Hauling water
Whenever we go to the races in Joliet I travel with water tanks full only a 20 minute drive and buy water only if we run out. Headed to the race in Sparta KY about 6 hr drive no water hookup at CG bu...
Forum Discussion
Ralph Cramden wrote:SoundGuy wrote:
My beef with Coachmen (which is a Forest River company) is that as designed the 30 gal fresh water tank on my Freedom Express was inadequately supported so after the first fill it sagged noticeably, as shown in this pic.:M
I saw this as a matter of time before the tank would literally fall off the trailer but also because the pump intake hose was connected to a fitting on the tank sidewall there's no way the pump could fully empty the tank. I immediately had my dealer support the tank with metal braces, moved the pump intake hose down to the drain port, and later added my own 4' x 2' piece of wood as further support. Now I can travel with a full tank if necessary and the pump can empty the tank completely.
My 2014 model has an open underbelly so this was easy to spot but I pity those who have purchased a more recent model Freedom Express 192RBS which now has an enclosed underbelly as my understanding is Coachmen has done nothing to better support the fresh water tank. :(
Another fine example of the BS people get handed. Evidently Coachmen uses the same logic as Rockwood and that is let the buyer worry about it. Despite numerous people having tank failures in the last couple of years Rockwood continues with the piss poor design, steel not up to the task, and flimsy tanks. I understand at least on the Roo's they now have started installing the coroplast under liner for 2018? Hiding it will fix it I assume.
I don't know about what it does to a camping experience but if the tank pops out at highway speed I can assure you you'll have one he'll of a bad experience. It would probably tear up the axles / suspension at least, and hopefully not cause a traffic accident with any injuries or God forbid deaths. I reported my issues to the NHTSA as have many others but it fell on deaf ears apparently.
Those enclosed underbellies are the greatest. I pulled one down for a guy looking for an electrical problem on Heartland 5er. We found a half of a petrified sammich with a bite taken out of it, 3 Pepsi cans, enough hardware to build a trailer, along with a load of debris from the build.
