My first near disaster towing a camper

[Pooneil]

I stopped to weigh my camper while on the way out this weekend. While re-hitching, the gas bottle cover came loose, so I stowed it in the back of my truck and went on my way.

Some miles later I made a sharp right turn at a highway intersection. There were several semis and such passing but I had a long clear acceleration lane lane. The turn was a bit sharper than it looked, but I was not traveling at an unsafe speed. As I went around the bend, my propane tanks fell off. By the time I recognised the noise as coming from my vehicle, over the noise of the semis, and stopped, the tanks had been dragged for about 100 yards, wedged under the tongue aframe. On the way they put a small tear the aluminum front plating and dented the material underneath.

BTW they sounded like a much like chain dragging. My thought was that a safety chain had come loose. But the sound had a resonance that you hear when tapping on the bottle with something metal.

The collars did there job in protecting the valves and neither ruptured. The tanks are now scratched, dented and and still filled with propane. They stayed attached by the hose from the regulator to the camper. The regulator and the threaded center rod were banged up.

When I got to camp, I attached the one bottle that still had a handle and had gas for weekend with no nose detectable leaks. So now I am going to attach each to my home grill to burn off the remaining gas before disposal.

What I can guess as to why they came off is that the threaded rod had partially backed out from welded nut in the base over a few tank changes. The rod was very rusty and might have gotten turned out as I was unscrewing the top clamp. I know the bottle were tight when last installed.

Since then with road vibration and jostling, the rod had worked all the way loose. Perhaps the cover had been holding the bottle on for some time or it just gave up on Friday. I did not check the tightness before driving because the bottle supports have historically been difficult to get off.

When I reassemble the system, with a new regulator and hoses, I am going to put an additional nut under the one welded into the base. And put some Loctite in there and perhaps add a safety strap. And add this to my checklist. Ultimately there was very little damage. My thanks to people who thought about the safety engineering of those bottles because this combination of circumstances could well otherwise have ended up in a disaster.

[Twisty]

Bummer.
I did my own mods to the whole tongue and that included double nutting that rod and doubling the size and number of bolts that hold the tray to the frame.

[Herk7769]

Wow, you were very lucky (in an "unlucky" sort of way).

There were most likely enough sparks to make quite a fire if the rubber hose got a worn spot through.

[ColoradoRick]

I'm glad there wasn't more damage...and especially no explosions!

And thanks for the reminder to double-check my tanks to ensure they're not going anywhere unless I want them too!

[OutAndAbout]

Good thing the tanks held together, you were lucky. It will be added to my list also.

[Pooneil]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

Wow, you were very lucky (in an "unlucky" sort of way).

My thought too. And grateful that some small property damage is the worst of it. It was otherwise a great weekend of camping and kayaking.

[asquared]

So I'm trying to understand, you left the tank hooked via hose to the tt but sitting in the bed with the tailgate down? Sorry but I think I would have disconnected from the trailer and closed the tailgate for safety. You were very lucky not to have an explosion.

[mattb]

reread the op, only the cover came off.

[asquared]

Originally Posted by mattb

reread the op, only the cover came off.

Ok that makes more sense.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by mattb

reread the op, only the cover came off.

"the tanks had been dragged for about 100 yards, wedged under the tongue aframe."

The cover came off, but the reason was the hold down for the assembly came apart. He did not notice the tank hold down was also disconnected as well and only put the cover in the pickup bed.

[rattleNsmoke]

Wow, ya'll are real lucky. Just when you think you've heard it all, there's another wild story to be heard.

[mTn_biKer65]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you have your bases covered with your replacements and upgrades. Will be sure to check out the tension on my tank bracket more often.

[D-mo]

sorry to hear about your troubles .. good of you to post tho .. will check mine in the spring .. to make sure everything is A-ok.

d-mo

[A-Frame Don]

Tom, thanks for sharing this story. Scary to think what could happen. This will be one of the first things to check when I take delivery of our RV. Many years ago I was filling a small tank from a 20lb tank and accidentally dropped the smaller tank on to a concrete floor. Both valves were still opened. Lucky me, no sparks or I wouldn't be here today.

[Big Paul]

On one of my trips I had the long bolt to come loose and was checking gas in take when I got home and found it. Should have put that on here then did not for some reason!! mine just came loose and some how caused the tank to empty out I had checked it before leaving the camp ground and I figured it had half tank but at home it was empty never figured out how it emptyed. So no doubt it is a good idea to put on check list. I did not put extra nut on the bolt but have checked several times and has not came loose again.

[Pooneil]

Originally Posted by Big Paul

I did not put extra nut on the bolt but have checked several times and has not came loose again.

My experience has led me to believe the design of a threaded rod screwed through a welded bolt with nothing to stop it from backing out is inherently unsafe for carrying propane.

A simple fix is drilling the bolt and putting a fine cotter pin through it, under the base. Then no more backing out.