Tank mountings

[Per Walthinsen]

The three water tanks on our trailer is kept from crashing to the pavement by two strong-looking chains each. I have inserted some angle aluminum at the edges to distribute the weight more widely, but I am curious about what holds tanks up in other trailers.

My wife and I have some plans for the Alcan highway and other lonely driving experiences, so I'd like to make sure we don't leave tanks on the road along the way.

Metal straps, webbing, bars-and-threaded-rods, rubber bands? My RV catalogs seem to ignore the whole subject.

[james kent]

Per
The water tank on my Boler sits between the rear rails under the trailer. It is held in place by a 1/4 inch thick sheet of fiberglass or plastic that is slightly bigger than the tank thereby holding it in place AND protecting it form road debry. Sorry, it's up to it's eyeballs in snow or I'd get you a photo.
Jim

[Frederick L. Simson]

Metal straps

The Fiber Stream's Black and Gray holding tanks are strapped up to the bottom of the floor by flat steel straps similar to what holds boxes on pallets together. Strips of carpet prevent chafing at the edges of the tanks. The straps are attached with double nuts to bolts welded to the frame. The Fresh tank is strapped down above the floor, under the streetside bunk, in a similar fashion, including anti-chafing carpet strips.

[Gina D.]

Mine are chains. I am having my welder look at them this week and give me an idea about how to improve them.

[Roger H]

Per, I think you'll find that the methods are as varied as the imaginations of the folks who assembled the trailers. I've seen some mounted in angle-iron brackets similar to a battery bracket on the tongue. I've seen them slung under and strapped to the floor. The metal strap theme runs through many; however, which metal is used, the thickness of the straps, where the straps are located, and how the straps are insulated from the tanks are also varied and interesting. Some use nothing, some use carpet, rubber inner tube material, wood... you name it. A lot depends on where the tank is mounted and how large it is.

I hadn't heard of the chain method until it was recently mentioned in another thread.

Freshwater tanks are most frequently mounted above the floor in one of the dinette lazerettes. In some larger trailers, the fresh water tank, pump and plumbing may be in a closet bottom, and fresh water tanks are almost always mounted with straps over the tanks.



Roger

[Joe MacDonald]

mine have a u-shaped channel mounted against the underside of the floor, this is fastened at the ends to the trailer frame (runs right across the trailer side-side) The tanks are then strapped in with stainless straps, each end and in the center. there is a layer of rubber between the strap and the tank to prevent chafing.

[Gina D.]

In my 13, the tank was mounted under the street side dinette seat with a webbed strap, a heavy version of what is used with a webbed chair.

On the 17, the chains have no insulation at all. The fresh is under the trailer.

[james kent]

Well, I dug her out today. Here's a shot of the gravel guard that holds my water tank in place.The plastic is about 3/16 thick and larger than the tank. It is bolted to some 2x4 material that has been glassed into place. Protects against stone chips and if you accidentally drag it over something. Has held up well for 22 years.
Jim

[Per Walthinsen]

Thanks for the replies!

Looks like I should get creative, as there is no single way to do it. Mine is complicated by a couple of things: frame members seem to be of different distances from the tank, and access to the floor from the top varies from place to place.

One of the original chained supports for the freshwater tank seemed to sag after a few years so I added a turnbuckle to it plus some attempts to distributing the forces, but another problem has been a bugger. The outlet from the tank is at the street end (transverse tank) and the water pump starts to wheeze when there is still more than 3 gallons left in it.

The plan so far is to loosen things up, install more turnbuckles plus an additional support in the accessible center of the tank, then shim the outlet side with whatever size shim it takes to make more of the water accessible to the pump (more slime too, but there is a filter and I sanitize reasonably often).

I'm thinking U-channel, bearing on something wider to distribute the weight plus hefty threaded rods reaching up through the floor (5/8" + double fiberglass) mounted with some fender washers or tapped steel plates. Plus an effort to prevent corrosion. Because of the Burro floor situation this would not necessarily create a bumpiness problem. Can you tell I'm not planning to sell anytime soon?

[Brian B-P]

In my post (#5) in Leaking Grey Water Tank on Boler, I have a photo of the greywater tank in my B1700. The top 4" of the tank is wider (front-to-back) than the lower part of the tank, so there is a "step" in each side (in the photo, stands are holding the tank up by this step). A 2"x2"x3/16" angle iron runs across the frame rails between bolts in mounting brackets (you can see one of the bolts clearly on the left side of the photo), holding the tank by the step. Since the frame is 4" deep and the tank is against the floor, the step lines up with the bottom of the frame.

Both fresh and grey water tanks are held this way. The front support of the grey tank (ahead of the axle) and the rear support of the fresh tank (behind the axle) are bolted on; the other supports are welded in.

This method is solid, and provides support along the entire length of the tank, but it requires that the tanks are shaped to suit.

[Alf S.]

Hi: Our '77 Boler is the same as Jims...The piece of Fiberglass cut out for the window opening is screwed to a 2x2 frame thats bolted through the floor...I changed the 4 bolts to S/S ones when I had the tank down for cleaning and replacing the water lines and 4 Nyloc nuts I installed is the safety factor...Seemed flimsy but has held on for thirty yrs. so I didn't try to "Mess with success" Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Alf S.]

Hi: Just had a thought...If I wanted to make another rock shield I know where to find the piece of Fiberglass... But then what would I use to hold up the tank
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Con]

Take a look at the way I solved the problem on my pics on Webshots.
The carrier was as some of you have found, the fiberglass panel was the cutout from one of the windows, framed with 2"x2" and hung with 1/2" bolts thru the floor.
The wood was rotting, the bolts were almost rusted thru and the UV from the sun had broken down the molecular structure of the Poly tank after 27 years so it was cracked and leaking everywhere.
I replaced everything with either alum. or SS. I increased the size of the hanger bolts to 1/2"SS stove type heads with large fender washers press fit to the heads. They where drilled for 2-SS screws to mount on the top of the floor to stop the bolts from spinning when I was tightening up the SS Nyloc nuts underneath.
All fittings an tank drain valve are now SS.
Everything was sealed with polybutyl or some silicone.
As the tank fits in by the axle it is fairly well protected. As it is 1/8"thick alum. if it gets a hole punched by rock or other damage it can be welded. If a poly tank gets damaged you have to find some one with a hot air welder. I have done small repairs on poly items using a 120 watt soldering iron with great success, but air welding is far superior.