MOD Adding an additional hole in the wet bay for sani-con

[Neal]

I got on the sani-con bandwagon in my RV exploration mission to learn about RV accessories with my first ever 2017 Newmar Ventana motorhome. A lot of mixed reviews on the sani-con from hose issues, smell issues from the hose, how to route it, pump inverted and they are hard to get as you have to "typically" buy from a dealer but if you contact thetford, there are ways to get it. Thetford recommended the Turbo 400S due to the smaller wet bay in my coach model and also I wanted a bayonet mounted option. Since installing the sani-con it's all I use, I have yet to use the 3 inch sewer hose since using sani-can as it's really nice to have an always connected hose. I don't have to deal with setup and break down of the sewer hose. I can open the wet bay door and extend to dump then stow or if I want to remain connected in a full hookup situation then I can drop it down through my additional dedicated wet bay hole.

The wet bay floor is quite thick believe it or not with about 5 layers of stuff. I could not get through it with my cordless drill, I needed something powerful. So I bought a Dewalt 10A corded drill (awesome by the way) for the job and also a 5.75 inch bimetal hole saw. Get the parts from Newmar Parts for the wet bay port as you'll need the top white screw on cover and the under side black coupler. (parts 23815 and 49736). Test drill on a cardboard box to test the hole size and overall fit.

Wear protective gloves and eye wear of course, if the drill kicks it can injure you so you need to be very very very very careful! (got it??) FIRST and before I forget, supposedly there could be a metal cross beam below the wet bay. Drill a very small pilot hole first to probe for bad news. Usually my luck is to find these things out and take a trip to Newmar with my home made sandbox to put my head into and show up for a repair. But I listened to the master @Stuart S and learned to buy a very strong magnet and check for obstructions. Crisis averted. I got the hole drilled, smoke and all, whew, that was not easy but it worked and boy is it nice to have this port. This is placed per my sani-con install and alignment and it's so nice to feed the sani-con through without losing much if any overall length to the ground receptacle. I designed and 3D printed a small cover plate to keep the critters from using the sani-con hose as a ladder.

By the way, to protect the sani-con hose from gravel and pin hole potential I use a protec sleeve with rescue tape on each end to secure it.

Anyone else that's added ports in the wet bay feel free to piggy back and share your mods.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Wear protective gloves and eye wear of course, if the drill kicks it can injure you so you need to be very very very very careful! (got it??)

Very good point, @Neal. A powerful drill motor is needed to properly spin a 5.75" hole saw. And, a hole saw that size can easily bind in the partially cut hole. When that happens, the drill motor spins instead of the hole saw; a recipe for injury and destruction.

When we built a home some years back, I did all the electrical work and used a Milwaukee "Hole Hawg" to drill all the holes for running cables and wires. That is one extremely powerful drill motor!

Anyone who has ever used a Hole Hawg knows exactly what I'm talking about when I say "injury and destruction" can occur if the bit or hole saw binds up. You simply cannot stall a powerful drill motor; if the bit or hole saw can't spin, the drill motor will!

Be careful out there!

TJ

 

[Neal]

Yeah, I injured myself long ago drilling holes through 2x4 studs for electrical wires. I didn't wear gloves and I wasn't prepared for the direction of the torque so nearly removed a finger nail. Very painful. Those drills electricians use are super powerful!

 

[Stuart W]

Neal what did you end up doing to seal the bottom side of the new hole?

 

[Neal]

Neal what did you end up doing to seal the bottom side of the new hole?

I used the same coupler as Newmar used and sealed that in place with sikaflex. Probably 252 but maybe 221.

 

[Stuart W]

I used the same coupler as Newmar used and sealed that in place with sikaflex. Probably 252 but maybe 221.

Great job, believe it or not I have seen people only do the top, leaving a gap into the floor space on the bottom, you did it the factory way.

 

[Neal]

Yep, as we discussed at the time with the black flange at the bottom. I contacted Newmar parts to get all of the components for the wet bay hole as it's more than just the top white part we see. I absolutely love this mod as it really makes the sani-con system fit properly with the hose going down and out right at the outlet of the Sani-con. I also love the electrical work you and @Chuggs helped with to get a intellitec latching controller working with a relay to be able to turn the sani-con on/off from the wet bay and also in the coach to work with the Drainmaster electric gates. Building a momentary switch with LED was fun work with @Chuggs like a school project getting the proper resistor and zener diode in place to make the LED light go out when the latching controller was off but still passes 2-3V. One of the best mods I've done, thank you for your help with this!

 

[JRS]

2X on the Protec hose covering being a great mod. Highly recommend and shrink tubing at end is also helpful.

 

[sheridany]

i am going to use this mod for my pressure washer hose access port in the front passenger bay. Pictures coming soon. Thanks @Neal for putting the part numbers up as it was efficient to order and get it shipped.