Is it normal that... Pt II

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Davydd

You are still a rookie to Class B RVing. I hope you know what a Navy shower is. If you take a continuous shower like you do at home you would run your freshwater tank out in under 5 minutes which is incidentally what a building shower is in a campground if they are charging money to take a shower. You quickly learn how short a 5 minute shower is as you bask under the continuous stream of hot water.

A lot of Class Bs have about a 20 gallon fresh tank which has to be shared with washing dishes and other water functions like flushing toilets, washing hands, food prep and drinking.

Davydd, makes me wonder about another member here that wants his cake and eat too like yourself with Advanced RV.

avanti, if your here, have you decided on whether you are going to have one of them endless hot shower systems with your new B?

Bud

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Bud

avanti, if your here, have you decided on whether you are going to have one of them endless hot shower systems with your new B?

I thought about it, but probably not. Although I do use the rig shower every morning, I am pretty satisfied with the navy shower thing. Plus, I suspect that one of those systems would involve constant screwing around with filter cartridges. I think I prefer low-maintenance over luxo showers. If I valued the latter, I might be tempted to use campground showers, and I am not--at all.

Also, such a system would require an extra tank for the recycled water. I would rather use the space for a bigger fresh tank.

[SteveJ]

Our RT had the aisle shower and the Fantastic fan in the ceiling in the shower area. I installed a reversing switch in the fan. We would turn on the fan blowing air down and leave the shower curtain deployed for about 30 minutes. In dry weather it worked a treat for drying the whole shower station and curtain out.

We could both shower using the 6 gal Suburban. We would heat the water to shower temp only, not all of the way so we could just run straight "hot" water. We would save the initial cold blast of water for other purposes. Two people, less than six gallons of water, awesome for dry camping.

35 gal fresh would last us 6-7 days.

[MsNomer]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Two people, less than six gallons of water, awesome for dry camping.

That would be a huge extravagance for us. We start with 2.5 gallons. After two showers, there’s about a gallon left, so 1.5 gallon used for two showers. The average amount of Dove liquid soap used for those two showers is about 0.0175oz, so not much rinse water needed to remove it.

We feel clean after these showers. The one caveat is that I do not wash my hair in the van, not because of water needed, but because of the shampoo and conditioner.

[jrobe]

A 3 gal shower in the Navy would get you a discharge for bad behavior.

I turn the water on for 5 sec to get wet, then shut it off and lather up (including my hair), then turn the water back on for maybe 15 sec at most to rinse off. The total time that faucet is on is maybe 15-20 sec with under 1 gal of water used.

I also rigged up a system where I can fill a 5 gal can at the park faucet and use a siphon hose under the couch that is connected to our water lines to pump it into the freshwater tank. I stick the hose in the jug, flip a couple levers and turn on the water pump to siphon it in. This easily replaces the water for showers even if we can't refill the whole freshwater tank.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by MsNomer

That would be a huge extravagance for us. We start with 2.5 gallons. After two showers, there’s about a gallon left, so 1.5 gallon used for two showers. The average amount of Dove liquid soap used for those two showers is about 0.0175oz, so not much rinse water needed to remove it.

We feel clean after these showers. The one caveat is that I do not wash my hair in the van, not because of water needed, but because of the shampoo and conditioner.

I'm pretty sure we will never get to that level. I don't know for sure what our usage is it's just that we don't run out of warm water. With our current rig('98 Safari Trek 2480) it takes about 2-3 quarts to purge the line for the shower, it has a home run plumbing system.

We do wash our hair in the shower.

The large holding tanks that we now have are a luxury not available in a class B, 80F, 40G, 40B. All in a package under 26' long. I sure do miss the MPG of a B, however.

[Davydd]

You can have an endless shower if you are in a campground site with a water hookup and a sewer hookup, the grey tank valve open and a continuous instant hot water supply like Espar diesel fired.

My wife washes her hair at the galley sink with the pull out nozzle. I guess it is easier for her for her and more thorough. She seems efficient that way. With a buzz cut I can in the shower as jrobe described the Navy shower well.

We have a shower curtain in the bathroom to protect the walls but still use a squeegie at times. We also have a slat teak drop in floor. Since the toilet is shared with the shower space it gets a thorough cleaning too. Our shower pan with toilet is 31" x 30" and the 30" increases to 38" over the sink at arm and shoulder height.

We have a 40 gallon freshwater tank and a total of 51 gallons of grey and black tank in a 144 wb Sprinter. The macerating marine toilet I think uses more water than the Dometic directly over the black tank. With our previous van with similar tanks, Alvar, we averaged 13 days between freshwater fill and dumping at the same time. It balances and times out well like a sand dial to stay under the weight allowed. We have been out on the road longterm yet to see if Mies does as well. We will know in February.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by Urlauber

So I took my new Rize 18M out for a spin and ran into a few more questions!

Is it normal that

• The backlight of the BMPro/RVMaster unit stays lit all night, illuminating the RV in a soft blu-ish glow? I suppose I could turn off the main switch, but then the fridge would be off too.
  
  
• One forgets to shut the magnet-held freezer door of the Vitrifrigo fridge when closing the main door, which messes up the insulation strip and at some point surely will just detach and destroy the freezer door? Or is it just me?
  
• The faucets keep dripping a bit even after the water-pump is off and pressure has been mostly released? Annoying in the sink, which is covered with a cover, which then re-directs the drippings into gaps around the sink. I guess I need to silicone or superglue-gel those gaps to prevent moisture going into the cabinet space.

On a side-note, I took my first test shower in the wet bath. Interesting. Space wasn't an issue. However, the Truma disappointed a bit, the water was very tepid after a while on "High" I guess I'll try "Boost" next. Also, the camper being on an incline, the water collected in the basin without draining because the drain was on the highest point. Finally, getting everything dry isn't easy, but important. The wet shower curtain especially will guarantee a lot of humidity throughout the vehicle. I guess I need to add a plastic liner!

#1 Yes - backlight stays on all the time and even with the screen blank there is a lot of light bleeding through. We put a blackout cloth over ours at night. Hold it on with Velcro, take it off during the day.

#2 IDK - different fridge

#3 Faucets do leak a little due their curved design. Water or antifreeze in the vertical downward facing part of the faucet will come out. Fix is to run a bit of water out of the faucet after turning off the water pump.

[Urlauber]

Originally Posted by W9TR

#1 Yes - backlight stays on all the time and even with the screen blank there is a lot of light bleeding through. We put a blackout cloth over ours at night. Hold it on with Velcro, take it off during the day.

#2 IDK - different fridge

#3 Faucets do leak a little due their curved design. Water or antifreeze in the vertical downward facing part of the faucet will come out. Fix is to run a bit of water out of the faucet after turning off the water pump.

Thank you very much. I think I got #2 licked, I'll just glue a paint stirrer to it (with a red flag?) to poke out when the flap is up. Not sure it will teenager-proof it but we'll see.

Thanks all for sharing your various shower methods. I don't have an issue showering with minute amounts of water, remains to be see how much the rest of the fambly can be educated. There is always the water pump switch.

[Urlauber]

Originally Posted by Urlauber

Thank you very much. I think I got #2 licked, I'll just glue a paint stirrer to it (with a red flag?) to poke out when the flap is up. Not sure it will teenager-proof it but we'll see.

That glued stick didn't really work out, but I found a much better, simpler solution - I glued a close-pored foam cube to the top, so now the latch doesn't stay all the way up (and hidden from obvious view).
I know, that magnetic retaining of the cover is a great feature, in theory, but not for us who will try to close the fridge door with the latch still up and surely break things in the process.

[Urlauber]

We went out for a nice little trial camping this weekend and all worked out really well. But.

Is it normal that...

You open a kitchen drawer, and you can see the pavement??

Looking behind the back of the drawer, there is an opening in the bottom of the van. Isn't that a great way to get dust, moisture and mice in there? Or is that meant for some required ventilation? (The actual hole is not visible in the image, just showing you where I peek through).

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by Urlauber

We went out for a nice little trial camping this weekend and all worked out really well. But.

Is it normal that...

You open a kitchen drawer, and you can see the pavement??

Looking behind the back of the drawer, there is an opening in the bottom of the van. Isn't that a great way to get dust, moisture and mice in there? Or is that meant for some required ventilation? (The actual hole is not visible in the image, just showing you where I peek through).

I spent a day finding all the holes and plugging them. A bright light shining inside and somewhat dark outside has worked best for me. I ended up using a combination of wood blocks, brass wool, and siliconized latex caulk to fill all the voids. This is the kind of thing people refer to when they talk about poor Thor build quality.

[avanti]

Sometimes Great Stuff is handy.

[jrobe]

I agree with the idea of using steal wool or something similar to fill the hole before you fill it with caulk so the mice won't chew right through it.

I have no idea how you can send out an expensive RV from a factory with holes in the floor. That is a joke.

[Urlauber]

Haha, thanks guys for confirming that this isn't the norm(al).

Avanti - agreed! That may be the solution. I actually need to see exactly what's going on down there and what needs to be filled in. Great Stuff is a great glue too, so if it is something that potentially needs to be moved I'll have to be careful.

I'll do the flashlight trick and come back with any news... Thanks again!

[jrobe]

Look up - will mice chew through Great Stuff. Been there, done that,

[Urlauber]

Yup, had that issue in my kitchen once. Steel wool embedded in the PU foam put an end to it. They hate chewing that.

[Urlauber]

Is it normal that...

...an almost new Ram ProMaster roof is showing rust like that?
I mean, ok, it's not a Mercedes, but still... Do I have to oil the roof or something? Paint with Primer? Should I bring this to the Mopar warranty depts attention? Just avoid looking at the roof??

[jrobe]

It looks like there was damage there from something (hail damage, etc.). Something caused those holes that broke through the paint and exposed metal. If it were me and this was the only damaged area, I would grind each spot down to good metal and repaint it. Luckily, it is in an area that no one will see.

[Urlauber]

Originally Posted by jrobe

It looks like there was damage there from something (hail damage, etc.). Something caused those holes that broke through the paint and exposed metal. If it were me and this was the only damaged area, I would grind each spot down to good metal and repaint it. Luckily, it is in an area that no one will see.

Thank you! What would you use to repaint it? Anything available at Home Depot or such?