Truck Camper Magazine Blog

Camper Memo 1: Don’t Get Hosed

About four years ago we visited our friends and fellow campers, Carl and Kay Goode, at Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania.  The campsites are electric only, but fresh water spigots are sprinkled between the designated campsites.

After filling the fresh tank, we disconnected the hose and put it back in the pull-out tray located in a compartment under the main entrance step.  We spent the rest of the weekend talking with Carl and Kay and trading adventure stories.  We hadn’t seen them in a while and had some catching up to do.

After visiting Promised Land we drove home, parked the rig, and discovered water sitting in the basement of our camper.  Even though we use a regulator, we immediately worried that the campground’s water pressure had somehow burst the fresh tank or we had a leak somewhere in our plumbing lines.

Removing the basement pull-out tray didn’t ease our concerns.  There was about an eighth-inch of water pooled at the back of the camper with a water trail leading back into the unit.

Flashlights in hand, we couldn’t see where the leak was coming from.  All we could see was water in the pull-out tray and water in the basement.

We demounted the camper and opened exterior panels designed to give access to the water tanks and plumbing.  We still had water in the rear tray area, but there was no sign of water anywhere else.

That’s when we called good friend, John Wells.  He asked us to tell the story of what we had done the day we found the leak.

“We filled the fresh tank and then put the hose back into the pull-out tray…”

“Did you drain the fresh water hose?”

“Yes, of course.  At least I’m pretty sure I did.”

“Did you put the hose back the way it’s in the tray now?”

“Yes. How else would you do it?”

“You didn’t screw the ends together to make sure the hose didn’t leak?”

“Ah, no. Wait a minute!”

After days of head scratching, John had likely discovered the problem.  The only remaining mystery was the sheer volume of water that we had found in the unit.  There’s no way that much water had come from our hose, right?

Fresh Water Hose Leaking

Above: We left our hose disconnected in our camper storage compartment – a major no-no!

The next weekend we visited John at his house.  He filled our 25-foot, 5/8-inch Camco drinking water hose with water and then retrieved a 2.5-gallon bucket.  The full hose didn’t fill the bucket, but it was more than enough water to have caused the “leak”.  Holy smokes!

Fresh Water Hose Hooked No Leaking

Above: Now when we store our hose we screw the two ends together so water can’t leak out in our exterior compartment.  Yeah, we knew that.

We told this story to many folk over the following weeks.  Everyone was quick to explain that you always, always, always screw your hose ends together before putting it away.  We got the memo.

The Camper Memo

Always completely empty your fresh water hose and screw the ends together before putting it back into your camper.  If you don’t, you’ll get hosed!

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