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Old 06-27-2012, 12:07 AM   #1
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Has anyone noticed or reinforced their underbelly fresh water tank?

My tank, when filled, sags leaving probably more than a few gallons of water unusablebecausethe pump intake is higher than the water.

The tank seems sturdy however it is held in, just the bottom of if sags down.

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Old 06-27-2012, 12:56 AM   #2
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Some have replaced the plywood with heavier/thicker plywood. There was stories a few years back about that problem. Tanks falling out,etc.
I reinforced the braces under mine and added one more.



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Old 06-27-2012, 02:12 AM   #3
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Like Farmer, I replaced the thin plywood with a new, thicker sheet and added new supports under the tank instead of the thin existing ones. I am surprised this issue has cropped up again.



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Old 06-27-2012, 02:13 AM   #4
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Where is the plywood you guys are talking about? It appears mine is held by the edges on the framecross member.
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Old 06-27-2012, 03:06 AM   #5
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The plywood is right under the tank.
Do you have the membrane covering the bottom of your trailer, or is the tank out in the open where you can see it?




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Old 06-27-2012, 05:30 AM   #6
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There is a thick plastic membrane.
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Old 06-27-2012, 07:02 AM   #7
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If you want to investigate, you can either try feeling the bottom of the tank thru the membrane, or try tapping on it. Maybe you will be able to determine if there is plywood under the tank that way. If that doesn't work, you will have to drop a corner of the membrane so you can see in there. If there is a thin piece of plywood there and you want to replace it with a thicker one you will then have to drop the membrane. If there is plywood there now and it's not water soaked and rotten, I would opt for another support running crossways of the trailer under the middle of the tank.





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Old 06-27-2012, 07:23 AM   #8
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A support under the middle of the tank would probably work. I really don't think there is plywood under it as I have tapping on it and it clearly felt and sounded like a plastic tank.

I'll have to peak in there and see what's going on.

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Old 06-27-2012, 07:45 AM   #9
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I had this problem also several years ago. Whe the tank was full it had a noticable sag, even with the membrane. I dropped the black membrane that covered the underside of the trailer just enough to expose the water tank.Plywood was notinstalled under the tank from the factory back then, the tank set between 2 cross members on a small ledge. And what made is worse the front crossmember was not installed straight up and down, the bottom side with the ledgethat the tank set on was futher forward than the top of the crossmember.The water tank was setting on about a1/4" ofledge. I bought a piece of 1" marine grade plywood and cut it the same size as the water tank. I inserted the plywood under the tank and between the crossmembers, after I corrected the crooked crossmember.No more problems!!!
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Old 06-27-2012, 09:09 AM   #10
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Daystrom - I bet your trailer has the enclosed underbelly...

Ours does not - there is NO PLYWOOD. I can see my freshwater tank...it is strapped in with the frame xmember holding it up. I have never filled it - will do so this weekend just to see if it sags. Maybe you can lift tank just enough to slide plywood or boards under it to support it.
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Old 06-27-2012, 12:17 PM   #11
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I pulled down the belly enough to look at the tank. There is NO plywood under it. There are two cross members of the frame and the tank is between them hanging there.

Below the tank as seen in the photo are two straps going across the tank. The tank sags between these two straps.



My thoughts are to either put another strap between the two that are there already and / or several strapsperpendicular to the two that are there. I doubt I will be able to remove enough of the belly to get a piece of plywood under the tank.

Thoughts? As it sits now I have many gallons of unusable water due to the sag.

Thanks!






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Old 06-27-2012, 01:05 PM   #12
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After I replaced the plywood and reinstalled the membrane, I used 3 - 1"X2"X1" C-Channel from H.D. and ran them the same direction as the original supports. I bolted them to the lip of the frame with 2-5/16" graded bolts/nuts per end. One support was centered and the other two were about 4-5" from the sides of the tank.



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Old 06-28-2012, 01:33 AM   #13
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I think you should be able to make out what I have done. I added the 3/4 in. square tube inside the light duty u iron that was on there. I used the original bolt holes to bolt everything back up to the frame, plus I drove a piece of oak into the end of the tube so as not to smash it when I tightened the bolts. I also thought it would be a good place to install the 5 in. plastic fence post to house my drain hose.
I think it would be better if you used something other then another strap like whats on there. In my opinion that will allow it to still sag.
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Old 06-28-2012, 02:24 AM   #14
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My local Lowes has all sorts of c channel and square tube stock. I'm going to try to get as much water out of the tank as possible and reinforce the thin strapping there now.

Thanks for all the advice!

Todd
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Old 06-28-2012, 03:12 AM   #15
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Thanks gentlemen, another item for me to check for now...but it is much appreciated.

Thanks again,
Jim
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Old 06-28-2012, 09:55 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tator447



Thanks gentlemen, another item for me to check for now...but it is much appreciated.

Thanks again,
Jim

I know, right? I never thought about it...

If you do something, post a pic Daystrom
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Old 06-28-2012, 12:03 PM   #17
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Will do. Might even tackle this this weekend.

I will tell you it was a major pain in the rear to empty all the water out of the tank.

My driveway is angled so rain drains off the side. Well this also makes the camper lean to the opposite side of the drain. I triedshovinga hose down the filler neck to siphon out the water. Couldn't make the turn into the tank.

So I had to hitch it up and drive up on blocks to make the driver side higher than the drain. That still wouldn't drain the water trapped in the sagging part so I got the jack out of my wife's van and jacked up the sagging part. I think I got almost all of the water out and with that said I think it may have only been 5 gallons.

So I will take and post any photos of what I do.
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Old 06-30-2012, 01:11 PM   #18
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Well folks I spent a good portion of the day today working on my trailer including adding reinforcement to the water tank.

I went to my local Lowes and picked up two pieces of 3/4" angle iron and a 3/4" piece of square tube, all 6' long.

I painted all of them:




And attached them. The two pieces of angle iron replaced thegalvanizedstraps and the square tube was added in between the angle iron:



Here's a photo of the sag post fix with a full tank of water:




There is still very noticeable sag and I really don't know how much bending that angle iron or square tube can take.

So I'm not sure what to do at this point. Remove my work and put back the straps and call it a $60experimentor leave it be.

If I were asked if I would recommend doing it, the answer would be no. There was limited room to mount the square tube due to the fact it was directly above the front axle. Plus it was like 95 degrees out. The benefit was too small to be worth the effort.

Todd



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Old 07-05-2012, 04:14 AM   #19
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;od info. I tested ours this week - it wouldcertainly sag ALOT if totally full. I filled it about 1/3 just to see.

Another thought on the problem - do you fill it completely all the time? I will only fill completely if we dry camp. Otherwise, I will only fill about 1/3 to use facilities on the road if need be.
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Old 07-05-2012, 05:01 AM   #20
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I'm not being critical so don't take me wrong.
I think I would have left the straps on and just placed the reinforcements directly over them, or if you wanted to remove them, then you need quite a bit heavier support pieces.
Your angle iron isn't heavy enough to do the job.




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