Camco Sidewinder Plastic Sewer Hose Support Review

Camco’s Sidewinder Sewer Hose Support matches perfectly with Camco’s Rhinoflex Sewer Hose (our review) to keep your sewer connection tidy and functional.

While not strictly necessary*, the Camco Sidewinder Plastic Sewer Hose Support keeps your sewer hose off the ground to help extend it’s life and also angles your sewer hose (high to low) to ensure that your tanks and hose drain fully.

*We have stayed at RV Parks with “No Sewer Hose on the Ground” rules in the past.

Welcome to our review of the Camco Sidewinder Sewer Hose Support. We realize that supporting your sewer hose may sound like complete overkill to some of you, however we assure you this product is useful and we think everyone should use a sewer hose support. Keep reading to understand why.

First things first. Even when connected to full hookups, you should keep your tank valves closed and empty tanks as necessary. Some of you are thinking ‘of course’ and the rest of you are thinking ‘why?’ so here’s why:

#1. If you leave your tank valve open a bunch of ‘solids’ will build up in the bottom of your tank. RV toilets don’t use nearly enough water to wash everything through the tank and down the hose. They’re not designed to work this way and they don’t. This applies equally to your gray tank as soap scum, dirt, and food particles can and will build up – and your gray tank can smell even worse than your black tank (trust us).

#2. Your RV and everything around it will stink. By leaving the valve open, you’re leaving your RV tank empty and completely exposed to the RV Park sewer system. This turns the tank vents on top of your RV turn into sewer vents – yep, that’s why it smells like sewer outside your RV.

#3. Speaking of stink, your toilet will begin to smell horrible – especially when you flush it. Buildup of solid waste + no water or chemicals = awful smell.

What does any of this have to do with sewer hose supports? Not much, but my story will tie this all together for you. 🙂

True Story:

When we first moved into our RV we lived in a small park in California that was full of full-timers. Not too long after we moved in, a man moved in a few sites away from us. He didn’t know much about living in an RV (even less than we thought), so had purchased a big red sewer hose and laid it on the ground and connected it to the outlet. Note that the sewer outlet was above ground level – as they almost always are.

Now his sewer hose – being the standard variety – sprawled every which way on the ground in a twisted mess. The problem with this is that every time you empty your tanks, your sewer hose is going to be full of water and waste. That means that every time you empty your tank, you need to lift one end of the hose so it will fully drain – which is much more of a pain than it sounds. A sewer hose support would have helped of course.

Compounding the problem, the guy connected his sewer hose and opened both of his valves (gray and black) and left it like that. I didn’t realize this, or I would have said something to him of course.

Fast forward a couple months and there was a horrible smell coming from the guy’s trailer. Come to find out, some ‘waste’ had eaten right through part of the hose and raw sewage was running onto the ground (gross, we know). It’s also possible the hose was stepped on (another problem with leaving your sewer hose on the ground), but ether way the smell was awful.

Management was called and when the full extent of the problem was discovered more people were called in to fix the issue at the expense of the older gentleman (of course). It took hours and a bunch of very unpleasant work to fix and clean the issue. The sewer hose needed to be replaced (of course) and the man’s tanks were ruined. He also got stuck with a large bill for cleanup and repair. Long story short – don’t do that!

While a sewer hose support wouldn’t have entirely fixed the man’s problem, it would have saved him from having to pay to clean up a bunch of sewage. This is because the angled support would have kept waste heading down the hose so it wouldn’t have sat there full of a mix of gray and black water.

This also would have likely kept the hose from getting stepped on (assuming that’s what caused the leak). Added Sewer Hose visibility doesn’t sound like a beneficial feature of a sewer hose support, but in reality it makes a big difference.

Why Everyone Should Use a Sewer Hose Support

I think my story illustrates this pretty well, but just in case you aren’t on board here are the 5 reasons why you should consider adding this product to your many RV accessories.

Reason #1 – The Sidewinder Sewer Hose support will extend the life of your sewer hose by keeping it off the ground. FYI the ground in RV Parks is full of things that will put pin prick holes in your sewer hose – sticks, prickers, sharp rocks, etc..

Reason #2 – A Sewer Hose support makes emptying your tanks much faster and easier. The support holds your sewer hose in place so the hose won’t flop around under the force of emptying tanks – and more importantly, you won’t have to manually drain the sewer hose when the tanks are empty because the support helps the hose to drain fully.

Reason #3 – A sewer hose support keeps your site tidy. In many RV parks your neighbors are facing your hookups. We appreciate it when our neighbors keep their hookups neat – and not much looks worse than a sewer hose laying on the ground.

Reason #4 – Most sewer outlets are several inches above ground level. Without a sewer hose support you’ll need to lift the sewer hose to fully drain it every time. The Sidewinder keeps the hose several inches off the ground and lines up with most sewer outlets easily.

Reason #5 – In some counties, sewer hose supports are required by law. We’ve been to many RV parks that required a sewer hose support as a result.

We prefer the Sidewinder to other sewer hose supports as it can be positioned in different shapes to navigate your sewer hose around obstacles. When you stay in more remote parks (we do) you’ll see just how useful this is. Nature puts trees, bushes, and rocks in the most inconvenient places – and the Sidewinder makes none of that matter.

Summary

We hope we made a good case for using the Camco Sidewinder Sewer Hose Support. Based on how easy this simple device makes it to empty your tanks when setup long term we think it’s a no brainer to use a sewer hose support with your sewer hose. As full-time RVers we also appreciate it when other RVers keep their hookups neat, and the sidewinder helps accomplish that.

If you don’t already use a sewer hose support, we recommend buying the Camco Sidewinder today!