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Old 01-21-2017, 01:31 PM   #1
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DSDP 4018 half bath question

We were at the Tampa RV show this week and though that we knew what we wanted, but know we have more questions.

We were leaning towards the DSDP 4018. We want to stay with a 40’, to make it easier to get into some state and national parks that a 43-45 might not be able to get in. We are also plan on doing a bunch a boondocking and are worried that the electric toilets fill the black tank rather quickly. After looking at the layout of the ˝ bath and the door configuration we weren’t too happy with it, especially when comparing it to the Ventana 4002. I was wondering if anyone has looked in swapping (during the build) out the electric toilet in the DSDP 4018 with a gravity toilet. Going the route, you could swap the side the door is hinged on and it would no longer be in the way. The gravity toilet uses a lot less water so that would extend boondocking and with the door hinged on the left vs right the ˝ bath is more accessible and you can use both the toilet and sink with the door open. The Ventana 4002 and the DS 4018 half bath are about the same size and location. I believe the 2013 DSDP 4018 half bath had a gravity toilet. I am not sure if they changed the black tank location over the years.
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Old 01-21-2017, 01:35 PM   #2
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Did you ask if that was the only way the DS came? Newmar is pretty flexible in the builds, so I would propose the question to them.
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Old 01-21-2017, 02:07 PM   #3
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Did you ask if that was the only way the DS came? Newmar is pretty flexible in the builds, so I would propose the question to them.
I did ask one of the reps that was at the show. and he didn't think so. But when you ask someone a question at event and he is trying to do 12 things at once you do not get the most accurate answers. I know there are a lot people on this forum that have looked at all sorts of mods and might have more info on why it would or wouldn't work.
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Old 01-21-2017, 02:14 PM   #4
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You're correct in that an electric toilet is not what you want to boondock. We could last up to two weeks without having to dump our tanks with a gravity toilet.
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Old 01-21-2017, 02:34 PM   #5
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We asked and were told that we couldn't have a gravity toilet in either bathroom :-(

That said, we are finishing up five days with no water or sewer and are still at 1/3 fresh, 2/3 grey, 1/3 black. We took showers and washed hands, brushed teeth, etc. Didn't wash dishes though. Way more room in black tanks than I thought we'd have at this point. One of the guys had a good idea to turn off the water pump when flushing liquid/TP only. Then it works more like a gravity toilet. Also, I keep a bottle of mild spray cleaner for the bowl to keep it cleaner when using the low water flush for an extended time.

Lastly, I was paranoid about potential midnight trips and no flushing, so I conducted an experiment last time we had FHU. I flushed toilets until tank light was orange (yellow). Then I set it to low flush and added 1/2 gal of water & hit low flush repeatedly, and counted. It was over a dozen more flushes and I honestly got bored and even lost count before it finally got to red and stopped flushing.

So with two "normal" people and no keg party, IMHO about a week on black tank is very do-able.

YMMV, & HTH

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Old 01-21-2017, 04:26 PM   #6
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We asked and were told that we couldn't have a gravity toilet in either bathroom :-(

That said, we are finishing up five days with no water or sewer and are still at 1/3 fresh, 2/3 grey, 1/3 black. We took showers and washed hands, brushed teeth, etc. Didn't wash dishes though. Way more room in black tanks than I thought we'd have at this point. One of the guys had a good idea to turn off the water pump when flushing liquid/TP only. Then it works more like a gravity toilet. Also, I keep a bottle of mild spray cleaner for the bowl to keep it cleaner when using the low water flush for an extended time.

Lastly, I was paranoid about potential midnight trips and no flushing, so I conducted an experiment last time we had FHU. I flushed toilets until tank light was orange (yellow). Then I set it to low flush and added 1/2 gal of water & hit low flush repeatedly, and counted. It was over a dozen more flushes and I honestly got bored and even lost count before it finally got to red and stopped flushing.

So with two "normal" people and no keg party, IMHO about a week on black tank is very do-able.

YMMV, & HTH

- CC
Thanks for the pointers. We were just hoping it could be done. Kill two birds with stone. With the gravity toilet being small you could swap the door and dry camp easier. We could live if we can go a week. We started getting nervous when we heard people say they were only get three day before the dreaded red light came on.
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Old 01-21-2017, 07:25 PM   #7
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Not dry camping, but myself, my wife and 2 young girls are able to make 5 days without dumping the black. This in a DS 4018.
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Old 01-22-2017, 04:17 AM   #8
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What size tanks do the DS have? I have very limited wifi right now a I cannot load the Newmar website.
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Old 01-22-2017, 04:22 AM   #9
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Water 105 Gallons
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Old 01-22-2017, 04:33 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlaRider View Post
I believe the 2013 DSDP 4018 half bath had a gravity toilet. I am not sure if they changed the black tank location over the years.
FlaRider ... you are correct, when we ordered our 2013, it did come with an electric in the back and a gravity in the half-bath "as standard" ... but we upgraded that one to electric as well. I initially had 2nd thoughts about doing that because if the electric ones failed I would of had the fail safe gravity as a back up ... but we never had a single issue with the electric ones the entire time we owned it.

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Old 01-22-2017, 01:23 PM   #11
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midway toilet

The electric toilet has 2 water settings. One is to save water and barely fills the hole in the bottom of the toilet. Also I do not know if that toilet is directly over the tank but without the macerator toilet if it isn't I wouldn't try a gravity toilet.
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Old 01-22-2017, 03:54 PM   #12
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I guarantee you that in a diesel pusher the rear toilet is NOT over the holding tank, it's over the engine!! I believe that what made the rear bath possible in a diesel was in fact the electric toilet with macerator.


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Old 01-22-2017, 04:37 PM   #13
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The 1/2 bath door is designed to enable access to the room while the slides are closed. Moving the hinge to the left would defeat that.
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Old 01-22-2017, 10:42 PM   #14
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"FlaRider"......I'm a big guy, 6'2", 300lbs. The half bath in our coach is my bathroom. I stay up later than my wife, so when using the toilet, I use the half bath. It's not ideal, but I fit in there and have been doing so for 3 years.....just not that big a deal. When we first purchased the coach, I looked at changing the door to a regular "swing" by using a piano hinge. The issue.....if you change how it swings, the bottom of the door strikes the full wall slide floor when it's in. I even thought about cutting 3" off the bottom of the door, putting a hinge on it and folding it up when traveling so that it would open over the FWS when the slide was in. After using it for awhile, it just wasn't a big issue.

Just so you know, both toilets shut down when a sensor on the black tank says it's full. Both toilet switches will have a red light come on and they won't flush. Both toilets have a control box where you can bypass the red switch and not shut the toilet off. I bypassed the red light on the half bath so it never shuts down. When the black tank is full, the red light still comes on in the master bath. Even though the red light says the tank is full, I can still get about 5-6 flushes out of the half bath before the tank is completely full.
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