Do you drive with Full Water Tanks?

[MR. FUSION]

Yep. Our Carado has the same knob and the operating instructions (including those given by the dealer at handover) was empty to 25% before travelling

I can confirm filling up the water tank and driving a Carado is not a good idea, unless you like the sensation of driving a boat.......

 

[Madcaravanner]

We have had our motorhome 3 years - she's now 13 years old and YES our tank started leaking

So crawled between the double floor removed the tank to work out how to fix it
Found the thing was made 3 miles away
Found that they still made tanks and rang them
got it fixed for £10 - - no leaks and tested at pressure too

 

[tonyidle]

Thank you.

In the absence of any such instruction from the converter (are Hymer vans so flimsy that they cannot safely drive with a full water tank?) I will always use the van as intended - travel with full tanks in case water is hard or inconvenient to find at destination. No matter how posh they are, they are still based on builders vans

It's interesting that those sorts of instructions have only appeared since payload became a (more publicised) issue. No such information in the rubbish generic manual supplied with my Mercedes truck.

 

[CazPaul]

I find it incredible that some owners are saying stability is affected if driving with a tank of water, i wouldnt have believed it, its only equivalent to an extra person or 2 at most.
it doesn't make an apath of difference to ours. Its like driving a little tank regardless.

Does it show poor design and build quality?

 

[Jim]

i wouldnt have believed it,

I don’t

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[Cheshirecat57]

I don’t

Me neither

 

[Buzz67]

I can tell no difference whatsoever between full or empty in our T Line 590. That’s 120 Litres in a 3.5 tonne van.
Always travel full fresh, empty grey, empty bog.

 

[gpat]

I can confirm filling up the water tank and driving a Carado is not a good idea, unless you like the sensation of driving a boat.......

Not sure what you are talking about? It's standard instructions on all hymer group motorhomes as far as I know

 

[gpat]

I can tell no difference whatsoever between full or empty in our T Line 590. That’s 120 Litres in a 3.5 tonne van.
Always travel full fresh, empty grey, empty bog.

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

 

[Jim]

You must have numb feelings

You must have a good imagination

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[M-J]

If anything I would say ours drives better when full.

 

[MR. FUSION]

Not sure what you are talking about? It's standard instructions on all hymer group motorhomes as far as I know

The water tank on mine is under the passenger seat, so filling it up means that there is a large mass of water washing about 500mm above the floor level. This when I filled it up once and drove it caused the vehicle to sway side to side. The upside of having the tank there means I can get into it and clean it out & see exactly what is going on in there. A few times I have had some nasty looking sludge in there that may have been missed in an underslung tank & required an abrasive removal.

 

[Northernraider]

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

Male cow excrement.

 

[corconx]

Since EU regulations allowed makers to quote payloads without water, it is rare to find one that recommends travelling with water.



So why is it not recommended. Are water tanks causing accidents, are they failing and dumping water? How many water tanks have failed on you? Has water you are carrying ever caused you problems?

Our Rapido at 14 months had a leaking fresh water tank. Replaced under warranty as it was a fault they discovered in a batch. Rapido France were superb and went out of their way to get one off production line and couriered it to us for our holiday.
That is only problem in 6 Motorhomes in 30 years.

we always travel with a full or virtually full tank

Carol

 

[funflair]

Fill up and then arrive somewhere knowing we are good for a week without needing a service point

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[pandas]

I find it incredible that some owners are saying stability is affected if driving with a tank of water, i wouldnt have believed it, its only equivalent to an extra person or 2 at most.
it doesn't make an apath of difference to ours. Its like driving a little tank regardless.

Does it show poor design and build quality?

No not being able to notice it may mean lack of experience, sensitivity or you have a vehicle that’s like a tank. With 170 kg I can and am pretty sure it is not dangerous, it is as said here just like having another adult on board but I can feel the difference in handling going into to corners and on braking; hand break turns are easier though! The point has been flogged to death on this subject and quite surprised some are trying to take a guess at what others either have or feel which is totally individual to their vehicle and driving patterns. Do what you feel works for you and go back to the survey which IS mildly interesting.

 

[Blue Knight]

Does it show poor design and build quality?

Yep, I think you've banged the nail on the head with that comment Paul.

Our last two coachbuilts (Autotrail and Pilote), and both on a light chassis too, had their fresh tanks over and beyond the rear axle; a very poor design and as such the handling was severely affected when the water was added.

Your van is incredibly well built, well designed and nicely balanced on the road but it's nothing like the poorly designed 'toy motorhomes' that are being churned out these days.

I say 'toy motorhomes' as the manufacturers are just playing at building motorhomes these days with very little thought going into how they actually drive or operate in real life scenarios.

 

[Drexel]

I always try to fill up with fuel and depending on where we are going but always aim for 1/2 tank of water then if going wild camping always fill water tank it just makes me feel prepared for most eventualities also got a 5 lt bottll in garage for end of the world occasions

 

[eddie]

We like to do our washing whilst we drive, the washing machine uses a fair bit of water when on it's high temperature cycle so its best to start with the all 50 Gallons on board.

I suppose this does compensate as we drive as the washing machine by passes the grey water tanks when the engine is running and macerates the poo tanks, mixes it with the washing machine water and hygienically disposes of it on the road.

 

[Drexel]

We like to do our washing whilst we drive, the washing machine uses a fair bit of water when on it's high temperature cycle so its best to start with the all 50 Gallons on board.

I suppose this does compensate as we drive as the washing machine by passes the grey water tanks when the engine is running and macerates the poo tanks, mixes it with the washing machine water and hygienically disposes of it on the road.

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[Smudger27]

We have no problems with carrying the extra weight. I fill up to 75% at home with hose and then top up with watering cans on site when reguired (so don't take a hose away). I wouldn't want to have to fill up on site as soon as we arrive.

 

[MR. FUSION]

We like to do our washing whilst we drive, the washing machine uses a fair bit of water when on it's high temperature cycle so its best to start with the all 50 Gallons on board.

I suppose this does compensate as we drive as the washing machine by passes the grey water tanks when the engine is running and macerates the poo tanks, mixes it with the washing machine water and hygienically disposes of it on the road.

One better than the farmers when muck spreading then

 

[Jim]

You guys who travel completely empty, why not bin your tank altogether and carry an aquaroll to fill up when you're onsite just like a caravan, or maybe just buy a caravan.

 

[eddie]

One better than the farmers when muck spreading then

Oh no, Some American RV's are equipped with the "Transport Waste Automatic Treatment" System

The ground up "Poo / Grey Water" is mixed and then injected into the exhaust manifold at the branch of the V10 engine, instantly vaporising it so the Poo is blown out of the back as steam!

 

[MR. FUSION]

No not being able to notice it may mean lack of experience, sensitivity or you have a vehicle that’s like a tank. With 170 kg I can and am pretty sure it is not dangerous, it is as said here just like having another adult on board but I can feel the difference in handling going into to corners and on braking; hand break turns are easier though! The point has been flogged to death on this subject and quite surprised some are trying to take a guess at what others either have or feel which is totally individual to their vehicle and driving patterns. Do what you feel works for you and go back to the survey which IS mildly interesting.

A person does not move like a body of 110+ litres of water in a tank Especially when its 500mm above the floor like my tank is......

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[Ade S]

I have air suspension and used to travel with full water empty waste but now I’ve thought about it I will carry bare minimum fresh water In future. Don’t worry about weight capacity think about what motoring gurus say, empty boot gives better mpg now that can be significant on a streamlined house brick

 

[ChrisCross]

Almost ran out of Fuel in France 2019 and in Spain ran out of water 2019, so now I don't worry about it. I use a drive over portable truck scale (£200 ebay) before we set out, weighs each wheel individually, calculates each axle load and total. Checked fully loaded against weighbridge and found it was reading ~11kg over on total for each axle, so it plays on the safe side. I travel in my Adria Coral S 690 SP with full fuel and water with a motor scooter on the back + food & clothing etc. right on the axle load limits, and keep everything topped up. sod the extra fuel use, we rarely use sites anyway, preferring wilding and Aires. I like the peace of mind and we like our daily showers. Air suspension keeps everything nice and level too.

 

[Jim]

So now the makers have convinced us all to travel with little or no water to hide their paltry payloads, they can now use lighter tanks without baffles. Win-win for the maker he can claim a bigger payload and use much cheaper tanks.

 

[eddie]

So now the makers have convinced us all to travel with little or no water to hide their paltry payloads, they can now use lighter tanks without baffles. Win-win for the maker he can claim a bigger payload and use much cheaper tanks.

 

[eddie]

So now the makers have convinced us all to travel with little or no water to hide their paltry payloads, they can now use lighter tanks without baffles. Win-win for the maker he can claim a bigger payload and use much cheaper tanks.

It is the same as the idiots that decided it was easier to shut down the habitation electrics to get around EMC testing, and conned British motorhome buyers that it was in their interest not to be able to flush the toilet or watch TV when the engine is running!

Only the British don't actually want anything to work when the engine is running, no other Country in the World do this bodge, yet we still get people trying to justify this to us as "its the right way to do it"

Another manufacturers bodge!

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