Gray Water Tank Install done the Right Way (Van or RV)

Рет қаралды 5,381

ourkaravan

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 71

@alanhat5252 27 күн бұрын

Tidy style without over-emphasizing irrelevances, thank you.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Much appreciated!

@kevinshea4776 26 күн бұрын

I've been here since the beginning and consider your channel one of the best camper builds. Hope to get my Sprinter some day. Thanks for the step-by-step videos!

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

That's a huge complement, thank you!

@406Campr Ай бұрын

OG here. 2017 Transit. And that was really cool. Thanks Ken!

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Awesome, thank you for following along all of these years! -Ken

@dougf94912 Ай бұрын

OG subscriber Ken! It's always a pleasure to watch your thoughtful, detailed build videos! 😊

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Thank you Doug, I appreciate you following along our journey the past many years. Hopefully I can catch you out on the road sometime.

@raymondray8672 29 күн бұрын

Hey Ken, great to see ya👍

@morgananderson9647 Ай бұрын

I've been here for the whole ride! I was always impressed with the quality you've engineered into your "Getaway Machine"... I'm looking forward to more content in the future!!! All the best, M-

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Thank you for the kind words and for following along!

@ozmanfidaar6311 Ай бұрын

Nice work, looks really clean and professional. For the unused hole, I attached a spigot in case of the seloid valve failure.

@weinvesthappiness4551 Ай бұрын

Welcome back Ken

@ManWander Ай бұрын

8 years! time has flown!

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

I know, crazy!!

@sethriddle7615 Ай бұрын

Great to see another video!

@danvrana6758 29 күн бұрын

You could have also replaced the fuel tank strap bolt with a stud and nut. It would have been a lot easier to assemble. Thanks for all the great videos, I’ve been watching for years.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Certainly worth considering for anyone reading this.

@h00d000 28 күн бұрын

Very useful upgrade. Following you for close to 6 years.bought my sprinter 4 years ago, and slowly building it. Thanks for tips and tricks and great tutorial videos over the years. But mainly, thank you for the inspiration! Cheers!

@ireloaded9 Ай бұрын

Finally getting better angle shots after eight years heh....😂 van looks terrific 👌

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Thanks! 😃

@FreeMissions Ай бұрын

Kennys back!!

@brianchetelat6601 Ай бұрын

Excellent information and video production Ken, well done and we fellow DIY builders thank you.

@stevehori673 Ай бұрын

Ken, great to see your still improving your van. Another of many excellent van build videos.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

thank you

@leefinefurniture494 21 күн бұрын

Love your videos! 4 year subscriber- I have almost the same setup on our van. One thing I would highly recommend with these electric valves is to seal the horizontal case seam with waterproof sealant. They take a lot of abuse down there and I have had some fail. Once I sealed them it stopped. I also put sealant in and around where the wires enter the case.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Good to know, thank you!

@EdClarkePC 28 күн бұрын

OG Ed here. Beautiful installation, and documentation! If you find your flow is restricted by the 90 bend below the van floor, flexible PVC will likely make the bend without kinking. Also, if you decide you want to leave the dump open for long periods, Solid makes a valve that remains open or closed in a de-energized state.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Hi Ed, thanks for following along! Even with the 90-degree elbow the system drains far quicker than my water system can provide it. And you're right, Solid makes a bunch of options, with the non-auto returning options requiring a bit more complex wiring. To anyone reading this I would definitely recommend this 1" valve as opposed to the smaller ones where the ball valve is substantially smaller than the pipe connected to it, slowing the draining process. Thanks for the comment!

@brianchetelat6601 Ай бұрын

Also, the quiet giggling was quite cute.

@owenimholte3835 29 күн бұрын

Not OG, but following along for ~4 years or so. Your build quality is so impeccable every step of the way and it's something I strive to get close to in my own build, so it was validating to see the same valve I purchased a while ago show up in this video. =) Now I just need to put it in...Your presentation style is also comforting to watch. Keep it up, thanks for all the videos so far.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Thank you, I very much appreciate the kind words!

@LiveLikePete Ай бұрын

Nice job, Ken! I love the electronic solenoid dump. Genius.

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Thanks Pete...the solenoid dump has sort of become a standard now--sure beats crawling under the van to open a valve. I watched one of your sandrail videos the other day....fun stuff!

@billnalen Ай бұрын

Van still looks amazing after 8 years. Next week I'm moving my gray tank from inside to under the passenger side. I'm cheating a bit and using a tank from nwconversions that includes the straps for my Transit.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

Not cheating at all; thanks Bill!

@corywadedavis Ай бұрын

Fancy solenoid drain! Well done!

@magielacambra1567 3 күн бұрын

Welcome back! Love the detail of your videos, so I am happy to see you back while I am building my van. What type of switch did you use to control the ball valve?

@dmwi1549 Ай бұрын

Been here since the beginning. Started my van build during Covid. Really appreciate all the great ideas and meticulous documentation. And, you were right. Few of us really need or use 4wd. The new locking differentials available will get most anywhere they want to go over stock. Stock RWD is all most need. How’s the plastic dip or application you put on the wheels holding up?

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Thank you for following along and for the kind words! While I still find I don't need 4wd, I am so pleased Mercedes moved away from the old problematic third party 33/67% split system and made their own in-house 50/50 AWD, and coupled it with a nice 4 cyl diesel. :) Plasti dip holds up well until it's time for new tires. Most shops aren't careful with wheels and they usually come away with scuffs I have to tend-to. That said I'm on my second set of tires and one retouch in close to 8 years.

@joesyard Ай бұрын

Thank you for this video! Tackling this will be so much easier now 😊

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

You're welcome and good luck!

@Every_State_Park Ай бұрын

Still love the look of your van.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

thank you

@BlackDogShores 12 күн бұрын

As always, I love and am eager to see what you are doing with your van. Last year I installed a grey tank and went to efforts to protect the bottom from being impacted by debris. I also needed to do this because I made a ‘cage’ to hang the tank vs straps and the protection took up the space on the tank where it is higher. Anyway, wondered if you felt any protection is needed?

@wanderingzythophile9083 Ай бұрын

One assumes you didn't just start drilling through your floor from above, but rather, picked a spot underneath and first drilled a pilot hole upward, to use as a guide for the larger hole coming down?

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

It took me a while to figure out the orientation and why the lower floor is so much different than up above. In short, I sent a small pilot hole down from the top once I had a good idea where it would end up. As it turns out, I was off enough that the nut would not have gone on the bulkhead. Luckily that pilot hole was within the size of the 1-3/4" hole.

@DuaneRonan Ай бұрын

Really great content my friend. Thank you so much!

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Much appreciated!

@KenLeonard 5 күн бұрын

Any concerns about the relatively few and small mounting bolts vs the tank full of water when you hit a pothole and generate a 2+ G load? 20 gal @ 2G is 352 lbs.

@TerryManitoba Ай бұрын

I was building my 2017 Transit about the same time you started showing your build. As much as I wanted to use this new fangled (to me) 80/20 in my build - I ended up not using a single foot of the stuff to construct my interior. (I've sleep in mine over the years a total of 25 months over 75k miles-:) BTW - still tweaking it a bit after each trip...

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Sounds like you are putting your van to good use! I use the word "done" in quotes because the word implies I'll never touch it again, when I know that's impossible for me. Thank you for following along!

@TerryManitoba Ай бұрын

@@ourkaravan Ya - it has been a super fun way to bump along. But can it be more fun? uMM - YES With a plan of "finally" going to Baja - this fall - a major tweak was I had the van lifted a/w ARB rear locker at Agile OffRoad ($$$) to make the rig that much more capable when off the beaten path (which is where I typically to travel a bunch)!!! To date that mod has made it so much more capable off-road than I ever expected a 2WD van to be.

@ourkaravan 21 күн бұрын

@@TerryManitoba That's great. I know how effective a rear locker can be as my 4Runner has one. Good stuff!

@TerryManitoba 20 күн бұрын

@@ourkaravan Since I "think" I bought the right vehicle platform - part of the Fun & Challenge is to continually Optimize the rig as I did lately with the lift & locker. That a/w the dozen of small things I optimized inside the van from the knowledge gained from the last trip👍

@ourkaravan 20 күн бұрын

@@TerryManitoba Transit and Sprinter have proven themselves to be good platforms. I'd be shopping both.

@dmytroriazanov5065 Ай бұрын

might try to replace 90 with 2*45 later on

@colesadventures8727 26 күн бұрын

Great job.Who makes the tank?

@dralusion Ай бұрын

what a great fit. my galley is on the other side. do you know if this will have the same fit passenger side? btw, what bug screen did you end up using and why?

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

This won't fit on the passenger side due to the indent for the step in the slider footwell. There is a company that I believe now makes one. My bug screen is from Quest Overland but I can no longer recommend them. The original owners sold the business in late 2023 and the new owner is completely unresponsive to calls and emails and many recent customers have had to go to their credit card companies to get charges reversed. I'd look elsewhere for sure.

@vincesvangoes866 Ай бұрын

Perfectly done and great video! I did exactly the same thing, but haven't taken the time to figure out a good hose hook up that drains nicely and is easy to couple. Some campsites want to see an actual drain line to the dump. Any good advice?

@ourkaravan Ай бұрын

Because the outlet of the solenoid valve is a standard 1" NPT thread, there are any number of adapters you could thread in to provide a hose bib or whatever else you need. Thanks for the comment!

@AlexV89 13 күн бұрын

Seems like that solenoid is fairly levered and heavy. Do you have anything to support it (e.g. metal strapping of some sort attached to the van frame)?

@ourkaravan 12 күн бұрын

Valve weight with packaging is 1.15 lbs. Not a chance at all of issues here.

@AlexV89 12 күн бұрын

Sounds good - thanks for the intel!

@ourkaravan 11 күн бұрын

@@AlexV89 you're welcome