Towing with toilet charged and fresh water tank full

I second that it's sensible to always keep some water in the tank, even when you fully expect full hookups at a campground. This summer I went to Maine and back with the girls. On our return, a brief but fierce thunderstorm hit the campground in rural PA right after we arrived. I had just leveled and was getting ready to pop the shells when it struck but the storm was so intense we retreated to the TV and hung out there until the wind and downpour eased up a half-hour later. Once I got set up and hooked up to the utilities, I found out that the campground had lost power so not only no electricity for the night but also diminishing water pressure until we had none by the next morning. Luckily the toilet was charged, the battery topped off from traveling, and I could both cook with propane and cool the frig with it so we were fine. Looking at all the tree damage driving out the next day, including the limb that fell on the unit parked a couple sites away from mine, I was thankful to have only suffered the minor inconvenience of lacking a few utilities I had expected to have. I also resolved to always at least have the hot water heater filled up and 5-10 gallons in the tank, just in case.

I've pulled back home with the toilet charged a few times, with no problems or water sloshing out. Mainly, because I didn't feel like waiting in the long line at the dump stations.

After reading here of others encountering water problems at the campgrounds, I really liked the advice by Bill of carrying a few jugs of water in the tub, just in case. I am going to start doing that now.

Thanks

One of the reasons that I tow with a full tank of water is because there is no penalty in taking my own water with me.

If I leave home empty, then there is sometimes a penalty at the destination if they have a water or power problem, or I have a breakdown along the way.

There is a theoretical penalty for carrying a half a tank of water. When a water tank is full or empty, it does not slosh. When it is partially full, the water can slosh, which can, theoretically, contribute to instability under some circumstances.

My total weight driving down the road is around 10,000 pounds. Saving weight by eliminating 150 pounds of water (half a tank) is not going to save me any money in gas. Filling the tank half way instead of all the way is not going to save me any time, either.

I can find no advantage at all in leaving home with less than a full load of water: charged toilet, 40 gallons of fresh water, and the water heater full.

[Wavery]

We never drink water out of our tank. We put our drinking water in 1.5G mylar water storage bags. We bring 3 or 4 on each camp-out and that services all of our drinking water needs and avoids any emergency situations.

I bought a box of 10 of these a few years back and I'll be darned if I can remember where I got them. It was an online survival store but I just can't find it. They were about $1 each and I need to reorder.

These things are so strong that I can fill them up with water and stand on them (I weigh 225#).

Any chance it's from this place?

http://beprepared.com/product.asp?pn...cd2=1258771494

The picture looks the same. I just googled mylar water storage bags

Duh....nevermind. You copied the picture probably from the same site.

[Bill]

I have a number of those bags around. They're all labelled "Franzia". Being from California, you should know about that! By the way, how do you fill them - the opening seems kind of small.

Bill

Originally Posted by Bill

I have a number of those bags around. They're all labelled "Franzia". Being from California, you should know about that! By the way, how do you fill them - the opening seems kind of small.

Bill

For those that didn't understand where Bill gets his bags:

http://www.franzia.com/

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Bill

I have a number of those bags around. They're all labelled "Franzia". Being from California, you should know about that! By the way, how do you fill them - the opening seems kind of small.

Bill

The spout pulls off. It's a bit of a struggle but they snap off & snap back on again. I've never had one leak.

The 1st time that I ever used them was in 1995 in Australia. We finished a 5L "Box" of wine, took out the bag and filled it with water for a trip into the outback on our newly aquired motorcycle (Honda 250.....we paid $300 for it and sold it for $400 when we left). It worked out so well that we went to the winery to see where they bought them. The owner of the winery gave me about 100 of them after we told him that we were sailing around the world.

I filled about 20 of them with good drinking water and put them in the bilge of the boat. I used them for many years. The only problem is, sometimes the inner layers will delaminate and water will get between the layers. You can see it when you dump them out. That's when you know it is time to replace them.

It's best to find the 1.5 gallon size because they are very manageable @ 12#. 5G of water weighs 40#. Not exactly something that you would want to carry around.