Arctic Fox Tank Issues

brholt wrote:
There is a potential issue with over filling the fresh water tank. In particular if you attach a hose to the fresh water fill and the water supply has significant pressure you can "balloon" the fresh water tank since the tank vent is not of sufficient size to relieve the pressure. If it is off the truck it will, and some here have reported it, break the tank support ribs.

This is really operator error as the manual explicitly warns about this.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We almost always use ours off the truck when not winter camping. Manual describes the support required for off truck storage/use. It's easy and we like the easier access and less sway.

You can find posts here about Arctic Fox tasks falling through their floor. Search the archives to find out what years.

From what I remember the fix was reinforcing or replacing the support bands that hold up the tanks.

We haven't had problem one with ours and we routinely unload with full tanks, potable, grey, or black- depending upon timing of unload during the trip- using only the jacks for support while off the truck.

That being said, we do store our 990 as per recommendations in the manual, with three 2x6's under the belly.

BBF

There is a potential issue with over filling the fresh water tank. In particular if you attach a hose to the fresh water fill and the water supply has significant pressure you can "balloon" the fresh water tank since the tank vent is not of sufficient size to relieve the pressure. If it is off the truck it will, and some here have reported it, break the tank support ribs.

This is really operator error as the manual explicitly warns about this.

I've had an Eagle Cap 1150 and the tank DID push to bottom out. (2005) The fresh water tank was supported by plumbers tape!
I have an Arctic Fox and the bottom under the fresh water tank is supported by TWO aluminum frame cross members.
The aluminum cross members look as if they have sagged under the weight of the fresh water tank (I've had the bottom off the camper to dry it out due to a water hose leak soaking) when I looked at them.


So. . .MY recommendation for the Arctic Fox is not to worry about it too much. Just to be safe, keep support under the camper when it is off the truck and with a FULL tank of fresh water.
If you can't, don't worry too much. . .just use up the water and it will reduce the stress. . .

No problem with tanks falling out from our 1140 and we use it off the truck a lot. AF does recommend "storing" it on three rows of 2X6's, one under each end of the floor and one across the middle.

My feeble brain recalls that in the 2000-2002 era AF campers could NOT be used off of the truck if there was water in the tank.

Myself and a friend looked at them while camper shopping. The salesman told us the weight of the tanks needed to be supported by the bed of the truck.

Needless to say, I ended up with a Fleetwood Elkhorn and my friend ended up with a Citian.

The AF 992 is one of my favorites. I like the rear kitchen and the decent dry bath. There are a lot of AF owners who use their TCs while off the trucks.
I unload occasionally but I do support the under belly with (3) 2X4s on adjustable jack stands. I like the idea of having the extra support but its mainly to keep the TC stable while off the truck. The 2X4s and jacks stow neatly along the sides of the truck bed and out of the way before loading the TC, so its no big deal if you want take along a few items like this for the added support.

We looked at a 992 for a bit, sure didn't care for the bedroom access and the way it worked with the slide in.

But there is the odd old remark about tanks falling out of some different rigs. I would expect most are much better now, and likely problems came from a floor soaking to soften up the tank holding members before things went south. In any case, imagine building a tank that holds 500 pounds, and figuring out how you will support it so that there is no sag or strain.

Arctic Fox has no issue with tank support.

I've filled my tank off the truck with no failures. I had to repair mine but it was due to aluminum frame cracks I found while making another repair.

Sea Stories about these types of issue spread far and wide ever so many months but if it happens to be true, then there was a structural failure.