Looking. Shopping. New. Used?

IMO, there is not better way to understand what you want in a camper than to go window shopping. My wife and I did this for several weeks prior to pulling the trigger on our 321BHTS. What we learned walking through various makes and models of 5th wheel and TT's is we wanted a bunk house (teenage kids at the time), we wanted an outdoor kitchen, we wanted a separate bathroom entrance, etc...

You can look all day online and it will help but go walk in some RV's. This will also help you understand what you like and don't like. Then narrow it down to a couple of options and then you can start factoring in things like age, price etc...

Just my $0.02
 
tnt_motorsports said:
You can look all day online and it will help but go walk in some RV's. This will also help you understand what you like and don't like. Then narrow it down to a couple of options and then you can start factoring in things like age, price etc...
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That's sage advice. You almost can't know if you would/wouldn't like it until you touch it.
 
Wayne said:
That's sage advice. You almost can't know if you would/wouldn't like it until you touch it.
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And you won't know for sure until you use it. We bought one of those A-frame pop-ups, they sure feel roomy when you look at them with the high peak of the A and the big window on the solid wall. The reality was you have little usable stand up room and only the square footage of the box without the slideout beds. That was a mistake but we made money on it.

I think most of the time when you RV through life you're thinking about your next RV and what you'd like different. Maybe when you come into it later on like Pablo if you get it close you won't do that. Renting something you'd be interested in would be money well spent. Or even a B and a C to know the differences in use and driving.
 
Pablo said:
I just meant no pooping unless you really have to. NO stinking the joint up. I didn't mean no toilet.
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dnewton3 said:
We have a strict "no deuce" policy in our rig. Odors aside, another benefit is that, in 17 years of ownership, I've never had a problem cleaning the black water tank, as it's mostly "water" and no "black", as it were.

And related, we also don't cook/bake/fry a single thing in our RV. About the only thing we've done is pop some popcorn in the microwave, and even that is rare.

Between no deuces and no cooking, there's no odors in our rig to speak of. A light cleaning at the end of each season and the interior smells great the next spring. I do run the roof fan often to keep fresh air moving through the rig when in use as well. If not for the dated decor (being made in 2006), you'd swear our RV was practically brand new. At least on the inside; the outside is a different story, as it has a lot of road wear (nicks, scratches, fading, etc) commensurate with nearly two decades of travel.

We really just use the trailer to sleep, prep food and change clothes. Yes, occasionally we've been rained out and had to spend a day in the RV, but that's been rare. Still, we cook under the awning so the food odors don't get inside.

I guess my point is that keeping odors out of the RV does have it's advantages, both short and long term.
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I'm on my 3rd travel trailer. I know people that don't fully use the toilet, and yes with just water , little chance of a problem.
But in reality, we have always used our toilet and never had a black tank issue. We use it for #2 and we use single ply toilet paper.

If you never let your tanks go dry, and use a bit of dish soap at the beginning of each trip, no problems. On some weekend trips, i don't dump the black tanks, and leave it for another weekend trip, especially if camping at a COE campground without sewer.

Going down the road with a good load of water in the black tank keeps things from piling up anywhere. I don't worry about black tank sensors as they never really work , and i don't need them anyway. My current trailer has some sort of flush gimmick that you can hook another hose to and flush the tank, never used it, don't want to do that in a line at the dumpstation anyway.

My regimen is when ever i dump the tanks at the end of a trip, i always put 1-2 gallons of water right back in the black tank with some soap. With the soap and Oderloos brand tank chemical, i don't have odors or any problems with toilet paper teepees or anything like that. Each time you flush solids, just make sure you have plenty of water and even a second flush of water.

I don't own any tank cleaning wands or flush devices and have never needed them.


P.S. The only tank odors i've ever noticed have been after using RV antifreeze. For some reason that stuff will break down in the black tank and make some odors. Even when i've had to winterize and take a trip only 3 weeks later, it will make odor until you dump and flush it out.
 
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spasm3 said:
I'm on my 3rd travel trailer. I know people that don't fully use the toilet, and yes with just water , little chance of a problem.
But in reality, we have always used our toilet and never had a black tank issue. We use it for #2 and we use single ply toilet paper.

If you never let your tanks go dry, and use a bit of dish soap at the beginning of each trip, no problems. On some weekend trips, i don't dump the black tanks, and leave it for another weekend trip, especially if camping at a COE campground without sewer.

Going down the road with a good load of water in the black tank keeps things from piling up anywhere. I don't worry about black tank sensors as they never really work , and i don't need them anyway. My current trailer has some sort of flush gimmick that you can hook another hose to and flush the tank, never used it, don't want to do that in a line at the dumpstation anyway.

My regimen is when ever i dump the tanks at the end of a trip, i always put 1-2 gallons of water right back in the black tank with some soap. With the soap and Oderloos brand tank chemical, i don't have odors or any problems with toilet paper teepees or anything like that. Each time you flush solids, just make sure you have plenty of water and even a second flush of water.

I don't own any tank cleaning wands or flush devices and have never needed them.


P.S. The only tank odors i've ever noticed have been after using RV antifreeze. For some reason that stuff will break down in the black tank and make some odors. Even when i've had to winterize and take a trip only 3 weeks later, it will make odor until you dump and flush it out.
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We actively use our bathroom like a bathroom. When I am field camping at WoO or other racing events I am on generator power and my fresh water tank so no other choice.

We have not used black or grey tank treatments since our first year in our TT (20160. Our current recipe since 2017 has been about 1oz of Dawn dish soap in about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bleach. Shake together in a plastic water bottle and dump down the drain and run some water. We use this in both the grey and black tank and never a problem. I usually drive down the road for an hour or more prior to finding a place to dump my tanks. I believe this helps as well.

I have used this to clean my tank in the past but I'm not sure I needed it... Search RV digest on Amazon

I also use this to clean the black tank out 90% of the time, especially if hooked to sewer. Search Camco holding tank rinser on Amazon

Just my $0.02

edit, sorry links didn't work...
 
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