Road Trip Question

TaftCoach · 01-25-2017, 07:41 AM

We will be on the road for a week straight with all one night stops. My plan is to dump when we get about half full or so. But I'm thinking about hauling that weight around for a thousand miles and that seems stupid. So daily hassle or hauling?

We are probably at CGs most nights.

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Kim Gass · 01-25-2017, 08:20 AM

use the campground bathrooms. Will you have sewer connection?
We never thought much about dumping. We did when it was convenient over seven weeks.

Jagiven · 01-25-2017, 08:39 AM

Personally, I would dump earlier. The water in the tanks can slosh a lot, and affect handling. My father a former Fire fighter stated they would only drive their trucks with a full or empty tanks as the sloshing water would push the trucks around unpredictably. If I recall correctly most of the trucks had 500 gallon onboard tanks, except for the big tanker truck. Because of his comments I try only to have a few gallons of water in each tank, for tank health, or keep the FW tank full.

Jm9301 · 01-25-2017, 08:55 AM

If at all possible, use the campground facilities as much as you can. If you are packing up and moving on every day, the 15 min (possibly much much longer if you have to wait in line) at the dump station can be very tedious. I would try to dump as not often as possible in this situation.

Camper_bob · 01-25-2017, 09:20 AM

Personally, I would try to use CG or other facilities whenever possible or convenient to limit hauling with "fullish" waste tanks. I would also dump sooner or more often than normal. Perhaps not every day, but maybe every other day? Or when tanks got to about half full? CGs aren't your only dumping resource though. Some rest stops, and many truck stops have sewage dump facilities. So if you notice handling issues during your travel day, you could still have an opportunity to dump your tanks "en-route".

I've towed with my tanks (waste and fresh) at varying levels of fullness and never noticed a difference in handling. I don't know that I've ever had them absolutely full in transit before though. For waste tanks, that would translate to about 500 lbs additional weight a good distance behind the axles. For fresh water, a full tank would be about 650 lbs just in front of the axles. On our last long road trip, I was WAY over packed (nowhere close to "overloaded"). We didn't use half the resources I brought, so I carried around all kinds of "excess" weight, and I'll pack all the same "stuff" on our next multi-day trip. Better to have and not need...

TaftCoach · 01-25-2017, 11:40 AM

Thanks y'all

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bansai · 01-25-2017, 11:56 AM

I never pass up the opportunity to dump our tanks if our campground has the option. We use https://www.sanidumps.com/ or one of the other online directories if we don't have a dump station on site. I'm too close to my weight limits to drive waste water around needlessly, even if I wasn't, I've seen full tanks fail on the interstate (pothole) and I never want to experience that..

Camper_bob · 01-25-2017, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bansai

snip...
I've seen full tanks fail on the interstate (pothole) and I never want to experience that..

I can't say that thought has never crossed my mind!

I've often thought about ways to reinforce supports for waste tanks as well as for my fresh water tanks. 'Cause that would suck.

bansai · 01-25-2017, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I can't say that thought has never crossed my mind!

I've often thought about ways to reinforce supports for waste tanks as well as for my fresh water tanks. 'Cause that would suck.

Big time suckage. My neighbor across the street experienced it with his 5th wheel half way between here and FL. He lost 3 tires on that same trip, sounds like a lot of drama I never want to experience. I don't recall the capacity of his tanks but they have to be a lot bigger than mine are. When he parks in front of his house I don't see the sun for a few days. He did the repairs himself and had one of his buddies weld up some hard core supports and cross members on the frame. It's an upgrade I'll do at some point but I need a bigger truck before towing with full tanks is even a possibility. This trip to Texas we're planning in a couple months has me accelerating some of these upgrade plans, I think dropping a tank would completely destroy the trip, not to mention those of some of the people behind us.

wags999 · 01-25-2017, 05:18 PM

If you have hookups at the campgrounds I would dump as soon as you get there. Make sure you have 5 + gallons in your black tank and driving will agitate the waste making it easy to dump. Rise well and do it again the next day. I travel with a some water in black tank, and maybe 10 gallons in fresh water tank. Staying in campgrounds, especially if you have hook ups makes it a moot point to carry any great amount of fresh water.

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