Thetford loo

[ThePlotter]

A friend of mine has a two week old Swift Challenger,first time out washroom floor was wet when they arrived on site with the cause coming it seems from the top tank of the loo.The dealer says this is because he is towing with water in the tank we have both always done this but only ever with sufficient to cover stops en route.It has always been discouraged because of potential instability with water sloshing around but has anybody ever heard that it may give rise to leaks,or as I suspect its really poor build quality compounde by poor dealer PDI.

 

[AndrewWimborne]

Hi. We have the same problem with our new Bessacarr, I have been told not to tow with water in tank, but we have done with every other van.

 

[Steve L]

I would suspect poor build/design quality myself. I have the non swivel cassette loo in our van and have always traveled with it filled with flush water, just in case it is needed, which is often the case as our van is the only one out of the five in our troop which has an empty accessable washroom.

We have never had any leaks yet. I realy think that the suggestion that 15 litres of water is a fob off excuse for the possability of upsetting the vans stability.

Being the micky taker I am, I'd ask the guy if he can give you for free, two sets of high speed roller skates. When he looks bemused and ask's why, say that you need to replace the corner steady with them just incase of methane gas build up when you ask about toilet problems.

 

[TripHazard]

thats very interesting I have a 05 bessacar which gave me no end of problems with flush all the floor when i towed. I got the same advice not to tow with flush but like the rest of you i had never experienced this before I kept on and on at my dealer who eventually discovered that when my new van was connected to the car it for no reason periodically flushed the toilet when travelling. ( dont ask how or why cause i havent got the foggiest ) they advised i went back to my tow bar fitter and get them to have a look at the box in the back of the car which they claimed there was nothing wrong with but changed for me for no extra charge. since then i have pulled the van full of flush all over the place no problem no wet floor. Hope this is of help

Martin

 

[NorfolkMike]

You guys just do not understand. Like my campaign over Crap Taps. Design of caravans has got nothing to do with the designers actualy using them. If they were required to use them for a month we might get better design ( even better if they were required to take their wives with them). ( sorry, here we go again, I naturally ment partners).

ttfn

 

[Rioja]

There is no way you should have to empty the toilet flush tank, the toilet cassette or the hot water tank to stop them leaking in transit. I usually empty the loo but that is all. I think you should bare in mind the additional weight though.

I had big problems with my suspension as all the weight was on one side of the van, all the latter plus the battery, fridge (and contents) crockery and cooking stuff, oven, heavy shower cubicle, charger, water heater, microwave plus whatever bits in the overhead lockers.

On the other side we store the bedding,some food and drink and in the rear, the wardrobe.

Result offside suspension sank.

Despite the van being in warrenty, I ended up paying...it's a long story.

However, I did check the overall weight and weighed everything individually. In my opinion it was extremely difficult to achieve balanced target weights, especially nose weight even carrying the minimum of equipment.

I visited a dealer on the pretence of knowing nothing about vans and admired the front locker with room for two gas bottles and a spare tyre provided.Yes, no need to run out of gas he said! When I came clean and told him I had problems with the same make and model of van he told me that of course, he always emptied his hot water tank and moved all the contents of his front locker into the car for travel purposes . Er, what !

Come on manufacturers get it right, you want to sell vans full of goodies but then put them on chassis that are not built to take the weight.It's not that they are not available.

Dealers must think we are totally gullible if we think that the excuses they give are justifable.Or maybe we are.

Should we really have to sit down with a dealer and go through every eventuality about what we can or cannot do? I accept that a certain amount of common sense has to prevail but come on.

Maybe it's time the manufacturers gave three weights,

1)Empty weight

2)Empty weight plus two full gas tanks, one battery, full water heater, full loo flush tank, spare wheel.

3)Max permissable weight.

We can then be assured that the van has been designed to take what I consider necessities, and we then have a clearer idea of what we can actualy carry in addition.

As for the leak in the loo tank tell the dealer that it is no acceptable.