Traveling with Full Water Tank

[gbb]

We mostly camp at campgrounds with hookups. National Forest and National Park campgrounds without hookups that we usually camp at are only an hour or two away with good water sources. So, we normally don't travel with any water in our tank.
Our next trip 4 or so hours away won't have hookups and water points are pretty spread out so we are thinking about bringing water in our tank.

If you carry water in your tank how much do you carry?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Ian and Sue]

We usually travel with a full water tank that way if there is no water available or I don't trust the campground water, we have enough.

[sofmerc]

I usually travel with empty F/w tank.. This will be my first trip boondocking..so running down to South Fl with full fresh water tank..

[Mike Lewis]

I travel with a full water tank and usually with empty gray and black tanks, because you never know what you're going to find at your destination. Whatever you do, don't tow with a water tank that is half-full. The water will slosh and may cause instability when towing.

[Jim Bennett]

We travel with full tanks if possible. Always potable. This is good for a few reasons, mainly to have good water at hand as we travel and make an overnight stop or two and in case the water is not possible at the next campground.

I also carry a couple 6 gallon jugs in case. They are only full of it night be needed or in trips where we buy filtered water when needed.

I just finished a 3 month trip and was able to drink tank water the whole time.

[Ron in BC]

Gotta disagree with you Mike

We're travellers not campers. For a lot of our travelling we're on the road, if not every day usually every second day. Water isn't always readily available and I don't pay any attention to the tank level until it's down to a level where I know I should be topping up.

Never had any problem with stability no matter what my water level.

Ron

[SageRpod]

We travel with varying water levels and have never had any issues with instability.

[brroberts]

I mostly travel with a full tank, but sometimes it’s as little as a quarter tank. I go full whenever I can. Being self contained is a big part of having an RV to me.

[Iowa Dave]

We usually know our destination each day if we are on the road. So we may run. Empty and we may run with a full fresh water tank. We drink bottled water. If we suspect that our fresh water will not last the duration of a stay we take two to four empty potable water jugs along and load them up when we get to the water source at the campground. If we run out of grey water capacity I take five gallons off at a time with a grey water bucket and dump it wherever is allowed and appropriate. I usually dump the tanks each time we leave in the morning and run grey and black empty. We used to be able to depend on dump stations at 22 rest stop locations throughout Iowa but they were closed this past summer. Abuse by people dumping paint, old gasoline, waste oil, lawn chemicals etc screwed all of the law abiding good people.
Iowa Dave

[UncleTim]

We travel with a full water tank whenever possible. The trailer seems to handle a little better with a full tank of water. Besides it eliminates one problem when you get to your destination.

We are picky about the water we let in the trailer. We always ask for a recommendation on local water, use our water filter and take a good look at it if possible before filling.

We too drink our pure water out of our trailer and never put anti-freeze in it so it stays clean.

Truth be known, we travel with all different water levels in our tank, when we travel, because we use it daily. That means we transfer some to the black tank and some to the gray tank. So the different tank levels always vary anyway.

The trailer never has any handling problems no matter the level of any of the tanks. I like having water ready to go when I want it. Nice clean water!

[iamunique127]

We are wanderers so never know where we'll end up at the end of the day. We fill up our fresh water tank at home, carry 5 more gallons of fresh and have along a collapsible container that I use to transfer fresh water to the tank if we are in an area with only hand pumps or I need a little workout.

We only dump our grey and black tanks when one or the other needs it or on our last day of travel.

We've never had any problem with towing stability.

[WillyB]

We've traveled with and without water but we mainly travel from our home with our water tank full with good fresh water for one key reason. Morning Coffee!

We have very good tasting water at home so when we need to refill on the road we always use a filter but then use bottled water for our coffee. When we return home we sanitize and rinse the tank thoroughly.

Our friend always travels without tank water because he does not want to carry the extra weight. He has a 40 Gallon tank and hunts small towns when he gets close to his destinations. He always seems to find good "enough" water. They never drink water from their tank and only sanitize the tank once a year.

[Vermilye]

I travel with 1/3 in the fresh tanks, and depending on the planned stops, empty to as much as 1/2 full black & gray. I have had no problems with "sloshing" and towing stability. Like others, the 1/3 fresh water is so I can use the toilet while on the road. If I'm heading for a long stay without hookups, I top off the fresh water tank as close to the stay as possible.

[Dave Walter]

If I know that I may be somewhere without a good source of water, I will fill up before I travel, but otherwise is empty. My 4Runner tows the 19' easier with the tanks empty so that is what I prefer.

[Selkirk]

I recently completed a 250km trip through the prairies where I travelled about half the distance with partially full grey and fresh tanks...and the remainder with empty tanks.

I honestly could not detect much (if any) difference while towing. The trailer felt very stable with the tanks either partially filled or empty. I could argue that the additional weight was somewhat noticeable while on the grades, but not an appreciable amount. My Tacoma has its work cut out for it even when the trailer is completely empty....

[sofmerc]

I don't drink the f/water aboard.. I drink bottled water, but love to have full tank just for stops enroute to use bathroom.. I trave with grey and black tanks empty when I can..

[ericw]

We usually travel with some fresh water - 1/4 for bathroom and misc to full if headed somewhere without water. The other tanks are usually empty if possible. The difference towing full to empty to partial is pretty small to me.



We were stopped on I-90 in WA in the hills a long way between exits due to a bad accident miles ahead. After a couple of hours passed, having the only functional kitchen and bathroom available was very nice.

[Jill]

A related question... How low do you let the fresh water go before you replenish just so the pump will work properly? We always do 1/3 but I wonder if we can go much lower.

[brroberts]

We come close to empty on longer boondocks. At times when I want to clear stuff out I run it dry. Just don’t run the pump dry often or for long. I’ve not had a problem getting one to reprime in 50 years. I have seen threads where others do have trouble.

[Red]

Due to various medical conditions we may need to use toilet facilities within a short notice of five minutes. We always travel with enough water in the fresh water tank to operate the toilet and not worry about finding a pit stop on short notice. It has proven to be very handy for those panic stops but also for unplanned stops just because we find a nice location or point of interest and want to stop and take a break. It's nice to be able to use our own bathroom and wash up instead of using a roadside bush or a poorly maintained facility.

Our 19 has the fresh water tank in the rear. I will put water in the tank to fine tune my tongue weight as the 19 is a little nose heavy. I generally carry a 1/3 load and just let it drain out on the ground when we return home. I have not noticed a performance difference between full or near empty when towing.