Towing with fresh water tanks full

[Redwing]

Does anyone tow with your fresh water tanks full ? I am going to a rustic campground 200 miles away. My other option is drive 20 miles out of the way and pay $10 to fill the tank.

[Route 66 Traveler]

I have a 60 gallon FW tank and it's always full when I leave the house. Water you can't live without, and more than once I have pulled into a campground where the water was either unusable or unavailable. Plus, the extra weight helps stabilize the trailer in high winds.

[gladecreekwy]

We always tow full. We don’t use campgrounds

[sturgissteele]

I learned that it adds to the lower center of gravity, so I now tow with a full tank. Others, I've seen, fill it about a third full.

[Riich]

I fill at home, I know our water quality.

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Redwing

Does anyone tow with your fresh water tanks full ? I am going to a rustic campground 200 miles away. My other option is drive 20 miles out of the way and pay $10 to fill the tank.

If you normally travel with an empty fresh water tank, it would be advisable to visit a CAT scale with a "full fresh water tank" and confirm the added weight effect on the TV/TT combination (weight distribution)......., especially the loaded tongue weight.

The size/location of the fresh water tank on many TV/TT combinations when filled can effect TV handling, especially if the WDH is setup for empty tank travel.

Bob

[CAG]

When dry camping (boon docking) I always traveled with the tanks full. I also carried a 35 gal tote in the bed of the truck that I could fill in town if we ran low. We would have up to 20 people in and out of camp over a 10 day or more family camp so, no way to go without water.

[NewBlackDak]

Mine is 160G. We mostly dry camp, and it’s almost always full when we pull out.

[Tad]

Mine is always full and I always bring another 50 gallons of fresh water in jugs in the bed of my truck we always dry camp from 6 to 10 or 11 days

[curver900]

make sure if you have an overflow that you don't loose all your water while traveling....

[Jagiven]

I have done it, don't like doing it. There have been lots of reports of full tanks falling out of the rig, as they are not very well supported.

Do you know what your CCC is and your GVW is? How much payload do you have left for water? It is a lot of weight.

One particular CG we go to has the worse sulfur tasting well water in the world. I have thought about checking the local city in route if they have a place that I can fill the tank, just to reduce the risks.

[Packerbacker_TX]

Originally Posted by Redwing

Does anyone tow with your fresh water tanks full ? I am going to a rustic campground 200 miles away. My other option is drive 20 miles out of the way and pay $10 to fill the tank.

I suppose there are both pro's and con's to hauling your fresh water with you.


Pro's:
* If you need to pull over and use the toilet/shower/sink you have water on hand.
* The added weight will help lower the center of gravity on the rig and possibly provide more stability.


Cons:
* A gallon of water weighs 8LBS. A 50 gallon fresh water tank means an extra 400LBS of weight to haul - which affects total weight and fuel economy.



I personally carry around some fresh water for those emergency pull over situations on the way to camping. If I had to go 20 miles out of my way for water, I'd just fill it all the way up before I left instead. You might notice a bit of water leaking if you're maxed out because the camper has a slight tilt and water sloshes around.


Good Luck

[North of 49°]

It depends where we're going. We always frequent the same half dozen campgrounds, and some of them offer full service sites, but we don't always get one. We know the water is safe, but we filter it anyway. But when we can't get a site with water available, I fill up the trailer's tank at home the night before we leave.

[Lake Huron]

Our previous 5er we pulled it with a full tank. One day we couldn't figure out how in God's name we went thru 60gal of water in 12 hours and 8 of it was spent sleeping. Long and short of it the tank had nearly fallen completely out of the bottom of the trailer. Now, why wouldn't the manufacturer engineer the supports better than they did knowing full well it's going to be full when travelling? Oh, that's right, it's all about the Benjamin's. And you can't honestly tell me that it wasn't meant for travelling when full, otherwise they wouldn't have it printed right on the label of how much weight you can safely put in your trailer and that includes full propane and a full tank of water at 8lbs/gal times X amount of gallon tank the trailer has.
To answer your question, yes I do travel with a full tank of water if I have to. If I'm going to a place I know has good water, I'll put about 10gal in the tank for just in case on the road.

[Duke4857]

When boon docking tank is full. If we are going to arrive very late an a predetermined parking place the tank is full unless there are water hook ups. if we have hookups there is 1/3 tank of water. Our TT pulls great when the fresh water tank is full, not so well when the grey and black tanks are full. I bought a anti sway break/bar to use when the waist tanks are full. The fuel mileage does not seem to change much with the tanks full verses empty. There may be a little less performance passing or on hills.

[SkyBound]

My trailer holds 750lbs of fresh water. I only tow with a few gallons in the tanks for the kids to use the bathroom along our travels. Once we get to the campground and I fill at the fill station, I really notice the weight difference in our short drive from the fill station to the campsite. I don't think I would want to tow with completely full tanks unless I absolutely had to. My tanks (there are two tied together) are above the forward axle and then in front of that.

[TCNashville]

Originally Posted by SkyBound

My trailer holds 750lbs of fresh water. Once we get to the campground and I fill at the fill station, I really notice the weight difference in our short drive from the fill station to the campsite. I don't think I would want to tow with completely full tanks unless I absolutely had to. My tanks (there are two tied together) are above the forward axle and then in front of that.

Same here as my camper holds 90 gallons including the water heater. Towing with full tanks? Not gonna happen. The only full tanks I tow are the gray/black to the dump station.

[USNMA1]

Originally Posted by curver900

make sure if you have an overflow that you don't loose all your water while traveling....

I too carry a 300 gal tank, but also be aware as mentioned, depending on make and model you will lose water traveling due to siphon effect. Some moron engineer decided to put overflow tube and pressure release hoses below tank level. Depending on roads, I lose 1/3 to 1/2 my water traveling.

[videoarizona]

Yes. Some CGs have wells... and don't allow tank fill ups.
No issues.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

We rarely "boondock" at Wally's and carry around 5-6 gallons of water for such occasions. We also carry a gallon or two in milk cartons for drinking and quick flushing. So far none of the 50-60 campgrounds we have stayed in had non-potable water.