Fresh water

Do you know the quality of the water at the nearby source?

If you're going 150 miles, you will probably not use any water while traveling.
I would fill it at home. You know the quality of the water. And, the weight won't make any real difference in your MPG.
I fill the water tank on our 96 Southwind before we travel. I've never had any problems with the weight. And it's nice to have water while traveling.

If I know there's water near my destination, I fill when I get there. That typically only applies if I'm going to a known location where I've been before, and know there's water.

I can feel the extra weight of a full water tank when I drive, so when I am on the first leg of a trip, I travel empty if possible.

We don't have an outside hose at home. Nine time out of ten, we take I77 to get to a destination. Rest stops north and south of our exit have water and dump stations. We fill there, and dump there if boondocking.

We always travel full of water - one less thing to mess with when we get there.

And there you have it, about half of the people travel empty and about half of them travel full. It comes down to whatever makes you happy unless you're overloaded to start with.

Bill

I always travel with full water.

1) I know its good water. Campgrounds on wells may taste fine but could still introduce microbes to your water system
2) I don't have to waste time looking for and filling the tank on the road.
3) I have water in case of emergency (i.e. getting stranded for extra days due to snow, or in the summer due to forest fire closures).
4) My trailer tows better with full water. It's basically 800 pounds of ballast sitting over the axles. I notice more side-to-side motion of the trailer with high winds if its empty.

I only travel with about 10 gal in the water tank. That way if we stop and have to go into trailer to use bathroom, I have flush water. Then I will fill at camp site or close option. My tank is in front of wheels and full would add to tongue weight. Plus the sloshing of 500lbs of water degrades the towing experience.

Both fresh water tanks full for me.

Trackrig wrote:
We always travel full of water - one less thing to mess with when we get there.l

This

Tracking said, "And there you have it, about half of the people travel empty and about half of them travel full. It comes down to whatever makes you happy unless you're overloaded to start with."

Very well said and very well put! And that settles it!

Personally, I transport empty, and carry a 6 gallon jug in the camper with water from home. When we get to our destination, we'll use the water from home for coffee, boiling spaghetti, stuff like that. But normal drinking, is usually right out of the faucet.

I don't want to drag the extra weight if I don't have to, and although it's never happened to me, and many people successfully have never had this problem, I am still concerned about water tanks falling under the RV when they are full. (call me a chicken! that's ok. But my tank is still there!)