Got to be a better way.

I would say that getting rid of the thirty pounders and going down to the 20 pounders is not going to cause that much hardship. Unless you are winter camping, 20 pounds still lasts a long time.

Get a shorter rod

Under nfpa 58 & 1194reg's, tanks must be mechanically secured. To alter the mfgr design opens you to liability.

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Under nfpa 58 & 1194reg's, tanks must be mechanically secured. To alter the mfgr design opens you to liability.

Maybe the op needed to know that, but it don't seem to help him with the original problem......which is how to make his life a little easier(while still toeing the line with lawyers and police).

I camp in a fiver, so the suggestion to use 20lb tanks instead of 30..is a good one for me since my tanks are secured with bands around the middle of the tanks, and are easily adjusted for smaller tanks. They clamp down with a simple lever which is easily released and reclamped.

Maybe there is a way to secure the tanks on a travel trailer using that type of band, and in a way that makes all the lawyers and anal people happy.

Install a permanently mounted tank, like most motorhomes, and you never have to (or reasonably can) hoist it on or off. The disadvantage is needing to bring the RV to the propane fill place rather than just the cylinder; however, if the tank is sufficiently large, this may well not be a tremendous hardship with a bit of planning.

Has somebody come up with a better solution for filling propane tanks on towables?


I switched from 40lb tanksto 20lb because they are lighter (!) and you can get exchanges almost anywhere. I go to Home Depot and park right by the tool rental entrance where they do the propane exchange. There is usually someone to help with the carrying the tanks.

lol, I swear even the 20lb tanks are heavier than they were 20 years ago...

Aluminum cylinders.

A few years ago, I met a one-armed man in his 70's in a campground. He had a short mast and swing arm mounted on the tongue of his TT with a manual winch that he used to lift the 30lb LP cylinders on and off as needed. He used a folding luggage cart to haul them to his truck, and then used a bed mounted electric hoist to load them. The truck mounted hoist was much beefier since it was used for loading/unloading other items as well.

Tvov wrote:
lol, I swear even the 20lb tanks are heavier than they were 20 years ago...

Nah, they are actually lighter. Most of the exchange places only put 15lb in them now. That way you get to do it more often.