Full water tank

[Guest]

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

A direct answer on this would be extremely helpful based on the mounting of the tank and if the tank and straps can handle the load while traveling.

Jim

[Canyonlight]

A direct answer on this would be extremely helpful based on the mounting of the tank and if the tank and straps can handle the load while traveling.

Jim

Agree - I seem to recall that when some of us asked about this that GDRV did not share the reasoning behind this. Some speculation, of course about preventing "dropping" fresh tanks full of water as there have been a few of these over the years; possibly the water sloshing effect causing damage to tank/mounting/frame/etc.; and more thoughts as well.

It is well known to the industry that RVrs travel (and have done so for decades - even longer than Hinkle has been around ) with full fresh (and holding) tanks particularly necessary when boondocking where there is no place to fill with fresh water and/or dump tanks.

Given the preceding, I can't imagine (see what I did there !) a RV manufacturer knowingly designing and building RVs not capable of being pulled/driven where full tanks would or could create any potential damaging issues to the RV or RVr given normal street/highway/etc. on road conditions.

Dan

[Cate&Rob]

A direct answer on this would be extremely helpful based on the mounting of the tank and if the tank and straps can handle the load while traveling.

Jim

Hi Jim,

I think the "direct answer" is what's written down in all the documentation. The water tank can hold so many gallons and that full tank of water weighs this much which has to be considered in not overloading the GVWR of the trailer. A verbal opinion that travelling with a full water tank is not wise . . . is just that . . . an opinion. I know that there is a parallel thread right now about a water tank that dropped and Grand Design is looking into why that happened.

Rob

[Canyonlight]

Hi Jim,

I think the "direct answer" is what's written down in all the documentation. The water tank can hold so many gallons and that full tank of water weighs this much which has to be considered in not overloading the GVWR of the trailer. A verbal opinion that travelling with a full water tank is not wise . . . is just that . . . an opinion. I know that there is a parallel thread right now about a water tank that dropped and Grand Design is looking into why that happened.

Rob

Rob - good points. Many folks are pretty heavily loaded with nearly empty fresh water tanks. Considering these larger capacity tanks than we had years ago for fresh and often grey and black as well, folks that would travel with all these large capacity tanks full or nearly full could be in situations where the RV is WAY over the marginal CCC of many RVs. Yikes !

One has to know their loaded and potentially loaded weights which often they do not....... and are shocked to find out if they do weigh.....double yikes !!

Dan

[Jlawles2]

I would imagine if left to it, an RV with tandem dual axles could be loaded past the limits. Designers have a fine line of reasonable and necessary vs what's possible. The more owners feel there is left, the more stuff will end up in the coach. I know I am under axle capacity on the trailer, and close on the truck, thus the fresh tank is acceptable to be full. If I were remotely close to trailer axle cap, fresh water is the first thing to go.

[Guest]

Hi Jim,

I think the "direct answer" is what's written down in all the documentation. The water tank can hold so many gallons and that full tank of water weighs this much which has to be considered in not overloading the GVWR of the trailer. A verbal opinion that travelling with a full water tank is not wise . . . is just that . . . an opinion. I know that there is a parallel thread right now about a water tank that dropped and Grand Design is looking into why that happened.

Rob

I've never read, seen or heard that traveling with full water is prohibited. Most if not all of us know its added to the total allowable mass. I've read some verbiage that around 2016 the bottom webbing was added where as long as the bolts retaining those do not shear, it would be strong enough. It would be nice for GDRV to make a statement.

I've traveled a great deal with full water and treat the coach gently where I believe there could be some instances where a partial fill with sloshing could pose higher forces than a full tank.

I've verified my loaded weight with full water at the CAT scale.

Jim

[JBill9694]

My owner's manual has this warning:

"DO NOT travel with full grey/black holding tanks. This not only wastes gas but, depending upon the location of the grey or black holding tanks, can affect handling characteristics."

No such warning for the fresh water holding tanks.

[Dennis66]

Does a anyone know the axle capacity of a 2021 303rls?

[Cate&Rob]

Does a anyone know the axle capacity of a 2021 303rls?

Unless something has changed recently, a 303RLS comes with 5200 lb axles. There will be labels on the aft centre of the axle tubes confirming this.

Rob

[Cate&Rob]

My owner's manual has this warning:

"DO NOT travel with full grey/black holding tanks. This not only wastes gas but, depending upon the location of the grey or black holding tanks, can affect handling characteristics."

No such warning for the fresh water holding tanks.

This makes some sense because the grey/black tanks are usually well forward towards the hitch/pin where adding weight could affect handling characteristics. The fresh water tanks are usually (but not alway!) over the trailer axles where adding weight will be less likely to affect handling characteristics of the trailer.

Rob

[Canyonlight]

My owner's manual has this warning:

"DO NOT travel with full grey/black holding tanks. This not only wastes gas but, depending upon the location of the grey or black holding tanks, can affect handling characteristics."

No such warning for the fresh water holding tanks.

Thanks, John - appreciate the feedback regarding what the OM states. What Rob shared in his post #25 makes perfect sense for the black and grey tanks on our 303s and similar floor plans I trust where tanks are generally in the same locations.

Dan

[Guest]

This makes some sense because the grey/black tanks are usually well forward towards the hitch/pin where adding weight could affect handling characteristics. The fresh water tanks are usually (but not alway!) over the trailer axles where adding weight will be less likely to affect handling characteristics of the trailer.

Rob

Rob,
This may depend on the model. We camp at Holly State Park on occasion but their dumping station has been out of commission for several years. This is the place I've written about where Ecoli was found in the wells. This is why I travel with a full tank of fresh water whenever possible.
To dump, we have to travel to another state park which is about 35 miles away. I've not noticed any handling issues with the Imagine 2600RB. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I have a grey tank on each side of the axles and the black tank at the rear.

Jim