# Towing With Water Tank Full



## gerrym (Oct 23, 2006)

Other than the 500 lbs added, is there any issues towing with full water?
My coleman popup said not to but I did anyhow.
Also I noticed that the water drain spigot is pretty cheap and may have been leaking last time we were out. Anyone re-seat this or put in a new one (spigot)?
Hey- while I have your collective minds here- anyone rig up anything to put over the provincial campground faucets so you can refill after you hit the dump station? (since they aren't threaded)


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

As long as your within the weight limits for the trailer and tow vehicle theres no real reason you can't tow with the tank full. I usually don't just to keep from hauling the water around and I've never had a problem filling up when we got to the campground. Basically I think this comes down to personal preference and the ease of water sources at the campground.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I try not to tow too far with the fresh water tank full. Like you said, at 8.2 lbs/gallon, you're adding 510 lbs to the trailer. But it is about 2/3 tongue weight and it will require some tweaking of your weight distributing hitch to prevent your front end from lightening up and creating a bit of a steering problem.

Also be sure that you won't be overloadg your tires. On my 29BHS, the fresh tank is up front and so I must balance out the weight by moving some to the rear, or the front axle's tires may be bearing more weight than their rating.

I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite. When I camp at our state parks, I fill the fresh tank at a spigot in the campground. I carry about 100 feet of hose, just in case.

Anyone else with more insight than I? Please chime in.

Mike


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

Scoutr2 said:


> I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite.


We camping more often than not at dry sites in Colorado (just returned from Kelsey as a matter of fact!). I fill the fresh water and hot water tank at home before leaving. Yes, you can tell the difference when towing due to the extra weight, but other than that, no problems. I don't make any w/d adjustments to the hitch (that would be a pain), and I make sure the tires are at 50.5 psi before leaving. Since my wife won't let me put in full hook-ups at home like California Jim has







, we dump at Chatfield State Park, then head home.

Randy


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

I often tow with my fresh water tank filled. I then make sure to load my tt so that I get the proper percentage on the tongue and I use the water as my main ballast. I find I can adjust much easier if I feell a little sway - just move something forward.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

We always tow with water tanks full. On Roo's it will reduce the tongue weight some, since the water tank is just behind the rear axles. Plus we only dry camp. We never go to full hook-up sites. We do carry 5, 6 gallon water jugs full of water also.

We get dirty when we camp, cause we ride dirt bikes. We go thru lots of water.

Carey


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## jetjane (Feb 8, 2007)

We always fill our water tank at home before heading out and empty it before we head home. We also carry extra water with ice for drinking as well. The most we ever have for hook-ups is electricity. Some of the campgrounds we go to don't even have potable water available.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

The amount of weight added to your tongue will depend on where the water tank is placed on your particular trailer. If it's placed correctly, you would be adding 10-15% of the weight to the tongue. In front of the axles will be more weight, and behind the axles will be less.

You can help yourself to water with the "water thief" from Camping World:

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/in...90&src=SRQB


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## Steve McNeil (Aug 30, 2004)

I filled my fresh water tank on my last trip, since we was going to be staying at a rest stop on the way to Colorado. But, by the time I drove approx. 75-80 miles, I drained the tank. The tt and tv would bounce a lot, especially going over the bridges. My tank is located on the very back of the tt. If I need fresh water again for an overnight trip, I will find somewhere close by the site to fill up the tank.


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## biga (Apr 17, 2006)

Much like Colorado~DirtBikers, we tow with 2/3-full tank of fresh water to help balance the tongue weight of the Roo when we have the bikes with us. I am planning to add some storage to the rear bumper that should shift some more weight from the tongue without having to add so much weight to the trailer (100lbs on the bumper will be like 200lbs in the fresh water tank).

When we do not have the bikes (rarely), we carry a small amount of water (maybe 1/3 full) simply for the bathroom and eating stops.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Steve McNeil said:


> I filled my fresh water tank on my last trip, since we was going to be staying at a rest stop on the way to Colorado. But, by the time I drove approx. 75-80 miles, I drained the tank. The tt and tv would bounce a lot, especially going over the bridges. My tank is located on the very back of the tt. If I need fresh water again for an overnight trip, I will find somewhere close by the site to fill up the tank.


You have a problem. I tow full all the time and never lose a drop 2 and 3 hundred miles. The tank on the 28rss is as far to the rear of the trailer as possible. There is no reason that water should bounce out of the tank.


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## Bob556 (Mar 16, 2007)

If I understand the end of your post, you want to put something over the hose at the dump station?
Most water faucets at dump stations are "non potable" and should be for cleanup only.
Just my .02


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Bob556 said:


> If I understand the end of your post, you want to put something over the hose at the dump station?
> Most water faucets at dump stations are "non potable" and should be for cleanup only.
> Just my .02


Here in MI the state parks have the potable water at the "sanitation station".

I bought a rubber thingy at Walmart that's suppose to slip over any kind of faucet (without normal hose threads, of course) and allow me to fill from it. Have yet to try it tough.


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Used to tow full, but decided to not add the extra weight, so do 1/3 to 2/3 for rest stops, etc.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

CamperAndy said:


> I filled my fresh water tank on my last trip, since we was going to be staying at a rest stop on the way to Colorado. But, by the time I drove approx. 75-80 miles, I drained the tank. The tt and tv would bounce a lot, especially going over the bridges. My tank is located on the very back of the tt. If I need fresh water again for an overnight trip, I will find somewhere close by the site to fill up the tank.


You have a problem. I tow full all the time and never lose a drop 2 and 3 hundred miles. The tank on the 28rss is as far to the rear of the trailer as possible. There is no reason that water should bounce out of the tank.
[/quote]

I think he's saying he stopped and then drained the tank because the TT / TV was bouncing too much from the extra weight.....


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Insomniak said:


> I filled my fresh water tank on my last trip, since we was going to be staying at a rest stop on the way to Colorado. But, by the time I drove approx. 75-80 miles, I drained the tank. The tt and tv would bounce a lot, especially going over the bridges. My tank is located on the very back of the tt. If I need fresh water again for an overnight trip, I will find somewhere close by the site to fill up the tank.


You have a problem. I tow full all the time and never lose a drop 2 and 3 hundred miles. The tank on the 28rss is as far to the rear of the trailer as possible. There is no reason that water should bounce out of the tank.
[/quote]

I think he's saying he stopped and then drained the tank because the TT / TV was bouncing too much from the extra weight.....








[/quote]

Well caught. I miss read it the first time. Porpoising due to light tongue weight can be a problem. I load heavy in the front storage and bunk house and do not have that problem with the fresh tank full.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Wouldnt it be safer to tow with a full water tank, versus a 1/2 full one? I know when our tanks are 1/2 full I can feel a bit more movement around curves. I wouldnt call it sway, but maybe a bit of a whipping feel when the tanks are less than full. This goes for the gray and black tank also.

Seems its better to tow full than less than full in my thoughts.

Carey


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## biga (Apr 17, 2006)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Wouldnt it be safer to tow with a full water tank, versus a 1/2 full one? I know when our tanks are 1/2 full I can feel a bit more movement around curves. I wouldnt call it sway, but maybe a bit of a whipping feel when the tanks are less than full. This goes for the gray and black tank also.
> 
> Seems its better to tow full than less than full in my thoughts.
> 
> Carey


Good point. I expect it would be more problematic when on curvy roads where the water would whip back and forth. I have not noticed that problem with my rig, it could be the 3/4 ton or the 155" wheelbase absorbs the effect.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

BoaterDan said:


> If I understand the end of your post, you want to put something over the hose at the dump station?
> Most water faucets at dump stations are "non potable" and should be for cleanup only.
> Just my .02


Here in MI the state parks have the potable water at the "sanitation station".

I bought a rubber thingy at Walmart that's suppose to slip over any kind of faucet (without normal hose threads, of course) and allow me to fill from it. Have yet to try it tough.
[/quote]

Personally, I would not fill my fresh tank at a dump station because I don't know where that hose has been, if you know what I mean. I've seen, and read here on this forum, accounts of people running the dump station hose up inside their dump tube to flush out toilet paper. etc. at the end of their trip. And even if you are using your own hose, you still don't know what was hooked up to their faucet recently, nor where the last hose was hooked up last. It's just too risky. A little e-coli goes a long way!

Maybe I'm just too much of a worry-wart, but ruining the rest of my vacation aside, I just don't need to get sick nor make my family sick. I always fill my fresh tank at a spigot away from the dump station.

Just my $.02.

Mike


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## gerrym (Oct 23, 2006)

No I didn't mean to fill up the water at the dump station but rather stop by a fresh water spigot and refill while I was folded up midweek if I was at a campground for any length of time. Most of the campsites I took this summer are a couple hundred feet from fresh water.

Thanks for your help- I'll get the adapter (water bandit or whatever they call it)

Now if the transmission will stay together...................................


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## andrhuxl (Jul 15, 2006)

Scoutr2 said:


> I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite. When I camp at our state parks, I* fill the fresh tank at a spigot in the campground. I carry about 100 feet of hose, just in case.*
> Mike


Has anyone else attempted to do this? I am contemplating trying this this week as we will be camping for five days with only electrical hook-ups and I'll fill our tank when we arrive at the campground, but will probably need to fill again.


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

sarg2505 said:


> I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite. When I camp at our state parks, I* fill the fresh tank at a spigot in the campground. I carry about 100 feet of hose, just in case.*
> Mike


Has anyone else attempted to do this? I am contemplating trying this this week as we will be camping for five days with only electrical hook-ups and I'll fill our tank when we arrive at the campground, but will probably need to fill again.
[/quote]

The place we're going camping to next week has water spigots between the sections of the campground and we tow there almost empty and then fill up before backing into our space. Since we're going to be there for 8 days we'll need to fill up a couple of times. We'll be there with 3 other families and between us we've got 200+ feet of hose. Usually we hook up the hoses and fill up anyone that needs water even if they're not with our group. One day a couple of years ago the camp host came by and could not believe how much hose we had strung together. The spigot was uphill from our campsites so pressure was not a problem. The only thing we had to do was use radios to talk between the guy at the spigot and the person at the end of the hose.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

sarg2505 said:


> I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite. When I camp at our state parks, I* fill the fresh tank at a spigot in the campground. I carry about 100 feet of hose, just in case.*
> Mike


Has anyone else attempted to do this? I am contemplating trying this this week as we will be camping for five days with only electrical hook-ups and I'll fill our tank when we arrive at the campground, but will probably need to fill again.
[/quote]

Where are you going? It kind of depends on the park here in MI. At Sterling State Park, for example, the "faucets" located in the campground have a button you press for about 10 seconds of water, and there's no real spout per se. I don't think there's any way you could hook any kind of contraption up to them and fill your tanks.

What I've done so far is use a 7-gallon container if I need to fill up mid-week. It's a bit of work, but it's usually only 2 or 3 containers needed to get me through. As I said, I've got one of the water thief thingies and I'd use that if I could, but the jug always works.


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## andrhuxl (Jul 15, 2006)

BoaterDan said:


> I know a lot of people here dry camp, especially out west where there are a lot of nice National Forest Service campgrounds. But I'll bet that most of them fill their fresh tank at the place that is closest to their campsite. When I camp at our state parks, I* fill the fresh tank at a spigot in the campground. I carry about 100 feet of hose, just in case.*
> Mike


Has anyone else attempted to do this? I am contemplating trying this this week as we will be camping for five days with only electrical hook-ups and I'll fill our tank when we arrive at the campground, but will probably need to fill again.
[/quote]

Where are you going? It kind of depends on the park here in MI. At Sterling State Park, for example, the "faucets" located in the campground have a button you press for about 10 seconds of water, and there's no real spout per se. I don't think there's any way you could hook any kind of contraption up to them and fill your tanks.

What I've done so far is use a 7-gallon container if I need to fill up mid-week. It's a bit of work, but it's usually only 2 or 3 containers needed to get me through. As I said, I've got one of the water thief thingies and I'd use that if I could, but the jug always works.
[/quote]

How do you go about dumping the water from the jug into the fresh water tank. I know when I am sanitizing the water system it is a pain in the [email protected]# do get the bleech solution into the tank.


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

If we need a bathroom along the driving route, I'll put 5 gal. into the tank to use as flush water; otherwise it is empty. If dry camping or if winter camping after the water has been cut off for the season at the sites, I will fill up the tank upon arrival at the campground.

In short, I avoid hauling water.


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## Foleymann (Mar 13, 2007)

As was mentioned before, the water "thinghy" is a water "thief" and there was a link in the thread to get one from CW. I have used it and it works great.


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