Hauling water

Good upgrade SoundGuy! That tank cannot move, and nice to be able to use ALL the water.

My tanks are frame supported, but have a couple thin metal straps looped under them. I wished mine had some iron under them, as they can still sag a little.

Jerry

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. :(

LarryJM wrote:

Huntindog wrote:
Water is an essential item... You can do without many things. Water is not one of them.

I find it strange that so many people will take a chance on such an item being available...

I guess those with inadequate TVs will do most anything other than buy a properly sized TV.

True and it's simply amazing to compare the water carriers here in this thread against those looking to match a TV to a TT and close to every one of those say they will NEVER carry water so that EXTRA WEIGHT isn't needed to be accounted for.

Larry

I have plenty of TV and 2k lbs leftover after loading for a trip on my trailers CCC. In 15 years of RV`ing I`v never hauled full water and never sorry that I did. everyone has their reasons for what they do and it doesn't make it right or wrong just there preference!

We rarely tow with a full water tank. Our tank on our Forest River is inside under a bench seat, so no real worry about it going anywhere.

The tank is in the front left corner, so if I tow with it full I try to put some weight opposite it in trailer to try to balance things... but it is not that big a deal, it is only a 30 gallon tank.

We usually carry a 5 gallon freshwater cooler in the truck for drinking water, as the water in our camper has always seemed to have a "plasticy" flavor to it.

I have never carried water, but I don't boondock, and we tend to go to the same campgrounds that have good water and are reliable. I used a simple in-line water filter works great. Carrying extra water never made sense when traveling we always used test stops or gas stations. To each their own, and that's not a bad thing.

I agree about chassis/axle/appliance failures being on the trailer manufacturer.

I know Lippert gets blamed, fairly or not, about their poor chassis and axles. I presume Lippert builds trailer chassis to the original trailer manufacturer's specs. So chassis failures are on the trailer builder, not Lippert.

If a trailer manufacturer buys off the shelf chassis from Lippert,
and experiences larger than normal chassis failures, then part of the problem is on Lippert, but part of the problem is STILL on the trailer builder. They should either get chassis built to their own specs, or find another chassis builder, if possible.

Ralph Cramden wrote:

Atlee wrote:
Then I would avoid a Forest River mini/ultra lite trailer.

mordecai81 wrote:
Some TTs are not designed to carry a full tank on the road. Forest River says there mini/ultra lite lines should carry only 1/3 of a tank when towed. The braces holding the fresh tank to the frame are incredibly light. My front brace was bent at a 30 degree angle from carrying a full load-it would have eventually failed completely. My helpful neighbor welded some angle iron to the front and rear braces so it's solid now.

That's a no brainer. The thing is they only tell people that after a problem. As stated in my post above its not just the mini lights or ultra lites that have the failures, and its not just FR either. The issue go's back to Lippert and the under engineered junk they produce, but the way I see it the RV manufacturer chooses that junk so its on them.

Huntindog wrote:
Water is an essential item... You can do without many things. Water is not one of them.

I find it strange that so many people will take a chance on such an item being available...

I guess those with inadequate TVs will do most anything other than buy a properly sized TV.

True and it's simply amazing to compare the water carriers here in this thread against those looking to match a TV to a TT and close to every one of those say they will NEVER carry water so that EXTRA WEIGHT isn't needed to be accounted for.

Larry

Atlee wrote:
Then I would avoid a Forest River mini/ultra lite trailer.

mordecai81 wrote:
Some TTs are not designed to carry a full tank on the road. Forest River says there mini/ultra lite lines should carry only 1/3 of a tank when towed. The braces holding the fresh tank to the frame are incredibly light. My front brace was bent at a 30 degree angle from carrying a full load-it would have eventually failed completely. My helpful neighbor welded some angle iron to the front and rear braces so it's solid now.

That's a no brainer. The thing is they only tell people that after a problem. As stated in my post above its not just the mini lights or ultra lites that have the failures, and its not just FR either. The issue go's back to Lippert and the under engineered junk they produce, but the way I see it the RV manufacturer chooses that junk so its on them.

Then I would avoid a Forest River mini/ultra lite trailer.

mordecai81 wrote:
Some TTs are not designed to carry a full tank on the road. Forest River says there mini/ultra lite lines should carry only 1/3 of a tank when towed. The braces holding the fresh tank to the frame are incredibly light. My front brace was bent at a 30 degree angle from carrying a full load-it would have eventually failed completely. My helpful neighbor welded some angle iron to the front and rear braces so it's solid now.

I have and do travel with full water tanks. However a full water tank in the past constitued only about 40 or less gallons of fresh water. With the new Jay Flight 23RB, I will normally only carry half a load of fresh water, since it holds 84 gallons when full.

I would never travel with dry fresh water tank/s. That's what fresh water tanks are for. If I don't travel with fresh water on board, why have fresh water tanks?

djcjc wrote:
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 but water can be bought. Anyone travel long distances with full water tanks or not a good idea?