RV Macerator prep and HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY Chelsea

Yes, Steveio is a very happy man.... He had another motorhome project to work on~!

The macerator arrived this weekend, so he is busy busy busy adapting the cap, figuring out which length drain hoses he wants to make, where he is going to wire in the 12 volt outlet for it, etc.   The only problem is with the near zero weather, he can not be out there rewiring that compartment in the motorhome yet to have the outlet powered to operate the thing.   I am thinking he can wait till we head somewhere south where it's warmer, rather than working in the cold and kneeling in the snow.

For those non-RVers... the macerator is kinda like a garbage disposal that chops stuff up before it gets rinsed away.  The only difference is that this goes on the outlet to our waste tanks and chops up the *poop* into tiny pieces so it can be pumped uphill,, downhill, wherever via a 1 inch hose.  That is opposed to the normal big 3" Stinky Slinky hose being gravity dumped into a hole in the ground.

(this is a stinky slinky below.. that just lays on the ground and gravity feeds the dump stuff into a hole.  It works ok, but you can see if unlevel terrain or too far away, the stinky slinky is not a good option)

So why did we buy it???   With a macerator, we can pump the holding tanks out at strange dumpstation locations,  or into a higher located septic drain, or and up into an outhouse hole at a national forest campground where they don't have dumpstations.  Even in our yard, we can pump it a longer distance around the corner of the house and down into our septic system with a long hose.  Our motorhome could never drive down there across our lawn to dump the tanks.  This will save us on dump station fees, usually $5-10 each time you go to a public dumpstation.

Sometimes, even when parked at a campsite with hookups and sewer, the dump hole is on the wrong side of the campsite for us.  This happens a lot because many campsites have the nice view out the back of the site and the utilities and dump hole are often located to the right of the site for back-in type campers and trailers.  But with a motorhome, our big windows are in the front... we have no windows in the back over the bed.  So to take advantage of these great views, we have to pull in forwards.  That puts the hookups on the *wrong* side for us.  (RVs generally have their dump and hookup items on the driver's side of a rig)
Having a macerator will help allow us to stretch a narrow 1 inch hose across under the rig and still dump easily both our grey and black water.

This device will hook onto our drain port via bayonet tabs, plug into a 12 volt outlet (that Steve is going to wire up himself soon)  and then get removed each time when the *job is done*.   He bought a higher grade of marine macerator with metal blades as opposed to the cheaper RV version with plastic blades.

These babies run upwards of $200!  Wow.. who knew that dumping your poop could cost so much?  But never fear, my bargain hunting husband found one on Ebay from a salvaged boat that was being parted out.  It looks like new and operates, so that is what he wanted, for the bargain price of $68.00 plus $12 shipping. He is going to Fleet Farm to buy good quality 1 inch farm hose for drainage.  Our kids gave us a Fleet Farm gift card that we need to use up, so yes, the kids bought us a Pooper Hose for Xmas!

Now for the gushy Granmuddah part of my blog post today...  

Yes.. our smallest grandbaby is turning ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!!!!  

 Little Chelsea will be here soon for the day for me to take care of her.  We will sing Happy Birthday and let her have some treats.  Her big party will be this weekend at Erin and Mark's ... so she will get presents then.

I took her Friday to her little story hour at the local library.  She sits with all the Big Kids in the pit area, and is walking quite well now, and scrambled off to join the Big Kids in line after each story.

The Big Kids were gentle with her and helped her. 

All these girls were petting her head like she was a new pet!  haha  

She is the youngest one there.  

They line up in front of the librarian story teller and get a sticker to put on their nametag.  It shows they sat quietly and listened to each story.  At the end of each story they line up, get a sticker, and then sit back down.  Three stories, three stickers!  Here she is picking out one from the sheet for her self.

(I know...gushy granmuddah posts...  but hey, it's important to me!) 

Gosh, hard to believe she has been here in our world for a YEAR!    

She isn't a baby anymore... she's a TODDLER.   Oh my!  

Good thing our daughterinlaw Heather is pregnant with another grandbaby, 

so we will still have tiny babies to cuddle again.   

Hey kids... keep those grandbabies coming! 

RVing- Macerators, Containers and Wardrobe

Okay, enough blogs about family, friends, grandbabies, holidays and such nonsense.... back to RVing!  
We are gearing up for vacation mode- about 7 weeks worth.


NOTE--- TO ANY ROBBERS READING THIS:  OUR NEIGHBOR ON ONE SIDE IS A COP, AND THE OTHER SIDE THEY ARE VERY NOSEY.   AND OUR DAUGHTER IS TAKING CARE OF OUR HOUSE.  WE ARE TAKING ALL OUR VALUABLES WITH US.  NOTHING WORTH ANYTHING LEFT IN HOUSE TO STEAL.  EVEN OUR TVS ARE 10-15 YEARS OLD CRT's .  LOL!



Okay.. back to the motorhome prep.  Steve has been in and out and in and out of the motorhome that is parked out in the driveway.  He is gearing up and prepping.  The oil is changed, everything is lubed, the hub oil is checked, the fluids are all checked. The fuel filters are changed.   I even helped him lift up the bed to do the hard to reach grease zerc on the fan shaft.  Being a king sized bed with a heavy household mattress, it takes two of us to lift it up and set the prop pole.  Some mechanics never bother to find that zerc, or don't even know it exists. Causes huge problems when the fan seizes up and overheats the engine.  I am soooo glad Steve does all of our own maintenance.


Silly guy, he even filled up a 5 gal can of diesel fuel last night at the station and put it in the trunk of the car.
WHY?   I asked.
He said that he will top off our tank of the motorhome with it to bring it right to the top.  
WHY?  again I asked.
He said since we used it last few times for exercise, he figures that we used some.
WHY?  again I asked.
So then, he surmised, that when we take off on vacation with a full tank, those extra five gallons will get us 40+ miles further down the road without having to stop as soon!  

hahahahahhahahaha

(I then reminded him we do have to stop every 200 miles or so to start the Tracker towed behind, 

and run it through it's gears to slosh around the tranny fluid at the proper intervals) 

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Next on the list is a macerator.  For those non-RVers reading this, it's a machine similar to a garbage disposal in a house.   But in RV use, it is attached outside on the drain pipe and it grinds up the poop from the black tank so its able to run through a 1 inch hose and pump uphill or into an otherwise unreachable septic or drain location.  Makes dumping the tanks a much easier endeavor.

We have wanted one for a while and read about them.  Seems many of the RV types are made with plastic blades or less horsepower compared to the Marine grade for boats.  Sooooo  on the advice of our good RV friend Airplane Roger, we shopped for a marine grade one.  Steve bought a Jabsco marine macerator and it should be here in a few days.  He is putting together a series of 1 inch hoses now to have a variety along in a tote for any length needed.

He is a Happy Poop Disposal Man.

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Now for *my thing* ... we were shopping last night at the Clearance Sales in the local Shopko store.  They had these neato containers that are rectangular in shape instead of circular.  Think... on a shelf... flat sides of containers stack next to each other better than cylindrical. So we get more storage and less wasted space.    I bought a set of 8 of these great containers from Gourmet Living.

They have vacuum seal lids by flipping down the little ring type levers on the lids, which create a suction.  We will use the larger ones for flour, sugar, brown & powdered sugar etc.  The smaller ones for coffee, rice, pancake mix etc.  Less cardboard boxes and bags in the cabinets is good to avoid bugs in the south when we go next month.  

These are normally $15-20 a container ---

WHEW!  

But they had an 8 pc set of the sizes I wanted for the mere price of $79.99  

... so that is down to $10 a container.... 

still a WHEW! ---

You know me, a cheapie shopper.  

Well, the set was on sale for only $29.99.  

That comes out to less than $4 a container.  

More in my budget range, teeeheeee

So this afternoon I will go out and play in the motorhome and try out putting these into place.  We can't put in anything that will freeze or attract mice, until the night before we are ready to leave for vacation.  But for now, I can play, can't I ?

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At Shopko, there were such great clearance sales on the men's clothes too.   Steveio has been severely lacking some new clothes.. ya know.. ones without the stains on the front from eating in his chair?  

He didn't get any clothes for Christmas, instead he got an electric chain saw for the motorhome (better than hauling along a gas can, oil and stinky gas chain saw in our clean carpeted storage bins)    He also got a special vice and bracket that slides into the hitch receiver.  Why?  So if he wants to fix something that needs a vice to hold it or bend it or whatever, he won't have a vice on a tool bench like in his garage.  So while in a campground, he can use a vice this way.  Don't ask me, it's what HE put on his list for Santa if he was a Good Boy.   Guess he was, huh?

When we saw the sale signs at 70% off on a lot of clothing, I started pawing through the men's things and found some nice stuff for Steveio.  He was being obstinate about some 100% cotton Tshirts about how the size L fit fine.  But what about after they shrink, I ask?  He would not understand that they would be M once they were washed.  So I swapped them all out to XL when he wasn't looking.  We found him some nice long sleeved solid colored cotton button down shirts too, as he is trying to get away from plaids and stripes now.  We filled the cart.  So he was happy.

Fellow RV blogger Al at The Bayfield Bunch  was just lamenting about how he got hauled into a J.C. Penny by Kelly and before he knew it, he was totally outfitted in new duds too.   So perhaps if we get to meet up with them somewhere out west, he and Steveio can compare wardrobes????

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I read other RVing blogs from folks down in Florida in shorts and Tshirts, I see photos of desert terrain on other blogs about Arizona and on more blogs about the sunny skies in Texas.  Then I look out of my windows at the gloomy grey woods and snow and ice.  

Yes, we need a vacation.  

Squeaky Clean RV

Oh I forgot to add this to the other post today.....

Remember I said we were gonna give all the awnings a good scrubbing?   Well, yesterday we jumped to the task and got the awnings all done, and washed the entire rig too!

We hauled out the Big Boy Squirtgun... (the power washer)  and some good laundry soap for scrubbing the awnings.  We only put the power washer on gentle and don't get too close. This is only a power washer, not a pressure washer.   Those pressure washers can take the paint right off something.

The awnings need a good scrubbing a few times a year.  They are not plastic-ey vinyl like our last couple campers, these are a silvery grey fabric type, and you can only use a good soap and no bleach on them.  

When doing the top side of the awning, we unroll it first, then unhook the arms where they attach to the lower portion of the motorhome lowering the awning to an almost vertical position, and let the arms slide underneath the body of the rig, this lets us reach the awning better for a good scrubbing.

Here it is all wet and dark yet..... 

And now it is drying to a lighter silvery gray color.  See how the arms are detached and slid under the rig?

Once the topside was done, we propped it up into place and scrubbed the underside of the awning too.... 

Then we went around the rig, scrubbing the little awnings too that are over each window, Steve used the scrub brush on a telescoping handle and I was doing the soaping attachment on the Big Boy Squirtgun... then later I was rinsing it all clear.   It's actually fun watching all the dirt come off, and sparkly clean in the sunlight.

Our outdoor faucet on the house has a control inside in the basement that allows us to use either hot, cold or a warm combination in the hose, and uses our softened water that makes the rig dry streak free.   Steve piped it up that way when we built the house.  What a guy!

So here it is, all squeaky clean! 

And now the day after????  Of course... its RAINING!!!!




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