Lines for Fresh Water Tank

[Ryan P R]

Yep I've got lots of plumbing questions and things to get sorted out....

I would like to use a 20 gallon fresh water tank under the dinnette. Im aware of the possible pitfalls of a large tank in this type of light trailer-- but should be able to sort out the tank weight no problem.

The ONLY 20G tank I've found that will fit there properly is this tank....
Todd 20 Gallon Marine Water / Holding Tank (85-1666WH)

Instead of 3 small and 1 large ports, it has 2 large and 2 small ports. I dont see any reason why I cant just keep one of the larger ports (the bottom one) plugged and then use a "Y or T" type of system in the pipes so that I can use the one small bottom port for both draining and hooking up to a water pump. I am missing some reason why this wont work?

[Roy in TO]

The listing says "All openings are female NPT (National Pipe Threads) and are located in the same relative position on one end of the tank."
That means you could easily plug the large hole on the bottom and "spin weld" a small connection or another NPT for your water pump. I'd keep the NPT for the drain because that is the one you are more likely to want to change when you have a problem.

[Ryan P R]

Roy, I had wondered about adding my own holes/fittings but wasn't sure how to do so properly with these polypropylene tanks. I just looked up spin welding, I have a nice router and it seems easy enough... But I bet it would be tricky to find the "bit" that holds the spin weld fittings on the router.
Having all of the fittings on one side seems like a pain in general, if the the drain where located in a tight/blind space on the same side as the fill inlet that would tricky.

[Carol H]

Ryan are you going to be putting a hot water tank in the trailer as well? The reason I ask is if you are you could just put in the fresh 10 gal tank Scamp puts in under the passenger side rear hatch and end up with 18 gal total.... pretty close.... I also wonder about the floor supporting 20 gal tank as well as trailer balance when the tanks are full..... I am assuming there is a reason that Scamp puts the fresh water tanks over on the passenger side and the black and grey on the driver side..... that is if you will also be installing a grey tank 26 gal standard?

[Ryan P R]

Carol,

I had planned on installing the stock 26 G grey tank. I was under the impression that It was mounted in the center, but forward most section under the dinette. If the grey tank is centered as I thought, then it won't throw off the side to side balance.

I will not be installing a hot water tank. However, I was under the impression for some reason that you can't really get the water out of the water heater under normal circumstances unless there is more water to replace it? Thus, it doesn't actually increase water storage. Again, I may be totally wrong about this, its just what I gathered from someone's else's post.

I'm not to worried about the 20 gallons of fresh water in the back. It's only ~64lbs more than the newer 12G tanks that Scamp now uses. The additional 8 gallons will be in front of the stock position. The tank would also be pretty much on the center line of the side chassis rail. I plan to use 2 big batteries on my tongue, that will help counteract the water in the rear. Lots of people here seem to make a big deal out of extra on-board water throwing off the balance and towing. I'm not a super experienced "tow-er" and could well be wrong, but I'm inclined to to think that an additional 60-80lbs of weight (whether even of uneven) will not make a big difference at all. With tongue weights yes, but otherwise I don't think it's big deal.
That said I have always tried to pack my trailers with weight distribution in mind- but I don't stress it.

I have considered using a 10G tank under each dinette for better SIDE TO SIDE balance. I Haven't ruled it out yet, but I'm not to crazy about doing that way. It would be nice not to have the underwear storage so broken up under both dinettes, plus 2 tanks to drain and fill is just more to worry about.

[Carol H]

Re the gray tank - your right I was just out loading up my trailer for a trip and took a look - it does sit right in the center about 3' forward of the rear of the trailer - for some reason I though it was a bit off set.

Re the hot water tank.... hummm I have never noticed that it does run water if nothing to refill.... hummm.

trust me on these small trailers adding 60 to 80 lbs of weight in the rear does indeed make a difference and not a good one. ;-) If your tongue is heavy to start with though you may not notice the difference.

[Orcus79]

Your Idea of using a t fitting before the pump, as long as it's the low point would work fine as the drain for the tank.