Hauling water

Huntindog wrote:

JBarca wrote:
Your note mentioned travel with "full tanks". Tanks being more then one. No one here yet talked about full black or gray tanks. In our case there is no way I would travel with full black or gray tanks long distances at full highways speeds. My tanks black and gray are ABS and held to the bottom of the camper floor joists (not the frame) with clips along the side. The center of these large surface area tanks are unsupported. The sag in the center of the tank when full tells me, no do not press my luck.

Something else not talked about is the change in loaded tongue weight with full tanks. This is a camper specific issue. If you have a several hundred pound TW increase or decrease this needs to be understood and compensated for. This reason alone may prevent some folks from being able to tow stable with a full fresh tank. And it may be worse with full black and gray at highways speeds. Around the campground to the dump station not an issue. Get out on the open road at speeds above 45mph and things change.

My TT came with 2- 42 gallon grey, 2-42 gallon Black, and 1 42 gallon fresh water tanks.
I carry a LOT of water jugs in the bed of the truck, and refill as needed. Most of out trips are remote backcountry boondocks. We always tow home with the tanks full, or close to it.

Water is simply not at the corner spigot where we go.

I would not have it any other way.

Hi Huntingdog

Agree with your style of camping. It is great to be in those remote back country camps. And agree your need to travel with full tanks, all of them.

Curious on your black and gray tank support system. Was there any type of cradle under the black and gray tanks? And how are they mounted to the camper?

As my post stated, my fresh tank has a cage under it. This tank is polyethylene since it is potable water. I have no concerns on the fresh tank at high way speeds.

My black and gray tanks are ABS. They are thermoformed to create the large bottom dish of the tank and welded on top is a lid creating the enclosed tank.

Theses ABS tanks are mounted into the floor joists of the camper. Screws into the wood and clips on the side. See the pics below. These large surface area tanks bow too much in my thought process to handle the tank shock of highway speed bumps and not have an issue. My TT manufacture is out of business now and I cannot confirm with them if they will hold.

Towing black and gray full tanks slow going is not a problem, been doing it since 2003 and no issues. We have a 35 gal gray and 40 gallon black tank. If I end up changing our camping locations to remote areas where I need to haul black and gray at highway speeds, then I would build a support frame under each tank and tie the support frame to the main frame rails.

How is yours setup?

See mine with the coroplast cover off. The black tank




The gray tank and the mounting clips. The black has the same clips screwed into the wood floor joists.






Curious on how others have their black and gray attached and supported.

Thanks

John