Sir Kev & Darkie replied:

I would position it to the rear of the axle to balance the load and have it on a seperate system so if by chance you get a bad load of water it wont contaminate all your water.

Cheers Kev

Member - 1/2A replied:

I have two 120lt water tanks in the Vision one fwd of the the axle and the aft of the axle. I always fill the aft tank first and thus reduce the ball weight, if I don't require the full 240lts.

Motherhen replied:

Hi Seakarvan

We have 4 x 80 litre poly tanks under our 18' caravan. You should have plenty of room for more tanks. I cannot comment on placement as this would be specific to your van, and i am no expert here either.

One is for drinking water and has a separate pump and tap. We can last for up to two weeks without refilling. Do not link the tanks. A previous owner had linked two of the tanks, and we suffered stone damage to a small trickle irrigation type on the hose between the two tap and the contents of both tanks were lost - when we had refilled with lovely fresh water at Kununurra to head into the Tanami.

There are different types, and also the poly on some is thicker. Some are long flat tanks (probably like you have) which need to be slung with something onto the frame - either a guard or straps. Others screw or bolt directly without an unslung guard.

Motherhen

PeterInSa replied:

You do not mention whether you have a single axle or dual. If its a single legally you can only load your van with 280Kg of water/gas/gear and food, most dual can go 400Kg or more. So with another tank full of water thats 60Kg or 44Kg of food/gear that you cannot carry, if you are on the limit.

As mentioned above it depends on the setup of your van and how you load it eg a front kitchen probably has more weight on the towbar than a van with a double bed in front. If the van wheels are well to the back the towbar could also be heavily loaded so 2nd water tank should be behind the axles.

We have 3 tanks in our van 2 are linked together in front of the axles and one at the rear. I can fill the linked units together or just the one closest to the axle and have the controls to isolate them as well. The linked units have one gauge and the rear a separate gauge as well.

If you put in a separate tank is probably easier to use the existing fill inlet and underneath the van just have valves to direct the water to either tank.

Would definitely use a stone shield as the tank you install will probably hang down lower than the tank that came with the van, your van chassis was probably made to fit the tank.

we use our third tank for drinking water and connect to a hand pump, so do not annoy our neighbours if we pump out a glass of water at night. But of course with valving you could plum your second tank into the vans water system.

You could also consider carry 3x 20Lt containers of water in your tug, to get over the install.

Peter

Simon C replied:

Don't know where you are, but CAMEC in Brisbane have a vast range of tanks in different sizes, outlets/inlets, etc. I purchased a 90 litre tank and hoses for my Goldstream Storm Camper at Christmas and it cost me around the $120.00 mark all up. Only thing I could not purchase was the tank straps. CAMEC do not sell them. I mounted it forward of the axle, (the original tank is mounted rear of the axle), and I noticed no real differnce in the towing and handleing of the camper when the tanks are full. I still have to sort out the filling of both tanks as I tried to cheat and use the same filling hose and 'T'd"in the it for the second tank, and it doesn't work (properly filling them).....

Seakarvan replied:

Thanks for the down to earth advice guys. My limited Van experiences so far have shown that even with all the rain, water quality is an ongoing and increasing issue. A formula of water litres to days can be subjective. But common sense hopefully will prevail.

I like this refreshing formula for travel survival:

On the Cape (York) distance is locally measured by the Carton eg Bamaga to the east coast crabbing = carton and a half in the dry. Klms never seemed to apply. Just "Carton" and time combo.

Cheers

Seakarvan