+ years old and been broken & repaired with various glues, thus the discoloration it is clean ~

Shari

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Geeez - give me a break! It's 43+ years old and been broken & repaired with various glues, thus the discoloration it is clean ~

Shari

Mine is less than a year old and probably isn't that clean!
I had a sewer hose malfunction last camping trip and let me tell you, our poop DOES stink ...we can't claim it doesn't. I felt really bad because the neighbors were eating breakfast on their picnic table about 25' away. Boy did they finish breakfast quickly and pack up their motorhome and check out early!