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In addition to changing the incandescent bulb in the high mounted, large drivers side utility light to LED, I added some changes to the way water is connected to the Bounder. 

 

Over the years, I have found that having a quick-connect system for attaching water hoses to our coach and to each other is much more convenient than having to thread the hose end onto a campground valve or another hose each time we arrive, depart, or need to add another hose. Quick connect fittings are the way to go. (See below for some hints on the best Quick Connect fittings). 

Thankfully, this new Bounder is already equipped with an ability to fill the water tank from the ‘City’ water connection simply by turning a valve to the appropriate location with the ‘city’ or ‘park’ water connected. This eliminates the need to insert a hose in the freshwater gravity fill, located on the body ahead of the main slideout below the driver’s window, to fill the tank.

 

On my recent coaches, I have set up a simple quick connect-disconnect system that allows me to easily thread the RV connection onto the Park fitting using a Red Hose-Grip extension by J Wright Concepts. (left and Red Arrow). This is followed by an easy to use shut-off valve (Yellow Arrow), an adjustable regulator with a gauge (Blue Arrow) and then a two-way hose Tee with individual shutoff valves on each side (Green Arrow). This setup is configured using quick connect male and female fittings at each junction, so that pieces can be easily inserted or removed. This sequence provides a hose connection for a separate hose for filling a bucket and so on, the ability to easily turn off the water flow and/or supplying water for any other purpose without either removing the main hose connection or using the coach’s outside shower/sprayer connection. 

 

 

In the Bounder’s utility compartment, the water inlet is just to the right of the water control valve and just below and to the right of it, is the Black Tank Flusher connection (see photo).

 

Given the tight location in the water side of the Utility compartment and the convenience of being able to flush as needed, especially when staying at a campsite for a couple of weeks or more, I decided that on this coach I was going to permanently and safely interconnect the water hoses that feed water to the coach Inlet and the San-T-Flush Black Tank Flusher, so that it is easy to flush the tank and safe to do so. Even though there is virtually no way that any contaminated water from the black tank can back feed into the connected hose, my design incorporated a backflow preventer often used on a residential hose connection to eliminate any possibility of anything in the connected hose back-feeding into the source water. This keeps everything safe. 

 

 

 

 

When the hose is disconnected (valve turned off to the San-T-Flush), the water in that section of hose flows out of holes in the backflow preventer (yellow arrow in photo below). The initial design had this preventer located inside the compartment as shown in the photo below. I discovered that with the water under pressure it would spray around the compartment as the water exited the backflow preventer.

 

 

 

 

 

With a little effort, I redesigned the configuration by lengthening the hose to the San T-Flush connection, so that the holes on the backflow preventer faced down over the hose access hole. Turning off the appropriate valve on the Tee allowed the water in the line to drain out onto the ground through the access hole. In the picture below, the Blue Water hose connects to the Tee after coming up through the hose access hole where the Blue arrow is located. The yellow arrow shows the location of the backflow preventer at the bottom over the access hole.

 

 

 

With this arrangement, it is simple to flush the black tank while dumping or when water needs to be added to the black tank, by opening the appropriate valve, as well as adding water to the coach freshwater tank or allowing water to flow into the Coach water Inlet.

 

One hose safely connects to all functions.   

 

An additional hose connection is available outside of the coach to use for any other purpose. 

I have used various types of quick connect fittings over the years and I have learned that those made of solid (lead free) brass are the best. Others, often plated aluminum, will corrode with use and eventually the outer rings that release the connection stick from this corrosion, making assembly and disconnecting difficult. The solid brass ones do not visibly corrode and are easy to release when making and removing a connection.