Sagging Fresh Water tank fix - 315 RLS

[Montana_2957]

After jrgwdenner showed how a fresh water tank can depart a TT, I decided I needed to do something about my own tank which was sagging significantly. I wedged 3 - 28 inch angle iron brackets into place, will use plastic ties until I can get more secure attachment. It is an easy fix and should hold the tank up securely. Thanks jrgwdenner for the inducement to solve a potential problem before it became more serious. http://www.geocities.com/dgullick1/FreshH20fix.jpg

[RMccord]

Are the other tanks supported the same way. If so I may think about not only adding these supports here but under the other tanks as well.
I rarely travel with my tanks with anything more than a couple of gallons of fluid and the fresh 25-30% full as we are almost always on full hookups. Water there just for emergency.

[jrgwdenner]

That looks like a good fix, dgullick. Believe it or not, our fiver already had three braces under it which seemedingly were supposed to have been screwed/bolted to the cross-brace but weren't when we found the tank on the ground. Is your tank plastic or metal? It's hard to tell from the pictures.

By the way, we were not traveling with a full tank but had more water than usual because our intent was to boondock.

[Montana_2957]

jrgwdenner, my fresh water tank is white plastic similar to yours. There is a black plastic/poly material about 1/4 inch thick underneath the tank which is what you see on the picture. I believe there are three braces between the black plastic and the tank but certainly were are not supporting my tank adequately.

RMccord, the other tanks on my trailer are a totally different design and appear to be adequately supported. ( the undercover on my 2003 model does not cover the other tanks so inspection is relatively easy. ) I had just traveled 1000 miles with full fresh water tank which was probably not a good idea.

[sreigle]

Thanks for the pictures, dgullick. Without them I was having trouble visualizing how you wedged the angle iron brackets into place (I wasn't thinking about the part you cut out so to wedge them in). Good solution!

Is there any chance these tanks will move around enough on the road to eventually rub a hole in them? We run with quite a bit of fresh water in ours since sometimes when overnighting we don't hook up to water. Also, when traveling some distance and overnighting for several nights in a row we don't dump tanks until we arrive at our destination. Maybe you can tell on yours that they won't do much shifting?

Thanks.

[Montana_2957]

Steve, only the fresh water tank in my TT is mounted in this fashion. On the picture, one can see where the tank drain comes out through the plastic/poly underlayer - I believe the drain will keep it from moving more than a few inches and only laterally. http://www.geocities.com/dgullick1/FreshH20fix.jpg I would think carrying water would help prevent too much movement. I am going to continue to carry fresh water and don't expect to have problems with the additional support.


The black and grey water tanks on mine are exposed and I can see they are are mounted differently and all seem quite secure so don't anticipate problems with them. I also travel distances without dumping and have seen no problems with other tanks.

Thanks to all.

[jrgwdenner]

Don, the connections on your tank are in different locations from ours. The dealer in Anchorage asked us to cut off the street side end of our tank as all the connections are there.

Steve, when we were trying to take the water tank out, after it was damaged and useless, we could barely move that thing in order to get the connections off. It's pretty secure inside the frame and there isn't anything that would rub a hole in it, in my opinion. I'm sure it could happen, but wouldn't be likely.

[sreigle]

Thanks, Don and Judy.