# Camper Confessional



## glennsteers (Apr 25, 2005)

OK, let me qualify this by saying that I'm still a newbie in my first season of RVing. It was our 5th campsite of the Summer and on this day setting up was TOO EASY. This is always a sure sign of impending doom...

Having saved what seemed like 45 minutes off of our normal set up time, I decided it would be a good time to do a really thorough flush of the black water tank. I turned on my Flush King to pump water into my almost empty tank and kept checking the interior gauges to monitor how full it was getting (wouldn't an exterior gauge be nice too?). Just then I had a horrible thought, "What if I got distracted and let the tank overflow?" I shuddered at the thought and continued my task. But then...my brain went silent.

It was almost as if by considering the unthinkable that I must have felt myself impervious to the impossible. I wandered off and began hanging a clothesline between two well positioned trees. I was admiring the beautiful bowline knots that I had tied to each end (Boy Scout, you know!) when I heard my wife scream! What happened next was a gigantic blur and everything went into slow motion.

At first I thought one of my kids had gotten hurt. My wife's scream was one of those "the world is ending" screams. But then I heard her say to my oldest son, "Get Dad, get Dad!" I immediately knew what happened!

Black water was pouring out of the toilet onto the floor of our trailer. I ran to the outside hose/flush set up and instead of turning off the water first, I just ripped open the gate to release the tank. But the pressure from all that water was too great for the hose clamp and the connection broke free releasing dirty water all over the ground. I quickly grabbed the disconnected hose and held it to the Flush King and managed to make the connection secure.

Now you veteran campers (who are laughing your butts off at this point) know that the business side of MY trailer is the living side of my neighbor's site. I tried to nonchalantly glance over to see if I was "found out." Good, no one was watching! But a few minutes later a truck pulled up and a guy walked to the door of their trailer and, guess what, I had a trailer full of spectators inside who probably caught the whole incident. How embarrassing!

I called the front office to report my mishap and then I went over to my neighbors to apologize and notify them that the camp was sending over a staff member to look into my "accident." They were probably glad that it hadn't reached their picnic table! I envisioned them trying to eat hot dogs for dinner over the smell of human waste...

Fortunately, I had a pretty clean tank and no human debris was detectable. My wife and son gave the trailer a good scrubbing, the "workamper" spread a generous amount of lime on the affected area, and I learned a valuable lesson. No matter how comfortable you get at RVing, you need to keep your head about you and you shouldn't try to do too much by yourself or at one time.

I'll also NEVER SAY NEVER again. I'm sure it's human nature but the more you do something, the better you get at it, and the more careless you can become. My first 3 trips I went over my checklist twice setting up and breaking down. Now I have the procedure memorized so I am more confident, but maybe more likely to forget my brake lights after I hitch up, too.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest! I've had a great summer Outbacking so far with 4 more trips planned this season. This forum is a great community and I look forward to more Camper Confessionals over the years!


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## Fire44 (Mar 6, 2005)

Hey Glenn,

Overflowing the black water tank thur the toilet....

Been there, done that, have the t-shirt.

But you know what.....I bet you or I will not do it again.

My wife wanted to sell the camper....and it was our first trip.

Gary


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Never the black tank -- yet .... but did overestimate the grey tank holding ability the first time i took it out and had the grey start filling up the bathtub....


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## Fire44 (Mar 6, 2005)

Hey Ghosty,

Been there, done that, have the t-shirt























Between the two......I will take overfilling the grey tank!!!!

Gary


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## RLW7302 (Feb 27, 2005)

Glenn,

You're not alone! For other interesting tales, check out the following topic:

Most Embarrassing Camping Moments, Confession of an idiot...

Happy camping,
Roger.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Oh Glenn that was pretty funny! I can't say that we have done that yet, but I agree that nobody should ever say Never. It could have to the most veteran of campers. I ams sure that you'll laugh at it soon, if not already! sunny


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

I think this Confessional area needs to be pinned . Required reading before the camping season begins. Maybe midway too








Excell speadsheet to track common "sins"







Score card style
Water -black and grey
Propane
Electric
Hitching
Leveling
Battery
kids
DH 
DW
Keep Cooler full of Cold Ones
Good Humor 





























Jan


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## gbss (Feb 23, 2005)

Yuk! We were in a similar situation with the grey water...which is the reason for my post.......
It seems my oldest daughter (6) left the shower on but just turned the nozzle to the off position. At 3 am, nature called and I happened to catch a glimpse of the moonlight reflecting off the tub of water. Woke up my dh to go empty the tank. He wasn't happy. But I am soooooo glad I found it in time. I mean it was just at the rim of the tub...what luck!

Barbara


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

gbss said:


> Yuk!Â We were in a similar situation with the grey water...which is the reason for my post.......
> It seems my oldest daughter (6) left the shower on but just turned the nozzle to the off position. At 3 am, nature called and I happened to catch a glimpse of the moonlight reflecting off the tub of water.Â Woke up my dh to go empty the tank. He wasn't happy. But I am soooooo glad I found it in time.Â I mean it was just at the rim of the tub...what luck!
> 
> Barbara
> [snapback]47081[/snapback]​


Maybe it was the sound of dripping water that made that call to nature!!!









My biggest blunder was cooking the knobs on my outside cook center because I was using a griddle over both burners at the same time. Not a smart thing to do considering the design of the cook top.


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## ford56312 (Jul 20, 2005)

I had an older TT before. Then I for some reason got a pop up.I don't know why...
Well 8yrs latter we decided to get a new TT. It was the first time with our new trailer. My wife called a State Park and asked if the had sites . She also asked if they had water,electric,and sewer....The answer was YES...we got a site for 3 days. I was so happy to have a bathroom,air cond.and a kitchen. we got set up and I plugged in the electric,grabed the hose and walked all aver the site and a few others looking for water or the sewer hook up. To find out YES they have electric,BUT the water is at the shower house and the SEwER is at the dump station







....Well I grabbed the 2 5gallon jugs and walked to the shower house. An hour latter after filling 10 gallons - spillage I thought it would be enouhg to get us by. Turned the pump on to only get air. Forgot about the 6 gallon water heater. The next day I hooked up and drove the TT to the water. Have to sit on the road to fill. WHERE did all the traffic come from? After the 4th TV with TT pulled up behind me waiting to get by,I thought I had enough water. Pulled back in and thought not to level it ,not that bad any way. Got all set up, started to make lunch turned the pump on,bled the air and from all the faucets and got bubbles on the last one. the TT was unlevel enough to put the water on the right side. Except for the air cond,It was like being inthe POP UP. Made the best of it though. We have a punch list for next time.....


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

All I can say is...


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Refilling the black tank, I put that in the same category as filling up the water in my furnace in my house. Walikng away can be problematic. I refuse to walk away. That being said, I have had water coming out of my first floor steam radiators once already so I assume it will also happen when I never leave the camper. Its only a matter of time!









John


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## Dreamtimers (Mar 7, 2005)

Fire44 said:


> Hey Ghosty,
> 
> Been there, done that, have the t-shirt
> 
> ...


With all _DUE_ respect. I hope I never see you or anyone else wearing that T-shirt.







It must look like an all brown version of the "I just ran into Tammy Faye Baker" T-shirt from a few years back.







Now there's a visual to start the day with.























Dreamtimers


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## Jay8256 (May 27, 2005)

We have a 2005 28 FRLS, I mention this because I do not know if this unique to this particular model... In the hook up process, got in the awkward position you have to get in to hook up the sewer hose, unscrewed the cap and got about a gallon or so of black/grey water stuff in my lap.... Seems even though both shut offs were correctly closed and all the way in, there may be some problem with vibration going down the Hwy that allows for a little sepage.... Thought it fit here because it was one of the moments when I FORGOT to make sure of something being right before I just jumped into.....
Also been there on the gray water in the shower.... Standing there washing my hair trying to figure out why is what up to my ankles???? Realized 30 gallons means 30 gallons and what the purpose of the status monitors are.....
First time out in this camper, We have only had it 2 months, could not get the water heater to work, nothing but cold water.... Two lessons.... 1st: if you turn on the Gas and Electric the Electric will not work..... 2nd: You have to turn ON the propane BEFORE you can use the Gas.....

Happy Camping........
Jim


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

I thought I'd mentioned this already, but must have been in another post......Make sure, MAKE SURE, the bed support rails are on the trailer BEFORE pulling out the rear bed!!!

I guess my mind was somewhere else when setting up camp one afternoon at the Guadalupe River Resort......started pulling out the rear queen when it started to drop down. Luckily I had a pretty good hold on it (and I'm a big guy!) and could support it and got it back up while yelling for the DW to COME HELP! She came running and we got it set up correctly.

Point is, THINK!

Mark


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Kinda been there and done that too









Left the Quickie Flush running with the black valve closed. Heard the same scream from the wife right after the big BOOM. Luckily no debris to deal with. Just a toilet sitting 5" higher than the floor


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