Travel with fresh water.

MF5270 · 10-09-2017, 05:26 PM

We are new to trailering. During the walk around with the dealer, he said we shouldn't drive with the fresh water tank more than2/3 full. That it can damage the tank. I can't find this warning anywhere in the manual, and it doesn't make sense either.

Anyone had a problem with this? Or even heard of it?

Coments...

Thanks.

Capt. Mike · 10-09-2017, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmermike

We are new to trailering. During the walk around with the dealer, he said we shouldn't drive with the fresh water tank more than2/3 full. That it can damage the tank. I can't find this warning anywhere in the manual, and it doesn't make sense either.

Anyone had a problem with this? Or even heard of it?

Coments...

Thanks.

Water weighs about 7.5 pounds per gallon. I don't know how big your tank is, but do the math. that's a lot of weight to be bouncing down the road. I generally don't travel with any fresh water on board. If I'm going someplace where I don't have water at the site, I wait until I'm at or almost at the campground to fill up.

babock · 10-09-2017, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt. Mike

Water weighs about 7.5 pounds per gallon.

8.35 lbs/gallon

SeaDog · 10-09-2017, 06:06 PM

Your rig was designed with the ability to hold X amount of water. Not X amount for camping and X amount for travel. If it can't run down the road with a full load take it back to the dealer and get one that will, with that said water is weight, and weight takes fuel to haul. When I leave for boon docking I take a full load, when traveling for CG to CG only enough to flush with.

Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered

JeffandLori · 10-09-2017, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt. Mike

Water weighs about 7.5 pounds per gallon. I don't know how big your tank is, but do the math. that's a lot of weight to be bouncing down the road. I generally don't travel with any fresh water on board. If I'm going someplace where I don't have water at the site, I wait until I'm at or almost at the campground to fill up.

I've heard this a couple times. Where does one fill up?

**bikendan** · 10-09-2017, 06:15 PM

In 25 years of owning various trailers, we always traveled with a full FW tank, since we normally dry camp.

rockfordroo · 10-09-2017, 06:25 PM

There are a number of threads here where folks FW tank supports have failed when travelling with full tanks.

You don't say what kind of TT you have. The issue seems to affect Roo/Shamrocks and Mini/Micro-Lites the most.

Here's just one thread of many:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ng-131021.html

larry2c · 10-09-2017, 06:50 PM

We never thought about this much with our old TT because it only held 25+ gallons and half the time we are boondocking so we needed the water. Are new Cruise Lite holds 56 (I assume 6 is in the water heater) so when I started reading about this issue I checked out our tanks supports and as is mentioned in some of the threads referenced earlier, the "angle iron" is really just bent sheet metal.

Our's has 3 supports - one on each side and one down the middle so I think it will do OK for now but at some point I am going to replace the center support with a real piece of angle iron. That may not be the perfect solution but when we go out to some of the sites down 20 miles of bad road, I want something more than sheet metal holding up that 400 pounds.

rsdata · 10-09-2017, 07:03 PM

What kind of camper do you have?

How many gallons does it hold?

a number of people have reported failed water tank supports, and your dealer may have said this to prevent that problem...

SInce this is your first post, I will tell you that all trailer mfg cut corners/weight/expense wherever they can... FW tank supports is probably one of those areas. Engineers/bean counters probably said that an X-thickness piece of metal will support Y amount of pounds... without figuring the dynamics of that weight bouncing down the hiway... but heck they save fifty cents so they did it...

Welcome to the world of camper owners fixing factory work...

DavidBo · 10-09-2017, 07:11 PM

It would seem to me that if there was a limit on how full a FW tank can be for a particular trailer while underway, there should be a placard by the fill port warning of such a limitation. I mean, there's a sticker for everything else!

JayArras · 10-09-2017, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffandLori

I've heard this a couple times. Where does one fill up?

Some campgrounds have a common area where tenters can obtain water for jugs, etc. I believe truck stops often have potable water stations also. If you're camping in a national park, the rangers will direct you where to get water.

elchilero53 · 10-09-2017, 07:28 PM

We used to travel with a full FW tank ....... until I weighed the trailer with a battery, full 20# LP gas tanks and a full tank of water at a C.A.T. Scale. It showed a tongue weigh of 960#. The max tongue weight on the receiver is 1000#. Too close for comfort. I dumped 2/3rds of the water and got back 200# or more on the tongue weight. We don't dry camp anymore (unless absolutely necessary or in an emergency), so the water isn't necessary.

prestonj12 · 10-09-2017, 07:52 PM

We dry camp almost exclusively and the toy hauler has a 100 gallon tank. I always fill it up and travel backcountry gravel roads here in Idaho with the full water tank. No problems. However, the toy hauler is built like a tank.

elchilero53 · 10-09-2017, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prestonj12

We dry camp almost exclusively and the toy hauler has a 100 gallon tank. I always fill it up and travel backcountry gravel roads here in Idaho with the full water tank. No problems. However, the toy hauler is built like a tank.

833 lbs of weight is a lot to lug around. Glad you CAN lug it around!

MF5270 · 10-09-2017, 08:07 PM

Roo21ss 2017. 43 gal. So 320+# . I did take a look earlier this summer, I think some added support might be good idea.

Thanks

Pieguy · 10-09-2017, 09:51 PM

Our old trailer only held 20 gallons our new to us 22fb holds 47 gallons. We newer used half of our 20 gallons. I’m going to have to be careful taking more than I really need. We take a 5 gallon cooler jug of ice water for drinking. So we don’t need much more.

Road Tripper · 10-09-2017, 10:25 PM

We've purchased 3 new campers and during the on site tutorial we have never been told that. Now I will do some checking as we fill at home with soft water.

rockfordroo · 10-09-2017, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road Tripper

We've purchased 3 new campers and during the on site tutorial we have never been told that. Now I will do some checking as we fill at home with soft water.

Again, we don't know what make/model the OP has bought, but maybe he's actually got a dealer that knows some of the issues related to the trailers he's selling. As I said, there are numerous threads here about FW tank supports buckling on Roo/Shamrocks and Mini/Micro-Lites.

MF5270 · 10-10-2017, 08:12 AM

Thanks rockfordroo. Still getting used to posting site.

Answered above, but it's a 2017 Roo 21SS.
43 gallon tank.

rockfordroo · 10-10-2017, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmermike

Thanks rockfordroo. Still getting used to posting site.

Answered above, but it's a 2017 Roo 21SS.
43 gallon tank.

Sorry, I missed it. So you WILL most likely have the cheap support.

If you haven't looked at the other threads yet (or under your Roo), the bad supports have "slots" in them. There are crossmember supports that have tabs that go into the slots. The problem is that they put slots on both faces of the angle iron. The unused slots on the vertical face are where the angle iron buckles.

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