Do you drive with Full Water Tanks?

[EdwardFT]

I wouldn't count both the fresh water and grey water tanks. Almost always when I fill one, I empty the other, Then in the course of daily life the water moves from fresh to grey.
As for weights, I have a 2002 Hymer B584. I have had it weighed with driver, one tank full, full fuel tank, 2 gas tanks (a 13kg and an 11kg), and all my stuff inside, and there is a lot of stuff because I full time. And a bike on the back. It comes to less than 2800kg.

 

[G-RMPS]

As I said, they should limit the fuel capacity to 20% maximum....... I wonder why they put a 110litre fuel tank on my van if too much fuel is dangerous

My wee plane has frangible bolts holding the fuel tank in place. Apparently the manufacturer thinks that on crashing it is better to be hit from behind with a 50kg mass travelling at 100mph than getting covered in fuel just after the sparks start. I tend to agree...

 

[glenn2926]

I wonder what the nearLy empty tank types would have thought if I had turned up to their house on fire with only twenty litres in the fire appliance tank. Bearing in mind we had to drive there on blue lights. I mean how dangerous is that? Fancy that driving at speed when carrying a full tank of water.
My motorhome is plated at four tonnes. Therefore it is safe to drive when weighing anything up to that four tonnes. I have a payload of 850kg. My fresh water tank holds 140 litres which is 140kg. That doesn’t sound very dangerous to me.

 

[cmcardle75]

I wonder what the nearLy empty tank types would have thought if I had turned up to their house on fire with only twenty litres in the fire appliance tank. Bearing in mind we had to drive there on blue lights. I mean how dangerous is that? Fancy that driving at speed when carrying a full tank of water.
My motorhome is plated at four tonnes. Therefore it is safe to drive when weighing anything up to that four tonnes. I have a payload of 850kg. My fresh water tank holds 140 litres which is 140kg. That doesn’t sound very dangerous to me.

Even 140kg can be bad if the vehicle is small enough and the baffles missing enough. I've got a 210 litre in my 4500kg PVC conversion and I made sure it was baffled, especially as it on onboard, not underslung. And paid lots of attention about how to keep it in place in a crash. The mountings are stronger than the two M1 rated seats it replaced (also 200kg with two generously sized people sat in them).

 

[MR. FUSION]

I always need to be full so If it was that bad, I'd either sell the van or fit a decent baffled tank, they are not that expensive and you can get them in most any size and shape you want

I have learned to live with it. The advantages of having a tank in the cab are it does not freeze in the winter & I can get the gunge out of it and properly clean it because it has a big access lid. I have got all sorts of gunge out of the water tank that required abrasive action to get it out. I suspect with an underslung there will be stuff on the bottom of the tank that sits there. Even washing your hands/ dishes etc will mean bacteria from the tank is getting into your body.

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[tonyidle]

Mine is 55 gallons (US) so well over 200L

Ooh - tank willy-waving - mine's 220L.

 

[pandas]

I wonder what the nearLy empty tank types would have thought if I had turned up to their house on fire with only twenty litres in the fire appliance tank. Bearing in mind we had to drive there on blue lights. I mean how dangerous is that? Fancy that driving at speed when carrying a full tank of water.
My motorhome is plated at four tonnes. Therefore it is safe to drive when weighing anything up to that four tonnes. I have a payload of 850kg. My fresh water tank holds 140 litres which is 140kg. That doesn’t sound very dangerous to me.

Look glenn2926 I am not sure anybody has said it’s dangerous or unsafe so maybe you should keep the polarization you are very keen on to yourself. (not read all the 11 odd pages but I don’t think they have anyhow.) It’s more a point of preference and all is being discussed is if you travel empty, nearly empty or full - what’s the issue - move on and you might find more enjoyable things to occupy yourself with.
And well done for being one of our front line emergency responders, must have been a very fulfilling occupation.

 

[funflair]

Even 140kg can be bad if the vehicle is small enough and the baffles missing enough. I've got a 210 litre in my 4500kg PVC conversion and I made sure it was baffled, especially as it on onboard, not underslung. And paid lots of attention about how to keep it in place in a crash. The mountings are stronger than the two M1 rated seats it replaced (also 200kg with two generously sized people sat in them).

Keep the tank full when you travel and you won't need baffles

 

[Buzz67]

You must have numb feelings. 120 kg is significant in any vehicle. It's not a big effect granted but surely you can notice the reduction in acceleration especially on those hills

Not really. Advanced driver and motorcyclist, very high levels of mechanical empathy (Engineer by trade) maybe that’s why I can manage to drive my Motorhome comfortably after adding 3% to it’s weight.

 

[tonyidle]

No matter how safe or dangerous the contents and fittings of your van the most danger you will face is when riding the two-wheel vehicle you carry with you. As for the van a completely full water tank might, in the event of an accident, rupture and extinguish the inevitable fire.

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[pandas]

Are you a tank half empty or half full person - do we care - not a jot! Move on.

 

[Buzz67]

Don't' start another whole new argument

We will leave that to you

 

[Wildbill]

We have not used the MH this year and probably wont use in this winter had to be in isolation but done lodes of work when up to it
were keeping away from any where i might get contact with covid so been working on my boat project.
it's a big project to take on but with 50 gallon tank's i don't think we will have any wight issue's
after much skip diving and thing that other boaters have given us it coming along nice and keeping me out off trouble
i can distance at the yard and it get's me out of the hose
bill

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Are you a tank half empty or half full person - do we care - not a jot! Move on.

Are you in charge now......I care by the way
If YOU dont like this TV programme, then YOU move on, like most of us do from time to time

 

[tonyidle]

We have not used the MH this year and probably wont use in this winter had to be in isolation but done lodes of work when up to it
were keeping away from any where i might get contact with covid so been working on my boat project.
it's a big project to take on but with 50 gallon tank's i don't think we will have any wight issue's
after much skip diving and thing that other boaters have given us it coming along nice and keeping me out off trouble
i can distance at the yard and it get's me out of the hose
bill

And where are the pictures?

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[M-J]

Handbags coming out over how much water you travel with, thought I’d seen it all.... apparently not!

 

[JaG]

About 10 litres if going to commercial site. Full if going on rally to save queueing to get water. Always carry 10 litres of fresh water for drinking plus 2 litres in fridge for cold drinking water.

 

[Wildbill]

And where are the pictures?

see this thread

Broken Link Removed

 

[Gerby]

Ooh - tank willy-waving - mine's 220L.

I had 1800 litres on one of my previous vans, in fairness it was a Fire Engine and surprisingly extremely stable at quite fast speeds (just as well on more than one occasion that I can recall).

 

[Compactliner]

in an older Swift we had, the fresh tank was an oblong box, without baffles.
on both the Carthagos weve had, the fresh and waste tanks are irregular shaped and fit together (ying/yang style) between the floors. any 'baffling' is performed by the shape of the tanks.
FWIW, we generally travel with full fresh and empty waste tanks.

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[busbuddy]

I asked one of my motorhoming neighbours last night and he looks at it from a different perspective........he said he dont fill at home because he is on a water meter and the amount he goes away it would cost him a fortune over the year
He fills up at first site and then stays full, never thought about water meter cost to fill up

 

[pandas]

The most significant thing when touring in Uk or Europe is not water it is the toilet cassette which will take ish 3 days for it to need emptying - we don’t have or desire to have a black waste tank or a second cassette.
At that stage as we need services at we take the opportunity to fill up with sufficient water. 3 x days of say 15 litres of water a day - 45 litres would be more than enough. Might be a crap idea but that’s what we do.
However we were free camping in say BC in October/November where water access is an issue we fill it to the brim whenever we can (250 litres) plus the RV would a black waste tank.

 

[Jim]

The most significant thing when touring in Uk or Europe is not water it is the toilet cassette which will take ish 3 days for it to need emptying - we don’t have or desire to have a black waste tank or a second cassette.

I don’t know how those people who have a second cassette cope. All that extra weight sloshing around. Some people just love to live dangerously I suppose.

 

[eddie]

I don’t know how those people who have a second cassette cope. All that extra weight sloshing around. Some people just love to live dangerously I suppose.

I have a similar problem with the Ice maker

Driving along, minding my own business and out of the blue, the ice make dumps 1Kg of ice distorting the weight disruption.

I correct that and then, the water filtration system transfers more water into the ice maker, so you have to quickly revert back to the same handling and breaking mode

Living on the edge or what?

 

[Nixdorfer]

I voted for the few litres option as its missing a more accurate choice,

Depends on where we are going, if its got facilities would travel lighter to save fuel etc. If no facilities then would take full tanks.

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[JRE]

I always travel with a full tank and 10 litres in a container for drinking, coffee that is. No only does it save time when you get where you're going but we are normally going to a site on a local show ground (dog agility shows) so we would have to fill the tank 10 litres at a time.

 

[pandas]

I have a similar problem with the Ice maker

Driving along, minding my own business and out of the blue, the ice make dumps 1Kg of ice distorting the weight disruption.

I correct that and then, the water filtration system transfers more water into the ice maker, so you have to quickly revert back to the same handling and breaking mode

Living on the edge or what?

I also have an issue with the on board hot-tub. The secret is not to reduce the 2000 litres, break hard into the first turn and the following tsunamis removes all the ballsnigh_t from everywhere around.

 

[Jonno1103]

The most significant thing when touring in Uk or Europe is not water it is the toilet cassette which will take ish 3 days for it to need emptying - we don’t have or desire to have a black waste tank or a second cassette.
At that stage as we need services at we take the opportunity to fill up with sufficient water. 3 x days of say 15 litres of water a day - 45 litres would be more than enough. Might be a crap idea but that’s what we do.
However we were free camping in say BC in October/November where water access is an issue we fill it to the brim whenever we can (250 litres) plus the RV would a black waste tank.

Due to medication I can fill a 17 litre cassette in a day, depends how much fluid my tablets are getting rid of. Most of the time I use the Thetford pink spray rather than push the flush to eke it out a bit more.

With my new prescription I've lost almost a stone, (12lbs), in about three weeks. Just had 5 days at Dunstan Mill C&CC site up by Alnwick and emptied the thing three times... Really clean facilities block & Elsan point.

 

[eddie]

I also have an issue with the on board hot-tub. The secret is not to reduce the 2000 litres, break hard into the first turn and the following tsunamis removes all the ballsnigh_t from everywhere around.

Not so much of an issue with ours as any sloshing to and fro, just trickles down the back of the van

 

[gpat]

I asked one of my motorhoming neighbours last night and he looks at it from a different perspective........he said he dont fill at home because he is on a water meter and the amount he goes away it would cost him a fortune over the year
He fills up at first site and then stays full, never thought about water meter cost to fill up

My work. He must be from Yorkshire like me. Metered water costs about 20p to fill up a 100l water tank

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