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We often carry freshwater... but not full black/grey-water anymore, if I can help it. On the plus side, the weight of any water, preferably full tanks, makes the RV more stable in high wind, if it matters and one plans to, or has to travel on such a day.
In a few cases, when we know that the campsite has reliable water, we leave home with whatever fresh-water is left in the tank. But we usually travel near full.
Partly because of the fracking, we now have rural water here in low population areas of ND, but I've seen it come out pretty cloudy anyway. Well water is a no-no because it sometimes tends to stink, especially if left in the hot water heater (sulphur, I think). Known clean water, we dump once a year only.
We drink bottled water or from re-filled Dollar Store 2qt jugs from home, but I brush my teeth with RV tap-water and I have used tank water for coffee a couple of times back when we were low.
The black-water load-avoidance paranoia came from a time when one of our sons was suddenly injured at home and was due for surgery, so we left camp quickly without dumping. We had a TT and the black and grey abs tanks were mounted on a pair of angle irons along the tank-half mid-splice. These tanks are moulded in two halves and cemented together. The seams hold well, but...
The problem was that when we hit bumps on the way to the hospital, the tanks bellied out badly, which would have been ok if there hadn't been solidly mounted abs drain pipe connected to the lower halves. The belly bumping action caused the pipe connection point to crack right along the bottom, causing a nasty waste leak in our enclosed bottom. Of the two, the 'relatively cleaner' full grey tank survived of course.
Understandably, no plastic shop was wild about repairing it, in that case requiring me to disconnect the toilet and in-wall vent pipe, remove the tank, thoroughly clean it and bring it in.
So I repaired it in place with the thickest abs pipe dope that Menard's carried, layers and layers of 2" fiberglass tape , a set of total reinforcement steel bands cushioned with nylon seat belt fabric under the tank and perforated plumbing straps particularly right under the repair point. I also had a couple of rags, one for dripping cement on my arms, the other for dripping sewage, same spot, when I first started. Ick. I did some of my best work fixing it. Plus I've traveled empty thereafter. There was no way I was going to do that gross job again.
If anyone has a suspicion that their water tank can burst or fall from bumps, they should check the mounting now or drain it upon departure. Water tanks are normally made of polyethylene and can only be repaired by welding, that is melting filler into a tear or hole. I suppose a guy could take an asbestos rag under there for dripping hot plastic and weld upside down laying under it.
Wes
2019 F150 4X4 7050 GVWR 1903 payload
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Linear Mode
