How does one manually dump if macerator is not working

[Y IZ IT]

Thanks for the info. We'll keep your suggestions in mind. We're new to this area and not familiar with the local businesses yet. There is only one GM dealer close by and I think we'll be going there for chassis work. Let's hope that won't be too often. My DH is not mechanically inclined, but I like to know how things work, so I ask the questions . Sometimes I think there are things that we could fix ourselves and I would try it, (such as the macerator hose) but my DH would just rather have someone else do it... Not that he doesn't think I could do it (I'm more mechanically inclined), he just knows I'll ask him for help in the "strength" department and now he's involved... . We have a state park (Devil's Lake State Park) that is part of the Nat'l Parks that is close by and we'll be going there for our first venture. Less then 30 minutes away and DH has the "America the Beautiful" card. Let's hope all goes well.

[Mike]

You might want to make sure the ATB pass is valid at a State Park.
Ours is only valid at NPS, BLM, FWS, or "National" Parks, Monuments,
Seashores and Rec Areas.
Do you know if there's an entrance fee at a State Park in addition to campsite
fees? I think most have a "day rate", but if you're going to take a campsite, is
that the only charge?
Any experiences you've had would be helpful.
Thanks,
Mike.

[Y IZ IT]

Mike,
Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin (along with a few others) is part of the ATB pass. Devil's Lake is included because it has an Ice Age Trail, which is part of the Nat'l Scenic Trails. We were pleasantly surprised when they told us when we picked up our card. We live only 30 minutes from the park, and there are 3 more parks in Wisconsin that also are included. If you ever get a chance to come to Wisconsin, check it out. It is a beautiful park. Let's us know if you do. The entrance fee is free, but I do believe you pay for the camping. I'll let you know in a couple of days. We plan to spend a night at the park to try out our RT.

[Mike]

Hi,
That's excellent! I don't know of too many SPs that are covered by the ATB passes.
We may be out that way later this year, as we aborted a trip to Mt. Rushmore and GNP last October
due to the early winter conditions out there. If we do try again, it'll be early September this year.
We'd also like to check out "Shezonit"'s digs in Montana, since we'll be out that way.

Let us all know how your maiden voyage goes.
It's always good information for the rest of us.

Mike.

[Y IZ IT]

Mike,

Sounds like we are going in the same direction. Our plans are to head out to Yellow Stone early September, going via I94 going into Montana, circling around and heading back on I90, hitting what ever is along the way. Our neighbor is from Montana and he was going to give us the "must see" places in Montana. In June we are heading to Kentucky for a few days to meet up with a group from a forum we belonged to prior to buying our RT. Let's compare routes and schedules to meet up somewhere. I'm not familiar with this forum and how it works, but is it possible to communicate via private message to share email addresses?

Darlene

[Mike]

Hi Darlene,
If a member of this forum has PM's enabled (I do) there will be a PM button on the right side
of any posting they make under their name and sundry info. Just click the button, which opens
a PM window. Fill in what you'd like to say, and hit the send button. It's a private message
facility for offline info or discussions which a member may wish to keep between the recipient
and themselves.

Our schedule is never set in stone, but if we head west this fall, it'll probably be sometime in September,
after we got "snowed out" of 2 of our intended destinations last October. We were going to try to see
Mt. Rushmore and Glacier NP but the snow beat us to them. We'd also planned to drop by another forum
member's place in the Rochester MN area, but we got our signals crossed, and missed that opportunity,
so we'll probably try again next fall. That should put us along the I-90/94 corridor thru WI/MN.
So best laid plans aside, there's no harm in comparing notes and trying to hook up somewhere.

[Campingdaze]

Bought our used '04 190P RT last May and loved everything about it except the dumping system. Every dump was a frustrating time-consuming messy experience. No matter how hard my husband tried to empty everything, there would be a gusher of gunk the next time he tried to connect the hose to put down the dump hole. Toward the end of the year, he decided that the valve handles were just too difficult to pull/push and were probably not fully closing, so took it to our dealer to have them replaced with new ones. While replacing them and putting in a new hose, the serviceman found that there was a glob of glue that had escaped from somewhere that was not allowing the valves to fully close! They scraped off the glue, put new valve handles on and a nice new short hose. Dumping is a breeze now and we can do it in about 10 minutes or less without a container underneath to collect spillage. He has to "milk" it which takes the longest time, but it works like it should now and we are quite happy with it.

We had been considering a macerator pump earlier, but would not spend the money on one now. They are quite expensive to buy if you only dump at a dump station as we do.

[Y IZ IT]

The macerator system is GREAT. Emptying the tanks is a breeze. The only problem is, when they put the pump in they removed the entire 3" pipes, so there is no back up system for dumping when the pump doesn't work. The pump was 6 yrs old and the location of it didn't help. In the winter they put a lot of salt on the roads and this will cause anything under the chassis not to last very long. They have portable types that are less expensive and you don't need to remove the original 3" pipes. If we find ourselves replacing the macerator pump every couple of years, I think we would have the 3" pipes put back on and use a portable macerator. Right now everything is working great and we are very happy.