Travel with full Water tank

[Jakieboy]

The factories that build these RV's do not design them to travel with fresh water tanks filled. Visit any of the RV assembly factories, mostly in Indiana, and you will find this is true.

We have been towing RV's for more than 45 years, and we never tow with the fresh water, or waste water tanks full. Even when "boondocking" in remote areas, we have always found fresh water sources nearby that can be used to fill our fresh water tank with enough water to last for a few days of routine activity. For those rare occasions when we are really out in the "wilderness" we pack in a few 2.5 gallon jugs of fresh water.

Not saying that everyone should do what we do, just saying that's what we do. Take your chances if you do otherwise.

[NMWildcat]

People do have the strangest phobias with matching solutions. Some more than others.......

[GarFish]

Yes mine is a 2015 Forest river Shamrock 21BD hybird! I have never hauled water in it on per say Only from camp fill to camp site. 2019 I was sanitizing for first trip of 2019 and heard a loud pop. Looked underneath and both brace that run from side ti side for fresh water tank bent badly! to the point tank could fall out! I called forest river, they wanted to sale 2 new braces that are the same not improved or stronger. I told them never mind, so I am now in the process of bolting up stronger re enforce braces my self! angel iron and c channel! This why I think the rv industry needs safety over look by the dept of transportation , like vehicles are instead of self regulated! I think I will start printing a record off and send it to the department of transportation and see if something can be done about pour construction that can lead to accident on Highway!

[SeaDog]

[QUOTE=Jakie-Boy;2114362]The factories that build these RV's do not design them to travel with fresh water tanks filled. Visit any of the RV assembly factories, mostly in Indiana, and you will find this is true.

I don't believe this to be true at all. I think the design is the least amount of support (less cost) that will hold that load. Some do hold the load and some don't. I think there is just better reporting now days (so like the china bombs it seem to be happening to every trailer) and more folks are aware of the problems.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

I don't believe this to be true at all. I think the design is the least amount of support (less cost) that will hold that load. Some do hold the load and some don't. I think there is just better reporting now days (so like the china bombs it seem to be happening to every trailer) and more folks are aware of the problems.

X2. I agree, and might add that is more prevalent with the 'lite' type trailers.
People wanted very light trailers they could pull with a small TV, and this is what happened.
Is it right, no, but folks keep buying them
I believe the majority of us carry full tanks whenever we want to, with no concern.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

The factories that build these RV's do not design them to travel with fresh water tanks filled. Visit any of the RV assembly factories, mostly in Indiana, and you will find this is true.

We have been towing RV's for more than 45 years, and we never tow with the fresh water, or waste water tanks full. Even when "boondocking" in remote areas, we have always found fresh water sources nearby that can be used to fill our fresh water tank with enough water to last for a few days of routine activity. For those rare occasions when we are really out in the "wilderness" we pack in a few 2.5 gallon jugs of fresh water.

Not saying that everyone should do what we do, just saying that's what we do. Take your chances if you do otherwise.

I've been towing TT's for about the same amount of time and I have never left home without a full tank. Likewise when I've rented MH's. Tank always filled by rental outlet before I drove it off their lot to go home and load my gear.

Never had a tank fall out and as far as fuel mileage? I learned way back at the beginning that that huge "box" I was trying to pull through the air was a bigger load, consuming more HP, than the extra few hundred pounds of water.

If my TT ever reaches the point where a full tank of water causes me to exceed the rated weight, I'll leave some of my junk home. Another thing I learned in my long years of camping is to never assume you can get good water at or near your destination unless you are going to a full hook-up site. Since I prefer boondocking I just fill at home.

FWIW, when I had the bottom cover off for some re-wiring I found the water tank to be more than adequately supported. A lot heavier gauge metal than many describe from frame rail to frame rail. Two additional cross braces to keep the main rails from spreading, mechanically locked in place on one end and bolted on the other end so they can be removed to replace tank if ever necessary.

I just got back from a boondocking trip that took me across some of the roughest Forest Service road I've seen outside of my dirt bike riding days. Even after traveling that road, through potholes as deep as my tire sidewalls are high, tank stayed right where it belonged.

FWIW, I had an old 1972 trailer that had tanks supported only by a couple pieces of angle iron holding the tank by a couple of molded-in ribs at the top. None of the three tanks on that rig ever came loose and they had NO support at the bottom.

If I was only going to go from RV park to Rv Park I would have bough a "Park Model".

[JoeCampsNE]

Was doing preflight check and noticed a bent tank mount under the trailer. If you can't fill the tank before boondicking than what's the use of the tank. Very dissapointing.

[Jakieboy]

In our 40-plus years of RV-camping, my wife and I have visited more than half a dozen RV manufacturing facilities to see how these rigs are built. In some of the factories, the engineering design, assembly techniques, and quality control are all exemplary. In others, not so much. Many of the rigs that we considered buying fell out of contention because of the lack of proper design and construction technique that we witnessed first hand during factory tours. Several, but not all, of the assembly factories showed little concern about how robust the fastening systems should be for holding tanks: fresh water, black water, and grey water. On one occasion, the assembly foreman confided with me that the holding tanks were not designed to endure long trips while completely full.

This is simply our personal experience, and my views are not intended to discredit or devalue the experiences of other contributors to this web-site. We are confident in the engineering design and construction quality of our Cardinal 3250 Fifth-wheel to travel with full tanks if necessary. But.....we never do.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by JoeCampsNE

Was doing preflight check and noticed a bent tank mount under the trailer. If you can't fill the tank before boondicking than what's the use of the tank. Very dissapointing.

The problem on Roos and Mini Lites seems to be that the angle iron has a slot in both sides, even though the support under the tank only uses one of them. The problem is that the unused one weakens the angle and allows it to bend.

The popular wisdom is that the angle iron has two slots so that it doesn't have to be installed in a certain way during construction; either way will work.

However, under my early-build 2016 Mini Lite last week, I noticed that my FW tank angle irons only have a single slot - the one the support is installed into.

So apparently FR/Lippert was/is using two different styles of angle iron - one with slots on only one side of the angle iron and one with slots on both sides of the angle iron.

[Jakieboy]

From the perspective of a Mechanical Engineer, it appears to me that the use of angle irons to support waste water tanks is less than half of the proper solution. Waste water tanks, to the best of my knowledge, are constructed of polymer plastic, with very little stiffness or bending strength. Angle irons alone would only support each corner of a rectangular tank without any re-enforcing support of the bottom of the tank. Heavy loads in the tanks could cause the bottoms of the tanks to deform and fail, resulting in potential toxic spills.

Polymer plastic holding tanks are perfectly acceptable if their bottoms are supported by stiff, horizontal, metal supports, such as lengths of angle iron across their bottoms between vertical supports.

I have retrofitted similar reinforcements to several RV rigs we have owned over the years. Unfortunately, at my advanced age, I can no longer crawl under any RV. Well, I can crawl under, but then I can't stand up without some assistance.

[JoeCampsNE]

We'll be doing some dry camping next weekend and although we've hauled a full water tank a number of times, I discovered the front support bracket was bent during my last preflight check. (Pictures posted in earlier post.)

I really found the vast number of posts throughout this forum very informative, though they do tend to run from the paranoid to the aloof. Many were indeed entertaining.

I opted for a temp solution employed by a number of other posters by applying four 700# rated Haul-Master tie-downs under the tank. Then in October I'll go with the heavy duty C channel support upgrades.

I also want to thank everyone for posting their ideas, they are very helpful.

[aeblank]

Originally Posted by JoeCampsNE

We'll be doing some dry camping next weekend and although we've hauled a full water tank a number of times, I discovered the front support bracket was bent during my last preflight check. (Pictures posted in earlier post.)



I really found the vast number of posts throughout this forum very informative, though they do tend to run from the paranoid to the aloof. Many were indeed entertaining.



I opted for a temp solution employed by a number of other posters by applying four 700# rated Haul-Master tie-downs under the tank. Then in October I'll go with the heavy duty C channel support upgrades.



I also want to thank everyone for posting their ideas, they are very helpful.

My 2 straps are holding up well. Probably 15k miles on 'em.