Announcement

**Guest** · 09-15-2020, 05:52 AM

bellis ,

I've not seen any verbiage in my owners manual against towing with full water. I do it all the time and have not ran into any issues other than sloshing that will drain off about 1/3 of the tank over time. This was corrected with a shut off valve at the overflow which I leave cracked just enough to allow for some flow to account for expansion.

Jim

**Country Campers** · 09-15-2020, 05:58 AM

I agree with Jim. I have towed plenty of campers with full water tanks with no problems , usually a couple hours like you are thinking. There was one that fell a few years back , if I recall , and I can not remember the model. The overflow valve is a good add on as well.

Brian

**Calbar** · 09-15-2020, 07:01 AM

Originally posted by bellis View Post

Was recently discussing towing with a friend who made the comment that he strongly recommends never towing with a full water tank. He said that all water tanks are attached in one of 2 ways (z channel? and/or 2 metal straps that hold the tank up). I confess, I did not take the black bottom all the way off to see how my water tank is mounted and I assume he is right, but he does not have a Grand Design, he has an older camper (not that camper technology or systems change much over the years), and he may have an older used camper. Anyway, he said he actually dropped his one time in a campground and had to strap it together to get to his campsite.

I realize that towing wet adds weight, reduces gas mileage, sloshes around and much more. I'm not suggesting towing for really extended periods like this.....but is the above a real risk on a Grand Design? Does anyone know of anyone who has had an experience like this?

My camper is at my farm which currently does not have water (it's coming) but it will be next year most likely. So, I like to tow with at least some if not a full fresh tank back to the farm so I have water there if I need/want it. Is this dumb? (usually only a couple of hours coming back).

Like the others here I have towed with fresh water in the tank. About 1/3. I have also towed recently with the black tank 2/3 full. Stayed only 4 days max on our latest trip so black tank lasted 3 campgrounds before I had to drain.

Rob

**howson** · 09-15-2020, 08:24 AM

bellis

Unfortunately I can't carry a full load of water in my 315RLTS--not enough weight carrying capacity. No way I can carry an additional 400lbs and stay anywhere near the trailer's GVWR. Do you have enough CCC left to carry a full load of water? To know , go to a CAT scale and get weighed with no water. Then fill up (hopefully someplace close!) and go across the scale again.

Keep in mind that adding water will not only affect your total weight, it could radically change the tongue weight. You don't want to find that out at 70 mph on the interstate.

Also a concern (to me) is how my tank is installed. The 315's tank is held in with three straps in addition to the thin side rails. When the tank is empty I can push up and the tank will move--it is not firmly attached to anything. It just "sits" on the straps and rails. (Different tanks have different installations--some don't use straps.)

Howard

**Canyonlight** · 09-15-2020, 09:53 AM

As I recall there was a thread here or some posts where at least Rob Cate&Rob and maybe Jim TucsonJim shared that GDRV recommends or maybe it was stronger language to not travel with full fresh water tank(s) and/or black grey tanks. I do not recall why GDRV stated not to do this.....maybe it was not shared.

This said, we too have towed many times over the decades with prior RVs and with our 303 over 7 seasons with a full fresh water tank.

Dan

**Guest** · 09-15-2020, 10:02 AM

Originally posted by howson View Post

bellis

Unfortunately I can't carry a full load of water in my 315RLTS--not enough weight carrying capacity. No way I can carry an additional 400lbs and stay anywhere near the trailer's GVWR. Do you have enough CCC left to carry a full load of water? To know , go to a CAT scale and get weighed with no water. Then fill up (hopefully someplace close!) and go across the scale again.

Keep in mind that adding water will not only affect your total weight, it could radically change the tongue weight. You don't want to find that out at 70 mph on the interstate.

Also a concern (to me) is how my tank is installed. The 315's tank is held in with three straps in addition to the thin side rails. When the tank is empty I can push up and the tank will move--it is not firmly attached to anything. It just "sits" on the straps and rails. (Different tanks have different installations--some don't use straps.)

Howard

howson Howard,

The method in which your tank is installed is very strong. Tank load is distributed along the rails as well as at the straps which largely prevent bellying and spreading of the rails. Bolts on those are mostly in shear.

Jim

**TucsonJim** · 09-15-2020, 11:08 AM

Between GDRV's beginning and about the 2016 model year, most of the tanks were placed between the frame rails with no straps across the bottom. There were quite a few reports of full fresh and holding tanks crashing to the ground and substantial damage as a result.

In response to these failures, GDRV started placing cross straps as you can see in howson 's post above. Since that time, I don't know of any failures on units that had the straps.

I live in Tucson and occasionally boondock in the desert. Many of the locations that we visit have no water fill up facilities anywhere near them. So I almost always travel with a 100% full fresh water tank and I've never had an issue in my 2017 model. Likewise, on our return trip, my holding tanks can be completely full, but they have also been failure free (knock on wood).

Jim

**Yoda** · 09-15-2020, 12:02 PM

When I pulled the belly on my Reflection 220RK I found the tanks sides are steeped (had a very stout reinforced lip) and rested on 2" welded angles to the frame. No tank belly strapping. I have no worries at all about traveling full of fresh water. Tanks are going nowhere. In fact my rig tows better with a full water tank that sits over the axles.

**bellis** · 09-15-2020, 12:57 PM

Thanks all. That is very helpful. We have been coming back with a full or mostly full fresh tank, 1-2 hour trips, at least 4 times now and have not had any issues at all. We typically can and need to dump (close to full) before we leave. The only issue we had recently was the black tank still showed mostly full after a dump and a using the black water tank clean out. We put some ice in it (and a little water) and drove 40 minutes to another dump station where we dumped again and the sensors then showed empty. Not sure if that is the best way to do it or not...but we had read it somewhere ice and or hot water may help clean it out.

We try to put a little water in the black tank after a dump with chemicals to help with smells(?)

howson pic is great. Thanks for sharing.

In terms of weight; I haven't gone to the scales....but I do not believe it is throwing the trailer over weight. I have done some math to estimate the tongue weight as well wet and it probably puts me closer than I like....but believe I am still OK. Short of going to an official scale, won't know for sure until I do that.

Thanks all.

**kscaddo** · 09-19-2020, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by bellis View Post

Thanks all. That is very helpful. We have been coming back with a full or mostly full fresh tank, 1-2 hour trips, at least 4 times now and have not had any issues at all. We typically can and need to dump (close to full) before we leave. The only issue we had recently was the black tank still showed mostly full after a dump and a using the black water tank clean out. We put some ice in it (and a little water) and drove 40 minutes to another dump station where we dumped again and the sensors then showed empty. Not sure if that is the best way to do it or not...but we had read it somewhere ice and or hot water may help clean it out.

We try to put a little water in the black tank after a dump with chemicals to help with smells(?)

howson pic is great. Thanks for sharing.

In terms of weight; I haven't gone to the scales....but I do not believe it is throwing the trailer over weight. I have done some math to estimate the tongue weight as well wet and it probably puts me closer than I like....but believe I am still OK. Short of going to an official scale, won't know for sure until I do that.

Thanks all.

On our previous Travel Trailer, one time we took a 300 mile trip to the Texas coast and beyond. I think I had 10-15 gallons in the fresh for on the road use. At any rate, after we left the coast, stopped somewhere and noticed one of the holding straps was hanging down. One of the self tapping screws had sheared, allowing the strap to bounce up and down and put a hole in the fw tank. Well, the plastics used in the manufacture of fw vs. gray/black tanks is different, and a much different animal to seal up. In fact it's a pain. My take away; the above pics show the strapping attached above the frame with two screws at each end. This could be key. Our previous trailer had the straps below the frame with one screw at each end.

I do like to travel with 10-15 gallons fresh while on the road, but am always concerned. YMMV.

Announcement

Towing Wet

Towing Wet

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment