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Waste Pipe Storage Travato 59K
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For my wife and I, the WINNEBAGO Travato 59K was the best solution to our type of travel. One issue I think most Class B folks with typical USA waste system is where to store the pipe to connect to dump stations. The 59K comes with an adequate 10 ft flex hose but no place to really store other fittings. And if you want a heavier duty and/or a longer hose, forget it. Unfortunately there is no place to put a storage tube under the 59K. Or... is there. Bearing in mind the minimum height of everything else under the 59K, there actually is a place for a 4 foot long, 5x5 fence post. And I set it up with a quick and easy to use cover latch. The only thing I will add to what you see is a strap between the box and the cap. The first time my wife used this, she set the cap on the running board. I opened the slider door and the bottom of the door slid across the top of the cap. No damage to the door edge or plastic cap but a hanging strap for the cap will fix that. The tube is a standard end post for a 3 rail fence. I used the bottom-end of the post, cutting it at 48 inch length. This provided about 1/2 of a rail slot at the removable cap end. I placed this slot downward and will glue an open mesh screen here. This will allow any remaining moisture to drain while traveling but also keep wasps or other bugs and such from making a home inside the pipe and tube. Two brackets were bent from 1/8 inch x 3/4 wide flat steel to mount the tube to the underside of the Promaster "frame" with the tube angling downward at the passenger side of the chassis. A 1/8 x 1/2 inch wide aluminum flat was used to make the fence post cap-cover-bail that hinges freely on carriage head bolts. These bolts are nutted in a way to secure to the tube while allowing free movement of the bail. The rear of the tube has another fence post cap that I PVC glued and screwed in place. This back end of the tube is firmly secured about 1/2 inch away from a horizontal heat shield under the chassis so that the tube does not have contact with potentially hot metal that could melt the tube.
Now the WINNEBAGO provided, light duty flex hose can be stored with say, a 45 deg clear fitting (my preference) on the van connection end and half of a 90 deg universal dump station fitting on the dump-end of the hose. Actually I could notch-modify the tube to allow the entire 90 degree fitting to remain on the hose when stored but I am satisfied with how I have it setup now. The other half of the 90 deg fitting is stored in a heavy duty sealing bag in the rear of the Travato for now. I have other ideas for that too.
If the dump station was reasonably clean upon arrival, I can extract the hose already setup as described, complete the black & grey dump, wash down and store everything in short order. And nothing but the 2nd piece of the 90 deg elbow and my gloves gets stored inside the Travato's rear cubby hole within two sealing bags that takes up hardly any room at all.
What to do now with the short, two foot long tube built into the side of the Travato? Ours was never used so it is still clean. Storage being at a premium, two backpack fishing rods fit here nicely. But if I can find a ground mat to use at the slider door entrance that I can fold & roll to fit in this tube, that is what I would like to use it for. We have not looked around yet to see if we can get a decent mat that is also thin enough to limply fold & roll into this tube but still be worth using as a ground mat.
Onward to complete VHF, UHF and HF ham radio installation. |
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