Sewer Hose Storage Mod on my 189 FBS

[Ed Venture]

Obviously, I am not the first one to use fence PVC fence post covers to build a sewer hose storage unit, but I figured I would share my install for those who may be thinking of doing it themselves. It was about a 2-3 hour project because I engineered it on the fly and had to make an extra trip to the hardware store.

Here it is installed and almost complete. The only thing not in the picture is that I sprayed all the screws white to match and I am working on a good latch solution for the door. I'm thinking that the latch may come for a modified child safety lock, but I am still thinking about the optimal solution.

Here is the gutter slide fully inserted and another of it pulled out. You can see that I just used my miter saw to shave off one side of the end cap so that I could make a low profile hinge. The spacing to get the right amount of clearance is the depth of two quarters (that is what I used as gap gauge when I drilled the holes).

I supported the unit with two 5" L brackets that were screwed into the metal fascia on the back.

Here you can see that I installed he L brackets so that the top support surface is just above the bolts for the stabilizer jacks. Also you can see where I drilled a hole to attach attach the unit to the fascia as well as to a hole in the L bracket. All-in-all there are 4 attachment points and it is on there pretty good. I used carriage bolts with nylon lock nuts to anchor it all in so that the round head would allow for easy sliding of the tray, but as it turned out, I really didn't need to because they didn't get in the way given the shape of the gutter.

Ed

 

[webslave]

Very nice job! Similar to what I did for my 210WBS, but, I had the advantage of a bumper to work with. Unfortunately, I had a frame mounted trailer hitch for my bicycles, so, all of my stuff had to go up top and forward to clear the spare tire...

One benefit though, was I mounted an orange ammo carrier on top the bumper to hold gloves, elbow, donut and hand cleaner so that everything was in one spot.

Definitely freed up a lot of space in the storage area and got all of my dumping supplies in the rear where the dump valves were located. You'll like ease of getting everything hooked up. For the caps, I used bungee cords to hold them on (the cords were attached permanently) with nickel handles on the ends for pulling them away and letting them hang or lay on top of the holder. Your hinged lids will work just fine once you get latches for them. I thought about latches, but, was concerned about the vibrating loose or rusting, so I went with the bungee cords.

Again, good looking mod!

 

[Dakota 1120]

I was thinking of doing something like this on my XT276. Nice pics.

Had thought of possibly installing the sewer line holder length ways under the camper rather than width ways.

It's a project for when the weather warms up a bit more and the snow finally disappears. OMG ... then there will be a snow shortage. :shock:

 

[Ed Venture]

I love the ammo box idea! I will have to see if I can work something like that in. Perhaps I can fab a bracket that can hang off the spare tire mount that would hold the box for accessories.

I also like how you hooked the bungee cord up with the loops on the cap. I may do that. At the moment I'm working on some concepts using child proof locks for appliance doors.

Where did you get the reflective tape?

Ed

 

[webslave]

Got the reflective tape at Walmart...DOT approved. I used it across the back and on the sides (one strip along the bottom edge front corner and back) and on both sides of the tongue. Also cut the white off and did a corner outline of both top corners on the back, like the big rigs. Got a little carried away I guess, but, if a pair of headlights hit my trailer from any angle, they "lit" up really well. Also made it easy to find my trailer at night in a crowded campground...

As an aside... I traded that trailer in on our 5th wheel and shortly afterward I got a call from the fella' that bought our used 210WBS. He had a few questions, but, really liked all the mods I'd done to it (there's a list in a thread somewhere here where they are listed). Fast forward to last fall and I was up at our Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep dealer for an oil change deal on the truck (nice rebate) and there is a new RV dealer right next door. I was sitting there talking to the salesman that we've bought several vehicles from, shooting the breeze and looking out the window, when I said "Hey, that's our old trailer!"... Sure enough the guy had traded it in on a larger trailer, but... He'd stripped most every mod I'd done off of the trailer before trading it in. All of the sewer stuff was gone, the Jack antenna was gone, the power jack with a Flip-Foot was gone... even the self-coiling breakaway cable had been replaced with a plain Jane cable. Sheesh! I guess he moved them to the new trailer (I couldn't see if he'd stripped the inside mods, but, I'm guessing he did). Sure was sorry to see our old baby stripped like that...it was definitely our old trailer as I could see the mounting points for all of my outside mods. Oh well, it wasn't ours any more, but, it still "pained" me nonetheless.

 

[Ed Venture]

Webslave,

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but ripping all yourgood stuff off before trading in is just as good! I will look up some of the other mods - they sound handy.

Now - off to Walmart to find the reflective tape!

Ed

 

[uct]

Looks Great. Where do you get pvc fence post covers and how much do they cost?

 

[Ed Venture]

I got everything at Lowes. All in all I think the project ran me about $40 (not including some of the screws, bolts, nuts, etc. that I already had on hand. I believe the post itself was $25.

Ed

 

[uct]

Was the pvc 4x4 or 5x5 Thanks

 

[uct]

Webslave I also have a bumper. How did you mount yours to the bumper

 

[webslave]

I'm not sure what size Ed used, but, I used a 5x5 fence post and a 5" gutter to go inside of it. I found that with the 5x5, I could get the 90 degree elbow inside the post along with the hose. Used 1/2" CPVC pipe that I had laying around (with caps glued on) to make the the handles in the plastic gutter. With the exception of the boat steps (see below), I got everything at my local little hardware store (I live waaayyy out in the boonies), but, everything should be available at a big box store or an Ace Hardware, ect.

I fashioned brakets out of strap aluminum (also available at almost any hardware store) and a nice 3 lb hand sledge and my vise to make the angles. You can just see the aluminum bar about 18" in from each end with the reflective tape formed over them. Made them to go to the top of the fence post on each side so that they wouldn't interfere with the sliding tray or catch on the sewer hose. Aluminum won't rust and I used stainless steel wide head screws (so that they laid low to keep from snagging or wearing grooves), washers and nuts and or aluminum pop-rivets to make all the connections. Everything was plastic, stainless or aluminum to prevent unsightly rust.

Amazingly, the biggest problem I had was trying to figure out how to get a good solid "offset" out from the bumper to clear the spare tire. I used to own a boat (actually several; kind of like RV's; started at 16' and the last one was 33') and I remembered some step pads that I had put on one of the boat trailers to make standing on the tongue in water more stable...

Trailer tongue steps

Perfect size for attaching to the bumper, very solid for support (I didn't want any constant flexing from the bounce to break my brackets and leave my sewer connection laying along a road someplace :shock: ) The aluminum straps that I bent into the "U" shape to hold the fence post are screwed to the top of the steps. The steps added to the cost, but, I wanted a secure rustproof perch for the whole shebang and they worked to a "T". Actually I paid more for the two steps than I did for the rest of the parts, but,... I always tend to over-engineer things, guess that's why that fellow stripped my old trailer.

 

[metaltff]

I used a 5x5 fence post and a 5" gutter to go inside of it. I found that with the 5x5, I could get the 90 degree elbow inside the post along with the hose.

This has been my biggest question about this mod. But it seems the plastic fence posts are so expensive. About $40 around here. I can get a kit on campingworld for about 25.

 

[Ed Venture]

It's a 5x5 post. I think it was $25 for the 8 foot post at Lowe's and Home Depot. Any more would have had me buying a purpose built solution for sure.

Ed

 

[webslave]

Metaltff, if you are talking about the round tubes with the caps, be aware of two things. They will only hold one hose without the elbow (the fence post mod will hold almost 30' of hose in the tray plus the elbow; I carried 25' in mine) and not all hoses will fit in those pipes even without the elbow. A lot of the better hoses have the heavy duty connectors that are too large to go in the pipe.

The 210WBS that we had came with one of those tubes under the trailer. A short one and the only thing that would fit in it was the cheap "giveaway" 5' hose that came with the "Welcome Kit". Never used the hose, in fact, short of the one time checking to see if the Valterra hose I use would fit (it didn't and that was why I engineered the fence post on my unit), I never took the cap off and traded the trailer with the "freebie" hose still unused and in the tube.

 

[Ed Venture]

Update:

I found a latch that looked good and seems to function well. It is a replacement latch to an Igloo Cooler that I got at my local ACE hardware store:

Sorry about the bad picture - it was pretty late when I got a chance to finish it up.

Ed

 

[webslave]

Looks really good. My bungee idea wouldn't work on your setup since you don't have access to the top of the fence post to lay the lid on and those cooler latches look sharp Nice find at the hardware store!

 

[metaltff]

Metaltff, if you are talking about the round tubes with the caps, be aware of two things. They will only hold one hose without the elbow (the fence post mod will hold almost 30' of hose in the tray plus the elbow; I carried 25' in mine) and not all hoses will fit in those pipes even without the elbow. A lot of the better hoses have the heavy duty connectors that are too large to go in the pipe.

That's what i was curious about is if the elbow fits in there. I wouldn't want to have to take off the elbow every time and store it inside the compartment somewhere. That would seem to defeat the purpose for me.