Newbie here! Hi!

[Qwerty]

A park with water & electricity is now considered 'primitive?

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by lestahhh

Hi everyone. I'm new to the lifestyle. My wife and I are in medical field so we decided to become travelers which means we bounce from hospital to hospital in 13 weeks contracts. We move to Florida this spring and will be traveling throughout the state avoiding cold weather! We decided to buy an RV so we wouldn't be wasting money on air bnbs or hotels.

Welcome! We get a lot of medical contract workers at our tiny RV camp in Arizona -- a few months in the area, then move on. It's a great way to experience America!

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by lestahhh

Good morning everyone. Sorry for the late reply. For those of you wondering about the towing and payload of my truck, the placards at the door don't have the weights on it (weird, I know). Only for the tires for the truck.

This may sound patronizing, but I've been bitten by it myself -- the stickers aren't always on the door frame, sometimes they're on the door edge. And they're mandatory, so you have one somewhere.

[RWRiley]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

If that 1380 is the actual payload you're severely overlooked.
Payload of 1380 - tongue weight of approximately 1260 (13% of the 9750 GVWR of that rv) - the weight of the hitch at about 100lbs - the weight of everyone/everything in/on the truck = a negative number by my calculations which = too much rv or too little truck.

Do not rely on the opinions of others on whether or not you have enough truck.

Go to the scale. Get the actual Gross Vehicle weight of your truck with the trailer hooked up and ready to go camping, and compare that to the GVWR specs of your truck. Do the same for Gross Rear Axle rating, Front Axle rating, and Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating. The Max Trailer rating is really a fictitious number. I also believe you should also have some safety margins on all of those numbers. I like 10% margins.

I have had both 3/4 and 1/2 ton trucks, and the 3/4s are a much better platform. But, if you respect the numbers, 1/2 tons can be safe and reliable tow vehicles too.

[roadglide]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

A park with water & electricity is now considered 'primitive?

Lol where did you get that idea? True boon-docking is primitive where you have nothing but what you have in the rig . Some of the most beautiful parks are COE huge level paved parking, clean facilities with 30 and 50 amp and easy access to dump Station.

[lestahhh]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

A park with water & electricity is now considered 'primitive?

Right?! Lol. It's what they (park owners) call it. They're significantly cheaper than regular parks tho. Jacksonville is booked for months so it works out great for me.

[jasin1]

I’d get a shutoff valve like this one and keep it on the sewer outlet permanently.

It will allow you to remove the sewer cap without making a small mess on the ground if anything seeps past the valves during travel.

It will also allow you to equalize your galley and bath holding tanks and give you a bit more balanced storage.

Hook your sewer hose up at the campground, keep the new Valtera valve shut.
Keep your black tank valve shut (unless your emptying the black tank)
Keep the gray tank galley and gray tank bath valve open and it will equalize the gray water between both tanks.

you can then shut them off and use one or the other to help flush the black tank when emptying. This may buy you another day or so before emptying because the bath gray tank usually fills first if you take a lot of showers

[lestahhh]

Originally Posted by jasin1

I’d get a shutoff valve like this one and keep it on the sewer outlet permanently.

It will allow you to remove the sewer cap without making a small mess on the ground if anything seeps past the valves during travel.

It will also allow you to equalize your galley and bath holding tanks and give you a bit more balanced storage.

Hook your sewer hose up at the campground, keep the new Valtera valve shut.
Keep your black tank valve shut (unless your emptying the black tank)
Keep the gray tank galley and gray tank bath valve open and it will equalize the gray water between both tanks.

you can then shut them off and use one or the other to help flush the black tank when emptying. This may buy you another day or so before emptying because the bath gray tank usually fills first if you take a lot of showers

This is genius! Thank you! Def gonna invest in this. It would have been handy Friday when our tub started filling whenever we watched our hands. We don't cook as much as we should anyways so the galley tank surely doesn't have that much in it. Thanks again.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by lestahhh

This is genius! Thank you! Def gonna invest in this. It would have been handy Friday when our tub started filling whenever we watched our hands. We don't cook as much as we should anyways so the galley tank surely doesn't have that much in it. Thanks again.

Pickup a 3 or 4" band clamp & tighten around the ears of the add-on valve to prevent it from coming loose.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Pickup a 3 or 4" band clamp & tighten around the ears of the add-on valve to prevent it from coming loose.

I have that gate valve on the end of my dump pipe and there is no chance it could come off. It goes on REAL TIGHT.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I have that gate valve on the end of my dump pipe and there is no chance it could come off. It goes on REAL TIGHT.

Yep! So did mine! And with the band clamp it stayed tight & no chance it could fall off!

[jimborokz]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

I have that gate valve on the end of my dump pipe and there is no chance it could come off. It goes on REAL TIGHT.

Ours was tight for a couple years, but then it got so if I pivoted counterclockwise it would come off. I replaced the rubber seal and it tightened up nicely. Now I replace the seal once a year.