Proper weight balance with full, rear fresh water tanks

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by 1361

These are my initial weights with the new scale. A little over 800lbs with full FW tank in the back. A little over 1000lbs with an empty FW tank. I'm level front to back, not level side to side. I'm not fully loaded and ready to roll just yet. I'll do this again right before I hook up to go. I've got to find a way to get more weight forward. With the layout of this trailer, the inside storage is over the axles or a bit towards the rear.

Interesting weights, especially the 200 lb decrease with a full fresh tank.

[Blazing zipp]

We tow with a full tank most often. Our rig seems to be "looser" with no water in the tank. Our hitch is an Equalizer 1200 on an extended shank 2.5 hitch. Either way, there isn't a big difference whether the water tank is full or not.
Now, we have 4 6 volt batteries on the tongue and all my bride's shoes under the bed.

[Randy the sly old fox]

Originally Posted by 1361

These are my initial weights with the new scale. A little over 800lbs with full FW tank in the back. A little over 1000lbs with an empty FW tank. I'm level front to back, not level side to side. I'm not fully loaded and ready to roll just yet. I'll do this again right before I hook up to go. I've got to find a way to get more weight forward. With the layout of this trailer, the inside storage is over the axles or a bit towards the rear.

I also have a 25RDS and while I do notice a difference in handling with a full fresh tank, I did not think it would be as much as your scales indicate. I am not doubting your scales - just suprized that the difference is that much.

[rpeders]

Let's have some engineering math fun-must be a structural engineer out there somewhere that can back me up or shoot me down (I'm electrical

My 250RDS isn't handy so I can't give precise measurements but a 'rough' estimate would go something like this using the simple moment of force equation:
Moment=Force x Distance
250RDS is 32' but let's call it 30' and assume the center of gravity is 20' back from hitch leaving 10' hanging off the back. So to test the empirical result above that full water tank reduced tongue weight by 200 lbs we would have:

Moment of 200lbs on hitch must equal Moment of 520 lbs of water located X feet behind center of gravity or :
200 lbs x 20' = 600 lbs of water x ?' results in water tank center of gravity being about 6.7' behind center of gravity of trailer. My water tank goes right up to the rear wall so I would guess that the center of that tank should be getting close to 7' back from center of gravity.

(assumes 65 gallon fresh tank + 10 gallon hot water at 8lbs/gallon=600lbs) (Tandem axle makes real life a little more complicated but for ballparking purposes can probably be ignored?)

It's been nearly 40 years since taking my one structural engineering course so I may be all wet here. Let's see what the armchair experts say!