1706FB Fresh Water Tank Support Brackets

Trout One · 02-06-2021, 12:28 PM

Hello everyone,

Couldn't find anything searching but... I ran across a thread on the FB Micro-Minnie group about broken support brackets for the fresh water tank on a 1706FB (our trailer). I'll attach a couple of photos from the thread at the bottom. The gist of the thread was carrying a full tank eventually weakens the brackets (or the bracket welds or both) until the brackets/welds break and the tank collapses onto an axle (if you're lucky) or just drops out from under the trailer while you're towing it (if you're not lucky).

1) I'm wondering if anyone here has dealt with this issue and if so, what might be good engineering solutions?

2) I may not be able to get any bracing/welding done before we head to the UP of Michigan in June where SP campgrounds don't have water at each site - just a common outlet somewhere in each campground loop. I'm wondering if I need to drain the tank before each shuttle between campgrounds until I am in a position to spend the money to weld in extra brackets or strengthen things somehow.

Finally, for those of you who have used Michigan's UP state parks, how's the water quality? Should I consider an inline filter of some sort for the hose?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

backtrack15 · 02-06-2021, 06:50 PM

These are great questions. Mine has the angle iron held with self-tapping screws into the bottom of the frame. I replaced the self-tapping screws with stainless bolts/washers on one side. I haven’t quite figured out how to do the alternate side. I’ve been running with only a half tank of water until I can decide on a real fix.

I always use an inline filter for the hose whenever I am away from home. Hopefully it helps.

That last photo is from some other trailer (not torsion axles), but it does show a similar problem.

backtrack15 · 02-07-2021, 07:51 AM

I thought I'd share a bit more information on the freshwater tank support. I don't know about earlier years, but on mine the sides of the freshwater tank toward the front of the trailer and the rear of the trailer both hang on rails made of angle iron. Each rail has a single "slide-stop" to keep the tank from sliding curb-side to street-side or vice versa. The front rail has the slide-stop on the curb side. The rear rail has the slide-stop on the street side. In my case, the angle iron beam across the bottom of the tank (the subject of the OP's question) is a third support element meant to help the base of the tank deal with the water weight.

This is the view of the tank sitting on the front support from the street side.

This is the view of the front support from the curb side. Note that the tank was sitting on top of the slide-stop when the photo was taken. I subsequently pushed it off that slide-stop so that it is resting on the support properly.

On my model year, you can feed an endoscope camera over the frame rails (underneath the bottom fabric) to inspect things like this. I expect this is true for some prior years as well.

**creativepart** · 02-07-2021, 09:24 AM

I wouldn’t travel with a full tank, but fill up in the area near where I was going to camp before arriving at the campground.

I also probably wouldn’t want to get to the UP before July. Especially if they have a snowy winter this year. I used to live in Michigan and UP snowfall was legendary and took a long time to clear.

Trout One · 02-07-2021, 02:22 PM

Didn't think about snow possibilities - we were in the UP (Whitefish Point & Brimley SP) a couple of years ago and snow was gone. Just wind and rain and chilly temps in a motorcycle tent camper - the reason we now have the Winnebago.

Figured it would be chilly but I guess we'll be taking our chances again. June is when I have time off to travel.

Sun_Seeker · 02-07-2021, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trout One

Didn't think about snow possibilities - we were in the UP (Whitefish Point & Brimley SP) a couple of years ago and snow was gone. Just wind and rain and chilly temps in a motorcycle tent camper - the reason we now have the Winnebago.

Figured it would be chilly but I guess we'll be taking our chances again. June is when I have time off to travel.

Well, in knowing the Michigan UP, as as an honorary Yooper...about the only month that will give you a pretty good camping experience on the U.P. ***IS the month of June***. The U.P. is famous for the amount of biting (blood sucking and flesh taking) insects, like Black Flies, Barn Flies/Stable Flies, No-See'ums, and of course everybody's favorite, Mosquitoes. They start to show up around the last week of June, and stay to drive most people off the U.P. (out of campgrounds...seriously!) from late June, to pretty much a good few nights of 32 F dipping to below. That drives them to hibernate. Like I said...yeah, you don't have weather to swim in the lakes, etc...but usually the snow is gone from the ground you'd travel, walk upon, or camp by at the most, the mid weeks of May. June is the 'secret' sweet spot to visit. Also the last two weeks of September to the first week of October, is a great time to go, minimal (maybe) biting insects, and the Fall colors are spectacular. Very rare, to get any ground cover lasting snow flakes. It can happen, but would not bother, or threaten your stay in a T.T. or R.V. Same for the roads there and back. You are good to go!

I'd always have the blue-hot-dog water line filter on my fill hose, or the parks potable water fill hose end, as I am loading water into my Fresh Water Tank. Of course, I would also want to hear from the park entrance where their potable water tap is located...usually about 50/100 feet from the dump stations, (or that area) in the parks that I have visited, where there is no on-campsite water supply. If that is busy...when you get there...another 'sly trick' is to just drive near a water tap on any campsite roadway, where people go to get more potable water, at that tap...and if you don't block the road, you can fill up as close to your actual site as possible. Don't forget to have two or three blue hand-hold 5 gallon water jugs to replenish your tank, if you need to...and you can buy a pretty cheap 12 volt/120 volt pump to bring the water up from your 5 gallon jug, to the filler side on your Fresh Water Tank. I do that all the time....bring 20 gallons back for two trips to the water tap amongst the campsite roads , and in no time, the tank on my 1706FB is full at my site.

https://rvlifestyle.com/the-curse-of...-stable-flies/

DEWEY · 02-11-2021, 07:02 AM

We never travel with a full tank of water. At most a third of a tank, just enough for flushing water when overnighting at Wally World.

That said, I found that on our Winnie Drop 170S, the tank actually touches the top of the axle when filled to capacity! In fact, it actually bulges down on either side of the axle. The solution is TO NOT fill the tank until it overflows, but to fill it just to the point the full indicator light comes on. This, in my opinion is the engineered limit of the tank's capacity. Filling the tank to this level results in some bulging, but does not even come close to touching the axle.