Thursday, April 23, 2009

Almost Ready

If you have followed along with us for very long you might recall that last September we had a problem. We were on the Colorado River, California side, and the coach needed a laxitive. Without repeating that story I will say that I was able to pry the gate open. I have an electric black water valve and the handle pulled out of the valve. Motor worked fine. Anyway, today was the day to fix it, in my own driveway. You see, I do not enjoy dumping the black tank with a 3 inch hose. I like clean and easy much more. This is a picture of the setup. Notice the 3 inch valve in the rear. It stays closed all of the time unless I need to use the three inch hose. Picked it up in Oregon for 5 bux.
So, here is how it works.
I have what is called a maserator. It does the work for you. I have a 3/4 inch hose that stays attached and is stored in a tube up under the GMC, along the driver's side frame. When it comes time for this little task I pull the 15 ft. hose out, stick in the hole, hit a switch that opens the gate. Then, I hit another switch that starts the motor, maserator pump. Wait 3 minutes, come back turn off the motor, turn the 12 volt gate motor on, to shut it, and I am done. Just pull the hose out of the hole and stick it back along the holder along the frame. All finished and no gloves. Can do it with white shirt and tie.
All is fine and good as long as it works. It all works after my personal attention to it this morning. I carry a spare motor just in case I burn this one up. Also, I do have a 3 inch hose in case of some kind of emergency.
In these pictures you can see just how all is mounted. If you look hard you can see the new gate sandwiched in there just ahead of the little 12 volt motor. Way over there you can see my rear mounted muffler. No more floor fires. This one has a heat shield on it so it does not heat up the floor.


So, there you have it. A real laid back guy like me can perform some tasks that would cost an arm and a leg to have done. This does not have to be a nasty chore either. I had the tank all cleaned out so was no dark water coming from it. That is a must. Also, never crawl under a vehicle without blocking it up first. That is a big no no. A few wrenches and in an hour I was done and all cleaned up.
As I have mentioned before, I do not like camping. If I can not live as comfortable in the rv as I do at home, I ain't going. We have everything in this coach that we would have at our house. Got satellite tv, internet, hot water, convection microwave. If you can think it up, I got it. More accessories in our 35 year old coach than most new ones come with, and a tip top solar system to boot. Of course, I am not going anywhere without my personal chef.
Have a good Thrusday. I am now ready to sit back and watch the Dave Ramsey Special tonight on Fox Buisness. A nationwide townhall meeting, live. This should be good. Dave is an upbeat guy and he will be answering a lot of questions from concerned citizens tonitght on the present economy. Tune in if you have time.
Dan
One day closer to hitting the road.



posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 12:39 PM

1 Comments:

At April 25, 2009 at 7:53 AM , Blogger Don said...

great, clean setup on the black tank. You still own a white shirt and tie!

Have you been to Charlotte to see the NASCAR shops. Would be a nice addition to a Bean Station trip. Great experience. Some shops you can walk through by the cars. Joe Gibbs has a great viewing area up over the shop, so many cars. Hendrick won't let you close to the cars but a great museum.

I enjoy your blog. You haven't discussed changes to the Baja.

 

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