Portable waste tank

[DC_In_NC]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any thoughts (size, number of wheels, brand) on the portable waste tanks?

[sherdep]

I was looking at them from Camping world - wow they are kinda pricey

it is going to be determined by how big your holding tanks are, how many times you want to keep dumping it and last but not least how much $$ you want to spend.

[Herk7769]

After two years of toting the "Blue Boy" around I have learned this:

1) Not worth the hassle unless you dry camp more than a long weekend. Even if you dry camp longer, you might be able to borrow your neighbor's occasionally. This gets old after a while so if you do this a lot suck it up and buy one.

2) You dump gray water twice as often than black.

3) Get it a couple of gallons BIGGER than your black tank. You want to be able to dump your black tank and have enough room for a couple of gallons of gray water to clean the hose so you can disconnect. TRUST ME you do NOT want to see Black water in the clear elbow with the Blue Boy Full. Ugh!

4) Buy a float gauge and have several spares! They get lost often. See above.

5) Replace the plastic rear wheels with pneumatic ones. They are noisy as can be going down the road. (and easier to pull if you don't hook it to your trailer hitch ball.)

6) Buy one with TOP fill; but SIDE discharge with valve. Unless you get a charge out of lifting a full Blue Boy up on one end to dump it. I see folks pull the dump hose out of the sewer pipe while lifting more often than you can imagine. Ugh again!

7) Make a short (6 inches or so) sewer hose with two female connectors. With the clear elbow on there is precious little room under the camper to dump.

8) You must never open the rear vent when dumping the black tank (gray one either - PU). The Blue Boy will fill will vent through the holding tank stack. No smell at the side of the camper.

9) Figure out where you will carry the Blue Boy before you buy it. Getting a huge Blue Boy and then find out it won't fit in the bed of the truck with your hitch installed is a bummer.

[prof_fate]

tagging...
our campground has yet to install sewer lines to all the spots and everyone seems to have one. Pricey? Yeah, I think so too but then I watched many tow them behind the tv's down the gravel road to the dump station (loaded of course) and back again - this has to be hard on them so they must be pricey to pay for that durability.

We're planning to ask around this season since we'll likely need one too.

[sherdep]

Originally Posted by herk7769

After two years of toting the "Blue Boy" around I have learned this:

1) Not worth the hassle unless you dry camp more than a long weekend. Even if you dry camp longer, you might be able to borrow your neighbor's occasionally. This gets old after a while so if you do this a lot suck it up and buy one.

2) You dump gray water twice as often than black.

3) Get it a couple of gallons BIGGER than your black tank. You want to be able to dump your black tank and have enough room for a couple of gallons of gray water to clean the hose so you can disconnect. TRUST ME you do NOT want to see Black water in the clear elbow with the Blue Boy Full. Ugh!

4) Buy a float gauge and have several spares! They get lost often. See above.

5) Replace the plastic rear wheels with pneumatic ones. They are noisy as can be going down the road. (and easier to pull if you don't hook it to your trailer hitch ball.)

6) Buy one with TOP fill; but SIDE discharge with valve. Unless you get a charge out of lifting a full Blue Boy up on one end to dump it. I see folks pull the dump hose out of the sewer pipe while lifting more often than you can imagine. Ugh again!

7) Make a short (6 inches or so) sewer hose with two female connectors. With the clear elbow on there is precious little room under the camper to dump.

8) You must never open the rear vent when dumping the black tank (gray one either - PU). The Blue Boy will fill will vent through the holding tank stack. No smell at the side of the camper.

9) Figure out where you will carry the Blue Boy before you buy it. Getting a huge Blue Boy and then find out it won't fit in the bed of the truck with your hitch installed is a bummer.

ALOT of GREAT info here - never thought it would be so involved to have one of these
Good idea on the top fill and side dump - its the little things that make a diffrence

[Brent T.]

Keep in mind that bigger is not always better - Bigger means more weight.

We have a 35 gallon tote and that things is a bear to move on soft ground. 35 gallons x 8.35 (weight of a gallon of water) = 292.25 pounds.

I do agree a side discharge is the way to go.

[cheese53073]

it does not need to be as big as your tanks are. remeber you can dump a half full tank so no real need to buy a bigger one.

[M109Rrider]

The very first time we ever camped we didn't know enough to make sure we had full hook ups. The place we picked didn't. Right after that trip we bought a tank......that was 4 years ago and we've never really needed one since....LOL! I did use it once to dump the tanks at home. I dumped into the tank then emptied it into the clean out for my home sewer. We can get 3-4 days without dumping black water (30 gallons) but we usually need to dump grey daily. That's with 2 adults and 2-3 kids. Our blue tank is 36 gallons I think.

[Herk7769]

This is all personal choice so no one answer is better than another.

Personally, I would rather drag a full 40 gallon tank once, than a 20 gallon tank 3 times. Why three? There is no way to gauge 1/2 a tank when dumping. If you try for a "full" Blue Boy, I guarantee you will miss (over) once or twice. Well once anyway. I don't know about you, but there would never again be a twice. There is no "nice" way to disconnect without a mess when the dump mast and hose are full of poo.

The pneumatic tires make pulling on soft ground easier as well. No doubt about it, dumping is a chore I hate and want it over as quickly as possible. That cold beer afterwards can't come soon enough for me.

[scubieman]

Lou, besides the hassle you would think that it could pay for itself but not using full hook ups. I just wish there was a cheap alternative. I use to work for a company making tanks... These tanks plastic alone is probably 30-40 bucks for the big tanks.

[cheese53073]

Lou, I was thinking a tank 3/4 the size of your holding tanks but dump your holding tank when the gauge reads 1/2 giving you 5-10 gallons of reserve. also most of the tote-along tanks I've seen have a float gauge to tell you when they are getting full. Therefore paying attention to what you are doing will allow you to do OK with a smaller tank.
Like you stated tho. it really comes down to preference, space, and budgetary constraints.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by cheese53073

Lou, I was thinking a tank 3/4 the size of your holding tanks but dump your holding tank when the gauge reads 1/2 giving you 5-10 gallons of reserve. also most of the tote-along tanks I've seen have a float gauge to tell you when they are getting full. Therefore paying attention to what you are doing will allow you to do OK with a smaller tank.
Like you stated tho. it really comes down to preference, space, and budgetary constraints.

All true, since the plastic threads on the Blueboy are pretty crappy hose thread, the foam float in the plastic tube type has a tendancy to fall off and get lost. Buy spares.

[DC_In_NC]

Thank you all for the great information. JC Whitney and PPL have the tanks for 1/2 the cost of Camping World.

[tentcamper1]

I use a 15 gallon tote. I use a 18" long garden hose to fill it, have the sewer cap with the hose fitting on it. I only use the tote for grey water and usually need to dump it after 2 1/2-3 days. I don't mind running it to the dump station, I will spend about an hour to dump the grey and then add more water to the fresh tank- I have a 36 gallon water tank and 12v pump system. its only 2 of us so the black tank will last for 5 or more days, have never filled it yet and I always start with 5 gallons of water in it. if we stay someplace for more than 5 days we try to find full hook ups. as always do what works best for you- I prefer the smaller tote because I can move it from the trailer to the truck by hand. I like the idea of pneumatic tires.

[flyrotor]

I'm thinking the dump tanks would not be used in lieu of full hookups or saving money by not using full hookups, rather to enhance convenience of camping where hookups are not an option.

There may be ways to get by with the smaller tanks, but if I were spending to invest in one right now, I would have to agree with Lou that the larger tanks would avoid the mishap of an overflow and a repeat of Robin Williams in "RV"

[sherdep]

was at a county facility (Long Point Park in Brevard County) this weekend and they had a sign up that stated something about the Blue Boys being illegal in the state of Florida and did not want them to be dumped at there dump station.

[scubieman]

I think before I buy a portable waste tank I would rather use like a rain barrel or some odd about ready to be thrown away plastic container that can old at least 15 gallons. I live in the midwest plenty of farmers with old tanks not in use . Not saying this wont be a dirty nasty job but for how much I use it .... Still thinking about if this would be a good enough idea or not.

[jimh]

i do not do dry camping. i bought a 32 (i believe...it is big to me). thought i would run into a need for it and finally did year before last.
we stayed next to a lake in tx and they did not have sewer. i dumped only gray water. after the first day, i would make a trip everyday.
mine, u can leave hooked up and drain continously into it. a float within shuts off the vent when it gets full and stops the water from going in (i wasn't comfortable using it that way but the feature comes in handy when u drain into it).
the black water tank made the week. i believe i would have hooked up and pulled the trailer to the dump rather than contaminating my tote.
mine is made by the same co that makes the toilet (thourford?).

[scubieman]

how long did u camp before needing to dump? and i mean NEED.

I looked up a few camp grounds in the area, most do not do water or sewer. I prefer not to have to tote anything along but the longest I will be there is about 3-5 days

[tentcamper1]

Originally Posted by scubieman

how long did u camp before needing to dump? and i mean NEED.

I looked up a few camp grounds in the area, most do not do water or sewer. I prefer not to have to tote anything along but the longest I will be there is about 3-5 days

that would really depend on your type of camping, tank size and water usage. we (2 of us) shower every day and wash dishes (we use silverware and plastic plates,cups) after every meal. I would say we could go about 3 days if we had to. our grey tank is 36 gallons. before I got the tote I used a 5 gallon water jug and short water hose to fill it in case the grey needed to be dumped. I would say we average about 15 + gallons every day, I think its more than most but it keeps us happy