gas tank to Black tank?

[turf]

hi folks,
i've gone over this in my head a thousand times and cant decide how to start the easiest cheapest black tank for my set up. im sure looking for advice.

at the present time.......
i want to drop an underbelly spare tire carrier and put a waste tank in its place. i been searching for tanks and i stopped at my local junk yard and found this:


its a gas tank of a scrapped bus.this looks like it would fit beautifully in the spare tire space. not much need to fab up supports. just need to weld some bungs on there for drains, vent,and who knows what.....


any opinions, i have a some similar sizes PE tanks that i was gonna make supports for...... but.......this looks easy
(famous last words)

what do you think?

[turf]

here is the bus.....

tank to go in the rear, spare tire holder.......

[Accordion]

Nice looking bus. Did it come with no windows, or did someone cover them up?

[turf]

it came that way. the vin code calls it a "TC empty shell"

the inside was paneled and shelved for a bookmobile. big genny hanging in between the tires on the driver's side, fuel tank and door wells on the other side.



proposed layout:



with the tanks right under the master bed

[roach711]

Cool bus! Nice to have part of the conversion done for you.

I would think that the steel tank would rust from the inside out in time unless it was coated with some sort of sealer. Are gas tanks sealed from the factory? I have no idea.

If it DID rust through you'd just get a free dump, though maybe not at the place you had in mind.

[turf]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........


well how about plan "b"

i was cruising the forum and spotted somewhereinusa's build thread. his waste tank and fabrication skill inspired me to consider hanging the waste tank .... real low. here is his picture (stolen from his thread)



stealing that idea would give me a waste tank mounted under my current fuel tank.


on the other side of the bus, a generator hangs down a similar distance. that darn fuel tank has been in the way for a long time.... this would be a nice solution unless you all see something real wrong with it.

all comments welcome!!

[bansil]

Only issue might be doing full hookups at campgrounds,most have everything on driversside

[turf]

thanks Bansil

i had never even thought of park life......
i suppose that lowers the resale value eh?

i ordered the tank today. a 40 gallon to fit under the fuel tank and extend a bit out towards the rear tires so i can put in drop pipe for the stool. the tank will hang 8" under the fuel tank supports. the genny hanging on the opposite side hangs down 12" beneath the same supports.

the spot really simplifies too many variables not to take advantage of it. floor plan has modified (again).... simpler, i think this time. the bath will be the passenger side. the kitchen grey water will have to cross over. i may consider a second tank for grey water on that side later.

for now the use is weekend warrior stuff, so i'm fine with the park side service. i hope to conceal it but we will see.

i was dreading cutting off the spare tire carrier to make room for tank behind the back wheels. now i can keep the storage space. i also just avoided an expensive macerator toilet to pump the waste back to that rear tank.

i do appreciate the input.

[ol trunt]

I'd say you are probably OK with the extra 8" drop.If you do a cardboard "mock-up" of the tank (only the vertical and longitudinal) you can test to see what your clearance is. Find a driveway approach like at a gas station or the super market where you enter by a right turn. Have a helper eyeball the clearance as you drive up the aprin and you will get a pretty accurate idea of how your new tank fits. Because of the angles involved, the right side hang downs are more likely to be a problem than are the left. Good luck!

[turf]

woot woot

my waste tank got hung today!

a good friend help me fabricate up a bracket to hold the tank under the fuel tank. its getting painted now, will post **** tank pics soon

now....got to do the rest of the plumbing

my fuel tank access hole is locate in an unfortunate spot in the bus floor...... i am reconsidering the floor plan to accommodate that hole. 1 good solution would be to put the toilet insde the shower.

today i saw a 32" X 48" shower pan that would fit between the wheel well and the access hole. the toilet would be about a foot from one side of the shower pan.

any thoughts or comments? i've heard of toilet/showers in smaller rvs, but never seen one.

[gbstewart]

Are you putting the toilet in the shower pan? it will be ok the down side is that after a shower your feet will always be wet when you want to use the toilet, the plus side is you can have a shower when on the toilet, making it this set up a time saver as well as a space saver
gbstewart

[lornaschinske]

The Class C has an all in one setup. The toilet sits about a half inch higher that the shower pan. Downside to the toilet in the shower other than everything is always wet..... the wet conditions rust the metal mechanics/springs of the toilet. We found it was almost as expensive to replace the rusted out mechanics as it was to buy a new rv toilet.

[turf]

lmao,
**** shower and shave eh?

the time saving factor.....

again something i never considered

[turf]

the constant wet feet sounds quite unappealing...

sounds like a mud pit considering the campgrounds i've been around.

hmmm ........................ decisions, decisions

the second idea would be to locate the shower across the bus from the toilet. the problem with that is that the aisle gets aweful narrow then.
bus is 88" wide inside
bath is 34", shower is 34", plus a wall or 2.... puts me at less than 18" for the aisle,

so it seems my choices are:

combo toilet shower with mud

cover the fuel tank access with shower pan, and keep the bathroom on the same side of bus.

or split the bathroom across the bus and have a narrow aisle.

which is the least of those evils?

[turf]

related question to the earlier post...... another waste tank question.

my waste tank is made out of PE... HDPE to be exact.

whats the proper way to attach an 3" ABS plumbing stack to it? glue? grommet? needle and thread?

thanks

[gbstewart]

my shower is across from the toilet, works ok, I made the walls around the toilet a bit wider so you have room while sitting on the can , I also got a good toilet sealand porcelain I wanted it to be as much as hommy as I could, it keeps the family happy, so you have to get bathroom right,
for connecting your 3 inch pipe there is glues that will bond you will have to ask at the hardware stores, I would use a threaded 3 inch so you can use a threaded toilet flange gives you a bit of adjustment.
gbstewart

[lornaschinske]

I split our bathroom. Still have an aisle wide enough to get the full size home style range and the full size upright freezer thru the bus and out the emergency door. The shower is a 32x32 house style pan. Here are our bathroom measurements

The "front" wall divides the galley from the bath/dressing are and runs across the bus side to side. The opening betwee the twoo sides in the center of the bus is 29-3/8 inch. This is wide enough to get our large appliances out by removing the appliance door and removing the vinyl accordion doors that will be installed (one to replace shower curtain, one to install between galley partion wall and one to install along side the toilet between the partion wall and the end wall on the left hand side of the vanity sink). On the " door" side is the shower . Including the 2x4 wall to hold the plumbing (rear) and the sheet of tempered peg board we covered the backside/laundry room side we measure 36" exactly from the shower pan side of the partition wall. We came up with this measurement by placing the shower pan up against the side wall and up against the partion wall. Then we built the 2x4 wall pushed up against the shower pan. The shower pan front faces the center of the bus and measures 31-5/8 + 1-1/4 inches from the original metal siding (1-1/4 is what the insulation plus wall covering adds up to).

On the drivers side is the toilet and vanity sink. The vanity sink is plumbed to drain into the black tank. From the partion wall, the rear of the 1-3/8 thick back wall, the wall the 13"deep x 25" wide including 3/4" countertop overhang vanity is attached to, measures at 51 inches. It's roughly 14 inches from the backside of the wall to the front of the wheel well. The vanity has a 14-5/8 inch wide x 1-3/8 inch thick wall on the left hand side of the vanity when facing the rear. The toilet is backed up to the 26-3/8 + 1-1/4 inch galley partion wall, needless to say. All the walls, except for the single 2x4 plumbing wall for the shower/laundry room are made from hollow core luaun doors that we get as close to the width we need and then trim down.

[turf]

thank you both....

im gonna have to break out a micrometer and see how much room there is... something doesnt seem to add up.

maybe i'm thinking my bathroom is that big because of the shower..... without it, might go skinnier, eh?



i think the toilet stand-off was 11"-12" from each side. will have to work it with sketchup and see.

your bath, shower and aisle measurements help!

thanks

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by turf

... maybe i'm thinking my bathroom is that big because of the shower..... without it, might go skinnier, eh?

... will have to work it with sketchup and see.

How big is your shower pan?

I would suggest you get a roll of duct tape and a tape measure then lay it out on your floor. Doing this will help you to layout then tweak the plan so your holes in the floor fall between the ribs in the floor. You may have to drill a small hole and stick a marker wire into the hole, then climb under the bus to note down measurement to transfer to interior so you can lay things out and miss any problem causing areas. We were smart enough to use existing holes from the seat hardware and used a long insulation wire with a 90° bend in thr top end of it.

[turf]

without further ado (do)

angle iron engineering


and still about 10" clearance to the drain.



that shits cool!!