Had a long talk with Doug at drainmaster today. I plan on converting my thetford fitting with a camlock so I will never have to unhook the hose. Just coil it over to the side. Standard polychute has a clear window at the coach end that would interfere with closing the bay. Doug said he could make the fitting differently so it will be able to do the ninety down out of the coach easier. I got my inspiration from the IH-45 bay. It will be nice to not have to mess with hooking up fittings anymore and it has a built in valve at the end of the hose. Anyone else done this?
Waste Master Adapter Kit (http://www.drainmaster.com/WasteMasterAdapterKit.html)
Mark
I cut off the Thetford fitting and put on a Valterra fitting. I added a "twist on" third valve. I bought a standard PolyChute about a year ago. I have been very pleased with the setup. I use the combination of the three valves to empty the black tank, then flush and empty it several times with water from the grey tank. The window on the PolyChute allows me to see how effluent cleans up with the back flushes.
The PolyChute system has worked well for me. I always had a leak somewhere in the old style hoses. (May have been a "user error.") The PolyChute has never leaked.
I have to remove PolyChute and stow it in a container when it is not in use. When I am dumping tanks, I connect it to the output of the third valve. The output is a pretty straight run into the PolyChute and the dumping process works well. I often tilt the coach with the HWH to facilitate draining the holding tanks.
I cannot close the bay door when the PolyChute is attached. It will almost close if I use a pair of 90 degree elbows. I don't find it a particular problem to stow the hose after I empty tanks. I have always chosen to leave dump valves closed during normal use. I prefer the allow waste water to accumulate and then dump it in a slug. I think it helps flush debris from the tanks.
I chose to use the Valterra fittings for our application. I seems to suit my preferences better than the cam loc fittings. Your plumbing and operational preferences may benefit from the cam loc.
Well I finally got around to doing the Drainmaster sewer hose upgrade. Drainmaster made it special to help me fit it on the coach. They cut off some on the camlock coupling to allow me to install it up close to the bulkhead. They also trimmed the coupling on the hose to allow it to bend quicker coming out of the coach. The only thing special I had to do to the coach is trim the bay vent grille to allow the camlock arm to open all the way on the left side. I don't have to unhook hoses anymore unless I want to hook up the gray water garden hose adapter. I built a shelf out of an old countertop I bought at the habitat for humanity thrift shop. Installed a couple aluminum rails to set the shelf on and tilted it slightly outboard. I realize not everyone has the space for the shelf. But since I don't have reels I had the room. Since I have a somewhat weaker immune system than most I wanted to limit my exposure to as much bacteria as possible while dumping the tanks. The hose nozzle has a valve in it that kind of acts as a third valve. I wont have to unhook the hose because I can close the valve to eliminate any odors. Anyhow I thought I would share this with you all in case anyone is interested.
Regards, Mark Z
Nice work Mark! Looks great. Thanks for the pics.
see ya
ken
Nice job Mark.
So they shortened the camlock on the 3" pipe side and on the hose side. Couple of questions.
1 - When you cut off the Thetford fitting how much pipe did you leave exposed from the inside wall?
2 - What is the distance from the inside wall to the brass slide locks on the drop door?
3 - how long are those camlock arms?
I really want to see if something similar will work for me. Thanks.
Mark,
I just went out and took a few measurements. From the wall I had about an inch and half or so. I did not measure it after I cut off the Thetford coupling. The distance from the wall to the edge of the brass slide latches is about nine and a quarter inches. I am attaching a camlock dimensions sheet but remember they cut off about three fourths of an inch on the slide coupling end. If you have a bay vent like mine the opening behind the vent can be used to accommodate the coupling arms. Hope this helps.
Mark Z
That does help Mark. Thanks for the measurements and the pdf. As soon as I get to my coach I'll have to do some investigation and measuring.