Towing with full water tank

[northstar1960]

Originally Posted by VinceU

Funny thing is Forest River declared years ago the tanks are containers until they reach the destination then can be filled as needed. Makes sense, the cargo weight does not allow much if you fill up with necessities. They dropped the campaign shortly later as customers were complaining.

I'm sure they did and probably still do . the tanks are there for one reason and that's to carry water or waste . useless if you can't fill and travel . then again you look at all the yellow sticker on the side of units stating the weight of water and how much weight a full tank adds . these are meant to be filled and hauled . if they can't build the supports to hold them eventually they will be sued . if my tank ever fell out the first thing i would do is hire a lawyer or my insurance company would

[Too Tall]

Agree, there would be no reason for a tank if you can't haul water with it, ha. Change the name of it, cause it's no longer a water tank if that's the case.

[Summer2Go]

I learned to travel with some water in the tank. Not full, but enough for a shower, and kitchen cleanup if we are somewhere on the road and stop for lunch or overnight.

[Too Tall]

Same with me. I try to carry enough to overnight in a rest area etc.. with a shower in the morning. I've never traveled with a full tank and I still had a frame failure. Since I reinforced the frame, I'm no longer worried about traveling with full tank other than the fact that the tank is made of extremely thin material and I can see it rupturing, possiblly.

For FR to say, Don't travel with water in the tank is their way of justifying not fixing an obvious problem. It doesn't say much good about FR's desire to produce a quality product but more about making money for Warren.

[Retiredtwo]

Alright, I've read every post on this G^#*&N thread and still don't know whether or not I can load and go. When I go to get our little darling back from the dealer I will ask the owner about it's ability to travel with tanks full, all of them! I found a nice place to store our lovely and will go thru it with a looking glass underneath to see what where and how things were done. I've maneuvered literally tons of metals personally by hand and can quickly determine her abilities or lack there of.
I must say FR's reinforcement detail on the bumper was refreshing.

[mikakuja]

We travel with full tanks more often than not as we generally camp where there are no hookups or potable water available. So far we have never had any issues with any of our trailers tanks, we will see what happens with the new Surveyor.

[Handy2016]

Originally Posted by gfarmcafe

We too travel with some water in the fresh water tank for flushing toilets and hand washing, but have bottled water in the fridge. We also added a water filter for use in campgrounds to reduce bad taste. We're not so concerned about getting sick from bad water. I retired from managing campgrounds, and we had to test our water sources to meet health codes and I feel most public campgrounds do too. Most complaints were from campers not familiar with the taste of good well water.

I also managed a campground. Our well water was the best. I do drink the water I get at campgrounds or other sources. As far as tanks falling out I think I will check mine today.

[Mark1913]

I have had a couple of trailers purchased from the dealer. Both times they filled my tank to full, 106 gallons. No problem. I can definatatly fell the weight and the weight.

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by Handy2016

I also managed a campground. Our well water was the best. I do drink the water I get at campgrounds or other sources. As far as tanks falling out I think I will check mine today.

Best way to check is with tank m/t. Not too heavy to move. If it does in any direction it needs mods.

[Too Tall]

There's two issues with my FR mini light.

1. The metal support for the water tank was crap. I fixed that.

2. The weight of the plastic tank is crap. Haven't fixed that. It'll bust one day. and also when the tank is full, I can hear my floor creaking as the water expands the tank like a balloon.

https://youtu.be/ZFRJttWRups

[Bikersarge]

If I don't fill my FW tank at least half way full, you will jiggle jaggle your way down the highway because the 5er will chuck tremendously bad.

[Bikersarge]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

I'm sure they did and probably still do . the tanks are there for one reason and that's to carry water or waste . useless if you can't fill and travel . then again you look at all the yellow sticker on the side of units stating the weight of water and how much weight a full tank adds . these are meant to be filled and hauled . if they can't build the supports to hold them eventually they will be sued . if my tank ever fell out the first thing i would do is hire a lawyer or my insurance company would

In my owners manual my 5er list the dry weight of the toy hauler as 8200lbs, then it talks about how the trailer weight in dry weight is with the fresh water tank and fuel tank in the back is full, then they allow another 4000 lbs....weird

[Bikersarge]

Think I will go check my FW tank, some real horror stories here.

[Bikersarge]

Originally Posted by Martsing

Why not drink from the on board tank? Our trailer is new and I have sanitized the tank. I drink from it with no worries. Am I missing something important?

Marty

Holy batman!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Bikersarge

Holy batman!

We have drank from our FW tank also and we've been doing it for 30 years of camping.
Never got sick and it never tasted bad.

Maybe we just have better water out West, than other areas of the country.

Or maybe our bottled water culture has everyone brainwashed. 🙄

I know my grandparents would be shaking their heads at buying water since nearly everyone has perfectly good tap water at home.

[Bikersarge]

Originally Posted by bikendan

We have drank from our FW tank also and we've been doing it for 30 years of camping.
Never got sick and it never tasted bad.

Maybe we just have better water out West, than other areas of the country.

Or maybe our bottled water culture has everyone brainwashed. 🙄

I know my grandparents would be shaking their heads at buying water since nearly everyone has perfectly good tap water at home.

My bag, I had the cursor on the wrong frame when I replied....I see no reason why you can't drink from the fresh water tank. we do.

[szabla]

I run 2 heavy tie down straps across the frame and use a piece of plywood to hold the tank up. I carry an extra 90 gallons of diesel fuel in the bed of the truck with an extra 65 gallon fresh water tank, when boondocking in remote areas.

[HangDiver]

After rebuilding my FW tank supports I don't worry anymore about filling the FW tank and towing. I also carry 6 gals in the back of the truck if dry camping.

[Summer2Go]

Anyone have trouble with filling a Roo tank? They are much smaller.

[Skyliner]

I got lazy on one of my campers and instead of using angle iron to reinforce the water tanks, I used treated plywood, polyurethane glue, and ratchet cargo straps to keep the factory angle iron from separating and allowing the glued wood to fall out.

No need to weld or cut steel in this option..just wood. Being in a sealed undercarriage, I was not worried about anything "rotting". Cargo straps look great 3 years later.

Wanted to share this option because not every one can work with metal and my method has worked well on a camper for us. It is better than leaving it stock.