The Johnson Blog

Ramblings of a geek with a few hobbies…

Category: campers

  • Tow Kit

    Tow Kit

    Towing the camper brings with it a few accessories: backup camera, tire pressure monitor, mounts and cables. For a few years now I have just been using the box the backup camera came in to store this stuff.

    It not pretty, but has gotten the job done. When we arrive at our destination, we put the accessories back in the box and the box stays in the truck.

    AS you can see, it’s a little worse for wear. So after about 2 years of thinking about making a replacement, I finally did. Introducing the “Tow Kit”.

    I put the bandsaw to good use by resawing a pair of walnut boards I had on hand, milled down to a final thickness of 3/8″. Rabbet joints and a floating bottom, also solid walnut. The lid is a hinged 4-panel design. Laser engraved graphic. Natural tung oil finish.

    I went with this unusual lid so it doesn’t take extra lateral space to open it – remember this is usually sitting in the truck. A set of small magnets pull the lid ever so slightly closed.

    And much to my delight, everything fits.

    Interior dimensions are 9″x9″x4.25″.

    Now we’re ready for our next trip!

  • RV Breaker Check Valve

    RV Breaker Check Valve

    We own a 2024 Forest River Shamrock 233s and recently encountered a problem I figured would be good to record a solution to.

    This year whenever I went to flush (clean) the black tank with the flush inlet, (clean!) water would start to flood the bathroom floor. We were in a rush to get packed up and checked out, so we cleaned it up and didn’t inspect it further.

    Fast forward to last week when we were on the road. In our downtime I did some reading and learned about the existence of the RV Vacuum Breaker Check Valve – specifically the cheap plastic version they put in campers which often breaks. And the symptoms were exactly what we were experiencing.

    This little thing sits up under the bathroom sink in the Shamrock (and Roo).

    I ran to the hardware store to quickly bypass it, with 1/2″ NPT nipple and elbow, just to get us temporarily up and running.

    Note – only do this as a temporary measure, and only when you’re using a separate hose to do the flush. Without the check valve, if the campground pressure were to drop, bad water and/or vapors could siphon backward into your fresh water.

    I then immediately ordered a non-plastic version, and installed it when we got home. Here’s to hoping we never have to think about this again.

    Here’s the one I purchased.

    As a side note, we had also recently noticed unwanted odors in the bathroom of late. I suspect this was the culprit.

    Hope this helps anyone else having that problem!