Before I continue, I have no affiliation to any campground, park or resort. I am simply a family man who goes RVing with my wife. No cats, dogs, rabbits, kids or grandkids (yet). In order to broaden my horizons and look for new places to stay, I read lots of the reviews on here from many different reviewers. On occasions I see complaints of where the utilities are located, too far to the front, too far to the rear or situated more for 5th wheels than motorhomes…the list goes on. With the best will in the world, campgrounds, RV Parks and resorts do not know where the various RV manufacturers are going to install the power, water and sewer points on the trailers, motorhomes and fifth wheels that are built. At best, the various connections should be on the port (drivers) side but they can differ between models made by the same manufacturers, let alone between the different manufacturers. Yes, some places do have shared pedestals but these are few and far between and are worthy of a note. For me, with my current 5er, the power and water are towards the front of the rig and the sewer closer to the back. On previous units I have had, the power inlet was on the back drivers side corner, the city water on the very rear and the sewer somewhere about half way along the drivers side. In order for me to connect the various utilities it has been my positioning of the RV to the optimal location. Sometimes this does involve putting an extension hose for the water or sewer. However, I cannot blame the campground, resort or park because as I have already indicated, there is no standard location on any form of RV where these are placed. So before adversely criticizing where these are in relation to your particular form of RV, consider that they may be ideally situated for that of a fellow RVer. The same can be said of sites that are described as too narrow or too short. Again, for me, having a long RV with deep opposing slides, some sites are going to be a little snug and bijoux. For others with no slides or a shorter RV there could be lots of room. Just a little something extra for you to consider when submitting your reviews and damning the location.
I totally agree with you, it seems every type or manufacturer and model had different places to put the utilities mainly because each model has a different floor plan I just carry and extra hose and heavy extension cord and I am pretty well covered, as for size my unit is small so I have no problem with site size and if the site is small I just live with it after all it is usually for a short period of time or if completely un-satisfied I go elsewhere.
I see nothing wrong with a reviewer stating issues with the site layout as it applies to their RV. Some parks have multiple sewer inlets to accommodate differing RV designs, and that's good to know. Mentioning the electric location is also helpful. If someone says a site layout didn't work well for their 40' RV, and I have a 20' RV, then that's still information I can use in my decision making process.
I guess we've been very lucky in all of our travels thus far as we have yet to encounter a park/space where the hookups weren't placed where an easy and quick hookup could be made. On a couple of occasions we have had to use our longer sewer hose but have never had any problems overall where the hookups and post was. Our connections are in the back two bays on the driver's side and most of the time we do reserve a pull thru space where available so perhaps that alone is what has been making our hookups go just fine. Being able to pull forward or backward so as to position the two bays right where we need them to be seemingly does work better than when we are in a back-in space as you can only back in so far if the hookups are placed at a mid coach position, and at times that leads to the front of the coach sticking out too far forward, etc. What I don't like is when the sewer connection is raised several inches off the ground making it difficult to have a nice even "down slide" from the tank outlet. I do have one of those extendable and graduated drop slinky-like hose holder stands but at times it is a PITA to use, especially if it is pouring rain and I'm trying to keep my mustache and goatee from getting wet................ BankShot..............(aka Terry)
I always wondered why people hook up sewer hoses right away knowing that they aren't going to dump until the tanks gets full enough to do so. That's an extra 5 minutes out of my beer time after a long drive.
This is something which appears to be increasingly frequent and I'm not sure why it is the case. All I can assume is that park owners get frustrated with campers who can't find the sewer cover in the grass and so they raise it up so it is easy to spot. Or maybe they get annoyed with their grounds people running over the sewer covers with mowers! The problem is that we have a very low slung DP and the sewer outlet sticks out below the basement floor. As a result I often find that sewage exits the coach at a height which is BELOW that of the sewer opening which is sitting several inches above the ground. This, obviously, makes it more difficult for the hose to drain properly.
We have a washer/dryer and for safety's sake we always have the sewer hose connected when using it. We leave the gray valve open all the time when we're at a site.
We have a washer/dryer and for safety's sake we always have the sewer hose connected when using it. We leave the gray valve open all the time when we're at a site.
I stayed at a state park one time where the power was on the correct side, but the water was all the way on the other side of the site (past the fire ring and picnic table). I carry plenty of hoses (in case I need to refill at a federal park I go to), so it wasn't a big problem for me. I did note in the review that you need plenty of hose.
I think we all learn along the way and some things I once did early on, like hooking up as soon as we arrived and then leaving the lines open until we leave, I no longer do. When we leave for home on the last day of a trip I make sure both tanks are dumped but do run some fresh water back into both so as to keep the seals from drying out, etc. As we are in transit on the next trip I don't hook up to the sewer until we arrive at our final destination and then I still don't unless we've been traveling for several days and I can see on the gauges that that the tanks are getting full. If we are still okay I stay unhooked either until they need to be drained or on the day I leave, whichever comes first. I enjoy my beer/wine time also and to me it is much mo betta to sit down and enjoy a cold one or sip a nice glass of the grape than to be putting on gloves and hooking up that delightful sewer hose and not enjoying all the smells associated with doing so................ BankShot.............(aka Terry)
