Fresh Water Tank Dropped Out!
My partner and I are new to TT's, having recently (two months ago) bought a 2008 Coachmen Captiva TT and have used it only once. We plan to use it next weekend and are getting it ready. Yesterday ...
Forum Discussion
I have replaced the fresh water tank on my Coachman Captive 265EX. Removing the tank and re-installing the new tank was pretty easy. My coachman had a belly cover on it and removing and replacing the belly cover was the majority of the work.
My old tank had bowed considerably in the middle. This caused the tank to rub against a bolt which eventually rubbed a hole in the tank. I decided to replace my tank instead of patch the hole. Your tank may have bowed so much it was able to simply slip between the mounting rails??? I will describe how to fix this issue and keep it from recurring below. The retaining rails run the full length of the tank on each side... I highly doubt the retaining rails would break. The tank is mounted to the underside of the floor. If your tank retaining rails pulled out from the floor the floor is probably rotten and it is probably best to just push the trailer over a cliff.
Assuming no ROT issues:
I should note I removed all the tubing from the old tank before I removed the tank from the trailer. Since your tank fell out it possibly could have pulled the tubing off of the opposite end connections. I think you might be OK on this but I can't say for sure.
First thing you will want to do is drain the tank. The tank is relatively light and easy to handle when completely empty. Completely empty ALL water out of the tank! With any more than a cup of remaining water you will be fighting the water weight instead of just the tank weight.
I needed to jack my trailer up ~4"-6" for extra working room beneath the trailer. Make sure you support the trailer well with jack stands or what ever so the whole trailer doesn't fall on you while you are working (A standard automotive repair safety measure!)
You should be able to remount the tank without completely removing the retaining rails. You should be able to just loosen the screws in the retaining rails 3 or 4 turns then the retaining rails should be loose enough to push the tank between the two loose rails.
Make sure the hose clamp on the fill tube has the screw facing down. The hose clamp on mine came with the screw facing up which made loosening or tightening it from below the trailer impossible. (My hose clamp had some of that sticky gunk all over it which I had to remove before I could replace the tank).
I put a 5 gallon bucket of paint under the trailer where the new tank will go. I then put my new tank on top of bucket. I then shoved some ~24" long pieces of 2"x4" cribbing on top of the bucket but under the new tank to raise the tank up. Two people would probably be able to woman handle the tank without the extra support of the bucket.
Slip the end of the tank towards the back of the trailer into the rear retaining rail first. The tank butts up against a black metal box towards the rear of the trailer which makes it harder to get to. This is why I recommend doing the rear of the tank first. Then you can push the front of the tank into the front rail.
After the tank is hanging loosely between both rails you can tighten the screws in the retaining rails to secure the tank. There are several extra holes in the retaining rails that are unused. I would recommend getting a few extra similar hex head screws and fill in a few of the extra holes for extra security. The hex head retaining rail screws go into the wood floor. Removing and re-installing the screws could auger out the screw holes a bit making them weaker... hence a few extra for security. I re installed the hex head retaining rail screws by hand and carefully tightened them with a ratchet wrench to make sure I didn't over tighten them and strip out the screw holes in the wood.
There is a 4" hole going through the middle of both my old and new tanks to keep the top and bottom of the tanks from spreading. When I replaced my tank I used a car spare tire retaining bolt, plate and T nut with an extra piece of plywood to spread out the weight. After the tank was mounted I used the car spare tire retainer in the 4" hole in the middle of the tank to support the center of the tank. I figured I picked up 3 to 5 gallons of water capacity by supporting the middle of the tank as the previous tank drooped so much the bottom of the middle of the tank was several inches below the water exit bung so the tank could never completely empty.
Replacing the tank was pretty easy. Removing and replacing the belly skin was quite a bit more laborious but not too difficult.
To remove the belly skin I had to disconnect one propane connection on the middle right of the trailer to release the belly skin. There are 10 or so screws holding the belly skin in place. Remove the screws then the belly skin will slide out.
Replacing the belly skin was more difficult. Getting the screw holes in the belly skin to line up with the screw holes in the frame was a big hassle. I used an awl to help me line these up.
I had to bend the copper propane tube slightly after I removed the propane connection to get the skin out. Getting the propane fittings to line back up after replacing the belly skin was a hassle.
If you have any questions post here, I will try to keep an eye on this thread.
If you search my name and Coachmen Captiva you should find the thread where I posted the information for ordering the new tank and where I got it from. The new tank was a little over a couple hundred bucks.
You should have been able to fill your tank to the top without it dropping out! Poor design is what caused your problem not too much water! Supporting the center of the tank after you re install it like I described above should keep this problem from reoccurring!
I was quoted $2500 to replace the fresh water tank by one local RV repair shop. Another shop quoted me $100 diagnosis fee to evaluate the repair and quote the price of the replacement. I did the job myself for less than $250 and a couple hours of work.
BE CAREFUL!!!! If you call a repair service I will bet they will just reattach the bowed tank without any extra support which will just set you up for the incident to reoccur... (while moving????)
Coachmen could have used a simple metal strap to support the middle of the tank to eliminate this problem from ever occurring but that might have cost them maybe and extra $5. Besides all the tanks in these trailers should last through the warranty period and that is really all that counts!
My old tank had bowed considerably in the middle. This caused the tank to rub against a bolt which eventually rubbed a hole in the tank. I decided to replace my tank instead of patch the hole. Your tank may have bowed so much it was able to simply slip between the mounting rails??? I will describe how to fix this issue and keep it from recurring below. The retaining rails run the full length of the tank on each side... I highly doubt the retaining rails would break. The tank is mounted to the underside of the floor. If your tank retaining rails pulled out from the floor the floor is probably rotten and it is probably best to just push the trailer over a cliff.
Assuming no ROT issues:
I should note I removed all the tubing from the old tank before I removed the tank from the trailer. Since your tank fell out it possibly could have pulled the tubing off of the opposite end connections. I think you might be OK on this but I can't say for sure.
First thing you will want to do is drain the tank. The tank is relatively light and easy to handle when completely empty. Completely empty ALL water out of the tank! With any more than a cup of remaining water you will be fighting the water weight instead of just the tank weight.
I needed to jack my trailer up ~4"-6" for extra working room beneath the trailer. Make sure you support the trailer well with jack stands or what ever so the whole trailer doesn't fall on you while you are working (A standard automotive repair safety measure!)
You should be able to remount the tank without completely removing the retaining rails. You should be able to just loosen the screws in the retaining rails 3 or 4 turns then the retaining rails should be loose enough to push the tank between the two loose rails.
Make sure the hose clamp on the fill tube has the screw facing down. The hose clamp on mine came with the screw facing up which made loosening or tightening it from below the trailer impossible. (My hose clamp had some of that sticky gunk all over it which I had to remove before I could replace the tank).
I put a 5 gallon bucket of paint under the trailer where the new tank will go. I then put my new tank on top of bucket. I then shoved some ~24" long pieces of 2"x4" cribbing on top of the bucket but under the new tank to raise the tank up. Two people would probably be able to woman handle the tank without the extra support of the bucket.
Slip the end of the tank towards the back of the trailer into the rear retaining rail first. The tank butts up against a black metal box towards the rear of the trailer which makes it harder to get to. This is why I recommend doing the rear of the tank first. Then you can push the front of the tank into the front rail.
After the tank is hanging loosely between both rails you can tighten the screws in the retaining rails to secure the tank. There are several extra holes in the retaining rails that are unused. I would recommend getting a few extra similar hex head screws and fill in a few of the extra holes for extra security. The hex head retaining rail screws go into the wood floor. Removing and re-installing the screws could auger out the screw holes a bit making them weaker... hence a few extra for security. I re installed the hex head retaining rail screws by hand and carefully tightened them with a ratchet wrench to make sure I didn't over tighten them and strip out the screw holes in the wood.
There is a 4" hole going through the middle of both my old and new tanks to keep the top and bottom of the tanks from spreading. When I replaced my tank I used a car spare tire retaining bolt, plate and T nut with an extra piece of plywood to spread out the weight. After the tank was mounted I used the car spare tire retainer in the 4" hole in the middle of the tank to support the center of the tank. I figured I picked up 3 to 5 gallons of water capacity by supporting the middle of the tank as the previous tank drooped so much the bottom of the middle of the tank was several inches below the water exit bung so the tank could never completely empty.
Replacing the tank was pretty easy. Removing and replacing the belly skin was quite a bit more laborious but not too difficult.
To remove the belly skin I had to disconnect one propane connection on the middle right of the trailer to release the belly skin. There are 10 or so screws holding the belly skin in place. Remove the screws then the belly skin will slide out.
Replacing the belly skin was more difficult. Getting the screw holes in the belly skin to line up with the screw holes in the frame was a big hassle. I used an awl to help me line these up.
I had to bend the copper propane tube slightly after I removed the propane connection to get the skin out. Getting the propane fittings to line back up after replacing the belly skin was a hassle.
If you have any questions post here, I will try to keep an eye on this thread.
If you search my name and Coachmen Captiva you should find the thread where I posted the information for ordering the new tank and where I got it from. The new tank was a little over a couple hundred bucks.
You should have been able to fill your tank to the top without it dropping out! Poor design is what caused your problem not too much water! Supporting the center of the tank after you re install it like I described above should keep this problem from reoccurring!
I was quoted $2500 to replace the fresh water tank by one local RV repair shop. Another shop quoted me $100 diagnosis fee to evaluate the repair and quote the price of the replacement. I did the job myself for less than $250 and a couple hours of work.
BE CAREFUL!!!! If you call a repair service I will bet they will just reattach the bowed tank without any extra support which will just set you up for the incident to reoccur... (while moving????)
Coachmen could have used a simple metal strap to support the middle of the tank to eliminate this problem from ever occurring but that might have cost them maybe and extra $5. Besides all the tanks in these trailers should last through the warranty period and that is really all that counts!
