I don't really find it to be difficult to fill the tank from the top.  Raise the cabinet lid, take off two screws, take off the tank cover, fill it (using a hose with an shut off valve).

What I did find to be a royal pain was trying to fill the tank via the outside port.  It took foooorrevvvvverrrr, as the tank will only accept water at a slow rate.  BTW, how do you see the tank level light while filling from the outside?  And, mine shows green (top lamp) when about 3/4 full, so I would not get a full tank if I relied on that method.

DMc

---- "Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> David Beierl wrote:
> > At 03:51 PM 6/18/2010, Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" wrote:
> > Well, near as I can tell, "should" ain't "is." I can't see any holes
> > other than the "insert water here" hole in the filler port. There are no
> > side holes in the blue down-hose that I can see with my flashlight.
> >
> >> Besides, where the vent/breather hose punches through the interior
> >> paneling in the forward top-opening compartment is higher than the top
> >> of the tank, so the tank can be overfilled unless there are different
> >> kinds of gravity working over there.
> >
> > So use the McNeely method.  Although I found that wrestling that big
> > inspection port open was quite a job if it had been sitting for a while,
> > even with silicone grease on the threads.
>
> That's a colossal PITA . . . I recently started having to do that
> because the water level gauge was inop and I caused an overflow. I don't
> recall ever having an overflow prior to that one incident, and don't
> know whether it's because I shut the water off -- every time! -- when
> the green lamp came on, or whether the tank was better sealed on the
> topside. All's I knows now is that the tank will overflow and drip down
> out the bottom. Which isn't good.
>
> What makes it extra puzzling is A) where does that vent hose hit the
> outside world, and 2) how could it work anyway since it exits the tank
> on the top and goes through the interior paneling a couple inches higher
> than the top of the tank. This latter factoid suggests that there were
> not to be any leaks on the tank topside. Thus my desire to fix the leaky
> grommet.
>
> As you say, I could break down and replace it -- haul up the
> (aftermarket, GoWesty, I think) pump, see which end of the wire is
> easiest to disconnect (please let it be the pump, please let it be the
> pump) and thread on a new grommet.
>
> Or just mash a big bunch of chewing gum over the grommet and be done
> with it.
>
> A containment dome - that's what I need.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR

--
David McNeely