What to do - Above floor Tank or Below floor tank ???

[fatwgn]

Currently rebuilding a 64 Tradewind and am putting a new floor in -- but I cant decide what to use -- above floor or below floor tank ---- anyone with a above floor tank could you tell me how tall your toilet is off the floor - Measure floor to Seat -- and does it feel ok when your going (you know does it feel to high??? --- The tradewind has a below floor tank in it that I have not checked to see if it is any good yet.. but would like to upgrade anyway -- It exits between the body and bumper --But I am not happy with the rear set up on the tradewind ((It looks very prone to water leaking in the rear of the trailer between the bumper and body - there is a storage space there - so I was thinking about sealing that area off and exiting the black tank elsewhere - above floor tank seems easy (build box - mount toilet) then it is easly accessible -- below floor tank would require belly pan removal to access tank ??? With any luck I would never have to access the tank again BUT I would rather build for the future --- Thank you for any suggestions
Scott

[InsideOut]

We added an above floor black water tank to our '56 Safari that never had any tanks. We used a Sealand Traveler Lite toilet - it comes in two heights - one for below floor tanks and one for above floor tanks. We got the low rise and put it on a 6" platform covering our tank...it's a perfect throne!

The thing I like about this toilet is it has a porcelain bowl - not plastic like a lot of RV toilets.

Shari

[Ed Emerick]

Like Shari, we went with the above floor tank on our 59, like her it had nothing when we started. I first purchased a Sealand high profile and that was a hoot, at 6'1" my feet didn't touch the floor! I replaced it with the Sealand low profile and things are much better now. Also my 61 had an above the floor tank at that was from the factory.
Good luck!
Ed

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

I first purchased a Sealand high profile and that was a hoot, at 6'1" my feet didn't touch the floor!

Poor Sandy must have felt like Lily Tomlin!



TeeHeeHee!

Shari

[Area63]

Consider your climate, too. Above floor black tank is less likely to freeze if the trailer is heated. Below floor tanks must somehow be heated, otherwise they will freeze. Looks like it might get very cold where you live....

[Area63]

I just remebered...did a black tank replacement recently on a 64 Airstream. We used this tank:
Plastic-Mart - Rv Holding Tank 102.99 : 15 Gallon Rv Holding Tank
It worked out great, and connected tot he new grey tank like in a modern installation. This tank went under the floor,, in the position of the original tank. The 3in outlet was pointed street side. It took a little welding and fabrication, but wasn't too bad at all.

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by fatwgn

anyone with a above floor tank could you tell me how tall your toilet is off the floor - Measure floor to Seat -- and does it feel ok when your going (you know does it feel to high???

Scott,

Welcome to the forums and the wonderful, frustrating, agonizing, rewarding world of vintage Airstreaming!

To answer your question, and just for the heck of it, I went out and measured the factory above-floor black tank installation in our 1980 Caravelle.

Black tank height (at base of toilet) - 8 inches

Toilet seat height above base - 10 inches. (Note- this is the seat, not the lid, on the Thetford Aqua-Magic IV (low profile) toilet.)

Therefore, total seat height above the floor, 18 inches.

I measured one of our home toilets (Kohler Cadet) and the seat height is 16 inches.

Bottom line (no pun intended) is that I don't notice any difference between the height of the RV toilet and a home toilet.

My vote would be for the above-floor black tank installation. It avoids freezing and it gives you that much more drop to the trailer dump outlet, which is rather low on Airstreams. What they did on the Caravelle was put the black tank above the floor and the gray tank below the floor half way underneath it. The gray tank sort of has to be below the floor if you are going to have a shower!

Hey, I see you are in Janesville so you are in the territory of the best unit in the WBCCI, the Wisconsin Unit! If you're not already a member I hope you will consider joining. Check out our web site at WBCCI Wisconsin Unit . You have already heard from one of the outstanding benefits of the Wisconsin Unit, vintage Airstream expert Ed Emerick, past president of the Wisconsin Unit, past president of the Vintage Airstream Club, and a veritable fountain of vintage Airstream knowledge. (Mostly learned the hard way.)

See you down the road,
Nuvi

[fatwgn]

Thanks for all the help and measurments -- I am still in the designing stage and have the whole inside stripped to the shell and am trying to figure out the plumbing before replacing the floor -- I have one outside panel in the rear to replace (I purchaced a piece of aluminum from www.airpartsinc.com I found there website from some of the posts here on airforums -- they are great to work with, very knowledgeble and helpfull -- also super fast shipping - I ordered on Wednesday and had my order on Friday !!! Before starting to remove the rest of the floor I want to do a complete leak check and reseal - then I can keep the floor a s dry as poss.. I could probably run a gray tank under floor and the black above - poss using tank Area63 shows in post as gray - then could exit both on street side -- (wow so many ideas) I would like to get the floor and bathroom plumbing done before winter so I can work inside the shell when winter comes.. Then hopefully have enough done on the inside to do a little camping when spring comes --- I will be pulling it with a 66 impala wagon that I have been working on as well (many irons in the fire) I planned on looking into the WBCCI sometime soon so I will look at the website--Thanks
I have many pictures of the progress and of the wagon as well -- were would be the best place to post a rebuilding post on this forum ????
Thanks again
Scott

[Ed Emerick]

Originally Posted by Nuvite-F

Scott,

(Mostly learned the hard way.)

See you down the road,
Nuvi

And I have the scars to prove it!