The gray water tank has been a pain in the butt since day one.  It doesn’t drain on the same side as black water. You need to run a hose to drain it if you are in a sensitive area. And there was the size, the venting, and the drain being about 6″ under the sliding door. I finally got tired of having to lay down in the dirt every time I connected a hose so I ran the drain out to the door. The problem with that (although I put up with it a couple of years) was you would end up with a hose right where the step needed to be.

So, I re-plumbed it and now the drain is in front of my rear tire. All the plumbing is hidden except for the drain end to which a hose attaches.

I am not sure what took me so long to fix this discrepency but I finally got around. I replaced the original back-up camera switch with one that matches the others.

The switch is so I can use the camera even when not in “reverse.” Now all the switches match.

Upper right, gps and scangauge. Lower left switches control turning lights (not activated in NAFTA Sprinters), both right and left. Switches on the right side control power to gps, bluetooth phone (Parrot), and the back-up camera.

I call it a hobby. Brendon, my next door neighbor, accuses me of “playing with my car.” Now I added something! For the guy that even has Mercedes manuals I thought this was totally cool. Does this count as a mod?

If you have an older Fan-tastic Vent you can upgrade it to a temperature operated or even a remote controlled model. It is easy and not that expensive and it does not mess with the seal.  I thought the project would take less than an hour -WRONG as usual. Actually, it would have except for the directions telling me to replace the lift arm.

I did not upgrade to the remote model. I upgraded to the temperature controlled model and in doing so got the rain sensor (will close the fan cover if it starts raining) and  a pop-out screen for easy cleaning. There are several places on the web that sell these upgrade kits so check for a good price.

The instructions are pretty simple except the one that tells you to install a new lift arm. Trying to follow that advice resulted in 5 or 6 trips up and down the ladder and a lot of wasted time. The arm is the same as the original except the nylon roller is on the opposite side. To adjust for that there is a new guide but it has larger screw holes than the brackets that are attached to the dome. I finally just used the original arm and guide and everything works fine.

Remove old Control Panel.	Install new Lift Arm.
Remove knockout and install Rain Sensor.	Install new control panel and lift motor.

When I pulled the propane system I was left with a panel that opened into mostly a big hole. My fresh water connection and electric connection were here but otherwise it was a space to be used.

I diddled (technical term for just thinking about a project) around a few months and finally made a prototype. I took that to a friendly machine shop and for $120 had my box. The box is made of .016 aluminum and measures 18x12x10 with the lip extending 5 inches.

Getting the box into the space was a little different than getting a cardboard prototype into the same space. I had to shorten the extended lip by an inch but finally got it in position. It is held up primarily by the same steel bracket that held the propane tank.

Now I have a good place to put the gray water hose and maybe even the black water hose as it’s storage location makes it difficult to get it in and out.