Traveling with a full water tank

[Bug512]

Hello, how many of you travel with a full tank of freshwater?

I know I will need to go to the scales after I fill our freshwater tank (95 gallons) and see what we weigh in at.

The reason I ask is we attend festivals where there are not any hookups available.

 

[mikron]

full

Almost 9 lbs per gallon. We only fill half or less until hook up to camp water. We do take RO water from the house for drinking, don't trust the water around the country. Going to install RO system in the coach.

 

[bdpreece]

We only travel with full tanks when we know we will be someplace where we cannot fill when we arrive. I filled all tanks and loaded the coach when we first purchased it so that I know I am not overweight but still hate to carry a full tank of water unless necessary.

 

[JohnRR]

With the little experience I have RVing when I start out for a trip I want my water tank full.

 

[Wanabee FTer]

Since my FWT is behind the rear axle I will fill it up before a trip to help lighten the front axle. The front is very close to the max GVWR. I am about 2,000 lbs. light on my rear axle.

 

[f14av8r]

8.3 lbs per gallon is the answer. If you travel with that thing full, your dragging around nearly 800 lbs of dead weight. That doesn't mean we never fill ours up before a trip. One of the obvious advantages of a motorhome is being self-sufficient even while going down the road. But, if we are traveling a long distance and expect to have access to water on the other end, we try and travel with a quarter full tank. You will get better gas mileage and better performance by traveling lighter.

 

[steelheadbluesman]

Right you are, Randy, a full tank (mine is 100 gal) is like hauling 5 or 6 extra people around all the time. 830 pounds. 1/4 tank lets me use the 'essentials" til I get somewhere.

 

[Bug512]

Thanks for the replies...

One of the issues I have is when we travel from home (New Jersey) to Tennessee. One of the music festivals we attend does not have any water provisions.

My thought is to travel down with 1/3 of a tank. But then where can I fill up then I get there? Do truck stops have water? Do you think it's OK. How about a state park?

In years past (when we had our old trailer) we travel down on Wednesday and stay at a walmart or cracker barrel, then on Thursday finish traveling to the festival site.

Where do you fill up when traveling?

 

[Wanabee FTer]

Thanks for the replies...

One of the issues I have is when we travel from home (New Jersey) to Tennessee. One of the music festivals we attend does not have any water provisions.

My thought is to travel down with 1/3 of a tank. But then where can I fill up then I get there? Do truck stops have water? Do you think it's OK. How about a state park?

In years past (when we had our old trailer) we travel down on Wednesday and stay at a walmart or cracker barrel, then on Thursday finish traveling to the festival site.

Where do you fill up when traveling?

Convenience vs. cost, A somewhat un-noticeable amount of fuel consumption vs. trying to find good drinking water on the road. I would choose convenience.

 

[mountainkowboy-WO]

We always leave with our tank full. We dont stay in campgrounds when we travel and it has sometimes been a long haul between water fills, or at least water I would put in my tank. It always seems easy to find a dump, but not always a good water fill.

It seems insignificant, the fuel savings-if any, in the scope of things, of traveling with 800#'s of water vs 200#'s. These things weigh 13 tons or so.......800#'s is a toss in the bucket.

 

[maybesoon]

We always travel with consumable tanks full (propane, fuel, water). I believe in Murphy and you never know. Too many things can happen and the only thing worse than being stuck somewhere or in need with not having water.

I know that no matter where we stop, we haveplenty of water. I've pulled into some places I'd not want to connect a hose to but the area was beautiful. We take an external whole house filter and water softener with us. The internal whole house filter is just a backup. We have low double digits on the water quality meter, the only thing with less is RO water but RO isn't any healthier.

There is something to be said about the confidence and peace of mind that comes from knowing you have everything you need.

 

[RickO-WO]

Convenience vs. cost, A somewhat un-noticeable amount of fuel consumption vs. trying to find good drinking water on the road. I would choose convenience.

That's the philosophy we've been using. If we're moving from CG#1 and traveling to stay at CG#2 for a few days or more, we'll only travel with 1/3 tank of FW. But, right now we're "in travel mode" to get from Sacramento to Phoenix with an overnight stopover in San Francisco then an overnight stay in Bakersfield. It's been pouring rain all over California for three days now and that's expected to continue. I filled my tank before leaving Sac just so I won't have to worry about the quality of the water or go through the hassle of dragging out the water softner for hook up.

Rick

 

[cydonia-jacc]

I like to leave on big trips 2/3rds full just in case we are stranded in a storm. Also, it usually takes a couple of days to get to our destination and we like to shower along the way. I've driven over scales at the beginning of a two week trip and I was surprised to find that I was under the gross weight limit.

 

[lornaschinske]

We have a 21 gallon tank in the Class C, so we travel with a full tank.

The skoolie conversion will have roughly 60 gallons fresh capacity, divided between 3 tanks. The tanks will be set up to where we can shut down the other tanks (individual shut off valves) so that we don't have to travel with full tanks if we don't want to. The carrying capacity of the skoolie more than exceeds that of manufactured RVs and the weight of the full 60 gallons of water (@ 8.8 lbs per gallon = 528 lbs) is nothing. Our tanks will be always in use. Our filter system knocks our water pressure down really low so we will set up an automatic shut off when the water level in the fresh tank trips the float valve and closes the water valve. I will not change our filter system. I prefer a 0.5 micron filter. We figure we will pull into a campground every 3 days when traveling. I have gotten potable water at rest areas (and dumped waste), Gas stations, Lowes (garden section), truck stops and of course public campgrounds (and dumped waste).

 

[UFO Pilot-WO]

I usually travel with a bout 1/3 tank of water (about 30-35 gallons. Having broken down twice on the road and having to dry camp for a couple of days, it is nice to have enough water for showers and flushing the toilet.

 

[hardy1000]

If I have reservations I travel with 1/3 tank. If I am dry camping obviously I travel full unless I know I can get water for sure before my destination. I personally like to travel with less weight but DW always feels better with a full tank so thats the way we roll most of the time.

 

[Duner-WO]

Thanks for the replies...
Where do you fill up when traveling?

Thru the years, I've found Fire Stations to be rv friendly when I asked them for water to fill up.

Bill

 

[Bug512]

Thanks for all the opinions..

Now to look into camping in the 1000 island area of New York.....

 

[F and E Damp]

Our home water quality is one of the best in the nation, so we usually head out with the 60-gallon tank full. There's just two of us and two Labs on board and the storage lockers aren't full. In a 22,000 lb gross weight, 500 lb of water is worth having aboard for both convenience en-route and to avoid some of the skanky stuff we've found at CGs.

Forunately, our rig's plumbing system doesn't automatically fill the potable tank from the city spigot. When we get home, we drain off what's in the potable tank ready for next time, so that it doesn't stagnate.

Our filtration on the city water line is just one of those blue cylindrical throw-away types. There's no bigger system installed (yet).

 

[Chuck 1935]

I always travel with a full water tank, 650lbs. I like the idea of having the extra weight down low to keep a lower center of gravity. I always have a full water tank for any emergancies that might arise such as earthquakes. I only drained the tank once after we got a chlorine tasting tankful, other than that it stays full.