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Old 06-17-2009, 04:52 PM   #3
Bill
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
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I agree with Viking - you've scoped out the process pretty well.

As far as early vs late models - they don't really exist, or certainly not formally. TM tends to make changes / improvements whenever it makes sense, rather than at the beginning of a model year. So don't be concerned about early / late. The changes are small.

Don't travel with the toilet loaded or charged. Toilet chemical is cheap. Go to Wal Mart, buy a 6-pack of Campa-Chem (I prefer the one with formaldehyde, but opinions vary). When you stop, use an entire bottle, don't try to skimp. And don't throw the empty bottle away! Rinse it out and save it! Next time, go to WalMart and buy the BIG bottle of the same stuff - I think the big bottle is two quarts. Use it to refill your small bottles - much cheaper!

As for step 3 - most campsites that have water and electricity also have a sewer connection, so you can dump right at your campsite, without having to haul to a dump station. But if there is no sewer connection at your site, and you need to drive to a dump station, just remember to pull the handle under the toilet before you fold down the TM. Then when you get to the dump station and attach your hose, pull the outside dump handle and you're done.

As for winterizing, it is about as easy as you described. The only missing step (as a lot of us have found) is to remove the sprayer head from the kitchen faucet, and pull the hose straight up so the water in it drains back. Then do the same for the outside shower. Turn on the water pump for a few seconds (no more). Take the smoke detector off the ceiling and remove the battery. Antifreeze in the drains is not really needed since the plastic plumbing doesn't break even when the water in the traps freezes. On the other hand, a bit of antifreeze can't hurt. I don't know why people put antifreeze in the toilet, since there is no water there, but again, it can't hurt. Non-toxic RV anti-freeze is about $3 a gallon at any hardware store.

Not too complicated, right? Thank the TM engineers for making it that easy.

Bill
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