69 Trade Wind bathroom redo

[perryfamily6]

My husband and I are at a stand still until we figure this out. I'd like to reconfigure our rear bathroom to curbside rear with a street side rear double bed. Where do I begin to search for a black water tank to fit in the rear with a curb side toilet fitting?

[mandolindave]

Why couldn't you just move the tank ??

I wouldn't encourage anyone to move a bathroom. ( unless they were doing a full gut job anyway.) Many people have moved bathrooms, not me. I really like the rear bathroom. I wouldn't want my pillow a few feet away from the toilet. And, if I really didn't like my layout, I sell my trailer and buy one that suited me.

Before you start the project, I would do cardboard mock up to see and feel what the end outcome would be. I've looked at some layouts of the newer small trailers with the configuration that you are suggesting. ( mostly wet baths )
It looks like both sleepers would have to crawl in and out of bed, and it looks like a pain to make the bed.

[mandolindave]

Separate shower and toilet locations seem like poor use of space. My layout uses the same real estate for getting out of the shower to dry, standing up to pull pants up, brush teeth, wash hands, and just stand there realizing that I don't have enough hair to brush.

I don't fancy wetbaths, except for it would be easy to wash the toilet. It seems inconvenient to disrobe, rerobe, and keep fresh clothes and towels dry. I've never used one though.

I guess the original poster wouldn't be planning on a wet bath. Fabricating one would be a hat trick. I guess you could buy one.

[perryfamily6]

Thank you for the cardboard idea-I will definitely use it! Our main goal was to have a more private bedroom than our current layout gives. I was hoping someone else has reconfigured the same airstream and could give advice on tanks, as my searches have not turned up usable info. Thanks again.

[traileritus]

The big concern I've heard from those that are moving bathrooms and/or tanks is the issue of shifting that not inconsiderable weight to parts of the trailer frame that weren't designed to hold it. In my 1969 Sovereign I was baffled by how the bathroom is at the very tail end (with the black tank) but where was the water pump and freshwater tank? In the end, it was a member's comment that sent me looking at the very front of the trailer, under and behind the front gaucho! I'm certainly not a trailer engineer but my guess is that having the weight of the freshwater tank on the tongue helps to balance the weight of the black tank at the rear.

Just something (more) to think about.

[perryfamily6]

Thank you. My husband commented that he thought it was strange to have all that weight at the back too. I was figuring that a bed wouldn't be as heavy, but maybe not.

[SuzyHomemakr]

You could always go to a composting toilet, and just continue to use the black water tank as a gray water tank. We have the Nature's Head- there are also the Airhead and C-Head models to look at.

I would say that not having a window in the bath would kinda depressing for me. gerbermania has a nifty layout for a similar TW is this post: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f150...odel-8555.html.

I moved the rear bath in my '72 Ambassador to a side bath when I gutted the interior. It's also a wet bath, which I like. But then again, it's just the wife and me, so we don't do a lot of changing in the bathroom. It's easy to forget that you don't really have huge amounts of pressure at your disposal, like in a house. So the wet is fairly contained. Our showerhead is part of the lav faucet, so that becomes the only water source in the bathroom. If I'm in need of a more protracted cleansing, I just use the campground's facilities.

We also have an outdoor shower at the door, great for rinsing off sand and mud before coming in.

[perryfamily6]

Great info! I had seen that layout in a different thread, which gave me the idea that it could be done, but the Extra conversation is wonderful to glean from. We also assumed we would use the campground facilities mostly. With four kids, water pressure is necessary, especially when one accidentally uses half the bottle of shampoo! I will certainly be looking Into the composting toilet. We considered going with a bigger airstream, but I was told that towing it would be like moving a small city! Unfortunately kids grow up and move out. This seemed like a perfect size for us, plus the price was right ($1400 with new tires!) and it was only a few miles down the road.