Battle of the Bulge!!!

Perhaps you have noticed, when your fresh water tank is full, it sags or bulges downward in the middle. It did so on my RP173, as it does on my present camper. In doing so, the water tank never completely drained. There is/was always a couple of gallons of water that would remain. This remaining water can become fertile ground for algae growth.

My recent bout with the green goo caused me to vow “this ain’t gonna happen again! The Battle of the Bulge has begun!

My present unit has but one center supporting strap for the fresh water tank - with one perimeter support at the front and rear attached to the top of the tank and floor/underbelly of the camper. The center strap is so flimsy, it promptly bent downward under the weight. If memory serves, my Pod didn’t have a center support at all.

For my first attempt, I added the largest steel square tubing I could find at the local Lowes store - 1”. I installed it about 1/3^rd of the way back on the tank and left the existing support as is. This has helped, but it is not enough to accomplish what I want - a reasonably level tank bottom for good drainage. The weight of the full tank deflects even the steel tubing(though to a lesser degree than the flimsy OEM galv steel angle.

However, because the tank is flexible, instead of one large bulge, I have 2 smaller bulges. This is better, but not acceptable. I am still weighing options but, I’m thinking of finding a source for steel Unistrut and making 3 cross braces with a steel plate on top of those to help hold the tank bottom reasonable level. When I do this, I’ll probably upsize the tank from 20 gallons to 30 or 40 gallons. 20 is good for a weekend, but that’s about all, without reloading the fresh tank. I have a 39 gallon gray and a 20 gallon black so 40 fresh would not be unreasonable, I think.

In the mean time, I think I’ll bleach more often than twice per season. Here is a picture of how things are now: