How common is common.

[diazr2]

I have been reading a thread about holding tanks falling out of a rig while traveling down the road.. I have been RVing for over 50 years and had never seen this happen. Or heard about this happening I kept reading the thread and lots of folks said this is a common occurrence ... So how common is this. I live in a tourist town lots and lots of RVs pass by every day. Many more in the summer months but not a day goes by that at least a couple of hundred are in town. I have never seen a tank laying on the ground. Never seen anyone trying to fix a tank laying on the ground. I have seen them fixing bearings on the side of the road passed by many air conditioner cowlings that have flown off. Seen rigs lots of rigs with their hoods up, trying to change serpentine belts and water hoses. Seen tow chains laying on the ground seen all sorts of problems but not a single tank on the ground. So how common? I think it would be great to hear just how many people this has happen to. I am already amazed that in this one thread there are at least four people that said yes indeed it has happen to them. So how many more? Please share your experience with tanks falling out of your rigs. If enough folks tell me it has happen to them I am going to climb under the rig and place some braces up there for sure. It will be fun to see just how common this is and where the heck have I been for the last 50 years???? I would like to keep this contained to people who have seen it happen or has happen to. Because with that latest thread I just read there are now hundreds more people that have heard about it. So only first hand experience.

[Heavy_Metal_Doc]

My fresh water tanks is not falling out - it's above the trailer floor, mounted under the bed. My only issue with traveling full or empty is an issue of tongue weight, since the bed is at the front.
Now black and grey tanks are hung underneath, so I try to dump them just before any traveling.

[Steve1950]

I never had a tank fall out, but I was issued a recall on my trailer to strengthen the water tank support.
My understanding the tank was supported around the top by a flange molded into the tank. Filling the tank could make the tank sag and the molded flange could slip out of the top only support. The fix was install straps under the tank.

[toedtoes]

Durb wrote:
The owners manual for my 5er says that the tanks were not designed to run full and don't do it because it puts undo stresses on them. I am thinking "WHAT?" Its a good thing I am a lightweight and generally camp in places with a water spigot.

Love it. They install a 50+ gallon water tank and then tell you not to fill it. Sounds like a scam to me... :R

Fortunately, my clipper was built in the days when the purpose of having a water tank was to be able to travel with it full... 😄

[Durb]

The owners manual for my 5er says that the tanks were not designed to run full and don't do it because it puts undo stresses on them. I am thinking "WHAT?" Its a good thing I am a lightweight and generally camp in places with a water spigot.

[Passin_Thru]

I've drive 3 million miles and never have seen it. My wife had a Toyota hatchback and had lived in Il for 5 years and her gas tank fell off in LA.

[_1nobby]

When I first took delivery of my 5 year old new to me trailer, I dropped all the coroplast to have a look see inspection of the underneath.

The tanks are all in between beams and have a steel 2" wide band holding them up and keeping the beams from spreading.

Looks solid enough. Also....I always travel with a full tank of water. I fill it at home where I know the quality of the water....so far I've done more dry camping than anything.... My water tank is built as an "H" structure....no sag.

[big_murph_279]

My old trailer was a Salem by Forest River. Towed it all over the east coast with water in the fresh tank. Held 40 gallons. Never a problem. It was right over the axles and towed great. My new trailer is a Flagstaff super lite. It has a covered underbelly so I can't see what it is supported by. Also don't know the exact placement but I guess it would be above the drain which is close to the axle. Anybody know if it is safe to tow with water in this model?

[TurnThePage]

It would be interesting to develop a database of the manufacturers that install their tanks that way. Can't imagine they all do it. Mine is kind of old but came from the factory with supports similar to what SoundGuy had done after the fact. I wonder if it only applies to certain sized tanks. Mine is a 50 gallon model.

[Community Alumni]

The reason why this isn't an epidemic is probably because most people don't travel with full tanks of water. Water hookups at sites are everywhere these days so you only really need a little bit of water just for the road. I think manufacturers take advantage of this and design minimalist supports for that majority. They'll then put notes in the manuals warning against traveling with full tanks. If we all still traveled with full tanks, I think we would see even more tanks dropping out with the current supports.

[Halmfamily]

We lost our water tank in our 2015 FR fifth wheel last spring. We were pulling out of our driveway and heard a loud boom, stopped, got out to see what I hit. The water tanks main bracket failed, tank 3/4 full per gauge, and fell out taking the coroplast with it. It was as being held up by the coroplast and what was left of the frame. We were able to drain the tank and remove it. Gorilla taped the coroplast and an hour later back on the road.

FR stepped up and sent a factory tech to our dealer with a new tank, new tank frame and coroplast. They welded the frame on this time not relying on screws to hold it in. Replaced all 36' of coroplast also.

When the bracket/frame failed it was loud. Sounded like a bomb went off. Just glad we were not on the interstate when it happened.

[eDUBz]

Before we left on our trip to Texas in July I filled up our 50 Gallon water tank and it fell out in our drive way. Took about 2 hours to put it back together. The two metal straps were sagging and the bolts failed.

[classicdude]

When we first bought our camper, I found that I lost fresh water suction way before I ran out of water. When I checked under the camper, I found that the tank bottom sagged enough to allow much of the water to be below the suction line.
I also found that the tank was only held up by resting on an angle iron on the front and back of the tank. As the tank sagged, the edges moved inward, effectively pulling it off it's supports! It only had about 1/2" of tank sitting on the support on each side. I now understand why the dealer told me not to travel with a tank of water. That's their solution to poor construction I guess. Anyway, I added several steel support straps so I COULD carry a full tank of water safely.

[CavemanCharlie]

Chuck_thehammer wrote:
I think its NOT common.. and maybe 1 in a 10,000.. or less.

I have traveled all over this country . 48 years worth..

Work, Vacation, motorcycling. never seen a RV tank hanging .. almost everything else.. but not a RV storage tank.


Back in the Day... metal gas tanks hanging from under cars... YES... many.
2 thin metal straps hold a metal tank and 25 gallons of gas.. and winter Rust.. and TAR as a Rust retardant.

I had a buddy back in the day that had a Ford Falcon. It was about 20 years old by this time and was very rusty. The springs rusted off the back of the car and poked through into the trunk. After that when he went over a big bump the gas tank would drag on the ground and throw sparks. :E We told him that he should get that fixed. So he crawled under the car and wired a 6X6 block of wood to the top of the axle to keep the car higher. That worked but, it the car sure rode rough after that. 😛

[dewey02]

Given your Webster's dictionary definition, I would say it is uncommon.
It is not "usual" for a water tank to fall out.
But does it occur frequently or habitually? I think you need definitions for those words as well. What is frequent? Given the hundreds of thousands of RVs on the road, I would guess it happens more often than you may think. But as a percentage of total RV owners - probably pretty small percentage.

As Dirty Harry said: "Do you feel lucky? Well...do you?"
If yes, then don't even peek down there.
If not, then an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.