Wet bay panel removal

[NealC]

I have a project in the works and I have to get to the tanks from the wet bay side. I've got it off for the most part, I'm heading back to the coach in the storage lot to complete the removal. The one issue I'm struggling with are the two black low point drain rotating valves. How do those come off or get through the panel with the lines directly behind the panel using a pex crimp?

Any tips on removal or reinstalling of the wet bay board are greatly appreciated.

[DrPhil]

Neal - Please document and post pics. I'm right behind you with some mods that I may want to undertake in the wet bay. Thanks! -Phil

[bruceisla]

Me too ... It's #2 on my current list of stuff to do. Mine is older but probably similar. I have the feeling I could make a new panel and consolidate everything .... we'll see.

[ftharrisiii]

Neal, on my 2016 DSDP, the black handles on the low point drains just snap onto the plastic valve body. I use a flat tip screw driver to "gently" pry them off. The valve body itself is held onto the wet bay panel with an aluminum bracket secured by the two visible screws.

I've made a numerous modifications to the wet bay to accommodate a few projects and to improve access to components because nothing ever breaks when the coach is at home and accessing what's behind the wet bay on the road is a pain.

The first modification I made was to cut a notch out of the wet bay panel to separate the water pump inlet and discharge lines from the rest of the panel. In my coach, these lines were hard piped and had to be cut to be able to fully remove the panel. I re-piped them using threaded connectors.

The second modification I made was to split the wet bay panel down the middle. This mod gives me easy access to the water pump, sewer valves, and the piping components. To support the pipes once the panel face is removed, I fabricated valve bracket supports from 18 gage sheet metal. I used the back of the panel as a template for the size and spacing. I mounted the support to the bottom aluminum "L" bracket. I then secured Newmar's aluminum valve brackets to the sheet metal supports using double sided VHB tape. This modification also required the top and bottom aluminum "L" supports to be permanently braced and mounted in the wet bay.

The third modification I made was to mount the water pump and pump controller to a metal back plate. The first time I replaced the pump, I had a difficult time getting the pump out and remounting the new pump. The metal back plate mounts to the wet bay wall using Hillman flush mounted hangers that I bought at Lowes (Item #334848). Now, if I need to replace or swap out the pump or the controller I only need to release the quick connect piping connections, disconnect the power wires, pop the back plate off the hangars and swap the pump or controller on a work bench and then reinstall.

With these modifications, I am in the wet bay in about 10 minutes.

Tom

[redbaron73]

Originally Posted by ftharrisiii

Neal, on my 2016 DSDP, the black handles on the low point drains just snap onto the plastic valve body. I use a flat tip screw driver to "gently" pry them off. The valve body itself is held onto the wet bay panel with an aluminum bracket secured by the two visible screws.

I've made a numerous modifications to the wet bay to accommodate a few projects and to improve access to components because nothing ever breaks when the coach is at home and accessing what's behind the wet bay on the road is a pain.

The first modification I made was to cut a notch out of the wet bay panel to separate the water pump inlet and discharge lines from the rest of the panel. In my coach, these lines were hard piped and had to be cut to be able to fully remove the panel. I re-piped them using threaded connectors.

The second modification I made was to split the wet bay panel down the middle. This mod gives me easy access to the water pump, sewer valves, and the piping components. To support the pipes once the panel face is removed, I fabricated valve bracket supports from 18 gage sheet metal. I used the back of the panel as a template for the size and spacing. I mounted the support to the bottom aluminum "L" bracket. I then secured Newmar's aluminum valve brackets to the sheet metal supports using double sided VHB tape. This modification also required the top and bottom aluminum "L" supports to be permanently braced and mounted in the wet bay.

The third modification I made was to mount the water pump and pump controller to a metal back plate. The first time I replaced the pump, I had a difficult time getting the pump out and remounting the new pump. The metal back plate mounts to the wet bay wall using Hillman flush mounted hangers that I bought at Lowes (Item #334848). Now, if I need to replace or swap out the pump or the controller I only need to release the quick connect piping connections, disconnect the power wires, pop the back plate off the hangars and swap the pump or controller on a work bench and then reinstall.

With these modifications, I am in the wet bay in about 10 minutes.

Tom

Tom - This is amazing!! And very timely. After I finish my Koni and Fan gear box projects, my next project was to replace the water pump with a new Remco. I was already trying to plan for how to do this, and now that I have seen what you did with your water bay, I am inspired to do the same thing.

Great Job!

[FatChance]

Tom - I like the way you re-organized your wet bay. That gave me some ideas for mine.

Here is another simple idea to consider for anyone's wet bay. We spend real winters in our coach and I wanted to keep cold air and rodents from entering the wet bay from all that space around the sewer hose.

I bought a soft padded closed-cell rubber anti-fatigue workshop mat at Home Depot and cut it to fit in the water bay. Then, I cut a hole in the mat for a tight fit around the sewer hose and a short straight cut from the hole to the edge of the mat to make it easy to install/remove the hose.

Now, I don't worry about that entrance route for rodents and the wet bay stays nice and toasty mid-winter.

[NealC]

Great info. I love my REMCO AES. I would love to make it quieter as the flimsy side wall just causes noise and vibration. I’ll look at a better mount while the panel is off. This is going to be a great opportunity to improve the wet bay area.

I have a new wet bay board coming too so I can cleanup a few holes. FYI it’s $229!! So be it.

My hose bibb project has been one of those that never ends and brings constant trouble. I screwed it on which has different screw locations and I nailed a low point drain line. Was nice how it didn’t leak at all but when removing the screw it was a nice high pressure stream. Oh the fun....

[NealC]

I’d love to completely redesign this wet bay panel and area with a deeper setback. Imagine the space you would gain if the panel was at the tank edges. The heater is the issue though.

[ftharrisiii]

Originally Posted by redbaron73

Tom - This is amazing!! And very timely. After I finish my Koni and Fan gear box projects, my next project was to replace the water pump with a new Remco. I was already trying to plan for how to do this, and now that I have seen what you did with your water bay, I am inspired to do the same thing.

Great Job!

Thanks. One other mod I did in the wet bay relates to the hose reel. While doing maintenance last fall, I noticed that the steel lag screws securing the hose reel to the wet bay floor were rusting and corroding. I suspect water got under the aluminum hose reel base promoting corrosion of the steel lag screws. To address the issue I replaced the steel lag screws with stainless steel lag screws and installed nylon washers to isolate the steel from the aluminum and to provide an air gap between the hose reel base and the wet bay floor.

Hopefully this keeps the wet bay floor dry, isolates the different materials, and eliminates the corrosion problem going forward.

Tom

[redbaron73]

Originally Posted by NealC

I’d love to completely redesign this wet bay panel and area with a deeper setback. Imagine the space you would gain if the panel was at the tank edges. The heater is the issue though.

Heater is easily moved once you expose it. I don't know how much room there is to move it...maybe you already know that answer?

[NealC]

My panel is out. It actually wasn’t bad at all thanks for the help above. The black shutoff valves pop off with a flat head screwdriver twist. Awesome. PEX pinch clamps came off with heavy duty cutter pliers and twisting back and forth (thanks YouTube). I used a heat gun to heat the pex line connections and they slid off like butter.

I used color sharpees to mark lines and holes. I took pictures etc. This is something I needed to learn to better be able to service things on my coach.

I have 3 new SeeLevel detector strips coming so I can mount on the wet bay side for better readings due to the slants.

Also looking for a much better and quieter water pump setup.

Now for the project at hand which hopefully doesn’t send me back to Newmar :(

[NealC]

And this is not paying attention to where screws go. Learn from me!!!

[CoreyinWP]

Ouch! Nice to learn how the sausage is made. Good luck with the project.

[NealC]

And the gray valve 1.5 inch is out. 3 inch going in for awesome Drainmaster electric gate valves.

Heat gun used to heat fitting then large pliers to carefully torque.

Sheeeeyuuuuuuu!!