So I'm in a Poopy Situation.... Literally... UPDATE: It got messy.....

[Albertadiver]

So I’m in a Poopy situation…. Literally

I took my Cougar24SAWBE travel trailer out for our hunting trip last week, and temps got down to about -23C a few nights. I didn’t use the water system or the grey tanks, which are all winterized.

The cougar brand advertises a ‘0F degree tested’ winter package, which I put to the test for the first time. It’s the standard enclosed underbelly with ducts that run furnace air around the tanks to keep them warm. Well, I can confirm it’s not as good of quality as my 22H arctic Fox trailer that I used to own, but sold because it was a little too small for two people and a big black lab.

Long story short, I can’t get the gate valve on my black tank to open, it’s frozen solid. I store my trailer about 20 minutes from home, and they are only open during short hours in the winter. I showed up today with a generator, heat gun, big buddy heater, and two big turd totes. Of course the place was closed for the stat holiday, which they failed to mention when I called on Wednesday to confirm hours of operation.

When I put the trailer into storage last Monday, I nearly lost my truck and trailer as it slid backwards down the road about 35 feet until I could get it back under control. Then I spun out again on the top of the hill with the trailer still on the slope. After some charged adrenaline, I found some gravel to throw under my tires and got myself unstuck. (BTW stock Hankook Dynapro tires on an F150 are absolute garbage on slick snow, I’ve already called fountain tire for a set of Duratracs)

I put 20 litres of -50C RV antifreeze down my black tank and I’m about 2/3 full. When I looked down the toilet today after five days in the storage unit I’m seeing a bit of ice crystals on the top of the tank but doesn’t look frozen solid. Because the RV lot was closed, I had to walk in about a half km, so drug the turd totes in but couldn’t get a heat gun or the heater underneath the trailer.

The black tank is spec’d at 144litres (38 gallons), and I’ve put down 20 litres of RV antifreeze and estimate there’s about 70 litres of ‘black’ stuff in there from 6 days of use. Really hoping that I don’t freeze the thing solid.

My intent is to go back on Monday with temps of +6C in the late afternoon, throw an electric heat gun on with the generator and direct heat up the sewer pipe to warm up the gate valves, and then use the big buddy heater under the trailer and I’ll build a little shroud. I’ll also run the furnace to warm up the underbelly. I can’t think of any other ideas to deal with this poopsicle. I don’t trust my truck hauling it back out of storage to a heated shop, so going to have to try to do this in situ.

Anyone else had similar crappy experiences? Any suggestions??

[Twisted Canuck]

Oh my. Add this to my list of reasons not to own an RV....sorry for your issues. Are you well insured? Accidents happen with those Buddy Heaters....

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck

Oh my. Add this to my list of reasons not to own an RV....sorry for your issues. Are you well insured? Accidents happen with those Buddy Heaters....

I'm using this for an excuse to buy a wall tent for winter camping!

That is, if I ever can pay for the vet bills for Duke's recent TPLO knee surgery....

[YYC338]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I'm using this for an excuse to buy a wall tent for winter camping!

That is, if I ever can pay for the vet bills for Duke's recent TPLO knee surgery....

And whatever toilet facilities you use with your wall tent will also work with your RV should you choose to take it out in sub-zero temperatures again.

[4K3OGH]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I'm using this for an excuse to buy a wall tent for winter camping!

That is, if I ever can pay for the vet bills for Duke's recent TPLO knee surgery....

HAHA sounds like a worthy excuse!

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I'm using this for an excuse to buy a wall tent for winter camping!

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Wifey bought me an 18' trailer to use for hunting and I don't use the water or toilet in it. Luckily we are able to plug in and use a shop toilet/shower out where we hunt so facilities are not an issue.

If that wasn't available I'd take a shovel and some tarps, wood and a hammer and nails and I'd build an outhouse in the bush (or I'd invest in noe of those premade outdoor toilet tent thingies) and fill the hole in when I left. If you can live without a toilet using the tent then you could with the trailer too.

Sorry to hear about your issues with the poop caddy, that sucks!

[kinwahkly]

Ugh. Never use any Tanks in frigid weather. It's not you're tank full of crap freezing it's the outside trap and tunnel which freeze up . Don't be to hard on the valve as it will break with force. You're going to have to get temp up before you can release valve. Good luck

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by kinwahkly

Ugh. Never use any Tanks in frigid weather. It's not you're tank full of crap freezing it's the outside trap and tunnel which freeze up . Don't be to hard on the valve as it will break with force. You're going to have to get temp up before you can release valve. Good luck

Yeah, Guess I was spoiled with my arctic fox. We could have a shower at -25C and not think anything of it! Used the water system and everything. As long as the furnace stayed running we were fine.

[bat119]

If it was already frozen solid why not wait till spring?
I don't think it would cause any damage unless it was full although I've never left much in my black tank over winter.

Getting a 25 gallon poopsicle unfrozen with no shelter could be tough.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by bat119

If it was already frozen solid why not wait till spring?
I don't think it would cause any damage unless it was full although I've never left much in my black tank over winter.

Getting a 25 gallon poopsicle unfrozen with no shelter could be tough.

The contents of the tank aren't frozen (I don't think) just some slushy stuff on the top. I'm just worried about wrecking the tank and piping if I leave it in all winter. With the temperatures expected, I don't think the ratio of antifreeze to solids/liquids is enough to keep it from freezing and expanding with extended cold temperatures.

[bat119]

You don't need to worry about piping all the waste would be in your black tank, try phoning an RV dealer I'm sure somebody has gone through winter with 1/2 tank of waste.

[SteveBuck]

When mobile homeowners freeze up they use heat tape.
Get some and wrap it around your valves and any exposed pipe you might have.....should work after a couple of hours heating.

[Albertadiver]

So update for this year.... trailer put away and winterized last week. With empty tanks!!

No hunting for me this year. Hernia surgery and doctors orders. I figure the savings on tags and normal hunting expenses will do a good chunk of my wall tent savings.

[hayseed]

Lol..... saw something like this, this past summer...

Pulled into the RV dump, and myself an momma bear dumpin an flushing etc.
Hailed out fella with two teeth gal pull in, he jumps out and instantly tells me hey look !!!!
Just picked er up fo six hundred, Effen good deal eh bud??
I nod, say sure...Lol
Maiden voyage on what must have been a 78 Dodge mini motor home, like the round headlights type of RV.

We finish up and pull out, turn out an start on the service road back past as the dump is on a one way road..... buddy there is actually laying on his back, reefing on the cap and total pipe off the black/gray and pulls the whole pipe right off outa the black tank!!!!!

I stop in horror as the wifey and I watch the black, turds, paper and all spew all over this fella!!!!

Was the most disgusting, funniest at the same time event ever witnessed to this feller!!!!!!

His gal there received a generous amount being barefooted as well...Lmao...

If it ain't the boat launch, she's the RV dump....Lol...

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Lol..... saw something like this, this past summer...

Pulled into the RV dump, and myself an momma bear dumpin an flushing etc.
Hailed out fella with two teeth gal pull in, he jumps out and instantly tells me hey look !!!!
Just picked er up fo six hundred, Effen good deal eh bud??
I nod, say sure...Lol
Maiden voyage on what must have been a 78 Dodge mini motor home, like the round headlights type of RV.

We finish up and pull out, turn out an start on the service road back past as the dump is on a one way road..... buddy there is actually laying on his back, reefing on the cap and total pipe off the black/gray and pulls the whole pipe right off outa the black tank!!!!!

I stop in horror as the wifey and I watch the black, turds, paper and all spew all over this fella!!!!

Was the most disgusting, funniest at the same time event ever witnessed to this feller!!!!!!

His gal there received a generous amount being barefooted as well...Lmao...

If it ain't the boat launch, she's the RV dump....Lol...

In reading through my posts on this thread, I realized I neglected to mention how things went at the truck wash that evening....

As all guys with pickups know, when you're washing the back out, there are usually debris that will shoot back at you from the force of the washer wand.

Well... As I was spraying the most vile things you can imagine out of the box, I made the mistake of spraying into a corner of the box, and a little wee semi-frozen jelly bean sized piece of I'm not sure what flew straight into my open mouth.

That was the source of GREAT deal of dry heaving and self control to finish the job... There was a liquor store next door and I may have washed my mouth out with some crown royal right then and there in the parking lot....

My hunting 'buddy' who had failed to help me with the poopy situation found that enormously funny for some reason. A year later I still shudder.....

[reddeerguy2015]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

In reading through my posts on this thread, I realized I neglected to mention how things went at the truck wash that evening....

As all guys with pickups know, when you're washing the back out, there are usually debris that will shoot back at you from the force of the washer wand.

Well... As I was spraying the most vile things you can imagine out of the box, I made the mistake of spraying into a corner of the box, and a little wee semi-frozen jelly bean sized piece of I'm not sure what flew straight into my open mouth.

That was the source of GREAT deal of dry heaving and self control to finish the job... There was a liquor store next door and I may have washed my mouth out with some crown royal right then and there in the parking lot....

My hunting 'buddy' who had failed to help me with the poopy situation found that enormously funny for some reason. A year later I still shudder.....

This might be post of the year...

[TreeGuy]

Classic thread! LOL

I, unfortunately, also suffered the full ‘splash back’ experience the very first time emptying a black water tank.

We had borrowed the in law’s motor home and stayed in Lake Louise overnight.

Now, keep this in mind. I’m a ‘ginger’ and stereotypes exist for a reason. I was already a bit anxious about driving the beast. A face full of sewage wasn’t particularly helpful.

Yet, I kept it together (barely) and rolled into the gas station. It was busy as always.

We had to wait for a pump. I was making terrific efforts to regain my ‘Zen’.

However, it was not to be. The lad in front of me (sporting quebek plates) spent what seemed to be 2 hours trying to put a new wiper on. The blood pressure started to rise as the snowflake fiddled.

Mrs Tree, God bless her, sensed it and ushered The Shrubs to the back.

I finally had had enough and lean out the window. “Dude, can’t you just pull out and do that in a parking space so I can get to the pump?”

The reply?

“I haven’t put petrol in yet”. *snootily*

Things kinda went downhill from there. Let’s just say he was gifted a soiled T-shirt and...

Tree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk