Yep, More Van Content...

 

As you'd expect, since we're still learning about it.

Joan spent time cutting and fitting non-skid liners for the cabinets and drawers in the van.  I did a "test run" with the macerator that pumps out the black and gray water holding tanks.  I put water in the fresh water tank and started the sanitizing process.

The fresh water tank in the Roadtrek is 33 gallons, but the gray water holding tank is only 14 gallons, and the black tank (potty) is just 8.5 gallons.  That means you will be dumping those holding tanks more often than you'll be filling the fresh water tank.  Besides the typical "gravity dump" that uses a 3" sewer hose that connects to the RV and dumps into a sewer fitting in an RV park (or at some truck stops and rest areas), this van is equipped with a macerator pump...

That photo above shows the hose deployed and fed into a sewer connection in our storage area.  Press the button to fire it up, and it empties the tanks faster than a gravity feed... plus, it does it with a much easier to handle 1.5" hose that stays connected to the van.  Pull it out, hit the button, put it away - it is not designed to be left out like most RVers do with their sewer hose(es).  Faster and cleaner.  We had a macerator pump in the C-Dory, but this is the first time having one in an RV.  I think it is a big improvement.

With bleach in the fresh water tank (a mild dilution) to sanitize the tank, it took a couple fillings of the waste water holding tanks to empty out the fresh water capacity.

I also plugged the van into shore power.  That big inverter acts as a converter/charger to run the appliances and charge the 600 amp hours of lithium batteries.  So, when plugged in, it acts like a typical RV... it is when you aren't plugged in that the lithium system makes it seem like your are still plugged in (or running a generator).  Three ways to keep those batteries charged up: the fastest and most efficient is running the engine and letting that 280 amp alternator handle the batteries.  Next best is plugging into shore power.  And finally, utilizing the 300 watts of solar panels on the roof.  It all works together.

From the dump station at the storage place, we took the van to the site we have there.  With the Aspect, we had to turn the cargo trailer at an angle to get the Aspect to fit in the length of the site.  We are now able to keep the trailer straight in the site and have plenty of room...

With some things moved to and from the trailer, we sat down in the lounge area in the van for lunch...

Also the first time we set up the Lagun (pronounced: lagoon) table as our meal place.  The table is smaller than the dinette we had in the Aspect.  Well, to be fair, everything is smaller than the facilities we had in the Aspect... this is not a surprise to us, but rather the reason for making this change.  Smaller, easier, and will fit in any RV park or campground.  No concerns about pulling into any gas station anymore... and about double the miles per gallon.  On the flip side, we are going to have to make some changes in what we take along... we are both onboard with "less packing," as well.

We are still learning the systems.