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Towing the Toy Hauler with a full fresh water tank?

dpkimmel2001
Explorer
Explorer
My Raptor Toy Hauler has a 110 gallon fresh water tank. We do a lot of dry camping and normally fill up the tank on arrival. It takes a while to fill that tank up. We are heading to Assateague this week and will be staying about an hour away before we check in on Friday. I could easily fill the tank where we are staying the night before our arrival. I have no problem hauling the extra weight. I am just concerned how well a full fresh water tank will haul. Should I be concerned about the structural integrity when hauling that weight in that tank? Bottom line..... Should I be concerned about this tank dropping out of the bottom of my unit while driving down the road? Calm my fears.

Thanks for any reply.
2013 Raptor 300MP
2008 GMC 2500 6.6 DMax SuperCrew
23 REPLIES 23

Jim-Linda
Explorer II
Explorer II
beemerphile1 wrote:
I would be very unhappy if any trailer I owned wasn't capable of carrying the weight of full tanks.

My Weekend Warrior holds 100 gallons of fresh water and I always leave home with the tanks full.

You won't find any baffles in the tanks. A full tank won't have room to slosh, a partial tank will. I have never felt any movement due to sloshing when I did travel with a partial tank. Does your tow vehicle roll back and forth when the fuel tank is half full?

Jim-Linda wrote:
FWIW, '98 HH Champagne, 90 gal tank, been traveling with full tank for 16 years, water still in tank, tank still under trailer....


Naw, I just dump a gallon or son of bleach in every couple of years..........

Jim

Maybe it is time for some fresh water after 16 years? :B

Lantley
Nomad
Nomad
goducks10 wrote:
I have never read anywhere in the 3 trailers that I've own/owned that said you couldn't travel with the fresh water tanks full. We also travel with the black and grey full since some of the CG's we go to don't have dump stations. Do these RV manf really expect owners to just use full hookups or fill when they get there?

Exactly.
Fill the tank up and go. If the tank falls out the unit is defective no different than any other component on the RV.
The grey and /or black tank could fall out while your just sitting at the CG as well. I don't think there is any concern about using them.
Toy haulers in particular are designed with boondocking in mind.
I travel with full tanks all the time. I certainly would not waste 30 minutes of camping time filling my fresh tanks upon arrival.
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portscanner
Explorer
Explorer
I ran my Weekend Warrior with 100 gallons of water and never had any problem with the tanks.

Actually, the water tanks were about the only thing that didnt leak or fall off that trailer.
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goducks10
Explorer
Explorer
I have never read anywhere in the 3 trailers that I've own/owned that said you couldn't travel with the fresh water tanks full. We also travel with the black and grey full since some of the CG's we go to don't have dump stations. Do these RV manf really expect owners to just use full hookups or fill when they get there?

Turn_Key
Explorer
Explorer
If your trailer can't handle a full water tank, why didn't they make it strong enough? That said, you don't want to tow 100+ gallons of water further then you have to but an hour won't effect your mileage that much and will save you a bit of time on arrival. Go for it.

Happy Camping!
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belfert
Explorer
Explorer
I had a Jayco Talon toyhauler previously. We hauled fairly long distances with a full 100 gallon water tank because were were in a rural area with no water available. I have a bus conversion now and we carry about 50 gallons cross country to run the toilet and such. There is no chance of the tank falling out of the bus conversion.

We never drink from the tank because some of the places we get water have arsenic in the water.

fj12ryder
Explorer III
Explorer III
It wouldn't be a bad idea to check the straps that support the tank. I checked mine on our Fuzion after reading about someone having their water tank fall out because the strap bolts came out. When I checked mine I had a couple bolts backed out nearly all the way and a few other loose. It's cheap insurance to check 'em out.
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mr__ed
Explorer
Explorer
I always travel with empty holding tanks and a minimal amount in the fresh water tank. I can't see hauling a lot of liquid at 8 lbs/gallon. But then, I'm not boondocking like you. What I would do (if possible) is leave the tank mostly empty until you get relatively near your destination. Then fill the tank at that time. Of course, this supposes there will be a water source available. May not work all the time but it's a thought...
Mr. Ed (fulltiming since 1987)
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K3WE
Explorer
Explorer
Ok, there's lots of folks who usually travel with 10 to 20 gal of water because a full tank is a chunk of weight and the ride and milage might be adversely affected- a little bit anyway.

But the bottom line is your call and your needs.

If you want/need to travel with it full- do that.
If you want/need to travel win 20 or 10 or 0 gallons of water- that's fine too.

discovery4us
Explorer
Explorer
I had a raptor 36ds12 and always traveled with full tanks, fresh going and grey and black coming home and never had a problem. That being said I was helping a friend flip axles on a 30' raptor bumper tow and while we were under it we noticed that one of the two support straps holding his fresh water tank was snapped. Might not hurt to check the tank supports periodically but I feel safe traveling with full tanks.

wanderingbob
Explorer II
Explorer II
Your toy hauler is made to haul two or three Harleys , do not worry about the water .

gcloss
Explorer
Explorer
I never have more than a few gallons of fresh water because we always go to CG with full hookups, except next week and I have the same concerns about traveling with a full tank just as the OP has.

Just last week there was a thread on here about water tanks falling out.

Water Tank Fell Out
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Marsland
Explorer
Explorer
I recently read a post from someone who's tank fell out. They were traveling with 3/4 tank water and the consensus was that a full or close to empty tank was the prefered way to travel. A tank with 1/2 to 3/4 full tank allows for substantial sloshing around. The support structure for the tank was also brought into question. I personnally never had a problem. Never had quite that large of water capacity but have gone thru a number of RV's. As far as baffles in fresh water tanks goes, I've never seen any with baffles. Not in black water tanks (for obvious reasons) or grey water either.
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jrwhited
Explorer
Explorer
We travel with full tanks all the time, no problems.while in the area check out tall pines harbor campground great people own it!!