Traveling with a full water tank

[flintshooter]

My wife has been researching TT in anticipation of buying a new one and came across an interesting comment. A fellow camper was traveling with a full water tank and at some point on the journey, the tank fell off while driving. When they contacted the manufacturer they were told it is not covered under warranty. Further, they were told that the warranty specifically warns against this practice. I know we travel with a full tank (30 gallons)if we know there is no hookup where we are going and after reading the forums for some time it appears to be a common practice. Any of you folks heard about this or had any experience with a self ejecting tank?

[69_Avion]

Lynnmor wrote:
The frame on my KZ cracked at all four attachment points of the cross-members that support the water tank. Lippert, the frame maunfacturer, said that I am not to travel with water in any of the tanks. Cracks were found after just 4000 miles. You talk about junk!!!

If you can't travel with water in any of the tanks, then how do you plan on camping. LOL

They should be out of business.

[ewarnerusa]

INteresting. We ALWAYS leave home with a full fresh water tank and full water heater. We boondock 100% of the time and have not yet ever used a campground with hookups. I was so shocked after reading this thread that some MFG actually say not to travel with full tanks, so I check my manual because I know our TT is sort of a budget model (Dutchmen - Aspen Trail). The manual says nothing about traveling empty, full, or half full. It just makes it very clear in several different sections that one should account for their water weight when estimating cargo weight. It says that the tanks are designed to bulge downward during filling so as not to damage the trailer floor by bulging upward. It says to not add any support beams beneath the tanks for this reason.

[timjcarter9]

jmtandem wrote:
I think the bigger problem is if the tank is half full and it starts sloshing around and that weight (8.3 pounds per gallon) is sufficient to damage the tank and supports. A full tank should not be that much of an issue unless perhaps on a very bumpy road. Shame on any manufacturer that cannot make a tank support that supports the tank when full.

That is what my owners manual says. Travel with it full or completely empty. Because of the sloshing.

[MitchF150]

My water tank has additional support by what looks like a DIY project.. Uses 1" or 1.5" angle iron running under the tank like a chassis on a truck and is supported on either end along a cross member.. It was this way when bought brand new, so don't know if the dealer or Fleetwood did it??

Anyway, been traveling with 30 gallons in it all the time for the past 11 years and it's not fallen off yet! 🙂

Good luck!

Mitch

[bradnailer]

hilandfrog wrote:
Absolutely ridiculous that one can not take what they would like with them.

For those saying fill up when you get there, why?


Repo

Well, I've been doing this for 35 years and never had a problem. It's like most everything else, it's a matter of preference and I prefer to pull empty.

[nevadanick]

Ours is a KZ and the holding tanks are the only ones underneath and i haved towed withem full down some nasty dirt, gravel and paved roads and in 6 years they have not been a problem. If it was i would probably just fix it myself and bash on the frame builder as a side hobby.

[mpfireman]

In reading all of the posts, I guess carrying a full tank of water is one sure way of determining if you have a quality built trailer. WHO would ever MFG a camping unit not designed to carry anything in there tanks. It is not a rational thought.
As stated, we try to carry as little as possible, BUT sometimes that decision is not feasible due to camping destination, and time off the grid.
Reminds us of Detroit years back. They produced cars that were really bad, until they got a wake up call and found them self lagging in sales to the foreign market.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Lynnmor wrote:
The frame on my KZ cracked at all four attachment points of the cross-members that support the water tank. Lippert, the frame maunfacturer, said that I am not to travel with water in any of the tanks. Cracks were found after just 4000 miles. You talk about junk!!!

WOW! I'm learning what RV NOT to buy when I'm in the market. That's crazy! I looked at some new trailers the other day and I've seen beer cans that were thicker than some of the frames I saw. :M

[Lynnmor]

The frame on my KZ cracked at all four attachment points of the cross-members that support the water tank. Lippert, the frame maunfacturer, said that I am not to travel with water in any of the tanks. Cracks were found after just 4000 miles. You talk about junk!!!

[EldIr]

My fwt is above the floor under the sofa so not an issue. However, I looked thru my manual for any reference to towing with full tanks. I could find no mention of it anywhere except for a note after the weight specifications table stating that cargo capacities include water and l.p. gas. So all Jayco models in '94 were clearly designed to carry a full fwt.

[nevadanick]

Mpfireman, for some of filling at home is as close as we can get to filling when we get where we are going as there is nothing along the way.

[hilandfrog]

I LIKE good water.

I've had plenty of shoddy water and never enjoy drinking it.
I try to drink one gallon of water daily, so yes we too carry our "drinking" water, 50 gallons of it.

It is more of a why would one want something constructed so poorly as to have it function only in specific perfect conditions;
I'm usually not the smartest at all the little things and over thinking the level of my water for traveling would surly end in failure.
When I pack I usually like to have it all finished, hopefully, so when I get "there" I'm done and free to play.
In a few areas I have found the water in "streams" to be better than muni-water systems, yuck, I'd wager some pools have less chlorine and while I do have a spare pump for water transfers and travel with a Katadyn filter it is a PITA to use 🙂
I'm sure there are many ways to chop this up, all eatable. 🙂

Camp long and hard, have fun and enjoy your time over the rest of the season.

Repo

[mpfireman]

WHY travel with that extra hundred's of pounds of water? We do not live in a 3rd world country where water quality might be questionable. So just carry enough water for sanitary purposes, and fill your tank at or close to your final stop. I have been camping going on 50 years now, and NEVER have used tank water for drinking purposes. Sometimes we use bottled water, but most of the time we will fill our own smaller drinking containers at the camp site, or fill our larger one depending upon our final destination.

[brownieab]

I only carry a few gallons in my tank usually.....but from this day forward, I'll carry more. Last trip out, my radiator picked up a rock from a passing truck. It didn't take long for the water temp to rise. It's 95 degrees on a Sunday and I'm in the middle of the N. H Mountains, thank god I was carrying water in my tanks. I limped into our campground and was able to get everything resolved the next day without the need for a tow truck

[Sandia_Man]

Any manufacturer that states not to travel with FW tank (or any tank) full is aware of their faulty design and use of inferior materials. Our rig can carry over 100 gallons in FW tank and has done so for 6 years and over 40K miles. Poor water quality and lack of nearby freshwater (we boondock and drycamp mostly) are the major reasons we carry our own water. For a properly set-up towing combination, a few hundred pounds of water weight should be unnoticeable unless TV is under-powered to begin with. MPG for our towing combo does not vary more than a couple of tenths of a mile whether tanks are full or empty, speed of travel is what affects mpg most.