Towing with or without water

[mo985]

I’ve found my trailer tows and rides better with 1/2 to 3/4 tank of water in it.

Plus, if we pull into a big parking lot or on to the side of the road, we have water to flush with!!

[ENE]

I always travel with a 1/4 of fresh water for emergencies, like accidents on road that leave you stranded for hours. I don't see a need to cary additional 500lbs of water unless you are going to dry camp somewhere. Yes with the water sloshing around it could leave you with less water. Some people put shut off valves on their over flow pipes but risk imploding their tank if they forget to open when they turn on the water pump.
Some folds just carry a gallon of water in the shower just in case they need to use the toilet.
The choice is yours.

[TraileringTexans]

We travel with water in the tank. Not necessarily a full tank, but enough to last a day or two if our plans change. We may plan to stop at a full hook up but then travel farther than planned and just Walmart it one night. Need to cook, wash up, and flush. We like being fully self contained.

[Randor707]

Originally Posted by goduc

Some are just plain ole power pole princesses.

I'm new here. Can you tell me what is an ole power pole princess? Thanks, Rand

[ENE]

We us very little fresh water if any at all. We always drink bottle water the RV park water may not be the best water. We cook with filter water from the RV Park. Out water hose has a filter on it to help filter the shower and sink water.
I drain the fresh water tank and refill to 1/4 tank on every trip and sanitize it every 6 months.

[Papahoosh]

Originally Posted by Sahiri

Thanks for the input. I think we’re gonna go with the 41 cases of beer option for now

I like the way you think.

[goduc]

Originally Posted by Randor707

I'm new here. Can you tell me what is an ole power pole princess? Thanks, Rand

Someone that never takes any fresh water and always camps at full hookup sites. So they travel with less than those that do dry camping where you may be in a CG but without any amenities or out in the boonies down some dirt or gravel road with nothing around you but nature.
Different strokes for different folks.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by goduc

Someone that never takes any fresh water and always camps at full hookup sites. So they travel with less than those that do dry camping where you may be in a CG but without any amenities or out in the boonies down some dirt or gravel road with nothing around you but nature.
Different strokes for different folks.

Sounds like the camping spot I just reserved starting the 23rd of this month.

It's 15 miles down a forest service road, the last 5 miles being unpaved and filled with potholes and "washboard".

Since it's not far from my house my dog and I "scouted it out" yesterday before reserving. It took 90 minutes to drive the 15 miles without the trailer attached. 60 minutes to drive the last 5 miles to the campground. Some of the potholes required "crawl speed" to go through, not real deep but a good jar of the teeth if you went faster.

Let's just say that the site is worth the work it will take to get the trailer in. Then again, maybe the road will be freshly graded when I go in on the 23'rd. Plan on posting pics of the site with trailer set up.

As for "amenities"? Absolutely NONE unless you want to count the single Outhouse.

Back to the topic of the thread, If you are used to "running dry" and plan on filling up at the site, bring a funnel and some chlorine to add to the tank. Only water is from the creek that runs along your "front yard". Boondocking at it's finest.

[bikendan]

In the fire service, we call type I fire engines, that are specific for structure fires, Pavement Princesses since they never go off-road.

[goduc]

I would love to be able to have FH every time I camp. Problem is most of the places we go may or may not have any hookups. If they do then it's wall to wall.
Our next 11 night trip is 4-dry, 4 FH, 3 dry. The FH site is a nice St park and spaced apart pretty good. It's also very heavily monitored. Two years ago at 10 PM we got told we were too loud. I guess sitting around in a 6' circle and lightly laughing was too much. Fine with me though. It means everyone else around me is quiet as well.
OT I guess. LOL.

[RoadNomad]

Ask a question like this and you will get tons of opinions. The bottom line is you, your needs, your equipment, where your traveling and the roads you will be traveling on.

Consider this, water weighs approx 8.34 and considering what the capacity of your trailer tanks are can add up in a hurry costing you in fuel, especially if your using a gas tow vehicle. Now consider the comment about a partially filled tank or lets say 1/2 a tank, which would be approx 25 gallons (most medium campers) or over 200 lbs of weight. Can you imagine 200 lbs of weight shifting back and forth as you navigate through the tight curves of a mountain road? In this case and for me I would ask myself do I need water where I am going? If not then run with an empty fresh water tank. If you feel there is no where on the road for a bathroom stop simply add just enough water to run the fresh water pump to flush the toilet. This would easily be just a few gallons and not much more.
Personally, if I know I will need water where ever I am going and it is questionable that I can find a good clean source I completely fill my fresh water system. This way I have filtered water on board that will not slosh back and forth and cause weight shift. Again this goes back to your equipment. If your pulling a reasonable sized trailer with a 1 ton diesel, 400 lbs of water means very little and almost un noticable in fuel use , but the convenience of having the water available both on the road and available for bathroom breaks and emergencies en-route is nice.
Finally, some trailers have very low centers of gravity and a full water tank helps stabilize the trailer. They actually tow better and makes them less affected by wind gusts and less then perfect roads.

So, what can be said after all of this is, Go try it, see what works best for you! Best of luck and happy camping!

[hybridlife]

I'm a half and half...sometimes I take water, sometimes I don't. What's funny thought is when I had my pop up, had a 20 gallon FW tank. I never wanted to carry the extra weight of water and towed dry. Yet if someone needed a ride I never hesitated to say hop in. The 20 gallons of water typically weighted less than the extra passenger!

m

[goduc]

400 lbs for water as a mpg killer is overblown. If someone has some firm data to backup the big mpg loss when carrying 400lbs of water I'd like to see it.
Driving style and conditions play a way bigger role in how much fuel someone uses.

[babock]

Originally Posted by goduc

400 lbs for water as a mpg killer is overblown. If someone has some firm data to backup the big mpg loss when carrying 400lbs of water I'd like to see it.
Driving style and conditions play a way bigger role in how much fuel someone uses.

Yeah...me too. If it was a big deal then adding 3 passengers to your car vehicle would be worse than adding it to a 7000# trailer load. If you add 400# to a 7000# trailer, you are only adding 5% load. A couple MPH head wind would cause more of a MPG loss than that.

[aeblank]

Originally Posted by goduc

OT I guess. LOL.

Please keep it down.

[aeblank]

From the previous night elsewhere, I had to fill when I got to the campground at 6pm. It added a half hour to my checkin. Screw that. It fills while I pack at home.....

[Jakieboy]

We rarely travel with more than just a few gallons of water in any of our tanks. We are at that age when we rarely camp at "dry" sites, as we did 30-40 years ago! When we do camp dry, we always fill the fresh water tank nearly full before departing to avoid the "free-surface effect" of 400-500 pounds of water sloshing around that can affect the stability of the RV. We have found that leaving several gallons of water in each holding tank helps to dislodge solid debris in each tank that may otherwise dry out, solidify, and contaminate the holding tanks during future camping trips.