Fresh water tank sagging down?!?

[steveluannj]

I filled my water tank for the first time and noted the underbelly cover sagged down under the tank significantly. :-(
I pushed up, and there was quite a bit of weight, so the tank is pushing the underbelly cover down. It seems to be primarily on the driver side, and the only thing supporting the whole works is the propane line that crosses from the driver side over to the passenger side to feed the outdoor quick connect near the outdoor kitchen. The propane hose is kinked to the point I am not sure it can even work, but it looks dangerous. I am working slowly to remove the underbelly, the bolts are kind of jammed in at an angle and hard to get a wrench on. I have had my tank supports break on the last RV, so that is what I am guessing, but does the tank just do this? What can I do if the tank is detached? Do I need new propane lines?

I feel like I will owe a few cases of beer to members of this forum before I ever get to take this rig out camping.

[steveluannj]

Update: I got enough of the black cover down, removed the spare, and loosened the LP line. It appears that there is nothing holding the tank from sagging on the drivers side except the LP gas line. There is a strap on the passenger side, one in the center, but nothing on the drivers side of center. Can this be the way it was supposed to be built? I would think a few hundred pounds of water would require more than blow molded polyethylene to keep it from sagging. I will contact Grand Design in the morning and see what they say.

[Country Campers]

I think that the strap is missing, broken, lost. If I recall this is a rebuilt camper, maybe they skipped this part. You will need to add some extra strapping to support the tank, more will be better. This is not how they come from the factory, there is usually 2 straps that hold the tank up.

You are learning quite a lot about this camper, which is good for owners.

Brian

[steveluannj]

I got a light in there, and I think I found the problem:
The tank is shifted back, and the front edge is off the support. The back edge is up and completely over the support, not where is t should be. If I can get it drained enough, I will try to horse it forward. Not sure if it was ever used, the previous owners sure should have noticed this.

[steveluannj]

After priming my spouse with a couple of beers, she crawled under the camper and pushed up on the mostly empty tank. I was able to reach around through the slit in the side of the underbelly cover and push the tank back in to place. The drain and hoses now do not line up with the holes in the liner, so I assume it was never in this position. I think my call to Grand Design has new questions:

How did this happen? Are there no checks for this sort of thing?

Will this stay in place now? is there something to hold the tank where it should be?

How many supports should be under the tank?

What do I need to do to get some of that black foam to put back all the places I had to remove to drop the liner?

Do I need a new propane hose, or is it OK?

[Country Campers]

Yikes! Yes the tank should set up on those angles, there should also be 2 straps that go from one angle to the other under the tank. I added wood blocks on the ends between the tank and the frame to stop side to side movement.

Brian

[steveluannj]

Yikes! Yes the tank should set up on those angles, there should also be 2 straps that go from one angle to the other under the tank. I added wood blocks on the ends between the tank and the frame to stop side to side movement.

Brian

I agree- there is little to keep the tank from moving around. I will for sure add the blocks to keep it centered before I button it up.

I called Grand Design, and here is what I learned:

They can not speculate as to why this happened, but my idea is that there is a tolerance problem between the tank and the frame. There is enough slop between the tank and frame that if you move it forward or back to the stops, there is less than 1/2 inch of overlap of the tank and its support. This is with no water. When the tank is full, the tank bottom bows down, and the tank will get narrower, and must drop off the lip of the front support.

There are supposed to be 2 supports under the tank. Grand Design suggested I add a third support on the drivers side to reduce bowing by providing more support. Not sure how to do that with the tank in place and the cover still mostly on, but I will try. You can't do what they did- they pop riveted from the top, and I think you need to do that before the tank is in the way. Anything that goes from the bottom is going to stick up through and potentially damage the tank, so I need to come up with something I can do which leaves a smooth surface for the bottom of the tank. The rear support has been bowed forward in the middle, either to try to reduce the slop and prevent this failure, or as a result of the tank dropping down and the strap pulling on it. I can't change the dimension at the ends- the support are welded to the frame.

The black foam is available from Amazon, as is a tape made to seal any cuts in the belly liner I need to make for access. Both are on order.

They said I should replace the propane line where it was kinked. I will probably just stub it off for now- I have never used the quick connect, and it is part of a recall for possible leaks already. They also said that the holes in the underbelly did not look factory, but if that is so, the entire underbelly cover has been replaced, and I can't see how that could be because the back is covered up by the wall trim and I can't figure out how I would ever get it back under there if I pulled all the staples and removed it. She also said that the propane to the outside quick connect should be run up inside the underbelly, but there are no holes in the underbelly where it could get into or out of the enclosed area to connect. A mystery I will probably never solve.

[Yoda]

After priming my spouse with a couple of beers, she crawled under the camper and pushed up on the mostly empty tank. I was able to reach around through the slit in the side of the underbelly cover and push the tank back in to place. The drain and hoses now do not line up with the holes in the liner, so I assume it was never in this position. I think my call to Grand Design has new questions:

How did this happen? Are there no checks for this sort of thing?

Will this stay in place now? is there something to hold the tank where it should be?

How many supports should be under the tank?

What do I need to do to get some of that black foam to put back all the places I had to remove to drop the liner?

Do I need a new propane hose, or is it OK?

You will need to block one end to keep it from sliding out of position. I had a similar situation, but in my case it just slid back and forth on the support rails. I used closed cell rigid foam that I glued in as stop blocks., I also added belly strapping between the support rails This thread might give you some ideas https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...orcement-220rk

Keith

[steveluannj]

Thanks Yoda, and all who helped me get this done. I am back in the house, the tank filled, and looks like all is well.

I went to Home Depot and got an 8 foot piece of 1-1/2 x 1/8 aluminum, and made a third strap as suggested by the factory. My suggestion back to them is to put the third strap in at their end, but too late for that. The problem after the tank is in is that you can't get a wrench between the top of the strap and the tank, so I solved that by using a carriage bolt. I put the strap in place and wedged a piece of wood between the strap and the tank, then drilled a 5/64 pilot hole up through the frame and strap. I removed the strap, and enlarged the hole in the frame and in the strap to 1/4 inch, and used a hammer and the vice to pound the carriage bolt square part into the aluminum. I put the strap in place, and repeated with the second end.

I put the lock washer and nut on the bolts, then cut off the extra with a grinder.



I did find a subtle attempt to locate the tank side to side: There were 2 cable guides screwed into the track at the drivers rear and passenger front corner of the tank. They were flattened, and not doing the job. I used the wood block idea, but also added a piece of aluminum bend into an angle to hold the corner of the tank down. I took an 8 inch piece of the same aluminum I used for the strap, and made a 5-1/2 =2-1/2 angle by bending in the vice, and screwed it to the end of my block. I then drilled up through the channel and screwed the wood block in place. I thought I took a picture of the blocks before I installed them, but I guess not.

I can't see now how the tank can bow down far enough to fall out of its front and back channel, slide side to side, or bounce up high enough to jump over the lip. I just need to fix the slits in the belly liner, screw the liner back in place, re-foam the openings, and repair the propane line.