Towing with Full Water Tank

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177's can get light on the tongue with a full water tank in the rear. I suggest that you fill the tank and load the trailer and tow vehicle with cargo, water, and people as you want to and weigh it at a public scale. You can run through the scale with the trailer (weight distribution hitch NOT tensioned if you have one), adding one of your three axles at a time. Then drop the trailer and do the same thing with the tow vehicle alone. Leave the wdh on the TV. Subtract the combined weight of the tow vehicle axles with and without the trailer to get the tongue weight. The trailer weight is the total weight or the rig less the tow vehicle. 
If your tongue weight is less than 10%, or 11% if your cautious like I am, of the trailer weight then shift some gear forward in the trailer. When you get to that point one of us can explain how to know when you've moved enough stuff to get your tongue weight where you want it without having to weigh again. 

The individual axle weights can also be used to check against your TV and trailer max axle load limits which are on the drivers door jamb and on the front driver's side of the trailer. That and checking the max combined gross vehicle weight against the total rig weight and trailer actual against max weight will tell you whether everything is within your various TV and trailer load specs. 

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offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Topic: Towing with Full Water Tank Posted: 03 Jun 2020 at 12:07pm
	177's can get light on the tongue with a full water tank in the rear. I suggest that you fill the tank and load the trailer and tow vehicle with cargo, water, and people as you want to and weigh it at a public scale. You can run through the scale with the trailer (weight distribution hitch NOT tensioned if you have one), adding one of your three axles at a time. Then drop the trailer and do the same thing with the tow vehicle alone. Leave the wdh on the TV. Subtract the combined weight of the tow vehicle axles with and without the trailer to get the tongue weight. The trailer weight is the total weight or the rig less the tow vehicle. If your tongue weight is less than 10%, or 11% if your cautious like I am, of the trailer weight then shift some gear forward in the trailer. When you get to that point one of us can explain how to know when you've moved enough stuff to get your tongue weight where you want it without having to weigh again. The individual axle weights can also be used to check against your TV and trailer max axle load limits which are on the drivers door jamb and on the front driver's side of the trailer. That and checking the max combined gross vehicle weight against the total rig weight and trailer actual against max weight will tell you whether everything is within your various TV and trailer load specs.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Grant177 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 15 Mar 2020 Location: Edmonton, AB Online Status: Offline Posts: 65	Posted: 03 Jun 2020 at 11:11am
	As per the title, we are looking at a dry camping spot and would need to tow and bring in our own water. Obviously, would not normally want to do this, but is the weight distribution (thinking anti-sway etc) of the R-Pods (177 in my case) designed so the weight is still appropriately tongue heavy? The water tank is behind the axle.
	Grant 2011 R-Pod 177