Traveling with water

[lcboy]

Does anyone travel with water in their water tanks and water in sewer tanks. Someone told me the straps will break if I carry water with me.

[mbranscum]

I personally think it's better to carry either a full tank or an empty tank. Carrying a half full tank could possibly cause sway if you have a larger tank. We have a 53 gallon tank.

[dustyone]

I carry a full tank of water with me all the time. I like to dump my waste water tank before I leave any campsite if possible before I leave the campsites. Have only ever needed to carry the water twice. But was grateful to have. I guess depending upon how old straps are they might break and I have heard of a few. I just checked my straps once in awhile usually each spring when I do my inspections on the trailer before I leave. Never had an issue so far thankfully. Safe travels and enjoy. Dusty

[Old Scout]

....what straps?.....always travel with 1/3 to 1/2 tank of fresh water so I don't have to hook up to pedestal every night. Same for black and grey tanks, dump every few days if only overnighting on the way to point A from point B.....

[vsheetz]

We usually travel with near full to full fresh water and near empty to empty waste tanks. In case of a need or want, we are ready to be self sufficient.

[Podivin]

My rig seems to handle better with the fresh water tank full or nearly full.
I try to empty the waste tanks before leaving the campground.

[bigben]

We have a 100 gal fresh water tank but generally carry about 25 gals. At 8+ pounds per gal, prefer not to carry almost 900 pounds of vs 150 pounds. Always empty gray and black water for the same sort of reasons

[nothermark]

Since this is a travel trailer forum... it depends where your fresh water tank is located. Most RV's have the fresh tank inside he warm house envelope or in a heated basement compartment. They are pretty secure there. Most of the motor homes have he tanks spanning the rails or otherwise anchored to them pretty solidly. The problem comes up in small travel trailers because the rails are too small and the floor too thin to put the waste tanks in. They tend to have flat tanks strapped up to the floor with questionable results. We have seen reports of failures including some spectacular messes. Your best bet is to take a good look at how your system is put together. You might also find a forum dedicated to your brand and ask there about your specific model.

FWIW we almost always dump on the way out after filling the fresh tank before we leave. I operate self contained most of the time. That way I know how much water is on board so can make an educated guess at tank levels as a check against questionable idiot lights.

[Superslif]

95% of the time we used to never carry water and had our tanks empty. Since our Alaska trip last May, we started carrying a full tank of water (53 gal.). Also traveling thru Canada as you go North into Alaska, water and dumps, at least the free ones could be 3-4 days apart.

If I know our next stop has a dump and water, I will leave it empty. We travel with a 26' tt. Even with a empty water tank, we will have 1 or 2 gallon jugs of fresh water, and maybe a 24 pak of bottled water.

[jmcannonball]

We usually travel with at least 1/2 tank fresh water. If we stay at RV park for a couple days or more, we will dup both the grey and black tanks.

[parkerbill]

We always travel with a full freshwater tank in our Bullet 269RLS and we usually carry a case of bottled water and depending on where we are going we may carry a couple of extra five gallon containers. For example tomorrow we are heading to a campground a few hours away that according to several reviews has water that has a lot of sulphur in it. Our freshwater tank is 43 gallons. Gray tank: well, since it's only 30 gallons we dump it every time we get a chance. Black tank: again, 30 gallons. If we are traveling we try to dump it when it gets to half full or more. If it's our last night on the road we dump it.

[RPreeb]

We travel with water. We don't camp any closer to civilization than necessary, so water is mandatory. I'm not worried about the extra 350 pounds of weight, and if the TT isn't designed to travel with water, then it's an abysmally poor design. Why else have a tank in what is after all a "travel" trailer?

[6Kampers]

Same as most... my water tank up front so the extra 400lbs helps with sway --- I always travel with water for the "never know"

[MTK46]

Overheated in the middle of nowhere in Utah one year. Glad I had water in the tank to cool off TV. Two flat tires in the middle of the desert when it was 117. Glad again I had water in tank. I always travel with water in tank no matter what RV I've had.