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Old 07-29-2019, 11:03 AM   #1
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2020 Apex 289TBSS water tank locations?

I pulled our new 289TBSS last week for the first time to a location with no water supply, so I filled the 50 gallon fresh water tank. During the drive there were dark clouds, occasional horrific rain, some hail and more dark clouds over the 2 hour run up I-79 and east on I80 to travel Pittsburgh to Tionesta Pa. When I got on I-79 North from Cranberry Twp to head to 80 I noticed that the trailer was very "active" behind me, it gave a lot of side to side input that I am not used to feeling. It reminded me of 20 years ago when I pulled a 24' car hauler that was rear heavy and wanted to kill me....

So we got to the camp location in a couple hours and set up, used up all water for washing dishes and showers (no toilet use to date), and drained the grey tank on the ground before pulling out with no water on board in any tanks.

The ride home was blue skies and clear, the trailer pulled smooth behind us with almost zero "active" feeling, it pulled so that you could forget it was back there.

Is the clean water tank located by the rear bumper where my fresh water bulk fill input is located, or is it over the axles so that it does not effect the balance? I would really hope that all 3 tanks are hidden between the 2 axles, but the fill/drain ports and valves are all behind the rear axle. Before embarking on that run I assumed that all pipes were simply terminated at the left rear wall for convenience and to make allowance for the slide out, but after that drive and feeling the changed towing characteristics of towing in the arriving/occurring/departing storms I started to attribute the "flighty" feeling to the water tanks rear loading the trailer and removing weight from the tongue.

I am a 30 year veteran trailer user, hauling equipment/car hauler and utility trailers at up to 15,000 lbs, but I have never pulled a light weight (6,500 lbs) giant fiberglass box of air before. Maybe in rough/windy air it is totally normal to feel a lot of input and action behind me regardless of water, or maybe putting 415 lbs of water in the tank of a designed 750 tongue weight unit removed a large portion of that desired front loading?

Do any of you know where exactly the 3 tanks are placed? I have 50 gallon fresh, 35 gallon grey and 35 gallon black tanks.

I am towing with a Ram Rebel 1500 rated 10,160 trailer and 1,050 tongue. I am using a Reese weight distribution hitch set up to return 50% of the front axle rise (push half of the measured front fender rise back down) per the manual.
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2019 Ram Bighorn, CC/SB 2500 4x4 6.4L/8 Speed, Max Tow 14,460 lb/2,940 lb payload.
2019 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Eco, 12,800 lb/1,546 payload.
2020 Coachmen Apex UL 289TBSS
2019 Quality Trailers 16'x7' 7K GVWR Utility Trailer
2019 IronBull 22'x102" 14K GVWR Equipment Trailer
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Old 07-29-2019, 12:19 PM   #2
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More than likely your tank is very close to the fill point. My Flagstaff is located at the very back of the trailer. When I toured the Flagstaff plant a couple weeks ago the trailer they were building was also a rear fresh tank. I'm towing with a 1/2 ton Chevy and I dont like to go over 60 with the tank filled. It feels very tounge light. With no water it tows great.
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Old 07-29-2019, 04:14 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigmurph View Post
More than likely your tank is very close to the fill point. My Flagstaff is located at the very back of the trailer. When I toured the Flagstaff plant a couple weeks ago the trailer they were building was also a rear fresh tank. I'm towing with a 1/2 ton Chevy and I dont like to go over 60 with the tank filled. It feels very tounge light. With no water it tows great.
That is ridiculous to place the fresh tank at the rear, you put a 415 lb tank at the very rear of a trailer that is around 6500 lbs with a standard 715 lb tongue weight. That likely removes around 300 lbs of tongue weight leaving around 400 lbs tongue weight for that 6500 lbs. Just over 5% tongue once your water is filled. Bad design, horrible engineering, the project manager and supervisor should be fired for such negligence.
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2019 Ram Bighorn, CC/SB 2500 4x4 6.4L/8 Speed, Max Tow 14,460 lb/2,940 lb payload.
2019 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Eco, 12,800 lb/1,546 payload.
2020 Coachmen Apex UL 289TBSS
2019 Quality Trailers 16'x7' 7K GVWR Utility Trailer
2019 IronBull 22'x102" 14K GVWR Equipment Trailer
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Old 07-29-2019, 09:01 PM   #4
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Yeah, I think that is my one complaint with the trailer. My last trailer (Salem) had the fresh tank installed directly above the axles. It pulled better with a full tank. Took the bounce out of the trailer.
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Old 07-30-2019, 03:57 AM   #5
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My fresh water tank fill port is at the extreme left rear. I may email FR/Coachmen and ask them to kindly verify the various tank placement so that I know what is going on. I had hoped that someone here has the same unit and dropped the black material a repair and saw for sure. It does appear that the 289TBSS is not a popular model, there are almost no YouTube videos, no forum talk and no general RV reviews out there in this model.
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2019 Ram Bighorn, CC/SB 2500 4x4 6.4L/8 Speed, Max Tow 14,460 lb/2,940 lb payload.
2019 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Eco, 12,800 lb/1,546 payload.
2020 Coachmen Apex UL 289TBSS
2019 Quality Trailers 16'x7' 7K GVWR Utility Trailer
2019 IronBull 22'x102" 14K GVWR Equipment Trailer
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Old 07-30-2019, 09:27 AM   #6
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I bet that it looks like this.
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Old 08-09-2019, 10:25 AM   #7
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The first photo it looks like the trailers nose is high or is it just the angle of the photo? The nose should be even or slightly down. If the fresh water is in the back you will need to add a lot of weight to the front.
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Old 08-09-2019, 11:00 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Twisterbret View Post
The first photo it looks like the trailers nose is high or is it just the angle of the photo? The nose should be even or slightly down. If the fresh water is in the back you will need to add a lot of weight to the front.
The nose is high. The issue is that my truck is the Rebel Off-Road package and is set higher than a standard truck from the factory. I have the weight dist hitch at it's lowest position, and that is as low as I can get. If I put that hitch on the 2019 F-150 the trailer is nearly laying on the ground.

Someone commented that I should "lift the trailer"..... The only way I can see that would be making extended shackles to lift it a couple inches. What I may do is see if a taller 14" tire is available that will help offset my truck hitch height.
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2019 Ram Bighorn, CC/SB 2500 4x4 6.4L/8 Speed, Max Tow 14,460 lb/2,940 lb payload.
2019 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Eco, 12,800 lb/1,546 payload.
2020 Coachmen Apex UL 289TBSS
2019 Quality Trailers 16'x7' 7K GVWR Utility Trailer
2019 IronBull 22'x102" 14K GVWR Equipment Trailer
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Old 08-09-2019, 11:14 AM   #9
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What would the wheel bolt pattern be on my 289TBSS?
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2019 Ram Bighorn, CC/SB 2500 4x4 6.4L/8 Speed, Max Tow 14,460 lb/2,940 lb payload.
2019 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Eco, 12,800 lb/1,546 payload.
2020 Coachmen Apex UL 289TBSS
2019 Quality Trailers 16'x7' 7K GVWR Utility Trailer
2019 IronBull 22'x102" 14K GVWR Equipment Trailer
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Old 08-09-2019, 11:20 AM   #10
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Not sure if this will help but may lead you into the right direction

https://www.etrailer.com/question-207882.html
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