Getting Ready is Part of the Trip Too--Repairing the Black Water Tank

When I say "getting ready", I wasn't talking about getting the food loaded into the RV. In order to get ready this time, we had to do repair of the black water tank. For some reason, your campground neighbors don't appreciate the scent from your camper smelling like an overflowing pit toilet...and, truthfully, it spoils too that morning view as you open your RV door to the scenic splendor of your boondocking site. 

This was not a new problem that just sprung on me as the owner of a used RV. As I dug into the situation, it seemed that no less than four attempts had been made to correct the situation. This number was determined by analyzing the different materials slathered onto the tank in an effort to make it stop leaking. All of those attempts failed including my two additional attempts before I finally pulled the tanks. 

In the boating world, having your boat out of the water and on blocks is called being "on the hard." This is where you attend to such tasks as scraping the barnacles off the bottom and finding and fixing the source of that incessant leak that has been dripping on you for the last two months. Having my Roadtrek up on ramps feels very much like having my boat "on the hard," because you can't use it as was intended. You can only dream about the far-away coves you'll find once you get her "back in the water," so to speak. 

Removing the Tanks

Pulling the tanks on a 1995 Roadtrek 210 Popular is not an easy job, but I could tell when I got into it that it had been done before. Therefore, it could be done again. If you've ever done a bathroom remodel on your sticks and bricks home, this will begin to give you some sense of what you're getting yourself into. Just like those projects seem to start off with "let's change the lino out and put tile in" and turn into a total gutting of the bathroom once the dry rot is discovered under the toilet, getting the tanks out requires undoing all that was done after the tanks were installed in the first place. 

BEFORE removing anything, make sure that you give some quality time to making sure that both black-water and gray-water tanks are empty and as clean as you can get them. You will find later that this was time well spent. 

First the toilet comes out...see where this is leading. Once the toilet is out, the flange that the toilet mounts to needs to be removed. Remove the half-dozen screws and then turn counter-clockwise to unscrew it from the tank. I had to use a large screwdriver and a hammer it counter-clockwise to break the seal and get it to turn. The wood/linoleum platform which the toilet sits on is then unscrewed and removed. Remove the bench to the side of the toilet after the shower facet and associated hardware are disconnected. There is a small plywood conduit of sorts to the left of the toilet that houses the vent pipes from the black water and grey water tanks that needs to be removed to give access to the vent pipes.  The back wall is removed to allow the left side wall of the vent conduit to be removed. There are screws that go in from the top shelf into the shelf brackets that attach to the wall that will need to be removed as well.

With a cleared out access to the top of the black water tank, you only see the tip of this iceberg. Since this tank had been removed at least once before, they had sprayed the opening with expanding foam. I don't know what it looks like coming from the factory today or 20 years ago. Using various putty knives, screwdrivers, and other devices, I was able to clear most of that foam material out of the surrounding hole. Be careful to not damage the sensor wires that are also fed down that hole. 

The two vent pipes will have to be cut off to enable the tanks to be removed. I guess since these things were never meant to be removed, they were not installed with removable rubber joints. Cut the 1 1/4" ABS pipe with enough room to connect a rubber splice joint when putting it back together, like in the middle of the angled portion of the run. This is a lesson-learned, as I thought I had to cut it as close to the black-water tank as possible in order to get the tank out. This move resulted in a lot of oscillator tool work to get the glued portion of the stub out of the fitting that goes into the tank. With both vent pipes cut, it's time to remove the gray-water tank. The gray-water tank hangs below the black-water tank in this version. 

If you've operated your Roadtrek for any length of time, you know that there are gate valves for draining the tanks. One for the black water and one for the gray. These need to be disconnected to free the tanks, but how to get to them? You're going to need some work space under the van. I had two leveling ramps that I use with the van, but that didn't give me enough space, so I purchased on Amazon (after looking around town and not having any luck) two RhinoGear Ramps. These are well-engineered ramps with enough height to give me the room I needed to work underneath the van. As I needed more room underneath the back of the van, I used the two leveling ramps with the back wheels and the RhinoGear ramps in the front.

There are four bolts with nuts on each gate valve. Remove them completely and tie the gate valve up to the cross member with some zip ties or something to keep them from hanging down and damaging the rods. I did this well enough to drive the van. While I removed the pipe housing the flex pipe to clean it up, you could just wire it up so it doesn't flop around when driving the van. Tie up the front end of the black water tank temporarily, as well, to keep it from dropping and breaking something while you're removing the grey-water tank.

Towards the back of the van are the drain pipes for the shower and the sink as they go into the grey-water tank. Since we don't use the shower pan, I had removed and capped that branch of the drain. The drain pipe coming from the sink had to be cut, though, to free the gray-water tank. I cut it in a place that allowed me to put a flexible rubber connector in when I put it back together.

All three tanks have sensors to monitor how full or empty they are. These sensors are connected with wires attached to the sides of the tanks. The black-water and gray-water tanks have their sensors facing the outside of the passenger side of the vehicle, and the fresh water tank's is facing the middle of the vehicle. My sensor connectors were rusted on, so I had to cut the wires at the connectors. It's a good idea to mark the wires and the tanks with the colors that are connected at those points, otherwise you could have another project on your hands figuring out which wire tells you what level.

Now, we're ready to remove the brackets under the grey-water and black-water tanks. There are three of them with 9/16" Nylok nuts on rods extending from the underneath side of the van floor. You'll want to get new Nylok nuts for when you put the tanks back in. Gently lower the gray-water tank and remove it. Yea, the first tank is out!

The top portion of the black-water tank angles through the fiberglass passenger-side storage box/step of the Roadtrek, which will also have to be removed in order to get the tank free. This piece of fiberglass runs from the rear tire well to the front tire well and is well attached. Remove the storage box lid first at the piano hinge that screws into the van body. I had to also replace the piano hinge on mine while I was at it. There are three bolts running from the area near where the toilet attached to the flange inside the van. 9/16" bolts with large washers. There are also 3/8" screws that run along the entire length of the fiberglass piece underneath the van starting at each wheel well, including a couple of angle iron stubs that support near the step area. The hose that feeds the toilet needs to be disconnected at the fitting within the storage box area. Remove the fitting and washer, as it will not go through the hole in the back of the storage box. You'll have to use a putty knife to separate all of the sealer along the edges of the box to get it free. Gently remove the box/step piece and put it someplace safe. 

With the black-water tank clear of all the things holding it in, remove the temporary wire or zip tie you were using to hold up the front of the tank and wiggle the tank out. Since my ramps would only bring up the van so much, I had to remove the threaded fitting from the front of the tank to give me enough room to maneuver and remove the tank. 

Repairing the Black Water Tank

This is the black water tank. A thing of geometric beauty in polyethylene.  At the top right there is a white ring on the black tank. This is a nylon, I think, threaded fitting that has been attached to the polyethylene somehow. This is the same fitting that is at the exit portion of the tank (lower left in the top photo and front lower right in the second). The fitting on the exit had developed cracks that went front to back through the threads and is what was the cause of the leaking.

While this picture is of the fitting where the toilet flange connects, it is identical to the fitting on the exit that was cracked and the cause of the leaking that could not be fixed. The cracks ran perpendicular to the threads and not amount of sealant was going to keep it fixed for long.

I used an oscillating tool with various wood/metal cutting "bits" to separate the fitting from the polyethylene tank.

I modified an ABS fitting with the same oscillating tool to provide a collar of sorts and have it fit within the existing hole.

I still didn't know what kind of sealant I was going to use, as most of the sealants would work with polyethylene, but not ABS or visa versa. So, I worked on cleaning up the other two tanks until I found what I needed. What I finally settled on was 3M-brand 4000 sealant used for through-hull fittings on boats. It was obtained from West Marine.

Cleaning up the Grey Water Tank
When I started work on the grey-water tank, I didn't know what I was going to do with the mess...the creative solution...left me by the last owner who played with the tanks. What you see in the picture below is the drain pipes that come from the sink (horizontal leg running off to the left) and the shower (the vertical leg) and go into the tank. All of them were solidly glued together. That oscillating tool was the best thing ever and I'm so glad that my neighbor, Rick, had one for me to use. With this set up I had to use the tool to essentially melt off the pipe that I didn't want leaving only the section coming out of the tank.

I wasn't going to reconnect up the shower, as we don't use the shower pan as it's designed. It's in good shape, but we have a carpeted piece of plywood over the floor. We use a small flexible tub with handles on it to put the shower curtain in and shower up. It works well and we dump the shower into the black water tank or outside the van depending on the situation.

The resulting solution involved using a piece of clear plastic tubing that fit tightly over the fitting on the tank and at the other end coming from the sink drain. With a couple of hose clamps to make sure it doesn't slip off, I have a secure and removable solution.

Fixing the Fresh Water Tank
While I was cleaning off the fresh-water tank, I found out why I had a small constant drip that couldn't find. The fitting that was welded to the tank was also cracked. Here is what it looked like after I used a small blade on that very useful oscillating tool to remove it from the polyethylene tank material.

The attempt at fixing it, which didn't work, was to do a mini version of what I did with the threaded fitting for the black-water tank. Notice that I said it didn't work. With so little surface area on the tank and on the fitting, it popped right out when any stress was put on it. I didn't find this out until it was back in the van.  The second attempt, which did better, but still had pinhole-type sweat leaking, was to use a 3/4" threaded male to 1/2" female threaded PVC fitting and I used the hard PVC to cut threads into the softer polyethylene and seal it with the 3M 4000 that I used on the black-water tank fitting. The pinhole-type leaks were from the damage from removing original fitting. The next improvement was to use a putty epoxy that I kneaded into the cracks and crevices. I used a 3/4 tap with the correct iron pipe thread pattern to cut through the epoxy once it had set. Using Teflon tape over the threads of the fitting was enough to make a good joint.

While the tank was out, I covered the entire tank with Reflectix. By the time I was done, most of the tank had two layers of the material and it was securely held in place with a heavy-duty spray adhesive. Take your time and make sure that the Reflectix material is form-fitting to the tank, as it's a tight fit when it goes back in.

Tank Sensors
As you can sort of make out from the picture above, the sensors are rusted enough that I had to pry them out of the tank with a large screw driver. all of the sensors for all the three tanks were in the same condition. I replaced them all with nicely-made Horst RV tank sensors. They have special ones for the black-water tank that have Teflon covers over the probes to keep the paper from building up them. We started following the advice from another RVer and don't put our paper into the tank--it goes into a waste receptacle.

Putting the Tanks Back into the Van
Order matters, especially with the grey water tank. That said you have to get the van back up on the ramps to give you the needed height to maneuver the black water tank into position. If you don't still have the passenger side storage box and step off the vehicle, it will need to be removed too. Put the black water tank in first and use some wire or zip ties to secure it up where it belongs. Attach the sensor wires while you can still get to them. I may have gone overboard, but I wrapped the connectors with rubber electrical tape (stretchy) to keep out dirt and moisture.

Now, install the fresh water tank

Feb 13-15, 2015 Kayenta -> Monument Valley -> Canyon de Chelly

Feb 13-15, 2015  
Kayenta -> Monument Valley -> Canyon de Chelly
 

I don't think that we could have fit anymore into this day, but as Pam said, "It really didn't feel rushed." 
 

Friday night, we were "camped" at the Hamilton Inn in Kayenta, which is where we were to turn north to go up to Monument Valley. The Hamilton Inn is right next to the Burger King. The shopping center is right 
behind it. It is also the first thing you see as you are coming into town. We pulled in behind a truck with a horse trailer giving them enough room to get out if they were to leave before us in the morning. 
 

That precaution proved to be unnecessary, as I was up at 4:30am and waited until almost 6am to get up. We were at the McDonalds, which is two doors down from the Burger King, when the doors opened at 6am to get our egg McMuffins and hot chocolates before heading out to Monument Valley. It's about 25 miles up the highway to the Navajo park. We were at the rim for the rising sun breaking over the monuments.

After the light evened out, we did the 17-mile circuit around the Navajo reservation monuments. It was a dirt road that was in better condition than many I had grown up with, and it was definitely better than the one I grew up on. There were only few of us on the track, due it being winter and all. With just a few more cars and tour vans on this track and it would be a dusty mess.

What was most amazing besides the monuments was the simple hogan down in the valley all by itself. All by itself with it’s own windmill, water tank and outhouse. 

Pam and I perused the gift shop and museum at Gouldon’s across the highway, filled the tank with gas and headed south for Canyon de Chelly (shey). 

Instead of taking the major highways, we wanted to see how the native nation was made up on its roads. We took BIA-59 out Kayenta and headed southeast through incredible emptiness. Crossing Highway 191 at Many Farms onto a dirt road that was on the map was a single line to the north rim of Canyon de Chelly. There wasn’t just a single dirt lane, but many dirt lanes leading to who knows where. We watched one van turn off the dirt road and onto a trail of sorts that you’d hardly notice if you didn’t watch the van turn onto it and head over the hill. We never made it to the north rim. We, instead, had just made a sort of long arc that led back to Highway 191 just up the road from Chinle. 

Having the decision made for us, we headed for the main entrance to the Canyon de Chelly. The ranger there told me about the hike to the White House ruins. We had just enough time to do the hike and get back out of the canyon before darkness set in. 

From the first time the canyon was exposed, the beauty, the colors, the scale were overwhelming to the senses. The sign that said pets were not allowed and that children should be leashed had us excited to see what kind of trail this was. It was a beautiful trail. Only a mile and a half, it was well built with benches for resting as it carried you back in time. 

As you reached the bottom of the canyon, there was a small hogan made of small logs with a green, rolled roof covered in patches. There were a couple of metal lawn chairs sitting under the single cottonwood tree. A sign asking you not to take pictures was puzzling, as it was such a serene scene. We abided and moved down the trail following the river to the ruins. 
 

The ruins, of course, had to be fenced off to protect it from further vandalism. If you didn’t dwell too long on the graffiti, the simple beauty of White House shone through. 

As were approaching the ruins, a small Navajo women with two white ski pole and purple school backpack was struggling to bend down to pick up a piece of candy wrapper off the ground. I made some comment about how people have no problem carrying stuff down with them, but somehow have difficulty carrying it back and we shared a knowing smile. After our time with at the ruins, we headed back up the trail. A short way past the pit toilets walking through a stand of cottonwoods was this same Navajo woman. She was walking slowly, picking her way through the roots of the trees, the weight of her pack evident. 
 

She stopped to talk with Pam and me as we caught up with her. We chatted a bit before I asked her about which direction she was heading. Since we were going back up to the parking lot too, I asked if I could carry her backpack for her and dismissed her worries about her being too slow for us. This would give us a good reason to go up slow too.
 

Her name is Winnie and she was born in the hogan at the bottom of the canyon. It had been several years since she had been down to the bottom, as her health had prevented her from hiking. She was trying to build back up the strength that she once had and walking down into the canyon was part of that effort. 
 

Asking her what it was like to grow up in the canyon started the conversation off and we didn’t stop telling stories until we got to the top an hour or so later. Winnie was the only girl in the family with nine brothers. The oldest one being her protector and the one next to her on the older side was her challenger. 
 

As we reached the top, Winnie asked if we had any more questions. The only question I had was if she had a ride home. Her grandson was going to pick her up after the basketball game ended around 8pm, which was in about three hours. I asked her if we could take her home. She agreed and we were off. 
 

After we dropped her at her niece’s place where she was staying, we decided that making dinner was going to take too long. We opted for the only restaurant in town. The best part was getting a meal with my first Navajo fry bread.
 

We planned on camping at the park campground, which was right at the gate of the park, but we couldn’t find a way into it. When we saw it in the afternoon, it was absolutely empty. It was dark, we were tired and then I remembered that Winnie said that when she would go up to the White House trail early in the morning she would find campers in the parking lot. It was a quiet night with the Milky Way gracing the sky.
 

We were one our way before it was light and we’d reached the Petrified Forest National Park just after it opened at 8am. The beauty of the Painted Desert and the ancient tropical trees lying in a desert halfway around the world and 30 degrees latitude north of where they grew were surreal and awesome. After drive and hike, we were headed home.

Willow Creek Dells--Prescott, Arizona--Jan 17, 2015

We went for our first good hike on Saturday, January 17th near a small reservoir called Willow Creek. It's just on the outside edge of Prescott on the north side and has a park with baseball diamonds and soccer pitches and a zoo called Heritage Park. Across the boulevard is Emory-Riddle University. The point being is that it is very much a part of the town.

Now, a "dell" is referred to as "a small, usually wooded valley; vale" by Dictionary.com, and I suppose that there are several small wooded valleys tucked into the crevices of the wild rock formations. Yet, it was the rock formations that captured my attention.  

Looking at the map from Google Earth, the skin of the earth shows very much the skin of a very old man in high relief. While hiking through the dells, that lined skin becomes a labyrinth to lose oneself in. The hiking trail was marked with white dots on the slick rock, as without them the trail would only occasionally be found. 

It was was beautiful sunny day, which is a description that I'm sure will get overused for awhile here with us. It is still an odd joy to see the sun in such regular fashion after spending several years in Seattle. With the sun shining on us, it was warm enough to easily bring a sweat, yet there were still patches of ice and frost in the shady portions of the trail. A joyful dichotomy, indeed.