Holding Tanks Size, what to look for?

Partly it depends on how you want to use it. If you tend to have full hookups its not that big of a deal. If you want to boondock tanks size is very important. Also depends upon how many people in your camper and how water savvy they are. It's easier to add more fresh water than it is to drain tanks. Some places you can get power and water but you have to move to dump tanks, honey wagon or the stinky blue tote.

When all is said and done it's our kitchen gray that always fills up first, then the shower gray and last but not least to 2 blacks.

Good luck

We have 48 gal fresh, 2 - 40 gal blacks (80 gal) and 2 - 40 gal grays (80 gal)

We just picked up a trailer for wife last Nov, never thought about the fresh water fill before because never had a problem but on this 2013 the fill spout is on right hand side, just aft of the axles. Which puts it under the awning. What a goof ball place for a fill. Try filling it without spilling any water which will make a mud hole later!

Aside from that the location of the tanks should be thought about also. Example: I can fill up our fresh water tank and RV tows just about the same. Tank is located just rear of axles. People with large tanks way up front or rear, can use the water weight to add or subtract tongue weight if they wanted. Of course you still need the weight and towing capacity to haul around the water weight.

But all things being equal, bigger tanks need less filling and last longer.

On the discharge side of things...When our slide is out the handle for the valve is difficult to reach. Like on my hands and knees to get under slide out to the pull handle. A valve pull "helper stick" in the works.

Hope this helps.

It really does depend on your camping style.
We like having a large FW tank. Ours is 80 gallons. But I'd sure like a larger GW tank since ours is only 32 gallons. It usually fills up first. It takes quite a while to fill the BW tank. We manage our tanks by washing dishes in a dishpan, and then dumping that in the BW tank. Extra soapy water in the BW tank is usually a good thing to help break up solids.

That said, after having the large FW tank, I don't think I could go back to a 40 gallon FW tank again.

For what it is worth:
We snow bird and are two weeks at a time at one state park

We have a 40 gallon black and a 40 gallon gray.

The 40 gallon black will be good for two weeks with just my wife using it and me using the parks facility.
For one week it is good for both of us.

On the gray we both use the parks shower facility and then the last few days use our own shower, and also dump the dish washing into it and it will fill up in just a few days.

Lots of time I use the blue boy for carrying the gray so we can take showers in our own bath room.

Jack L

I would hate to just have a 26 gallon black and gray

path1 wrote:
We just picked up a trailer for wife last Nov, never thought about the fresh water fill before because never had a problem but on this 2013 the fill spout is on right hand side, just aft of the axles. Which puts it under the awning. What a goof ball place for a fill. Try filling it without spilling any water which will make a mud hole later!

Aside from that the location of the tanks should be thought about also. Example: I can fill up our fresh water tank and RV tows just about the same. Tank is located just rear of axles. People with large tanks way up front or rear, can use the water weight to add or subtract tongue weight if they wanted. Of course you still need the weight and towing capacity to haul around the water weight.

But all things being equal, bigger tanks need less filling and last longer.

On the discharge side of things...When our slide is out the handle for the valve is difficult to reach. Like on my hands and knees to get under slide out to the pull handle. A valve pull "helper stick" in the works.

Hope this helps.

If you spill any water filling won't the mud hole be dry by the time you get home from camping?

turtypointbuck wrote:
Hello all,
I am on the hunt for my first TT or fiver. One thing I have found is the huge variation in holding tank sizes.
eg.
Cross Roads Sunset Trail Lite
Fresh 40
Gray 26
Black 26

Cross Roads Sunset Trail Reserve
Fresh 40
Black 40
Gray 80

Obviously a very large Fresh water holding tank is desirable for no hook-ups camping. Beyond that, can you provide insight into what to look for and why. Are the capacities on the above Lite camper too small?

Thanks in advance.

As already mentioned both a large FW and grey tank is ideal, but just as important is the grey tank should be close to or multiples of your FW tank. This ensures you can use all your FW w/o worrying about having to dump. IMO the first set of tanks in your example are mismatched since I can see using 40gal of FW and having more than 26gal of grey water from that 40 gal. A better match would have been a 40gal FW and 32 gal grey. You second example is even better since you can go thru two FW tanks of water and never fill up your grey tank once.



Larry

I have 80 (fresh) and 36/36/36 (Black/Gray/Wash).

The answer depends on your use pattern.

Always hooked to a full hookup park... Who needs tanks,, Neighbor down the drive a few sites has a FEMA unit, he does not have tanks at all, No fresh, No black, NO gray, standard flusher like you have in your sticks and bricks.

IF you spend a lot of time "Off the grid" as it were, without hookups then you need lots of fresh water and LOTS OF Waste, epically black.

As others have stated, if you plan to camp where there is full hookups then the size of the holding tank and FW tank is of little importance. If you plan to boondock a good bit then you you would want larger tanks. If you stay at mostly state parks where there is water and electric but now sewer, then again you will want larger tanks to avoid or reduce the number of trips to the dump station.

I can deal better with a smaller gray tank then I can a small black tank. I have no problem loading up my gray tote with gray water to take to the dump, don't really want to deal with black water that way.

I have been looking at new mh's lately and have been amazed at how many have sleeping room for 6-8 people but holding tanks fit for 2.

I have also found that size of FW versus gray and black is meaningless if you drink a lot of beer....

My opinion

The large gray water capacity is most important. That is the tank which will require dumping the most frequently. It will be the tank which requires you to dump the most.

Nice sized fresh water is important - but it is a lot easier to get/ add more water than to go dump the gray.

A general rule of thumb is always have enough gray and black tank capacity to hold all the fresh water the rig can carry.

Another thing to look at - on the second rig you've listed - it has one Fresh water tank, one Black water tank, and TWO Gray water tanks.

Look to see if both gray water tanks drain to the same dump outlet - or will you have to dump the front tanks, pull forward and dump the rear tank.

Wow..all great responses with many things I had not thought of. More research to do.
Thank you all.