Traveling with water

[videoarizona]

I travel with a full water tank when heading off into the woods. If going to a campground, I don't. Just enough water for emergency.

Exception is this coming week. Going up to northern Arizona to boondock in the woods for a week.
Normal I would go up the 7% hills with a full tank. But this time I booked 1 night just before the boondocks event at a campground that has water. I'll go up with five gallons then fill up at the campground. From there my boondock event is only about 12 miles away. So spending a few bux on a one night CG is cheaper than driving 300 plus miles, almost all uphill with 400 lbs of water!! Plus it's warm in the summer in AZ so being lighter is going to be easier on my truck as well.

My tank is directly over the axles so I'm not too concerned. BUT, I do plan to cut open the cover and take a peak at some point. Crossing fingers I'll get to look before anything happens. To be honest, I'm more concerned about the black and gray tanks at the rear of the trailer. That's a mess I'd prefer not to get into!!!

[JimD]

Originally Posted by Mopar_Earl

My trailer is self-contained, so yes I travel with a full tank of water almost all the time. Also will travel with full waste tanks. Trailer would be useless to me otherwise.


Earl

Same here for my Class C. I checked my owner's manual and it made no mention of not being able to use the tanks to their full capacity. You may want to check yours.

In my opinion the salesman is full of s***. It would be false advertising to advertise the tank capacities if you couldn't use them. If a tank falls off it is a manufacturing problem.

I always keep my fresh water full even if I am going to hookups. I try to keep the rig ready to go in case there is an emergency where we would have to use it. In So Cal, that would be an earthquake.

[billcf7]

Don’t know why Jayco doesn’t put a 1/2” sheet of plywood under tanks. I would gladly pay the couple hundred bucks to have this done

[cmikal]

Not one person has mentioned this. Fill your RV/trailer with all of the stuff you normally camp with, including water if you normally carry water, and stop at a cat scale and way your rig (connected to the truck), then weigh the truck without the trailer attached to see what your truck weighs by itself. Subtract total weight from truck weight and that will be your trailer weight. I'll make a friendly bet that you are either overweight or so close to the trailer GVW, that you will be uncomfortable with the number that you see, especially if you are carrying water.

It is amazing how quickly "your stuff" adds up. Blowouts and axle failures are scary. Weigh yourself so you know for a fact that you are under the GVW/GCVWR of your both your truck and trailer.

[Route 66 Traveler]

I do it opposite. I weigh the truck full of fuel, generator in the bed, and wife and dog in the truck. Then weigh the truck and trailer loaded. Gross weight of my trailer is 7700 pounds.

Before a recent trip when our trailer was fully loaded for a trip, including food, clothes, 60 gallons of water, and 2 full propane tanks, I stopped at our local CAT scale on the way out of town. The weight on the dual axles was 6480 pounds, 1220 less than the 7700 pounds maximum gross weight. 6480 divided by 2 equals 3240 on each axle, 260 pounds under the stated 3500 rating. Tongue weight using a tongue weight scale was 920 pounds. I would be hard pressed to load another 1220 pounds of stuff to reach the 7700 pounds gross weight.

After five years of use I am comfortable with my setup.

[Big1]

We always travel with a 1/3 of a tank.

[Onyrlef]

My data plate just reminds you that water is cargo and lists the weight of a full tank. Whereas fuel ( full tank) was calculated into the gross weight before cargo.

[cmikal]

Originally Posted by Route 66 Traveler

I do it opposite. I weigh the truck full of fuel, generator in the bed, and wife and dog in the truck. Then weigh the truck and trailer loaded. Gross weight of my trailer is 7700 pounds.

Before a recent trip when our trailer was fully loaded for a trip, including food, clothes, 60 gallons of water, and 2 full propane tanks, I stopped at our local CAT scale on the way out of town. The weight on the dual axles was 6480 pounds, 1220 less than the 7700 pounds maximum gross weight. 6480 divided by 2 equals 3240 on each axle, 260 pounds under the stated 3500 rating. Tongue weight using a tongue weight scale was 920 pounds. I would be hard pressed to load another 1220 pounds of stuff to reach the 7700 pounds gross weight.

After five years of use I am comfortable with my setup.

I guess "doing this before that" or "that before this" isn't quite as important as actually doing it, knowing the limits on the vehicle and trailer, and knowing what you actually weigh as you roll down the road. I am going to speculate that most people don't know if they are overweight or not and have never weighed their rig or their truck. If they did weigh their rig, they would be shocked at what they see.

I see questions and answers in forums all the time about solar installations. The questions are usually something like "how many solar panels do I need to run my fridge, AC, etc, and how many batteries should I install to support those panels, and will the XYZ inverter be big enough. Oh, and BTW, I am going to add a 5kw Onan generator for backup". Not one mention regarding the weight of all that stuff. I start doing the math in my head and realize that they will probably be grossly overweight once they load their trailer with their camping stuff. But by golly, they'll have the best solar installation ever made.

Anyway, a bit of a rant. Suffice it to say, "Weigh your stuff. Weigh your truck. Know your max weight limits". Have a great day.

[kirkelli]

Originally Posted by cmikal

Anyway, a bit of a rant. Suffice it to say, "Weigh your stuff. Weigh your truck. Know your max weight limits". Have a great day.

You nailed it.. Many people go at it and add this and that (like me) and never think about the extra weight added.. When i put my solar system in, i actually weighed everything, including the wire, all together it totaled 460 Lbs. It's amazing how weight adds up quickly. When you add another 600-800 Lbs of water, surpassing the weight limits can happen easily. I try to plan my trips knowing i have a water source at my destinations so i can carry minimal amounts and i keep my gray and black tanks empty at all times.

[Mopar_Earl]

Some of us scale, we just don't mention it. All should be, but due to lack of education and no laws requiring it, many do not. Some only go by the factory specs which are never accurate. Some are just oblivious to the whole concept.

Fortunately hitting the scales is a simple quick inexpensive thing to do.


Earl

[Route 66 Traveler]

Originally Posted by cmikal

I am going to speculate that most people don't know if they are overweight or not and have never weighed their rig or their truck. If they did weigh their rig, they would be shocked at what they see.

Previous to my present trailer I owned two other travel trailers, and a Class A motorhome. I had the trailers for many years and never scaled either of them. Fat, dumb, and happy, so the saying goes, and I never had any issues pulling them with my Chevy Silverado 1500....which looking back now was probably overloaded.

The Class A had it's own problems. The front airbags blew out twice on trips, and were replaced under warranty. The third time I was asked to get the vehicle weighed before replacing the airbags for the third time. To my amazement the front axle was only a couple of hundred pounds less than the GAWR with just me in the vehicle. Adding my wife, two dogs, food, clothes and water it went way over the axle weight rating. They did replace the airbags again, but recommended airing them up to less than what was recommended and to keep the 80 gallon fresh water tank under the rear bed full because it would take some weight off the front axle. It came off the line at the factory almost over weight on the front axle and was sold that way! It had other major problems as well and I sold it at a loss after only 2 years.

[kirkelli]

Originally Posted by Mopar_Earl

Some of us scale, we just don't mention it. All should be, but due to lack of education and no laws requiring it, many do not. Some only go by the factory specs which are never accurate. Some are just oblivious to the whole concept.

Fortunately hitting the scales is a simple quick inexpensive thing to do.


Earl

you nailed it too Earl. 'Some' are concerned, but Most simply are not. And thats what ends up on the highway.. YUK!

[Learjet]

I'm scaled loaded to camp with full propane and water...below ALL weight limits.

[cmikal]

Originally Posted by kirkelli

You nailed it.. Many people go at it and add this and that (like me) and never think about the extra weight added.. When i put my solar system in, i actually weighed everything, including the wire, all together it totaled 460 Lbs. It's amazing how weight adds up quickly. When you add another 600-800 Lbs of water, surpassing the weight limits can happen easily. I try to plan my trips knowing i have a water source at my destinations so i can carry minimal amounts and i keep my gray and black tanks empty at all times.

Look you said, "it adds up quickly". When I purchased my current FW, everything that needed to go in the trailer was stored at our apartment. As we packed boxes to transfer into the trailer, I weighed each box. I realized before we hit the road that we would be overweight, so we left some stuff behind that we didn't really need and I started removing unnecessary parts of the trailer, like a 4th TV and TV bracket and folding bunkbed, and a few other things that we were never going to use. I was able to get the trailer under the GVW, but barely. And that was without water and without a generator that the the trailer was prepped for. If I add that generator, I will be overweight. It boggles the mind to think that manufacturers knowingly make a product that is almost guaranteed to exceed the weight rating as soon as you actually try to use it.

[cmikal]

Originally Posted by Route 66 Traveler

To my amazement the front axle was only a couple of hundred pounds less than the GAWR with just me in the vehicle. Adding my wife, two dogs, food, clothes and water it went way over the axle weight rating. They did replace the airbags again, but recommended airing them up to less than what was recommended and to keep the 80 gallon fresh water tank under the rear bed full because it would take some weight off the front axle. It came off the line at the factory almost over weight on the front axle and was sold that way! It had other major problems as well and I sold it at a loss after only 2 years.

I watched a video where a guy was suing a manufacturer because of something very similar to what you describe. He was having a motorhome custom modified to his liking and one of the things he made a point of specifying and putting into the contract was that cargo capacity would be the available weight AFTER the fresh tank was full. So, if the cargo capacity was spec'd at 2000 pounds (I don't know the actual number. I'm just picking a number), they could fill the fresh tank and still have 2000 pounds available for passengers and "stuff". If the tank was empty, they would have something closer to 2500 pounds of available capacity. When they got the motorhome, it was actually spec'd so that a full tank of water would reduce the capacity by the weight of the water. They couldn't legally travel with water and stuff. They had to pick one or the other. The manufacturer insisted they got what they ordered. So they sued. I believe the manufacturer lost the suit.

[alwalk63]

You may find that even with filling when you leave that you arrive with less than you expect. The over flow lines in some can siphon some of the water when traveling.

[kirkelli]

Originally Posted by alwalk63

You may find that even with filling when you leave that you arrive with less than you expect. The over flow lines in some can siphon some of the water when traveling.

one of my favorite campsites i have to drive a windy hilly 20 miles from a water source. The first time i did this i lost 1/3 of my water via the siphon effect.. I've since began pinching off the overflow drain and now i dont even loose an ounce.