David,
I read through your questions once; sometimes that's not enough for me, so if I don't fully answer your questions, try again.
First, always check and make sure that your outside black water valve is closed before pulling the inside valve on your toilet. This may save you a very messy situation.
When you pull the inside valve, the contents of your toilet can then flow down the 3" drain pipe to the outside drain valve. Because of the length and diameter of this pipe, you have an "extra capacity" of about 1 gallon in the pipe. This is why your float gauge goes down slightly when you pull the inside valve. It is perfectly OK to operate your toilet with the inside drain valve pulled, assuming that there is enough content in the toilet (past the "charge" indicator on the gauge) to properly flush.
You must leave your inside valve open to dump your toilet. If you close the inside valve first, and then pull the outside valve, you will only be dumping the contents that were in the pipe. Once you dump, you do not need to open the TM and close the inside valve. You can travel with inside valve open AFTER dumping. I do not recommend traveling beyond the closest dump station with a full toilet and the inside valve open. Should you have damage to your outside valve while traveling, you will spill the contents all over the roadway.
Finally, (I think) is the issue of traveling home with the toilet full. The infamous vinyl skirt is in the toilet only for this reason. It's purpose is to keep the contents inside the toilet bowl when you hit bumps, etc. while traveling. I've never seen anybody post that it didn't do its job in that capacity. Many of us though, have removed the skirt because it interferes with proper flushing, and over time gets smelly and dirty. I know if I HAVE to travel to the dump station with a full toilet, I need to stuff something down the throat of the toilet to keep it from splashing, but that's a small price to pay for getting rid of the ridiculous vinyl skirt.
Hope this helps,
Dave
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