Finally took delivery of HW296

[kinma13]

Wish you could add a tank flush to the black tank! You would just have to make sure not to clog or run it with the gate valve closed.

[wstensgaard]

Okay, thanks. It would just be nice to have an idea we could budget water usage better. But it is what it is. Hoping to squeeze in one more trip this year but October is already packed. Hopefully the weather will hold out into early November.

[kinma13]

Yeah it would be nice to have some kinda access to the black. You could add the monitoring to the FW and GRAY and BATTERIES.

[vinmaker]

I could take or leave the monitoring system. As was said, in a pop up you can tell when things are full or filling up. What concerns me the most is the fouling of the sensors. I hear this all the time on the forum from the hard sided campers. I like to keep my camping as low tech as possible. This just seems like another thing to break.

I do not boondock so the battery and FW levels are pretty much irrelevant. The grey water I tend to leave open to drain out. That leaves the black tank which I plan on keeping a close eye on manually by simply looking down the toilet. I am used to dumping my cassette toilet every 3-4 days so I plan to do the same with the black tank.

I do agree that a black tank flush would have been a much more useful addition.


Vin.

[kinma13]

vin

i kinda dont fully boondock but the state CGs in michigan only have electric hook up so you cant leave the gray open and you have to use the FW tank but if you run out of FW both tanks are very close to full seeing the tanks (blk/gry) are 12 ea and the FW tank is 20 gal and the HW tank is 6 gal. onI installed a battery tender that has to be plugged to power so its always poulling electric from the house even if stored for 2 weeks. that where it would be nice just to charge by solar. looking into solar just to tend the batteries.

[vinmaker]

Speaking of tanks. I got a really ugly set up under the camper.

My old camper had a simple molded tank mounted to the underside with two pipe fitting molded into it. One for the intake and one for the outtake.

The tanks I have underneath now have this strange jury rigged set up using plumbers putty and hose clamps. Not sure if they need to cut into the tank to get the senors in or what but it sure looks ugly.

While I was under there, I noticed that they drilled a hole for the fridge drain hose to go thru the floor and there is another hole cut in the floor about 1 1/2 dia that had a simple drain plug slipped into the hole. Not sure if that was for water to drain out or what but I did find that unusual and interesting.

I will try to take pics of all this stuff once I figure out how to post a picture.

Vin.

[kinma13]

vin,

yeah try to post pics of this stuff, im new to high walls and tanks in a pup so im not sure. ill look at mine next week, had to take it in and get warrenty work, the microiware is falling into the cabinet like the cabinet is to deep.

[vinmaker]

Test.

[vinmaker]

Hehehe. It worked. I will pop some photos this weekend of the 2015 changes that I noticed and upload them.

[vinmaker]

I was able able to crawl under the unit today and noticed that the grey water sensor is mounted to the lower grey tank. On my unit the grey tank below the sink feeds into the grey tank below the shower and then exits. The shower grey tank is mounted on a second piece of plywood to ensure that it is below the level of the kitchen grey tank. I am not sure how accurate this sensor will be since one could envision that the shower tank would need to be close to full in order for the water to back up into the kitchen tank.

I was also pleased to see that the frame on my 16' box is stronger than my old pop up. My previous pop up had a 2' front storage bin and a 12' box. When they designed the new 14' box highwalls, they basically eliminated the front storage area and made it living space. My old pop up sat on 4" box steel rails running front to back. Not sure if they kept it the same for the 14' boxes.

The HW296 with its 16' box sits on 6" box steel rails running front to back to which support the outside walls and bolt to the axles. The cross members are mainly 3" angle iron. I am hopeful that the 6" box steel will make for a stiffer frame and reduce flexing that can affect the door installation.

Vin.

[kinma13]

The A frame for the tongue is 4" box tube but the frame for the box is 6" hw276 14' box single axle

[vinmaker]

Oh good. Glad to see they upgraded the steel on the HW units. They definitely need it for the extra weight. Mine has a 4" A frame as well.

[Pill Billy]

Originally Posted by vinmaker

Hello everyone,

I finally took delivery of my ordered unit. Took a full 8 weeks and I got it just in time for camping I hope. I may not be able to get out Columbus Day weekend because of the late hour but I should be able to go the weekend before. Can't imagine there are too many people breaking down the door to camp in October in New England on a non holiday weekend.

I must say I have some missed emotions. The unit is new and totally empty. I will now have to work to fill it all up with our stuff only to then take all the stuff back out when I close it for the winter. Gonna be a whole lot of work for 2 short nights of camping. Reminds me of the work it took to tent camp. I do want to go because the kids are excited and I too would like to use it. But man is it gonna take a lot of work.

I have yet to really check it out and figure out where and how I will organize it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the A/C unit on it was a low profile and it might just fit into my garage. Not sure who loses the spot. Hahahaha.

I did notice a spigot valve on the fresh water tank which will aid me in winterizing. It looks like an easy value to pump my Antifreeze through. Gonna check that out closer to make sure it functions how I guess it does.

The unit did come with tank monitoring. It displays battery life/charge, fresh, grey, and black water tank levels. It was also pre-wired for solar energy. Just need to buy the panels if I choose.

Did not get a Genisis 2.0 for a radio but rather an iRV unit or something. Seems to work ok. It had an HDMI input so that is good. TV has an HDMI input as well but unfortunately the two are not connected with an HDMI cord so you cannot get HD from the stereo/dvd player to the TV (no HDMI out on the stereo/dvd player).

I too have a VERY loud power winch. It really does not sound good at all. Not liking that too much. Gonna scare me every time I use it. lol.

I will report back this weekend when I have a chance to open it up. Got some rain coming in so I can't open it for the family to show them. They will have to wait a day.

Vin.

Glad to see it finally made it home. Does it fit in the garage?

[vinmaker]

lol. Not sure I am gonna win the battle for the space with the wife.

It is a pretty big unit so I might need to do a bit of cleaning out as well. Hahaha


Vin.

[Terier]

The campground in the picture in post 28 really looks nice!

I would recommend pictures with your smartphone if you find the right spot for something. It took me a while to find the right home for stuff in my TT. At times I didn't think the job would end.

[vinmaker]

I was gonna take and post some pics today but the battery in the camera was dead. I will try to pop a few before the season ends.

[Pill Billy]

Originally Posted by vinmaker

I was gonna take and post some pics today but the battery in the camera was dead. I will try to pop a few before the season ends.

As obsessed as most of us are in keeping our batteries topped off, I find this funny.