Fresh water tank full when traveling?

It all depends. When I had my gas rig my water tank was 100 gallons and was behind the rear axle. I could easily tell how full the tank was based on loss of power and an increased sluggishness to the steering. So I rarely traveled with a full tank unless I was boondocking. With my DP the more weight I have the smoother the ride seems to be. So I always travel with it full.

When I first test drove my motorhome and was checking things out I noticed they had not only filled the fresh water tank, the black and the gray tanks were also full of clean water. Only thing that wasn't full was the fuel tank. I asked the salesman about that and he said they did it because it made the MH ride a lot better in the test drives. If everything is empty it's a real stiff ride.

DeWat wrote:
I can't speak to the sloshing effect, but I always fill my tank prior to traveling. I'm just one of those who likes to be prepared, and who knows when even a new MH will break down in the middle of nowhere. As far as expense goes, water weighs something like 8.24 or 8.34 lbs per gallon (not home and don't have the exact number at work), so you can always do the math to see the possible budget impact.

We agree 110% :)

I only carry about 25 gallons for the toilet. I drink bottled water so I don't worry about the taste and I don't have a dog. Ours cats will drink anything.

Camper Ken wrote:
Depending on our destination we sometimes need at least 1/2 tank of fresh water when traveling. Is it better to fill the tank completely to avoid the water sloshing around as much, at the expense of the extra weight?

we always keep our fresh water tank full or very nearly full. allows for more spontaneity when traveling and assures us that we'll never be surprised by bad water at a destination or overnight stop.

Sloshing isn't going to hurt anything and you won't hear it going down the road. We keep ours almost full to have enough to use while not parked in a campground.

As far as extra cost for having a full tank...well water is about 6# per gallon so if you have a 90 gallon tank, add about 540#s of water full, 1/2 would be around 250 so about the same if you took another guest along to go from 1/2 to full. I'd not worry about it because I doubt that would take enough extra fuel for you to notice unless your rig is underpowered pulling steep grades in the high country all day long.

The best advice is take enough you have for 2-3 days on the road without a stop/just in case of an emergency. It doesn't pay to go out empty!

no
bumpy

I have always travel with a full fresh water tank. Some places even the dog will not drink the local water.

We travel mostly during the Winter, out West, in sub-freezing temps. We always travel with a full fresh water tank and only hook up to park utilities when we need to top off our water tank or empty our waste tanks. Since we only spend a day or so at a location, it makes no sense to ever use the park water when it is easier to just turn on our pump. With a full water tank, and a light bulb in our insulated wet compartment we have never has any frozen water lines in temps down to zero.
Fill your water tank and fuel tank and get your unit weighed. If it does not exceed the axle weights, then you are good to go.

I find the rig rides smoother with a full tank of water. Takes some harshness out of the suspension.