Here's what I have learned - and I'm naming names.

[Illini Trekker]

Tammy I've been following this dreadful story unwind, glad to see the end is near! As someone already posted we hardly ever put TP in the black tank. What we do is have a very small trash can in the stool room and line it with those plastic bag from shopping and make more frequent trips to the trash dump. I've been working out of my Monty this winter and know some of the pain your going throw, and I hate winter and can't wait for spring to come!

[Icehouse]

Bless your heart! To be in the cold and hate it is awful. To be in the cold and love it is heaven.
Once this fiasco is over, I'm telling Wayne and Carolyn they have to deal with something next. I'm done for a week!!!!!

[scductman]

Tammy I asked about the tank on another thead. I just happen to ck here I am so glad yall have your problems about fixed. The monty tanks have a small amount of slope to the drain but with a lot of water you sould be fine. yall stay warm. bobby

[rogue]

Bernie & Tammy, We can't imagine what you have been going through. But we're glad they Bernie is handy and not afraid to tackle problems. And Tammy does such a great job of keeping us all informed on updates and status. Glad you both like the cold, and have such a great attitude. Your post's show what can be done in adverse conditions. We really hope your future has many more northern lights, that you both can enjoy, and your worst problem "where to put the nail for hanging a picture". Best Of Luck.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Good news from Alaska! Who would think that something as simple as a black water tank could be such a headache? On the other hand, maybe it's the "simple" part of it that causes the problems, along with the wrong brand of toilet paper. Perhaps someone needs to design a new superjet toilet flushing system for RV owners. My friends who own other makes also have problems no matter how careful they are. I grew up in a camping family and can still hear my father saying "Go easy on the paper!" any time anyone even walked BY the toilet, much less actually went in to use it.

The frigid Alaska and Montana environments in which we are camping undoubtedly adds to the tank cleanout problems. I'm crossing my fingers that when we finally get to hitch up and get our rig to town, we aren't going to have black tank cleanout trouble. Now that I've read all the posts about flushing the tank, I'm sure we haven't ever used enough water to really get the tank clean, so even though we aren't using the toilet (thanks, Porta Potties), we probably have stuff in there that never washed out. When we can get to town to dump, there's only one public RV dump station, and there's always a line of RVers, cattle and horse people with livestock trailer/live-in rig combos, and local people waiting to use the facility. The water pressure there is also so low that it takes forever to even fill the freshwater tanks.

Back to Bernie and Tammy--you guys are amazing. You didn't give up and you are STILL having fun! Sorry we can't relate any winter camping woes at the moment, but I'm sure something is lurking out there, ready to catch us when we have a blizzard and sub-zero temps again. Congratulations on your fix!

[filler1775]

Bernie & Tammy,

I have been following this thread with much interest. I am glad you guys are close to finishing the project. Good luck with the rest.

Also, just thought that you would like to know . . . when I was visiting a local dealer in my area (Monterey, CA) this weekend, one of the salesmen and I started talking about winter camping in Montanas. The conversation quickly turned to the MOC forums and your experiences in Alaska. YOUR FAMOUS!

Keep comfortably cool.

Frank

[Icehouse]

Aw shucks! I'm blushing!!!
Let me tell you, we have to have the cleanest black tank and potty room ever. I'm so thankful for disinfecting wipes. I started at the ceiling and worked my way down. I will admit the smell has greatly improved!
Bernie is working on photobucket now so I'll pass it back to him!
T

[Icehouse]

Thanks for all your concerns - Elly Mae survived the surgery and the constipation is gone. She is now on a stick high fluid diet. However, the cause(s) are many - not just one issue but several. First, you all are aware of the TP problem. I am assuming this is problem #1. Second, we know the valve was working since we could here it move back and forth. Must be ice in them there pipes. When I got into the belly, the alloy metal handle on the automatic dump valve had been sheared off (guess the gears and motor are pretty stong!) So the valve was NOT open, but the motor works great . I was able to open the valve manually - still no flow. However, I could feel the pipes and they were COLD. Third, ICE. The tank side of the valve had ice - I guess about 1/2 inch thick. Thawed pretty quick with hair drier even though it was about -5 degrees outside. Then you know what....I bet you were expecting a whoosh. Sorry, just a heavy stream - BUT IT WAS FLOWING OUT! How delightful. OK several things I have noticed that could be improved. Let's try some expanding foam around pipe openings in the belly cover and basement. Let's cleanup and secure all those cable and electic lines running here there and yonder so they do not get tangled in move valve parts. A nice sturdy steel 'I' beam that conducts cold right next to dump valves and water standing in tanks, could be insulated to help hold in the heat we are pouring into that compartment. Also, why not add an access door to make working on valves a relatively easy and convenient job. Cleanout valves - sounds like most of us have had an issue or 2 that needed cleaning out. Try running a spray jet up 8 feet of pipe with 3 bends - you loose some of the jet effect. So look here to see my modifications. http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/g...t=feb629dd.pbw While elbow deep in all this, I also decided to move the drain from under the slide to be more convenient. Now the drain is at the edge of slide - no more crawling around in the snow.
As Tammy explained, we have the cleanest tank around. I did add insulation around the 'I' beam and sealed those darn opening. I also cut an access door in the floor of my basement over the valves. I cut the sides at an angle directly over 2 beams. So I just put the cut out back in the hole and it does not fall through the hole.

[timothy]

Bernie, You can operate on me anytime! Good work my friend.....

[Icehouse]

Did I happen to mention I am really excited!!!!!!!!!
T

[timothy]

Tammy, My wife has started to read your post and said,"One more day and I am flying out to get her".

[Icehouse]

One more day and I'd have met her at the airport!
Y'all come on. We are up and running now!
Tammy

[dsprik]

That's some awesome mods. How thick was that basement floor to cut through? And what tool did you use to do that?

[richfaa]

You guys are ..amazing..your experience confirms several things,,,these rv's are defiantly not designed for extremely colds weather. Your solutions indicate what needs to be done to make them cold weather survivable and your courage and never give up attitude is a inspiration to all of us. Bernie & Tammy..Well done..

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Great thread, great attitude, a bit of sick humor, lots of caring comments. YEA TEAM!!!

[Wifeofdano]

That was truely incredible. You two are amazing. You are definately an inspiration to us all. I love a good challenge, but not so sure I could have made it through all that as well as you two. Am glad that you are a part of the MOC family and that you shared your experience. You taught us all alot about the whole system, but more improtantly about life. Thanks. Hope to meet you in person one day. Take care and enjoy those Northern Lights.

[Icehouse]

Thanks for all the nice comments. dsprik, I did not measure the floor and, well, it is -10 outside, so I THINK it was 3/4 ply. I just used a little skil saw. Actually I used a door knob cutter to cut a finger hole at the top of the door. Then I could see (from the bottom looking up thru the belly) exactly where the valves were located in relation to my hole and to make sure I had clearance for my saw blade. There are steel crossbeams for floor support and some for holding the tanks. The valves were between 2 floor joists. I cut across till I hit a beam and then cut the other side till I hit a beam. I then cut down parallel to the beams with a slight angle so the top (carpet side) of my door was wider than the bottom (side facing into hold). I verified length from underneath to make sure I had enough room around the valves to work. Then I cut the fourth side to release the door.
Then you know what, last night we got cold again. However, with all my happenings, I forgot to fill the propane tanks. Oh Well, another challenge. A run to the propane dealer fixed it all.

[MacDR50]

The "Frontier" spirit seems alive and well in you two adventurers. Quite a tale of facing adversity and maintaining a sense of humor. I am guessing you are from the "Half Glass Full" fraternity and your story is very heartwarming and encouraging. Bernie the mods are excellent ideas and I have book marked them in the "Noggin" files for future reference. I posted another rather long reply on the Propane Tank Heater post that I hope helps you come up with a solution to your heat challenge. Although Tammy says she loves the cold I bet she likes that fireplace nice and close.

Good luck.

[krtam]

I just read all eight pages of posts and are truly amazed and awed by your tenacious spirit. We would have given up after one hour. Although, our idea of cold weahter camping is a low in the 30s. I am going to do the TP test after I go buy some Angel Soft. Who would think that RV TP would not dissolve. I also keep a lined small step can in the bathroom for all that TP us women use. Have a extra mojito tonight!! God bless you!
Sharon

[Icehouse]

Sharon, we need to go get limes, but we will have an extra mojito tonight!!!!! Let me assure you there were moments when we wanted to just throw in the towel, but that would have proven defeat. Not an option! I am an Angel Soft believer here! No more Thetford for me! Told my in-laws about it to and my MIL is going to go to her motorhome and get some Thetford and do the water test. She said she'll probably be using Angel Soft as well. Besides, it's cheaper! Thank you all again so much for the words of encouragement. We surely needed them!
Tammy