B190 Enthusiasts

Hello everyone,
We recently got a 1996 B190 and are very excited about our next adventures. The engine has 84000 miles and everything seems to work really well but the generator. We brought it to an electrician for oil change and service and got told that the carburetor needed to be replaced... We are still feeling grateful that all the appliances are working well. It is pretty amazing after 21 years!
It has been helpful and inspiring to read other b190 enthusiasts. I don't have much to share at this point of our own experience (we upgraded the stereo and installed a backup camera, and also upgraded the fan to a Maxxair and redid the seals on the roof)...
but have a few questions.
I will start with one today. Did anyone remove the toilet to increase the space in the back?
We are thinking about doing it and are wondering about the best way to do so and things to avoid...
Thanks

Some time back I removed the factory toilet in my '93 during the process of replacing it with a new model. The removal process was pretty simple.

In your case, you plan to remove the toilet and not replace it. How to seal the hole in the floor where the toilet was and what to use for flooring are pretty expected and not so challenging issues. One thing you'll have to decide is what to do about the black waste tank. You will at least need to seal the tank to eliminate smell issues. You may find that the connect pipe of your black tank comes up through your floor. If that's the case it might be just as easy to remove the black tank. If you remove the tank, you may have to also redo your tank waste dump valve plumbing if the black and gray tanks both use the same plumbing dump valve structure.

I understand the desire to have more room. However, we find the on board toilet to be pretty handy on long road trips and camping. One idea would be to remove the factory water flush based toilet system and someday buy a composting toilet that could be easily removed or installed depending on the needs of each trip.

Or at a minimum buy one of those 5 gallon buckets w/the seat on it and buy some packets of the disposable bags, which are a bag w/in a bag and the outer one is a heavy duty zip lock so you can dispose of the waste in most ant garbage receptacle or just save them and use it in your vegetable garden, just don't offer the vegetables to your friends.

I would recommend removing it in a way that allows it to be replaced, assuming some time down the road you will want to sell it. I did this with the generator on mine, I removed it, sealed and painted the inside and capped all the wires and sealed fuel line. I love the extra space and have never used a generator in 30 years of rving so don'tmiss it. I installed a solar plug next to the wires going back to the house battery (that the generator used) and use these for my solar panel. When I sell it wouldn't be too hard for someone to reinstall generator.
So if you don't plan to use the toilet it is very easy to remove. I would cap the hole in the floor with a rubber boot with clamp that plumbers use. Might take a bit of head scratching once you get it off but I think it would be quite easy to fine parts at Lowe's. The cap might be a tad higher than the existing floor. I'll put strips of wood at that height every 12" and lay a nice looking floor right over it. A new owner is more than likely going to want to replace toilet and again, it would be easy to do. Clean out black tank really well, maybe throw marbles in with a detergent and drive down a bumpy road. Fun project.

Very useful suggestions! Thanks for your time. I do want to have the modification easily reversible in case of a future sale.

Nandi108 wrote:Hello everyone,
We recently got a 1996 B190 and are very excited about our next adventures. The engine has 84000 miles and everything seems to work really well but the generator. We brought it to an electrician for oil change and service and got told that the carburetor needed to be replaced... We are still feeling grateful that all the appliances are working well. It is pretty amazing after 21 years!
It has been helpful and inspiring to read other b190 enthusiasts. I don't have much to share at this point of our own experience (we upgraded the stereo and installed a backup camera, and also upgraded the fan to a Maxxair and redid the seals on the roof)...
but have a few questions.
I will start with one today. Did anyone remove the toilet to increase the space in the back?
We are thinking about doing it and are wondering about the best way to do so and things to avoid...
Thanks

Nandi, I am glad I found this post. I am in the process of bringing the B190 back to some real glory and usefulness. I understand what you are saying about space in the back(we all love more space) but, I sure do love have a toilet available when camping or traveling on the road. I have not heard of the Maxxair fan so will check that out. Right now seems I have a Fantastic fan that blows air from the outside in and has three settings that does the same thing. No reverse settings. Not sure if that helps too much because sometimes it would be nice to have the warmer air go out from the upper bed level.
The proposed removal of the generator sounds like something I would like because really do not seem myself using that much since it runs off the gas from the B190 engine and is not propane. Keep telling us of your updates!

mountaindent wrote:

Nandi108 wrote:Hello everyone,
We recently got a 1996 B190 and are very excited about our next adventures. The engine has 84000 miles and everything seems to work really well but the generator. We brought it to an electrician for oil change and service and got told that the carburetor needed to be replaced... We are still feeling grateful that all the appliances are working well. It is pretty amazing after 21 years!
It has been helpful and inspiring to read other b190 enthusiasts. I don't have much to share at this point of our own experience (we upgraded the stereo and installed a backup camera, and also upgraded the fan to a Maxxair and redid the seals on the roof)...
but have a few questions.
I will start with one today. Did anyone remove the toilet to increase the space in the back?
We are thinking about doing it and are wondering about the best way to do so and things to avoid...
Thanks

Nandi, I am glad I found this post. I am in the process of bringing the B190 back to some real glory and usefulness. I understand what you are saying about space in the back(we all love more space) but, I sure do love have a toilet available when camping or traveling on the road. I have not heard of the Maxxair fan so will check that out. Right now seems I have a Fantastic fan that blows air from the outside in and has three settings that does the same thing. No reverse settings. Not sure if that helps too much because sometimes it would be nice to have the warmer air go out from the upper bed level.
The proposed removal of the generator sounds like something I would like because really do not seem myself using that much since it runs off the gas from the B190 engine and is not propane. Keep telling us of your updates!

Mine came w/out a generator, I see myself doing a fair amount of boondocking and am not willing to spend the 2,500+ to replace the onan generator. I have been looking at a Champion brand dual fuel, gas and propane, generator which will run the ac for those times I am not plugged in and need power, only downside is that it is about 145 lbs, I believe, many are going to (2) Honda 2000's which are more manageable. Either way the generators can be used at home when needed.

I have not try to remove the toilet yet but am curious about the water pipe for the flush. Is there a shut off or would the pipe need to be plugged or sealed somehow? Knowing that I would want the toilet back in case of a new ownership...

Needs to be plugged. It is Pex tubing most likely. PEX makes special plugs but you crimp them on with special rings and a special tool. Unless you plan to start doing more plumbing you may want to ask friends who have a big tool box if they have a tool and a couple of rings. Backup is you can rent the tool. Any hardware store would sell both plug and rings. They do make a cheap tool that you use with vise grips but the rings are different. It works if the space is large enough to work in. My rig is stored so I can't look to see the best place to make the cut but I believe the pipe comes in from under the shower. If it were me I might consider putting a shutoff in instead of plug. Good luck!