Storage of Sewer Hose
The new Rexhalls come with a slick water/holding compartment storage receptacle for the sewer hose. But yours and mine probably don't have one. Bob Bishop writes about his solution. First he cut a round hole in the side of his motorhome adjacent to the water/septic compartment. He used a 5 inch marine deck plate (not the 4 inch used in our Rexhall's water and electrical compartments), purchased from his local marine store, for access to the pipe. He painted it to match the motorhome. A square utility compartment door could also serve.
Then he took a piece of 4 inch septic drain field plastic pipe, with the holes pointing downward, and mounted it under the motorhome, beginning at the round hole and heading toward the gas tank. In his case, since he did not have room for a straight piece of pipe that was long enough to accept his hose, he added a sweep (not a simple 90 degree elbow) and another short piece of pipe and an end cap, so his entire length (looks like about 3-4 feet) was enough to accommodate his 15 feet of sewer hose.
Now he has easy stowage and access for the sewer hose, it drains and dries automatically, and gets rinsed each time he drives in the rain. He was just a few years ahead of the Company. Take a look under the back of your rig and see whether this might be for you.
Bob Bishop
831-637-5959
Larry & Pam Fowler had the same idea as Bob, but placing the pipe in a slightly different location. http://www.fmca.com/fmc2006/julmag/
Bob Stiens solved the problem of sewer hose storage in a slightly different way, with the advantage that the hose is always attached. Very clever. His description follows the photos.
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Since I dislike messing with sewer hoses, I installed this system on my 1996 Aerbus and also on my new 2000 Rexair. All parts are available at most home supply companies, and cost around $25.
This system eliminates having to hook up the hose to the drain, having to unhook it, and having to put it into a storage container. It now takes me only seconds to dump.
The parts needed are a toilet floor seat that rotates. That's the important part. Then a 90 degree elbow, about 26" of 4 inch pvc pipe, a female screw cap end, a male screw cap and a small chain of 12 inches.
Remove the deck plate located in the floor of the sewer compartment, straight below the dump outlet. You might have to enlarge the opening slightly to allow the toilet floor seat to fit. Then attach (glue) the elbow, the 4 inch pvc pipe, and the female screw cap end.
Attach the chain to the floor of the motorhome above where it will be while in the travel mode, and the other end of the chain to the screw-in cap, with a small screw, but don't tighten it all the way so the chain can swivel on it.
Get one of the brown flexible sewer hoses like they sell at Camping World and 3 male/female quick connects. One hose will reach out about 8-10 feet, but every now and then you will need a second hose if the campsite sewer is too far away. With the quick connects, you can attach the second hose before adding the right angle end that goes into the sewer.
The first hose is always connected, so when using a dump station, all you need to do is unscrew the cap, rotate the pipe toward the sewer, extend the sewer hose, and presto, you are dumping. This is a very clean and user friendly dumping method.
Bob Stiens
Kelly modification of sewer
hose storage
I had to make some modifications to Stines’ design, since my sewer compartment was in front of the rear tire and the exhaust pipe was in the way. But simply ran it forward and worked out fine. I will put a screw cap on the front end of the pvc pipe.
Kelly
Jack Dailey [jack.dailey@sbcglobal.net] used a similar design to Stiens.
Some other thoughts at http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/15121722.cfm
and at http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/17257876.cfm
Larry Black in the FMCA Magazine, February 2006, page 29, uses a 5 inch square PVC fencepost for storage of his sewer hose.