mountainlovers76
Mississippi Chapter Leaders
I always travel with the fresh water tank at least half to three quarters full and have never had any problems over the years so far.
Water weights 8.35 lbs per gallon. My tank holds 100 gals then add 12 gal in the water heater and probably 3 gals running around in the water lines = 115 gals X 8.35 = 960.25 lbs. I worry about that much weight (835 lbs in the tanks) bouncing on the straps and plywood that is hold the tank in. Especially when traveling some really bad roads in some states. A small amount in the tanks for flushing while on the road is ok but that much weight is a worry. JMHO
The newer trailers seem to mostly have the 4-way valve instead of a separate gravity-flow water fill pipe. Is there a technique for adding water through the 4-way valve without using a water hose?I always travel with just 10 gallons or so in the tank. Mostly, because I prefer not to carry the extra weight. I have never stayed in a place where water was not available. I did however stay at a campground once where the water faucet near the camp sight was not working and the next closest was too far away for my hoses. That's when the back up plan went into action. A funnel with a short hose and two gallon jugs. It took a little time to fill the tank half full, but it was better than hitching up again and moving the 5er just to fill with enough water for a two night stay.
Others have mentioned that the weight in the tank adds pound for pound to the load on their TV. Not so - the load is shared between your trailer and TV. Depending on the length of your trailer and the location of your tank, there could be quite a difference in weight shared. One would have to weigh the rig before and after a full tank of water - would be interesting to see what the difference was,...
The newer trailers seem to mostly have the 4-way valve instead of a separate gravity-flow water fill pipe. Is there a technique for adding water through the 4-way valve without using a water hose?
I wonder how many of you carrying a full water tank have had your rig weighed the way you travel? Although we do not travel with full tanks we have had our rig weighed and are right at the max weight limit for our rig. If we traveled with a full tank we would be way over weight.