WHA????

[Lexi2007]

We are finally getting acquainted with our Coachmen Concord 300-TS and were preparing to hook it up to city water.

The inlet on the right is black in color and the diagram on the little door says that is tank for fresh/city water? Can that really be so?

How weird is that!

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

We are finally getting acquainted with our Coachmen Concord 300-TS and were preparing to hook it up to city water.

The inlet on the right is black in color and the diagram on the little door says that is tank for fresh/city water? Can that really be so?

How weird is that!

Yup that is the way it works. There is a little blue lever you have to flip up or down depending on if you want to use city water or fill up your on board fresh water tank. We typically travel with about 1/3 or so tank of water (15-20 gallons) for potty stops and quick overnights with no hookups. On the mod list is some method of filling the tank with something other than a hose. On all of my other RV's I had a gravity fill of some sort.

The white connector is for the black tank rinse system... go figure.

Aaron

[Lexi2007]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Yup that is the way it works. There is a little blue lever you have to flip up or down depending on if you want to use city water or fill up your on board fresh water tank. We typically travel with about 1/3 or so tank of water (15-20 gallons) for potty stops and quick overnights with no hookups. On the mod list is some method of filling the tank with something other than a hose. On all of my other RV's I had a gravity fill of some sort.

The white connector is for the black tank rinse system... go figure.

Aaron

My hubby was the one who caught it,,,on our other rig, white was the city/fresh water inlet. Confusing to this ol' lady Do you like the rinky-dink little door that covers the inlet? Not.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

My hubby was the one who caught it,,,on our other rig, white was the city/fresh water inlet. Confusing to this ol' lady Do you like the rinky-dink little door that covers the inlet? Not.

Nope, also watch the outside shower door, ours has come open a couple of times on really rough roads. I am going to swap out the lock tang for a longer one to make sure it stays closed.

Aaron

[Lexi2007]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Nope, also watch the outside shower door, ours has come open a couple of times on really rough roads. I am going to swap out the lock tang for a longer one to make sure it stays closed.

Aaron

Thanks in advance for all your help. Couple of more questions...I'm assuming you have a significant other riding with you...where do ya'll keep your broom/mop/stick vac?

Is there a CHF to put something on the outside of the rig to hold the bay doors up like the outside TV cabinet door?

Also, we've never had a rig with air bags before,,,do they help just with handling on the road or can they also keep from dragging the back end? We live in the country and the entrance to our road joins 2 bar ditches and no matter how slow I drive, I drag bottom.

We finally got ours loaded,,,all we need is vitamins, clothes and food LOL. Moved it temporarily to our covered storage slot as we are expecting significant storms tomorrow night.

[wahoonc]

Airbags can be used to level the rear side to side and possibly raise it a bit to improve the ride. I typically run mine in the 55-60 psi range.

We have a lobby broom mounted right inside the door.


Then on the back of our dinette there is another hand broom with a dustpan.


For a vacuum we have a hand held Shark, it is either stored under the dinette seat or in an outside compartment.

As far as holding the outside compartments open... I am planning on putting strut kits on the larger doors, I have yet to find one that will work for sure on the smaller doors. On the large door under the bedroom slide out I am going to have to use one that only holds it open at 90° or less so it doesn't get caught in the slide if I forget to close it before moving the slide.

Aaron

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

We live in the country and the entrance to our road joins 2 bar ditches and no matter how slow I drive, I drag bottom.

Aaron has helped me a lot with all my rookie questions as well. This is a great site. Now, for my OCD... as a retired civil engineer, I feel compelled to explain or correct your usage of the term "bar ditch". LOL!

The correct, (or root) of this term is "borrow" ditch. The reason for this is many times in order to RAISE the grade (or elevation) of a road to get it UP and away from potential flooding, the construction crew had to excavate on the edge of the road and BORROW material in order to raise the grade. A frequently mispronounced term. Enjoy your 300 TS.

[seadoogtx]

You would think that these people who designed all this would of made the fresh water with the color white. And to make it easier to connect the fresh water. Since you connect to the freshwater 85% of the time.

Maybe its time to replace some engineers.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by seadoogtx

You would think that these people who designed all this would of made the fresh water with the color white. And to make it easier to connect the fresh water. Since you connect to the freshwater 85% of the time.

Maybe its time to replace some engineers.

Doubt an engineer had anything to do with it.

One solution is to use some sort of quick disconnect. I haven't given it much thought, I am still contemplating what to do with the sewer lines to improve on that Rube Goldberg design.

Aaron

[Lexi2007]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Doubt an engineer had anything to do with it.

One solution is to use some sort of quick disconnect. I haven't given it much thought, I am still contemplating what to do with the sewer lines to improve on that Rube Goldberg design.

Aaron

When we were at a KOA campground last year, we saw a water hose that recoiled, shrinking 25' of hose into just over 25". We bought one and it came with quick disconnects on both ends. The down side is that on Concords, the water connection is not recessed enough to be able to leave the quick disconnect in place

I also found a nifty broom/dustpan combo that shrinks down to about 24" also. Gonna mount it behind the dinette and copy cat you

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

When we were at a KOA campground last year, we saw a water hose that recoiled, shrinking 25' of hose into just over 25". We bought one and it came with quick disconnects on both ends. The down side is that on Concords, the water connection is not recessed enough to be able to leave the quick disconnect in place

I also found a nifty broom/dustpan combo that shrinks down to about 24" also. Gonna mount it behind the dinette and copy cat you

We have a couple of those shrinking hoses at home, but they are not rated, "drinking water safe". I've heard rumors that they exist, but have not been able to find any.

[Lexi2007]

Originally Posted by BlackJeep22

We have a couple of those shrinking hoses at home, but they are not rated, "drinking water safe". I've heard rumors that they exist, but have not been able to find any.

Here is the one we got from Amazon:

Valterra W01-0022 EZ Coil and Store 25' Drinking Water Hose
by Valterra

Anyway, we don't use campground water for drinking. Only showers/dishwashing and the like.

[wahoonc]

Here is a link to the hose.

I will have to look at the depth of the current water hookup compartment, might be possible to swap in a deeper one. Currently that is pretty low on my priority list.

We don't typically drink water at the campgrounds either, I also use a basic inline filter on the 'city' water, to keep sediment and other goodies to a minimum.

To me part of the fun of an RV is the constant tinkering, as long as I don't have to do a complete rebuild. If I can still camp at a moment's notice in comfort I am good. FWIW I have done a couple of complete tear down and rebuilds over the years, while they were fun I don't plan on doing any more. BTW NEVER say "never".

Got pictures or a link to that "nifty" shrinking dustpan and broom?

Aaron

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Here is a link to the hose.

I will have to look at the depth of the current water hookup compartment, might be possible to swap in a deeper one. Currently that is pretty low on my priority list.

We don't typically drink water at the campgrounds either, I also use a basic inline filter on the 'city' water, to keep sediment and other goodies to a minimum.

To me part of the fun of an RV is the constant tinkering, as long as I don't have to do a complete rebuild. If I can still camp at a moment's notice in comfort I am good. FWIW I have done a couple of complete tear down and rebuilds over the years, while they were fun I don't plan on doing any more. BTW NEVER say "never".

Got pictures or a link to that "nifty" shrinking dustpan and broom?

Aaron

We have one as well:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Thetford-...&wl13=&veh=sem

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by BlackJeep22

We have one as well:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Thetford-...&wl13=&veh=sem

Hmmm surprised my bride hasn't discovered that one yet. With me and the dog, brooms and vacuums are a way of life.

Took a quick look at the water inlet on our Concords. Going to do a bit of research, but it looks like it should be able to handle a deeper compartment. I suspect the easiest access point will be to pull the outside shower compartment above it. FWIW it backs into the bathroom wall, possibly under the vanity area.

Aaron

[Lexi2007]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Hmmm surprised my bride hasn't discovered that one yet. With me and the dog, brooms and vacuums are a way of life.

Took a quick look at the water inlet on our Concords. Going to do a bit of research, but it looks like it should be able to handle a deeper compartment. I suspect the easiest access point will be to pull the outside shower compartment above it. FWIW it backs into the bathroom wall, possibly under the vanity area.

Aaron

Got this on Amazon:

Valterra W01-0022 EZ Coil and Store 25' Drinking Water Hose.

Got the collapsable broom/dust pan from Jet.com but I just saw it on the WalMart website. The handle telescopes and the broom rotates from a "whisking" position to a "sweeping" position and nests inside the dustpan handle.

I think your wife is very lucky that you are a tinkerer. Hubby is a reluctant camper at best. b

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

Got this on Amazon:

Valterra W01-0022 EZ Coil and Store 25' Drinking Water Hose.

Got the collapsable broom/dust pan from Jet.com but I just saw it on the WalMart website. The handle telescopes and the broom rotates from a "whisking" position to a "sweeping" position and nests inside the dustpan handle.

I think your wife is very lucky that you are a tinkerer. Hubby is a reluctant camper at best. b

I come by it honestly... At the tender of age of 8 or 9 I took my dad's lawnmower apart. He made me put it back together, surprisingly enough it ran! I love to know how and why things work and can I make them work better? I was an ASE certified automotive mechanic and a Biology major. Now I work as a cat herder aka safety guy for 200 construction workers in 40+ states, and we have a 40 acre hobby farm. I get to work on anything and everything.

My bride is the reluctant camper, but has come around to my way of thinking!

I have been camping in one form or another since I was 11 years old. I have backpacked, bike toured and tent camped for years. Lived in a pickup camper for 8 months off the grid and just generally enjoy being outdoors. Took my present wife camping with my kids from the first marriage, she had seen the movie Parent Trap and was prepared for the worst. She is one of those that wears makeup and everything has to match. After a couple of tent trips she went out and bought a popup... The biggest, fanciest, friggin one that was available! It had A/C, water heater, potty, shower and furnace. We have never looked back.

I still do some tent camping. We took 50 pageant girls from the Miss NC pageant out for a camping weekend. It was a blast, it has now become an annual event! I love the out of doors and love to share my love of it!

RV's are a small part of it, but allow you to take the comforts of home with you where ever you may roam. Speaking of roaming... my bride happens to be a 32 year Flight Attendant and I spend 180 or so days a year on the road for work, that is down from 280 days back when I was running crews. Wanderlust is my middle name!

Aaron

[B47]

Originally Posted by BlackJeep22

Aaron has helped me a lot with all my rookie questions as well. This is a great site. Now, for my OCD... as a retired civil engineer, I feel compelled to explain or correct your usage of the term "bar ditch". LOL!

The correct, (or root) of this term is "borrow" ditch. The reason for this is many times in order to RAISE the grade (or elevation) of a road to get it UP and away from potential flooding, the construction crew had to excavate on the edge of the road and BORROW material in order to raise the grade. A frequently mispronounced term. Enjoy your 300 TS.

I understand your definition of "borrow" versus "bar" ditch. However,I believe anyone not born in Texas would have great difficulty explaining that difference to a true Texan. I have lived in Texas 3/4's of my life and have always known them to be called "bar ditches."

I'm not sure of Lexis ancestry or if she has lived in Texas all her life,but I did notice she lives in Texas now.

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by B47

I understand your definition of "borrow" versus "bar" ditch. However,I believe anyone not born in Texas would have great difficulty explaining that difference to a true Texan. I have lived in Texas 3/4's of my life and have always known them to be called "bar ditches."

I'm not sure of Lexis ancestry or if she has lived in Texas all her life,but I did notice she lives in Texas now.

Haha... Even old timer Engineers that I worked with called them "bar" ditches, in fact it was those old guys that told me the origins of the term. I expect most people DO call them bar ditches... I was just having an OCD moment. LOL!

[B47]

Originally Posted by BlackJeep22

Haha... Even old timer Engineers that I worked with called them "bar" ditches, in fact it was those old guys that told me the origins of the term. I expect most people DO call them bar ditches... I was just having an OCD moment. LOL!

No problem. I guess we all will have our OCD moments sooner or later. Another term I found similar to the "bar" versus "borrow" terms upon moving to Texas was Texans calling a small body of water usually found on a ranch for providing water to livestock a "tank" whereas I was brought up calling them a "pond."