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Old 05-22-2005, 02:22 AM   #1
RMccord
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Fresh Water Tank

I never tow with my fresh water tank full as we are always on full hook ups and no need to haul 500lbs of unuseful weight around.
Do you tow with or without fresh water in your tanks.
That said I will be hauling about a 1/3 of a tank full when traveling in the desert this summer as an emergency supply but that would be the exception.
However when I took delivery from the dealer it was and still is full. I hope to drain it today.
Do you feel it tows better with a full fresh tank? I have not pulled it without it.
THis tank appears to be right at or behind the rear axle on my 335RLBS.

THnaks
 
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Old 05-22-2005, 02:52 AM   #2
richfaa
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My opinion.It tows better with a full tank. Having said that I never tow with a full tank usually 1/3 for the reasons you stated.
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Old 05-22-2005, 03:00 AM   #3
padredw
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I am with richfaa on this. I always fill to 1/3 before a trip and use the water as needed (usually without resupply) througout the trip. For instance, on our recent 2400 mile trip to the Southeastern US, I had filled the tank to 1/3 before we left. We used the water on the road and never added any. I will empty the tank before our next trip (this week) just to have fresh water. I notice no difference in towing, but who could ask for anything more?
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Old 05-22-2005, 04:52 AM   #4
sreigle
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I've towed with empty tanks and with a full fresh water tank (and gray and black) and don't notice any difference in towing.

We keep our fresh water tank full to 1/3 to 1/2, sometimes a bit more, dependingon our situation. When we are on the road we stop to use our facilities and need water for that. Also, sometimes when we stop just overnight we'll use our onboard water rather than hookup to the park's water. I drain the remaining water every three to four months and refill. We have not found any degradation in the quality of the water during that time.

When we weekended/vacationed, I dumped the water after every trip, even weekend trips. But that's not practical for us now and I've found the water is just fine for several months. In hot weather I tend to drain every three months. In colder weather I'll let it go four to six months and it's fine.
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Old 05-22-2005, 05:48 AM   #5
FireTruckerWife
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We travel with full tanks, for two reasons. 1. our "truck" loves the extra weight, and 2. We keep the 3 dogs on "home" water to keep them from having any digestive problems, besides "home" water is softened so showers and washing dishes are nicer.
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Old 05-22-2005, 06:20 AM   #6
vickster
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We usually travel with about a third tank of water --just in case. When we headed to the desert southwest this last winter we traveled with empty tanks until we were assured of no freezing. Hubby didn't notice any difference in towing.
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Old 05-22-2005, 09:32 AM   #7
stiles watson
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We travel with four to five gallons treated in the black tank, one gallon in each of the galley and the gray tanks for sloshing purposes to keep the inside moist in an effort to prevent any build up or caking, and 15 gallons of fresh water emptied at the end of the trip.
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Old 05-22-2005, 04:21 PM   #8
Montana_2785
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We usually don't have full hookups even if they are available during short weekend trips. For our "big" trip in the fall, we may look for a full hookup two or three times during our travels, but usually we use the fresh water tank. Even if there is water available it is easy to monitor the holding tanks by the amount of water from the fresh water tank.

I normally will fill the fresh water tank before I put the camper away for a few weeks till our next trip. Works for us...

Eric
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Old 05-23-2005, 12:27 AM   #9
Glenn and Lorraine
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All tanks are empty. We never dry camp and I won't stay in a park that doesn't have at least water and electric. Therefore, I have no need to carry the extra weight. At 8 pounds per gallon even a half tank is an extra 240 pounds. We always carry spring water for drinking and cooking so if there were an emergency I'm covered.
Back in Sept 2003 when we first got the Monty I filled the FW tank to test the pump and plumbing. It was than completely drained and I haven't put an ounce of water in it since. As I type this I am waiting for Lorraine to get up. As soon as she is ready I will be completely dumping the 3 waste tanks and heading for PA with little or no excess water on board.
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Old 05-23-2005, 02:56 AM   #10
steves
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In reading this post, those using the fresh water tanks, nobody has mentioned how often you sanitize your tank. I always sanitize each spring,keep the tanks drained when not in use and if I have water in there more than a month will change it out. Just wondering what you all do? Am I doing too much?
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Old 05-23-2005, 03:12 AM   #11
CountryGuy
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steves

You do about what we do. Sanitize about 1 time a year, carry a few gallons on board for flushing while running down the hard road, empty it when we will be sitting more than a week or so.

We carry distilled water for drinking and for the yorks, vets orders for the yorks, nothing BUT distilled water. So, I use it for my coffee and tea water as well.

Have had enough bad experiences with tainted water, don't care if we EVER go there again! Bring on the distilled bottled water and a sanitized fresh water tank!

Carol
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Old 05-23-2005, 03:45 AM   #12
Bowie
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For those with any health issues, especially immune problems, sanitizing the tank regularly and using bottled water for personal consumption is probably the safest thing while on the road. Now that we are storing in a campground and have better access, we will probably do as Stiles does--with the occasional addition of ice cubes down the black tank and a bit of lemon Cascade gel down the other tanks to cut the residues in the tank bottoms.
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Old 05-23-2005, 04:49 AM   #13
315RLS
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by RMccord
Do you tow with or without fresh water in your tanks.
Always with a full tank as we always boondock so its either what we bring or no water at all.
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Old 05-23-2005, 05:12 AM   #14
Jeff Heiser
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We always have a full tank of fresh water. We keep it like that when traveling and when it's parked in the back yard. I look at it like this, and some of you may think I am a little nuts but, I keep the fresh water full and the LP tanks topped because after 9/11 you just dont know what the world will bring your way. I also keep the trailer completely stocked with food (dry goods). We have a special supply at the house that is only for times that require the extra stash of food. We also keep a stash of bottled water and food(dry goods) up on our farm. After last summer and going into WalMart weeks after our last storm and still seeing empty shelves (no meats, no canned goods, no paper products etc.) we are convinced it is wise to keep extra food stashed along with water and other supplies. You just never know when you might need it and its better to be prepared than not. Our rig is always ready to go at a moments notice. So call me crazy but until it happens to you, you might not realize how hard it can be to get food and water.

So yep, we keep our fresh water tank full when parked in the yard and traveling.

Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida
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Old 05-23-2005, 06:07 AM   #15
richfaa
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Bowie//why do you put Ice cubes down the black tank..never heard of that..what does it Do and why does it do it????? We do dump most any kind of dishwasher fluid in the tanks and let them slosh around while on the road. Could it be that the cubes bang around in the tank and knock of the residue..if so..very clever. Since we have a dump station at home our tanks are always clean.
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Old 05-23-2005, 07:17 AM   #16
fulltimedreamer
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Bob,
I noted that you have the 335RLBS which is a travel trailer. On the 335RLBS the fresh water tank is at the extreme rear of the coach. If you do not have all of your camping equipment, food supplies, etc. on board, the extra 400-500 lbs of water behind the axle could possibly cause problems with swaying/fishtailing. I towed mine with a full tank before we had moved all of our supplies on board and did notice some fishtailing. I removed 2/3 of the water and the swaying stopped.

When we travel we have the front chest of drawers filled, clothes and shoes in the closet and all the other necessary equipment in the kitchen and bathroom. When fully loaded the rear freshwater tank being full is no longer a problem.

On a travel trailer or any other trailer that is bumper pulled you need to have 10-15% of the weight on the hitch. A full freshwater tank with no other cargo decreases the hitch weight and is a potential problem.

All that being said, we usually travel with the freshwater tank being 1/3 full unless we are going to dry camp while traveling in which case we fill it up. It's nice to sleep in a rest area for a few hours, get up, take a shower and hit the road again.
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Old 05-23-2005, 08:21 AM   #17
skyguy
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Well, I'm not much help, because we do both... if we're going dry camping, which we do a lot of because it's free, we go with full water, cold and hot. If we're headed to a campground, we go empty.

I don't care for the added 500 lbs, either having to haul it uphill, or having it help push me downhill! Remember, 2/3 of Colorado is mountain country, and there's not much to see or do out on the plains.

Time was, 20 years ago, we were on mountain water, and you just couldn't beat the taste. Now it's all citified - yuk...
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Old 05-24-2005, 02:04 AM   #18
sreigle
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Steves, when weekending/fulltiming I used to have to sanitize the tanks right after dewinterizing. I usually did it one other time per season, when the water started tasting "funny.". While fulltiming I've not needed to sanitize them at all. Maybe because we move a bit more often is the reason?

As for carrying water onboard, I know it's extra weight but we like to have the water available when we need or want it. And at the weight of these rigs, 300 to 500 lbs is not really noticeable to our truck.
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Old 05-24-2005, 07:45 AM   #19
Bowie
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Good question Richfaa! The cubes go down the black tank because they have edges that help scour off the gunk that may have accumulated in the bottom. As you travel, they slosh about and do their thing. Then they finish up melted and you can dump them out at the next tank cleaning. We usually send down about 2 gallons of cubes (measured in milk containers and taken from the fridge's icemaker)when we leave from home with an empty black tank.When on the road for a while, we will splurge and buy a bag of ice just after dumping.

Jeff--can understand your philosophy about preparedness completely. Experiencing life after a hurricane can really change your outlook. We would call you canny. Thanks for injecting a whole new point of view into this thread.
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Old 05-24-2005, 08:03 AM   #20
azstar
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Hi All,

Lets remember Bowie's point if you do the Ice Cube trick, we put them in a totally EMPTY tank and it's the last thing we do when leaving the Park. Otherwise they'll just float on top and do no scouring of the tank.

Happy Camping
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