Use of campground bathrooms

We have been rving now for 30 years and now managing an rv park in Arizona in the winter.
I always find it fascinating when I see people using the bathrooms when they have their own bathrooms and showers in their rigs.
I had asked a few people over the years, why use the campground bathrooms when you have a big rig.
The answers I got were...wife doesn't like to wipe down the showers after using...we keep our extra clothes in there....that is where the cat box stays...your bathrooms in your park are bigger than in our Foretravel....etc...
I find it interesting that people would rather use a strange bathroom than their own.
Anybody else notice this?

 

We use the park's bathrooms for 3 of the reasons you named, (we don't keep clothes in there). So if the park bathrooms are very nice and clean, it is more convenient to use them. However, if they are not as nice as we would like, we move the cat box, stuff ourselves into the tiny shower, and wipe down the walls of the shower afterwards.

 

If we weren't full-timers, we might do that. We don't consider what we're doing camping, and the shower in our Momentum is plenty big for us.

 

Other than when we stay on an electric only site for more than a week where water and waste capacity conservation is an issue, we prefer using our own facilities. An occasional extra long hot shower in the park facility is nice though, after working out extra hard.

 

I have no problem with people using our showers. We have individual bathrooms, not communal ones, and they have more room in them than many RV's have in theirs. It is easier for many to use their showers for the things you mentioned and let someone else clean up behind them.

 

When we traveled with our then wheelchair bound teenage granddaughter, we really appreciated the parks that had larger family sized individual bathrooms. Getting her in and out of the shower in our coach was not easy on her or me when there were no other options available.

 

We use our bathroom probably 98% of the time. There is just the two of us and one tiny Chihuahua. No cat/s. Our bathroom is fairly good sized and the shower is larger than average, at least for us it is. Sometimes when I've had my morning coffee and want to take a short walk to wake up the rest of my senses and give my co-pilot some space, etc. I will use the park's bathroom if it's clean. Other than that we pretty much use our coach as we would at home. We both clean up after ourselves and it's no problem wiping down a shower or some water drops off the deck, etc. I figure they put a full bathroom in an RV for a reason so why not use it. If we ever decide to buy another Class A, it is going to be a DP and will have a full bath in the very back along with a guest bath up in the middle. Tossing a coin every once in a while doesn't cut it, I usually lose...

Happy showering to all, Bankshot

 

Many moons ago... camping was a tent pulled out of a backpack, US and Europe. Thought I'd died and gone to Heaven when I met a like minded traveler, and together we could afford the Luxury of a used Class C.
HOWEVER: really appreciated clean campground bathrooms, (and hot water) as Class C rig "bathrooms" were for dire emergency use only . Just not big enough for most males to maneuver.
I DO remember the first 2 months full-timing in our Brand New Class A. Walked to the park bathrooms (which were new and beautifully appointed) that first winter. Finally got real, when we started traveling that following spring. Quickly realized we had been badly spoiled, and my cleaning abilities FAR surpassed the majority of bathrooms / showers we would encounter along life's hi-ways and bi-ways.
If folks are just out for a long weekend, a couple times a year, it IS easier to utilize the park facilities, than all the fuss of cleaning up when they return home.

 

It should not be a surprise that some prefer that you clean your CG bathrooms as opposed to them cleaning their own in the RV.

It might be that RVers prefer a bit more elbow room offered by your CG bathrooms.

It is a CG amenity that one pays for as part of the overall cost of being a guest in our CG. Would you give me a discount if I did not use your bathhouse facility?

If I actually use the CG bathhouse that will allow me to provide my fellow RVers with a better review of the CG.

 

OK, this isn't going to be a popular answer - nor delicate. Some of us prefer to not... er, defecate in our RVs if there are nice restrooms available. Heck, many of us would rather do it all, so to speak, in the CG bathroom. If you don't know or understand this you should try to wrap your mind around it.

Less odor, less clean up, easier dumping. A million reasons.

Sheesh, you'd think CG owners would understand this and not let the whole bathroom thing become an issue. We've stayed at CGs that don't even have bathrooms and they say, "What's the problem?" But a quality RV Park lavishes big time attention and improvements to their bath rooms and bath houses. Only the CGs rated 6 and below have inferior bathrooms.

 

We have been through a TT and Two Class Bs and now have the retirement A. We used the parks facilities before we got our A mostly for the obvious reasons. We plan to full time for a while when we retire thus a "usable" loo was pretty high on the option list when we were shopping for the A. We've now been NOT using park facilities for 4 years and would never go back. The cleanliness of park facilities can change in the matter of a few hours if the place is busy. Ours is always clean. If I remember, I'll stick my head into the park bathrooms just so I can report in the revue but it happens very seldom.

 

Our MH has a larger shower than did our last sticks and bricks. We have a Fantastic Fan in the the bathroom for removal of moisture and odors. Our facilities are cleaned to meet our standards. Therefore, we never see the need to use the CG's facilities and happily go to parks that don't have any.

 

I have an answer that no one has mentioned: my wife says, "We spent $$$$$$ on a MH and I'm sure using the bathroom!" (Her actual quote is more colorful)
Seriously though, no one has said if they are talking about when en route or when arrived.
When traveling and stopping for one night only, we only plug-in. Sometimes we don't even put out our slides. And, we use camp ground bathrooms, choosing carefully using RVPR's . We try to be mindful of our tanks and fresh water.
Once we arrive at our destination, different story. We hook up to sewer and water.
My wife uses our bathroom. In three years of full-timing, I never have. Drives her crazy!
I like the heads that I have found where we stay, particularly the all-in-one or home style.

Now the next question to all you shower-takers: do you leave your gray tank valve open all the time?

 

Good last question Jack B. When we reach our destination and hook up I normally will leave both the black and grey tank valves open wide the entire time we are there. I found early on that when leaving it saves time draining the tanks then. I still wash out the hose of course before storing it away but everything just goes much quicker with the tanks already empty. I have checked and nobody has told me leaving them open causes any harm to the system so for crying out loud please don't tell me it does . Many times on over nighters we don't even hook up to the sewer, just water and electricity. How about you, what's your "pleasure".............

Regards, Bankshot

 

BankShot...you're going to start something here. If you have a high-end DP you might have tank washing options. Or, maybe you don't allow solids in your black tank. Otherwise, I think there will be replies reference solids building up in your black tank.
We have a simple gas powered "A" and leave our valves closed. We empty once a week, putting chemicals in both gray and black. We have tried leaving the gray tank open, but then close it a day before emptying the black tank so that there is some gray water to clean the hose.
I assume you don't mean leaving your tank valves open for months. I have heard some real horror stories about black tanks and they were always messy.

 

We have a DP with a black tank flushing system. Because we have a washer/dryer we always leave our gray tank valve open when we are connected at a site. While traveling we also sometimes only connect electric and water (both are on power reels so it's not a big deal) but we still don't use CG bathrooms. We have 50 gallon tanks for both black and gray; that's a week's worth of black and a couple of days worth of gray (assuming the washer isn't used).

If you aren't aware there's a franchised tank cleaning service that goes by the name of All Pro Water Flow. We had one of its franchisees clean our tanks a couple of years ago and it was rather surprising to see the crud that came out of the gray tank. Gray tanks build up calcified deposits and the chunks coming out of ours were the size of golf balls. Our black tank was spotless by comparison.

After that experience we decided it was easier to invest ~$200 in tank cleaning every couple of years and not worry so much about what we put into the tank.

 

Jack B - No high end DP here, just a gas Class A also. I didn't go into all the "specifics" but will spell it out a tad "mo betta" so I won't be starting something . When we are staying for a while I will open both the grey and black valves and just let the "goop" and stuff flow right on thru and down into the park system. The morning before we leave I fill a bucket with fresh water and dump it down the toilet to rinse any "residuals" out. I then fill the sinks on both the kitchen and bathroom and let them run thru the grey lines and on out. I make sure everything is drained and then close up the valves, put the "good stuff" down the toilet and flush it few times. That gets us to our next destination with any foul smells wafting thru the coach. Again I was told way back when that this doesn't harm the system at all as long as you do put some water back into the tanks before driving off so as to not dry out seals, etc. I do have a sani-flush system I can use but I've never had the need to do so in all the time we've been RVing, but one day I may just have to give it a go and see how the thing works, etc. Hope this qualified my original post a tad better...........?

 

Did the posts associated with your interest answer the question?

 

The San-T-Flush system isn't something you use when you have a problem; it's something we use as a normal part of our tank drain and flush procedure. It's an easy to use system that provides a fresh water spray into the black tank that helps to wash solids away.

Many RVers will tell you that this is a prescription for disaster in the long run. Most of us only have the black tank valve open when we are draining a large quantity of liquids and solids. Leaving it open for extended periods can result in the buildup of solids that don't flow because there isn't enough liquid to flush them away. Sometimes this buildup is referred to as a "poop pyramid."

I'm not saying that your approach is going to do you harm, but you might want to search some of the larger RV forums where there are innumerable threads about managing black and gray tanks.