do I need to paint tank under the carriage?

[wilsonintexas]

I was adding a 4 way splitter to the under carriage tank on my 2008 RV. I noticed that the tank was starting to rust on the exterior.

Do I need to drop it, wire brush it down, and paint it?
Right now it is not to bad, mostly small areas where rocks have been thrown up. A lot of Alaska miles on it...... so grit and rocks are just a part of life.

[Splitshaft]

If it was my tank, I would do something other than nothing to stop or slow any more rusting. Maybe hit the worst places with a wire wheel, prime and paint in place. Or if time and energy permits, do it off the vehicle. Vehicle maintenance can either be rewarding or a pain in the backside.

[gasman6674]

Paint it

[LegacyFB38]

Assuming the tank is 10 years old like the trailer, if you remove it perhaps have a
qualified person inspect the tank.

[jdkbrooks]

You could wire brush it, paint it,and then spray it with rubberized undercoating.

[HAPP]

Protect it as much as possible, it is called maintenance.

[Kaadk]

Your profile and signature say you have a '1992 Rockwood (33 foot)'. What is this '2008 RV'? Which tank are you referring to? All the Fresh water, Grey water and Black water tanks I've seen have been plastic. Plastic doesn't rust, so I'm curious what it is you're dealing with.

[wilsonintexas]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

Your profile and signature say you have a '1992 Rockwood (33 foot)'. What is this '2008 RV'? Which tank are you referring to? All the Fresh water, Grey water and Black water tanks I've seen have been plastic. Plastic doesn't rust, so I'm curious what it is you're dealing with.

I got confused. It is a 92 after finding some parts for the engine it looks like the chassi is a 91 ford. The rust / chips are on the propane tank

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by wilsonintexas

I got confused. It is a 92 after finding some parts for the engine it looks like the chassi is a 91 ford. The rust / chips are on the propane tank

That’s alright, I was confused too. Rockwood doesn’t make Motorhomes now, it took some googling to find out they used to way back in the early 90’s. I had assumed it was a trailer.

Umm, yeah, a rusty propane tank is probably not a good idea. Not sure what the fix would be. With the trailer having removable tanks, they get swapped out when they age out after 10 years (I don’t re-certify mine). I have no idea what they do with 27ish year old tanks in motorhomes.

[Bama Rambler]

Most all motorhomes come with ASME tanks. They don't need any recertification like DOT cylinders do.

The best thing to do is take it out, clean off all the rust and inspect it to see if there are deep pits. If there are no deep pits then just paint it and put it back. If there are deep pits, you'll most likely need to replace it. You could try to fine a place that repairs ASME tanks and see if they'll weld up the pits, but having them do that and issue a R (repaired) nameplate is gonna be pretty expensive.