Full water tank

[Dennis66]

We have a 80 some gallon fresh water tank which I usually fill when I get to the campground. We found a great campground on the lake which has water fill area but its such a long line and being were only 68 miles from home is it ok to fill tank at home and drive with that much weight? I'm guessing its around 700 lbs, not a long drive and not much for hilly terrain. Would sure be nice not to weight an hour or so then it takes 20 to 25min to fill

[TucsonJim]

i frequently camp in the Arizona deserts and mountains where there is no place to fill our tank. In those cases, I fill my tank at home and I've never had a problem.

Jim

[Country Campers]

I fill my tank and travel that distance and further. Be advised that you may lose some water due to the sloshing effect with the breather pipe on the tank.

Brian

[Jlawles2]

Dennis66 Just filled mine. In both my TT and my previous 5er I traveled with a full tank just in case we needed water. Have had to stop and use the camper toilet while traveling when picnic spot was the only thing within 1 hr. I try to keep the tank as full as possible as sloshing water is never a good thing. With it being so far to the back and mostly over the axles it helps pull a little pin weight off. Remember that the 62 gallons (yes I have measured it 2x now) goes toward the total weight of the rig and allowable on the axles.

[ThePowells]

We keep our filled. Being on a well at home we fill / refill ours when on municipal water and leave it. Didn't realize another reason until I had a heater hose connection fail on the TV less than a mile from where we were headed. It was nice having water and a pump. I had the work around in place and radiator refilled before the PoPo got there since I was blocking part of a busy lane of traffic.

[Guest]

Every trip we travel with full water and have not had an issue.

Jim

[howson]

Dennis66

I guess I'll be the bad guy in this thread--there's the weight of the water to consider. If you have the additional payload it's not issue at all. If you're close (or over!) your 303RLS' GVWR before adding water the implications of adding 700 (or more) pounds onto the suspension should be self-evident.

Where the water tank is physically located could drastically affect your pin weight, too, so the first time you make this change make sure and verify it is still in the acceptable range (typically quoted at 25% for a 5vr, but that's a generalization). The point is to know how much the added water changed the pin weight to ensure there's no surprises. Stop at a CAT scale, too, so you know how much weight you're carrying (and where).

Howard

[Dennis66]

Howard, you saying my 303rls axles wont carry the weight of my rig with a full water tank? My gvw on the rig is around 2000lbs, With water at aprox 6 or 700 lbs that leaves 1400lbs of gear which were not even close.

[Jlawles2]

Dennis66 Dennis, Howard is reinforcing that you need to verify that with a full tank of water you do not overload the axles or tires. Fresh water is considered part of the cargo.

[Cate&Rob]

Dennis66
Hi Dennis,

Filling the water tank will not affect your pin weight because the fresh water tank is directly over the trailer axles. Lets say that you have all the cabinets, panty, fridge, etc full. All these storage spaces on a Reflection 303RLS are along the left side. This can lead to the weight carried by the left side trailer tires to be up to 1000 lbs more than the right side. A little bit of "extrapolation" from weights that I have measured on my earlier model 303 (lighter to start with and and we purposely pack light) . . . I am going to guess that you are at about 4600 lbs left side, 3600 lbs right side and 2200 lbs pin. The 700 lb weight of the water will be divided evenly between the left and right side trailer tires. On the left side 4600 lbs + 700/2 lbs = 4900 lbs. Below both the the axle rating and the tire rating. You should be fine. Anything that you can do to lighten the storage in the left side cabinets while travelling would give you even more load carrying margin.

Rob

[RickLight]

On the other hand my water tank just slipped from it's supports. GD indirectly blames 'over filling' the tank. I blame poor design! Details in a new post.
https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...resh-tank-fell

[howson]

Dennis66 Dennis, Howard is reinforcing that you need to verify that with a full tank of water you do not overload the axles or tires. Fresh water is considered part of the cargo.

Dennis66
Joseph is spot on. That's exactly what I'm attempting to convey. The sticker below is on the door of my 315RLTS. You'll find similar content in the owner's manual.

Cate&Rob is probably peerless when it comes to knowledge of the 303RLS amongst his owner peers. I have learned through years of association with him that to follow his guidance is to avoid mistakes or rework. Therefore in your case carrying the water is probably fine--but I still advise knowing for yourself by running across a CAT scale.

However, readers of this thread should not construe that everyone in every GD trailer can carry a full load of water--and since there is a wide audience that reads (sometimes without our knowledge as they are "ghosting") my post was meant as a cautionary input to that individual.

[Canyonlight]

We too have traveled a few times with a full fresh. Rob's and our fresh tanks are 54 gallons. We did the same with all our prior RVs as well with no problems either.

howson Cate&Rob Country Campers TucsonJim Moderators, I seem to recall one or more of you sharing over the last year or so, feedback from GDRV that they advised against traveling with a full fresh tank. Am I recalling this correctly and if so do you know why GDRV was recommending (or other word choice) this ?

Dennis66 - our early years Owners Manuals stated nothing about this. I am curious, what does your Owners Manual cover about this if anything ?

Dan

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Travelling with a full tank should be no issue. However I only do it if there is no other option.

[Cate&Rob]

We too have traveled a few times with a full fresh. Rob's and our fresh tanks are 54 gallons. We did the same with all our prior RVs as well with no problems either.

Moderators, I seem to recall one or more of you sharing over the last year or so, feedback from GDRV that they advised against traveling with a full fresh tank. Am I recalling this correctly and if so do you know why GDRV was recommending (or other word choice) this ?

Dennis66 - our early years Owners Manuals stated nothing about this. I am curious, what does your Owners Manual cover about this if anything ?

Dan

Hi Dan,

I do recall conversation attributed to someone at Grand Design, advising against travelling with a full fresh water tank. (I cannot find this thread at the moment). In any case . . . I do not think anyone was able to produce a Grand Design manual or document stating this. The caveat being that a full tank of water must not put you over the GVWR of the trailer. As has been noted by many . . . those who dry camp in remote locations do this all the time.

Rob