Hi Guys,
With the recent discussion about grey tanks, here's another option.
Our '67 22' has a blatantly simple 1.5 to 2 gallon capacity holding "tank"
for wash water. For us, that's sufficient when stopping at an Interstate
Rest Area for snacks or light meals. When we're in campgrounds that are
fussy about wash water, I use a 5 gallon (40#) blue boy and empty it daily.
I think of this task as part of my daily weight lifting (?) program.
While traveling, it's surprising how little wash water we create when using
paper plates, cups and plastic silverware. As expected, we have never
filled our homemade tank with wash water during rest breaks at travel stops.
With that background, here's how I created our mini two gallon+ wash water
holding tank. At the rear of our Safari, the outlet pipe is accessed by
opening the rear bumper lid. The outlet pipe is forward of the slinky hose
storage area. It is directly below the shell and is normally accessed by
dropping the trap door, removing the cap and connecting the slinky. My
homemade tank uses this connector but not the slinky and not the drop down
trap door. Here's how I did it.
First, I went to my local hardware store. I bought (was given) two scrap
pieces (and 2 spare scrap pieces in case I made two mistakes) of 3" white
PVC pipe, including an elbow, a can of glue, two hose clamps, a 10" long
section of 3" rubber hose, 2 hose adapters and a small roll of strap iron.
I then measured out two equal (almost) sections of PVC and connected one end
of both sections to the rubber hose with hose clamps.
The other end of the first section of PVC was converted to accomodate the
original outlet pipe cap. The elbow was needed here. This section connected
to the Airstream's holding tank outlet pipe located below the shell.
The other end of the second section of PVC was converted to fit the standard
drain cap. This section was sized to pass through the frame and extend about
an inch or more outside it. At this point, I hadn't cut a 3" hole in the
slinky hose storage area frame nor used any glue. I wanted to be sure
everything fit the way I wanted it to fit.
I then asked my welder to cut a 3" hole in the frame (streetside of the
slinky storage area) so a 3" piece of PVC could slide in snugly (close
tolerances - not a sloppy fit).
>From there it was simply a matter of putting everything together (glue and
hose clamps) so the first section of PVC pipe went through the new hole and
clamped to the rubber hose. The second section of PVC was clamped to the
other side of the rubber hose, then glued at the elbow and slinky hose
adapter, and finally connected to the factory installed holding tank outlet
pipe adapter (no glue). This was all done inside the slinky hose storage
area. It was now one long piece of 3" hose.
My intention for using a piece of 3" rubber hose was to provide a cushion
for vibration between the outlet below the shell and the newly created
outlet hole in the rear side frame. Rightly or wrongly, I thought there
might be vibration or movement of the side frame that was different from
vibration or movement at the main frame. I wanted to avoid having the PVC
crack because of vibration AND I wanted the installation to be simple by
sliding the pipe into the storage area from outside the frame. This rubber
hose in the middle solved both issues. On hindsight, the strap iron I used
to secure the center part of the storage pipe may have been unnecessary
redundancy, but maybe not.
Anyhow, bottom line is I installed a 3' section of PVC and rubber hose in
the slinky hose compartment. This acts as our wash water holding tank.
Draining this 3' section is straight forward with a simple garden hose
attached to a shut off valve on the hose adapter connector.
I use a hose adapter on the connection outside the frame instead of a solid
cap. If I used the solid cap, there would be no way to control the rate of
flow and I could end up washing my shoes each time I tried to empty the wash
water. This way, I can control the rate of flow into a bucket.
My description may sound like the project was time consuming to create, but
it wasn't. The entire project consumed the better part of a day, including
towing the trailer to the welder. And, it was profoundly easier than adding
a 10 gallon "real" wash water tank. The longest part of this modification
took a week of "thinking" before I had the entire project clear in my head.
This modification is simple, practical, economical, easy to create and
works superbly for us. Maybe it'll work for others.
The beauty of this email discussion group is we get to read modifications
made by others without going through the trial and error of creating our own
solution. We can judge for ourselves whether or not someone else's idea
might meet our needs.
Rube Goldberg was one of my boyhood heroes. That made this mini wash water
holding "tank" right down my alley - a piece of cake.
Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net