Hauling water

SoundGuy wrote:

rbpru wrote:
So, after all this typical diatribe the answer to the OP question is,

Some folks always carry a full tank of water.
Some folks never carry water or only enough for use in transit.
Some folk only carry what they think they will need for the trip.

The choice is up to the OP.

So why is this discussion a diatribe? ... I don't see anything offered that's "bitter" or "abusive". :h Obviously each one of us makes our own choice, based on our own preferences, but newbies especially likely appreciate the commentary offered in this discussion.

I agree. Some, probably most, will carry lots of water as we travel. Before the OP makes this decision it was important to inform him/her that on "some" trailers, carrying a full tank down the road can and has caused some serious problems. So, yes it is up to the OP but he/she needs to know the ramifications of the decision. I thought this thread did a good job of showing this.

rbpru wrote:
So, after all this typical diatribe the answer to the OP question is,

Some folks always carry a full tank of water.
Some folks never carry water or only enough for use in transit.
Some folk only carry what they think they will need for the trip.

The choice is up to the OP.

So why is this discussion a diatribe? ... I don't see anything offered that's "bitter" or "abusive". :h Obviously each one of us makes our own choice, based on our own preferences, but newbies especially likely appreciate the commentary offered in this discussion.

So, after all this typical diatribe the answer to the OP question is,

Some folks always carry a full tank of water.
Some folks never carry water or only enough for use in transit.
Some folk only carry what they think they will need for the trip.

The choice is up to the OP.

Some of you do nice work on your trailers that the factory neglected to do from the get go.

Nice job people! :)

ktmrfs wrote:
John:

On the black and grey tanks. On ours, the black and grey tank flanges are captured the whole length by cross braces for the trailer frame. One one side it is captured by the big permanent cross brace, on the other by a shorter removable cross brace. So it has support the whole length on both sides, but not underneath.

If I understand correctly yours only has a few brackets supporting the tank. I'd be suspicious as well if mine was that way.

On the fresh tank it has straps across since it has no flange. I added a bottom support of 3/4" plywood under the whole fresh tank for support.

We've traveled about 25K miles in ours, virtually always with a full fresh tank. Since we dry camp a lot, I've gone significant distances with the grey and black full before dumping many a time.

And since I have a dump station at home, even when the CG has a dump station, I most often drive home and dump at home if the distance is less than a few hundred miles.

Grey and black tanks are each 32 gallons.

Hi ktmrfs,

Thanks for the description. Your black and gray setup sounds a whole lot better then ours.

Thanks again

John

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.

The savings must be enough to lose a few sales.

John:

On the black and grey tanks. On ours, the black and grey tank flanges are captured the whole length by cross braces for the trailer frame. One one side it is captured by the big permanent cross brace, on the other by a shorter removable cross brace. So it has support the whole length on both sides, but not underneath.

If I understand correctly yours only has a few brackets supporting the tank. I'd be suspicious as well if mine was that way.

On the fresh tank it has straps across since it has no flange. I added a bottom support of 3/4" plywood under the whole fresh tank for support.

We've traveled about 25K miles in ours, virtually always with a full fresh tank. Since we dry camp a lot, I've gone significant distances with the grey and black full before dumping many a time.

And since I have a dump station at home, even when the CG has a dump station, I most often drive home and dump at home if the distance is less than a few hundred miles.

Grey and black tanks are each 32 gallons.

Always travel with fresh water tank full. That way we are ready for anything we find.

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

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.