Travel with full tanks

[MVA]

Forum members,

Do you typically travel with full or empty tanks? Is there any concern with the supports for the tanks being adequate to support full tanks while traveling?

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by MVA

Forum members,



Do you typically travel with full or empty tanks? Is there any concern with the supports for the tanks being adequate to support full tanks while traveling?

If you mean fresh water tank, there's no concern towing with it. If you mean the black tank and the gray tank, I'd only tow as far as the nearest dump station - not because of any structural issues, but because it's kind of gross to travel with full waste tanks.

[gbaglo]

Where I like to camp, you go in on a forestry road with full fresh water and empty grey and black, and come out with almost empty fresh and close to full grey and black.
I did develop a leak where the grey water tank drain enters the tank, after many years of rutted and washboard roads.

[YakRV]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Where I like to camp, you go in on a forestry road with full fresh water and empty grey and black, and come out with almost empty fresh and close to full grey and black.
I did develop a leak where the grey water tank drain enters the tank, after many years of rutted and washboard roads.

Sorry for drifting off the original topic here, but just how rugged have you found the Escape to be on those rougher roads? We’re hoping to get off the beaten path when we (eventually) get our trailer, so this is an important factor for us. Thanks.

[gbaglo]

I've found it works well on the back roads. It could go places that my RAV couldn't, judging by the clearance.
I do bungee the drawers, cupboards and fridge and keep fridge door shelves light.

[Effie]

I leave my house with full fresh water tank, some places I go to don't have water and while other do there is still no easy way to fill the tank. By now I've traveled many thousands of miles with a full fresh water tank.

[YakRV]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I've found it works well on the back roads. It could go places that my RAV couldn't, judging by the clearance.
I do bungee the drawers, cupboards and fridge and keep fridge door shelves light.

Thank you very much. Great to know, and awesome photos too.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program. . . .

[George Johnson]

Just remember that the fresh water tank is behind the axles, so when full it will increase the gross weight of the trailer while reducing the tongue weight on the hitch. This has the potential to cause stability problems while towing down the highway , so make sure you maintain at least 10-15% of your gross trailer weight at the hitch to minimize the potential for problems.

[gbaglo]

That's why I start out a trip with eight cases of beer under the front dinette.

[UncleTim]

There's a lot of good advice here. I travel with full fresh water whenever possible. The ride is more stable. Less bouncing. Better for beer.

I also get rid of gray and black at the first opportunity usually.

[davidmurphy02]

I always travel with the fresh water tank full - you never know when you might break down and be stranded for a while, or happen on a great boondocking spot. I try to dump gray whenever I can and avoid traveling with much in the gray tank to avoid the stress of pressure on the rigid fittings that feed in and out of the gray tank since that has proven to be an issue for some folks. I don't have as much of a concern about traveling with a few days worth of water in the black tank since in our 5.0 it is completely encased in plywood above the floor and can't move around like the gray tank hanging below the trailer - usually dumping black once a week works well for us.

[EscapeBoulder]

Originally Posted by George Johnson

Just remember that the fresh water tank is behind the axles, so when full it will increase the gross weight of the trailer while reducing the tongue weight on the hitch. This has the potential to cause stability problems while towing down the highway , so make sure you maintain at least 10-15% of your gross trailer weight at the hitch to minimize the potential for problems.

Using a Sherline tongue weight scale, the full fresh water tank (verses an empty tank) only reduced the tongue weight of our 2018 19'er by 40 lbs.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

Using a Sherline tongue weight scale, the full fresh water tank (verses an empty tank) only reduced the tongue weight of our 2018 19'er by 40 lbs.

Similar results here. The tandem axles help too. We're set up tongue heavy anyway so we don't worry if the tongue weight drops a bit.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

That's why I start out a trip with eight cases of beer under the front dinette.

Only eight cases? How many kegs?

[Dcboyd]

Just remember it is just a Torsion flex axle system. Not an independent off road system like on a Black Series Camper.
So treat it as if it’s not an off-road axle, but more decent back roads and you will be ok.
Angie and Rhonda in Adventures into Nomadness (YouTube) hit a pot hole and had to replace the axle.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Dcboyd

Just remember it is just a Torsion flex axle system. Not an independent off road system like on a Black Series Camper.
So treat it as if it’s not an off-road axle, but more decent back roads and you will be ok.
Angie and Rhonda in Adventures into Nomadness (YouTube) hit a pot hole and had to replace the axle.

So we shouldn’t travel to Alaska?

Enjoy,

Perry

[jediwhale]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

That's why I start out a trip with eight cases of beer under the front dinette.

[Mountain Mike]

We always try to keep our fresh tank full. Three times we have arrived at our next campsite to find the water systems down. As for the waste tanks, we'll empty those as required, depending on what facilities are available down the road. If we are going off grid for an extended time, we take an extra 20 liters of fresh water with us.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by EscapeBoulder

Using a Sherline tongue weight scale, the full fresh water tank (verses an empty tank) only reduced the tongue weight of our 2018 19'er by 40 lbs.

That's just what should be expected: if the freshwater tank is 28 US gallons that's 234 pounds, and the distance the fresh water tank is behind the axle centre is 17% of the distance from axle to ball, then the change in tongue weight would be 17% of 234 pounds... or 40 pounds.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Similar results here. The tandem axles help too.

As long as the trailer stays level, the number of axles doesn't matter. But yes, if loading variations change the level, forcing the trailer tail-down increases tongue weight (by moving the effective axle location rearward), increasing hitch load.