Gray tank capacity Jay Flight 28BHBE

[adinack74]

We just took our new 2014 Jay Flight 28 BHBE out this past weekend for the first time. This is our first TT so we are new to hook ups. We had full hookups this weekend. We had the gray tank valve open for the first day, but decided to close it the night before we left. We took 4 showers, brushed teeth for 5 people, and washed breakfast dishes the next morning. The gray tank read full after this. We were shocked to see that the tank would only hold enough for one night! We are concerned that we won't be able to get through a weekend without sewer hookup since we really enjoy camping at state parks where sewer hook ups are frequently unavailable. The gray tank capacity is listed as 32.5 gallons.

How accurate is the gray tank gauge? When it reads "in the red" to show that it's full, how full does that really mean? Should we be able to get through a weekend without dumping?

Thanks for any input you may have!

Adina

[SkyBound]

Showering is your biggest filler for that grey tank. I have the same size grey tank, and the wife and I just did 6 days at a park and it hit the full mark on the last day. Depending on your showering habits, you very well could be filling your tank up with that much use. A conservative shower will use 3-5 gallons (I estimate) and a normal one maybe 6-7 (2.5GPM and about 2-3 minutes) so doing the math, your grey tank is probably actually full after all that.

Something we do to minimize grey water going into the tank is do the dishes outside in a tub, filling it with hot water from the outdoor shower. That helps a lot. My fresh water capacity is 48 gal and over our 6 day trip I added 25 extra gallons, and our grey tank had a little room to spare since we threw our dish water into the bush.

[Ecfeick]

Gray tank is less likely to get gummed up. Especially if it read empty whenit was open.

4 showers is what did it.

You will learn to be very conservative in water use. For example.

When doing dishes. Fill basin a little with soapy water. Repeat to rince. Don't wash or rinse with running water.

When brushing etc turn water off while brushing

When showering take army showers. Ie turn on. Get wet turn off. Soap up. Turn on to rinse. More importantly if the Camp has showers use those.

You prob will never get a full weekend out of the gray tank with 4 users. Especially if there are any showers

Keep in mind. Without hookups you can always dump grey into a bucket and dump at outhouse. But you will clear 4 gallons at a time.

30 gallons is pretty small when you think about it. A bathtub is 40-60

[LongIslandCamper]

As mentioned, it's the showers. Good advice above.

[ktbarrentine]

Originally Posted by Ecfeick

Gray tank is less likely to get gummed up. Especially if it read empty whenit was open.

4 showers is what did it.

You will learn to be very conservative in water use. For example.

When doing dishes. Fill basin a little with soapy water. Repeat to rince. Don't wash or rinse with running water.

When brushing etc turn water off while brushing

When showering take army showers. Ie turn on. Get wet turn off. Soap up. Turn on to rinse. More importantly if the Camp has showers use those.

You prob will never get a full weekend out of the gray tank with 4 users. Especially if there are any showers

Keep in mind. Without hookups you can always dump grey into a bucket and dump at outhouse. But you will clear 4 gallons at a time.

30 gallons is pretty small when you think about it. A bathtub is 40-60

Army Showers??? First time I heard that term! We called them "submarine" showers because subs are limited in the amount of fresh water they can make a day and need to ration it amongst 100-plus sailors! Of course, the sonarmen always took "Hollywood" showers!!!!
(Retired submariner)

[clubhouse]

We carry the blue tote for no sewer, but dump station CG. Our tote 25gal and really helps. For reference we are 2 adults and 3 small kids; not really conserving water but taking army showerswe fill our 32gal grey tank in 24-36 hours. If the CG you plan to use have a dump station get a barker tote, it takes considerable pressure off your tank.

[adinack74]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

We carry the blue tote for no sewer, but dump station CG. Our tote 25gal and really helps. For reference we are 2 adults and 3 small kids; not really conserving water but taking army showerswe fill our 32gal grey tank in 24-36 hours. If the CG you plan to use have a dump station get a barker tote, it takes considerable pressure off your tank.

We are also 2 adults and 3 young kids. I actually showered with my 4-year-old and did the "army style" shower for the 2 of us. My DH and 2 other kids let the water run and didn't try to conserve. We didn't let the water run when brushing teeth. I can see now that we'll really have to conserve on the showers. And using the outside shower hose to wash dishes is a great idea. Glad to hear that what we experienced is normal and that there's nothing wrong with the TT. Though, really wishing we had a bigger gray tank.

What is a barker tote? Is it something you dump the gray tank into and transport it to the dump station? If so, how does it transport? On wheels?

[Ecfeick]

Barkers are on wheels. Carry prob 30ish gallons. You can dump into them then hitch to truck or wheel to dump site

IMO for the 130 dollars they are I will use a 5 gallon for gray.

If I need to dump mid trip it's a 30
Min process round trip hitch camper stabs up awning in. Don't mess with wdh to just dump. There are never lines mid weekend either.

[Ecfeick]

Sorry the barkers are 200+. There are brands for mid 100s.

Another issue is where to store the **** thing?

[adinack74]

There's no way my DH will hitch up mid-trip to dump. I think we'll have to go back to using the cg shower facilities when we don't have full hookup. That's what we've always done before anyway with our tent & popup.

I just googled barker tote....we had one with our popup (came with it when we bought it used) that we never used. My DH left it with the popup when we traded it. That just stinks! If only I had known how much they cost and that we'd need it for the TT!

Adina

[bradsr63]

I have a 35 Gal Smart Tote tank w/wheels. Used it at one of our camp grounds this past June. Carried in bed of my truck. The biggest draw back for me was trying to pull full tank around campsite to my truck to take to dump station. Approx. 280 lbs. was hard to move over grass. The campground ground had "Honey Wagon" service for $10.00 twice a week. For this they dumped all 3 holding tanks. Next time I will leave Smart Tote home and pay the fee. There's only 2 of us and we take Navy showers. (Turn water on to soap up - shut off to wash - back on to rinse). If water comes up in bottom of tub then you know for sure the grey tank needs dumped. Might not be a good idea if trailer has only a shower setup. We have the tub/shower in our camper.

Jayco and all mfg's need to install accurate tank sensors as well as clean out/flush systems with their campers. Especially for the prices they're selling for.

[clubhouse]

I bought my Barker 2 wheel version from Craigslist for $50. Its was in near perfect condition, never used for black -- and yes I opened and smelled before purchasing. Being able to spend 10 min at unload ~20 +/- gallons of gray water has been a life saver. We only tote gray water, we can easliy make our black tank last a week.

A couple things about the gray water totes...

1) there are lots of folks like Bradst63 ^ who bought them, don't like using it and eventually sell on CL. Right now in my small area there is a 15 gal barker 2 wheel asking $60
2) there are 2 primary manufactures; Barker and Thetford. They each have there fans, with my research I felt Barkers are better but its not like the others are bad
3) Orignally Barkers had 2 wheel version that you pulled/pushed like a wheel barrel, now they have 4 wheel version you drag like a wagon. Mine is 2 wheel, and I have no issue moving it the 20'-30' to my pick-up in order to pull it to the dump station.
4) Everyone talks about how heavy they are. Its not like you are dead lifiting it. At most you roll it from you TT valve to you TV, tow to Dump Station and at the dump station you lift one side to drain. I can't bench press 300# but I can tip one side pretty easy.
5) Lastly, it seems the common recomendation is to get one that is larger or the same size as your tank so you can't overfill it. I planned to, but didn't becasue I got my used on CL. Its ~10gall smaller than my tank, and I've been using it for 2 years and never had an overflow....I watch as it fills. And now, I wouldn't want one any larger, mine is big enough.

[Bigmike1461]

I use my 15 gal blue tote for the first 2 to 3 days then I use the main gray tank so when I have to dump the black I us the gray to flush the dump hose.....

[grayco]

Those blue totes are handy that's for sure. Another way to save grey space is to do your dishes in a wash tub and dump all your waste water in the mode... right to the black tank.

Marty

[Shmeek]

Hey Adina,
We also just took delivery of our 2014 28BHBE, also our first TT, and spent our first trip for a week on a site with full hookups. We (2 Adults, 1 kid) quickly filled our gray. We couldn't believe how quickly it was full. 24 hours in and it was full. My son mostly took a Navy shower that night too. The 28BHBE has an amazingly large and comfortable shower. Too bad the gray tank is so small that you can't really take advantage of it. The shower head also doesn't have an instant on/off which makes conserving water a little difficult.

I'm thinking part of our problem was dishes. We only had one wash pan, so we were rinsing dishes under the tap. We also had a strong bleach/chlorine taste coming from the water, so we did run a bit of water through the sinks thinking maybe the pipes needed to get flushed out. Still, it's hard to imagine we went through 32 gallons of water in 24 hours. I'm fairly certain the tank was empty after the PDI.

On our way home, we'd dropped off my son with Grandma, and the wife and I stopped at another CG for a single night with no sewer. Being one night, I took a full length shower (Ahhhhh) but were otherwise conservative on water usage. We left with the Gray 2/3rds full.

I'm certainly worried about a 3-4 day weekend.

One of the other trailers we considered was a Puma bunkhouse. It had an 80 gallon gray tank. I can't fathom why Jayco doesn't put a larger tank on a 33' trailer.

-Andy

[Ecfeick]

This weekend we had three adults and two kids.

Fri through Monday.

Showers at the campground

Only got to 2/3 full

For a long weekend avoid showers and you can in no way rinse under running. I fill both basins with 3 inches of water. That way I'm maybe using 1.5 gal each wash.

[Bassdogs]

Do the math and then make your decision. Yes, showers are the main culprit in filling a grey tank. When available use the CG facilities. Just figure, if your grey tank was twice the size and the family showered in the TT, you would only fill the tank every 2 days. See my point! RVing is about managing your resources [power, water, tanks] to max the set up time.

Some other points: If kids are involved, have them shower outside. If people insist on showering like they are at home, give them the fun of dumping the tank the next day.

Everyone in the group should understand that RVing is a series of compromises. That doesn't mean you must give up on creature comforts, just that you need to manage resources to max the fun.

[Shmeek]

That's understandable, Bass, and I agree with what you're saying. My only point, is that the 28BHBE sleeps 8-10. There's no way 8 people could live with a 32 gallon grey tank over a weekend.

[NewBlackDak]

We have the same TT. 2 Adults and 3 kids(19mo, 4, & 6). DW is not used to RV life, and the kids left the water running for everything. Filled the grey in the first night! Schooled them on army showers, use lots of anti-bacterial wipes, wash dishes in a bin with the outdoor shower, get a camp stove, cook as much as possible on previously mentioned stove without dishes that need washing, and use paper/plastic plates/utensils that you can burn/trash.

I bought one of these: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...5-gallon/37872

DW knows that if she takes a "real shower", she gets to dump the tank

On the last trip we lasted 5 nights dry camping with 2 7 gal fresh totes. The smaarttote and gray was full, and the black was 2/3.

Want to hear worse? The 28BHBE has double the fresh capacity, and the same 32.5 capacity grey/black tanks.

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by Shmeek

The shower head also doesn't have an instant on/off which makes conserving water a little difficult.

-Andy

The dial on the shower head that selects the stream also shuts off the flow. Took me a few trips to figure that out.

As for 32gal grey tanks...we are family of 5 (very young kids)...We don't really conserve water other than "Navy Showers". With daily showers, dishes, hand washing, teeth brushing etc all done inside will fill out grey tank every day. I carry a barker tote when visiting campdgounds with out hook ups. I dont' mind using it at all. I would rather spend 10-15 minutes shuttling grey water to the dump station than be constantly watching water usage.

If the CG has no hookups and no dump station we limit our trip to 2 nights 3 days, no showers but use everything else a normal and have no problems.

Black tank easily goes 5 nights and I'm sure I could go 7, but if we are camping for a full week we only go to hookup sites.