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Old 06-09-2017, 12:00 AM   #61
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Mr Havercamp,

I noticed you have a dual fresh water tank set up. I would love to add another tank to my 2306, as we do a bit of dry camping.(this would only be filled at the campsite, not traveled with full)May I inquire as to how I might order a replacement tank like yours from Alpha systems? The replacement looks identical. A very nice install indeed. One more question if I may: Did you fabricate the supports or purchase them? If purchased, might I ask where?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 06-09-2017, 10:40 AM   #62
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That is the gospel truth......you said a mouthful.

Having looked under many units at 3 shows since January they are still not doing anything different. Its more a matter of when it fails than it is if it fails.

A before and after of my Roo.

Part of the problem? The tank in the lower picture on the right is the original cheap flimsy tank that came factory installed from Rockwood. The one on the left is from Alpha systems. Notice how nuch the cheap factory tank distorts compared to the added tank. Its all about cheap. Let the buyer worry about if the tank blows out.
Mr Havercamp,

What keeps the tank from sliding side to side? I know that sitting in the angle iron keeps it from moving front to back. Mine has nothing there either. From the factory mine is pressed tight to the floor which I assume is what keeps it from moving side to side. If it is lowered to create a gap between the top of the tank and bottom of floor (like there seems it should be), it seems that it would then slide side to side.
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Old 06-09-2017, 11:02 AM   #63
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All I heve to say is, pretty poor engineering on FR's part and pretty poor building on Lipperts part when you cannot run with your FW tank full because it suffers 'dropout'. While it's kind of funny in a way, it's also pretty sad.

Sad that the units cost what they do and the build quality is so poor. Buffett must be making a fortune.

Reminds me of the Eagles song..
Driving down the road try'in to loosen my load.......
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Old 06-16-2017, 05:33 PM   #64
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The bottom of my FW tank hangs below the frame and I'm not a welder so I bolted 1/4" thick angle iron to the existing main supports. Then added three more cross-bars to the two that came from the factory. Filled the tank and am pretty happy with the way it turned out.
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Old 06-16-2017, 07:03 PM   #65
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The bottom of my FW tank hangs below the frame and I'm not a welder so I bolted 1/4" thick angle iron to the existing main supports. Then added three more cross-bars to the two that came from the factory. Filled the tank and am pretty happy with the way it turned out.
That looks great! Many styles of mounts, many solutions. I also reinforced mine without having to drop the tank.
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Old 06-16-2017, 09:31 PM   #66
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The bottom of my FW tank hangs below the frame and I'm not a welder so I bolted 1/4" thick angle iron to the existing main supports. Then added three more cross-bars to the two that came from the factory. Filled the tank and am pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Looks good! How are the 3 added cross-bars fastened?
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Old 06-16-2017, 10:14 PM   #67
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Looks good! How are the 3 added cross-bars fastened?
I used Blue Magic 16002 Quik Steel epoxy. I opted for now at least to not make more "slits" in the main angle iron supports to accomodate the ends of the three new cross-bars. I'll use this for now and may make that change if I feel it really is necessary. Full of water the added structure really helps the tank maintain its shape. I also installed safety clips into the ends of the two factory installed cross-bars (shown in the photo).
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Old 06-17-2017, 06:30 AM   #68
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I used Blue Magic 16002 Quik Steel epoxy. I opted for now at least to not make more "slits" in the main angle iron supports to accomodate the ends of the three new cross-bars. I'll use this for now and may make that change if I feel it really is necessary. Full of water the added structure really helps the tank maintain its shape. I also installed safety clips into the ends of the two factory installed cross-bars (shown in the photo).
Thanks for the info! Again, it looks great! 2 more questions if you don't mind. (my tank sits below the frame just like yours and I have been bouncing around ideas on how to reinforce mine)
I assume you "notched" the angle on the cross bars so and used the epoxy on the flat part that is laying inside the 2 main angle irons?
Also, is your tank tucked up tight to the floor? If so, no floor issues when filling like some have mentioned? Mine is tight to the floor. My debate is whether to redo the whole hog & sausage so that I can drop it about an inch or just reinforce whats there the way you have done.
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Old 06-17-2017, 08:14 AM   #69
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Thanks for the info! Again, it looks great! 2 more questions if you don't mind. (my tank sits below the frame just like yours and I have been bouncing around ideas on how to reinforce mine)
I assume you "notched" the angle on the cross bars so and used the epoxy on the flat part that is laying inside the 2 main angle irons?
Also, is your tank tucked up tight to the floor? If so, no floor issues when filling like some have mentioned? Mine is tight to the floor. My debate is whether to redo the whole hog & sausage so that I can drop it about an inch or just reinforce whats there the way you have done.
Those are all good questions as I wrestled with the exact same thing - whether to redue the whole thing or use whats already there as best as I could. After finishing this job I'm glad I choose to use whats already there. Here's what I did:
1) I cut the 2" wide x 1/4" thick angle iron to match the length of the existing 1/8" thick angle iron with a grinder using 1/8" blades (I did not have a band saw available to use);
2) Dabbed a bit of white paint on the ends of existing cross-bars (the tabs coming through the factory supports) and held the new 1/4" angle iron up against it to mark where I needed to cut "slits" into the new supports. I used the grinder again to cut the slits.
3) Clamped the new angle iron tightly against the existing support and drilled 5/8" holes through both members and bolted them together. As shown in the photo you'll need one bolt through the bottom (horizontal plane) of the supports so that the new angle iron will prevent any downward bending of the factory support.
4) I cut the cross-bars to length from 1" x 1/8" angle iron (matching the existing cross-bar) and "notched" them so I could slide the "tab" under the factory supports at each end. I used the grinder to "bevel" and make the "tabs" very smooth so they would be easier to slide into place. This still required some very light tapping with a hammer while pushing up on the tank to install them.
5) I drilled holes into the ends of the factory cross-bar tabs sticking down through the main supports and installed the safety pins.

A couple notes:
* After I bolted into place the 2" x 1/4" main supports I could tell right away that the FW tank was never going bend those - ever - no matter how much the dynamic load changes from driving over a bumpy road with the a full tank.
* I'm counting on the factory installed cross-bars that hold the main supports parallel to do their job.
* I did not intend for my additional cross-bars to do anything more than to give added support to the bottom of the tank where before it would bulge when full.
* Lastly, yes, like yours my tank is firmly up against the floor. As long as I fill the tank slowly so that air can escape as quickly as water enters and don't over fill there will be no problem with it pushing up against the floor. I can actually see the water line in my tank and I don't ever plan to fill it to the exact top.
* One last note: before I started I noticed my tank had shifted over to one side of the camper. The two main factory supports on my TT were not exactly parallel allowing the tank to slide to the side of least resistance. I had to move it back towards the center and put a block (piece of 2x4) in to make room to bolt the new angle iron in on each side.

Good luck on whatever modification you do!
Rich J.
Edit: I should have said that as long as the factory crossbars do their job - holding the main supports parallel, the use of epoxy on the additional cross-bars was likely not necessary given how tight the supports are up against the tank.
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Old 06-17-2017, 06:05 PM   #70
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Thanks again HangDiver! That is a great explanation of how you did it! I will post pics when I do mine. Again....many thanks!
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:13 AM   #71
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Added some extra support to my tank this week. Did it similar to how hangdiver did his.
I used 2"x2" x 1/8" angle iron.
I did add a beam clamp on the end to hopefully help as a back-up should the factory weld have issues:




I could only do this on one side. The other side was screwed in as opposed to welded and the self tapping screws were sticking out too far to allow room for the beam clamp. I do have an idea on how to add some extra support on the end there though.
My tank had slid all the way to one side with no room to bolt the added angle iron. I slid it over to make room. There was nothing to stop my tank from sliding side to side so I added one of these to each end:



Also, in the last picture, the hose running under the corrugated fill hose is the vent hose. I thought water could get in there and act as a "trap" and make it more difficult to vent the air. So I cut the pex fitting off and removed the hose. Sure enough a good bit of water ran out. I cut about an inch off the hose and re-routed above the fill hose so that it is pretty much flat against the bottom of the floor.
I will also add one or 2 cross members the way hangdiver did. I just ran out of daylight the last 2 evenings.
As far as materials and cost. It was $40 for a 20' piece of angle. I spent about $25 at Lowes for the beam clamps, L brackets, nuts and bolts. Add about another $10 for beer to help cool off while doing the work.
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:20 AM   #72
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I have 100 gallon fresh water tank on mine and I feel like I need to do this added support as well. I rarely travel with full tanks but I do dry dock on occasion and have to haul water.
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:29 AM   #73
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I have 100 gallon fresh water tank on mine and I feel like I need ot do this added support as well. I rarely travel with full tanks but I do dry dock on occasion and have to haul water.
I'm not certain, but I think the bent water tank supports have mainly been on Mini/Micro Lites and hybrids. Never hurts to give it a look though!
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:36 AM   #74
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Nice work Howie! Gives a little more piece of mind going down the road! I think mine cost a little more in beer.
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Old 06-22-2017, 11:59 AM   #75
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Nice work Howie! Gives a little more piece of mind going down the road! I think mine cost a little more in beer.
LOL...I might have underestimated that, but who's counting?!?!?
Thanks again for your write up on how you did yours. It was very helpful in the decision making process for me.
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Old 07-24-2017, 12:20 AM   #76
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So finally finished up the repair from my tank dropping out a couple months back. Luckily, I was going pretty slow and very minimal damage to the tank, just had to really goop up a new fitting when installing a new low point drain.

In my case I am pretty sure I had a multitude of things all go wrong. First my error of filling the tank too full too fast and likely creating a bit of a bubble in the tank. Then the trailer deficiencies of too much room for side to side movement, too much flex in angle iron, and weak self tapping screws. My drop happened shortly after turning and one of the self tapping screws did break so thinking the tank slid to one side and at that point the screw broke making the already flexible iron flex even more and that coupled with some extra flex in the tank because of an air bubble and there you go tank on the road [emoji21]

So now to the fix... First doubled up all the angle iron with some thicker stuff welded to the original. Then replaced all the self tapping screws in the frame with bigger grade 5 bolts. I added some blocks inside the frame on both sides to minimize the side to side movement and lastly bolted some metal strapping for extra support and for safety. I did make sure, both with the blocks and the straps, to leave a little bit of wiggle room for some flex in the tank.
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Old 07-24-2017, 09:34 AM   #77
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So now to the fix... First doubled up all the angle iron with some thicker stuff welded to the original. Then replaced all the self tapping screws in the frame with bigger grade 5 bolts. I added some blocks inside the frame on both sides to minimize the side to side movement and lastly bolted some metal strapping for extra support and for safety. I did make sure, both with the blocks and the straps, to leave a little bit of wiggle room for some flex in the tank.
Nice work!!
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Old 10-13-2017, 07:25 AM   #78
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Bigmurph, I had blackwater tank problem. It didn't fall but had shifted. Found out while camping. Couldn't see it due to the enclosed floor but interesting leakage lead to its discovery. RV Trailer dealer fixed it stating that they had to replace bolts with larger size. Due to this thread, I am now thinking about opening up the floor to look at all of the tanks.
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Old 11-22-2017, 02:09 PM   #79
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I placed my fabricated bracket underneath the aft cross member that is supporting the tank, pushed it an inch or so forward for a more snug fit, and screwed it to the frame with the self drilling screws.
Well do. I have the 190RBXL, almost same trailer. Will check this out as I boondock with 56 gallons fresh. Thanks.
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Old 04-18-2018, 06:34 PM   #80
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The portion of the tank is supported by a frame cross member, which surprisingly is lighter weight than the angle iron. I was concerned this could deflect under the weight and let the tank drop. I welded a support bracket from angle iron that duplicated the forward bracket. Note that it has holes in it. These are used with self drilling screws to connect it to the frame, same as the forward support.
This part of the bracket on my rig was badly welded and eventually allowed the cross brace to sag. This allowed the tank to float, rubbing against other metal parts and eventually wear along an edge, which consequently burst. The tank had to be replaced (by me at my cost) and the support structure completely modified/changed to something substantial and actually useful.

This all happened in the first month of ownership of the brand new Heritage Glen 28RLT.
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