A project I'll never undertake again

[Dallas Baillio]

I've been updating my BF and one of the items is a new wood floor. I have a neighbor who installs floors. He had leftover wood and trim that I liked so I agreed for him to do the job. Well he worked one day, got sick and was away for 10 days. He came back to finish the job. I drove into Mobile to purchase a couple of things we needed to complete the project. When I returned home he was gone again.

Eventually I decided to finish the job myself. Thats when I discovered that he had installed one of the planks in the bathroom under the foot operated flush pedal. You could not flush the toilet! I also found that the toilet had been leaking. So I removed the toilet to fix the leak and to cut away an opening for the foot pedal. When I did so one of the bolts that hold the toilet in place fell into the black water tank. Are you laughing yet?

I've tried several things to get it out. The tank is empty and dry and without odor so I tried a bent clothes hanger to fish it out. Then I tried my shop vac. No luck. I can try filling the tank with water and hoping it will be flushed out when I drain it. I can also disassemble the dump release slides and try to fish it out from there. I could leave it in the tank (I bought two new bolts and nuts yesterday) but it could easily block the drain opening.

So, I need suggestions for removing the bolt. Any unique ideas? How many vote for flushing? Removing the dump release slides?

There are a lot more painful stories connected with this project. I'll spare you the details.

[tomdclark]

My wife's standard suggestion is to get a magnet, so I'll pass the usually useless suggestion along.

I've seen these long, adjustable rods with a magnet on the end. Such a thing might work. Or just duct tape a magnet to the end of a long stick.

In any event, lots of luck with a %^^$y job.

[bigdipper]

If you can see the bolt, I would try one of those extender "grabbers" with either a magnet or claws on the end. Good Luck. IMO no harm would likely result with leaving it there unless your bad luck continued and it got trapped in the dump valve with damage there when you closed it.
Good luck,
Ralph

[RichardHostetter]

A simple fix is a wad of duct tape with some of the sticky side out and put on end of broom handle and push onto the bolt until you have it stuck. Viola. Or just get one of the grand kids to stick their arms down and find it, the wifes might just fit too, but the cost of bribery is higher!

[dsfriday]

Dallas, on my 2008 all the connections leading out of the Blank Tank are huge, so if it were my problem, I think I would try filling the Blank Tank full of water and then open the Black Tank Valve in hopes that the bolt would be flushed out in the process. On my 2008 I have an external water connection to the Black Tank, so I would first fill the tank to capacity then connect water hose to tank, turn on full blast and then open the Black Tank Valve. Your model my not have this external connection, so after filling Black Tank to capacity, I would just stick a hose down the toilet, turn on full blast and open Black Tank Valve.

[Dallas Baillio]

I filled the black water tank 3 times today with water and attempted to flush out the toilet bolt and nut. On the second attempt I pushed the hose further into the tank and left it on at full force. Negative results. I am hesitant to try the duct tape idea as with my luck the tape will come off the broom handle and be stuck in the tank as well as the nut and bolt. I don't presently have a magnet. I think the bolts and nuts are brass however, and they will not be attracted to a magnet. When everything drys out I'll remove the slide apparatus and see if I can reach inside the tank. The possibility of sticking my hand in Sh** doesn't bother me as I have seven dogs so I am intimately familiar with poop!

And to add to the this tale. Yesterday while working on the floor trim I thought it would be nice to listen to the BF radio while I toiled away. After about 30 minutes the radio went off -- dead BF battery.

[rixname]

This lays over any thread I have ever seen previous. (A paraphrase of Huck Finn)

[Dallas Baillio]

Well thank you rixname (I guess). Today the motor on my Skil Saw burned out. I probably abused it. Oh, and this week I plan to replace my single stage converter with the three stage PD4655. I'm beginning to think I am either stupid or foolhardy and not brave.

[Dallas Baillio]

I finally got the toilet bolt out of my black water holding tank. The solution was to remove the drain valve slides for gray and black water thus removing the central common drain. I was then able to use a bent coat hanger wire to fish out the bolt. Tried a magnet attached to the end of the water hose and it did not attract the bolt. I thought it might work since the magnet was attracted to the new bolts I purchased. Evidentlly the original bolts (10 yrs old) are brass which is copper and zinc while the replacement bolts must have some iron in them. They look exactly alike.

As an aside, I ordered from BF and installed the seat risers (A 2008 Bill Hemme suggestion) that raise the coach seats about two inches. Sitting up a bit higher is much better. I also raised the backrest of the couch to make it more level with the base when made into a bed --another Bill Hemme suggestion. And since I have the toilet out I ordered a riser to raise it 2 inches. Thrones should always be higher than a common toilet.

[Tallcamper]

At 6'9" and the proud 'new' owner of a common throne, was the 2" rise and the work involved worth it?

[mockturtle]

In our first RV I once dropped a spoon into the toilet. You might wonder how. Well, our gray tank was a bit challenged so I dumped dishwater into the toilet to decrease the gray water volume and increase the black. AFAIK, the spoon never came out but neither did it cause any problems [at least while we owned it!].

Glad you were successful. Maybe sometimes 'leave well enough alone' is a sensible choice.

[Dallas Baillio]

I installed the riser for the toilet primarily to provide clearance for the foot pedal. The rise in the seating is an added benefit. In talking with an employee of a local RV parts store, I understand that the most commonly installed toilet today already is a taller model, so the riser is not needed. This particular store only has the newer, taller models in stock.