Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I was going to fabricate a mount for the holding tanks, which are two 6'' sch 40 PVC pipes, that would weld on to the frame and hold the fresh water 2'' lower on the passenger side and the grey water 2'' lower on the driver side. Then I saw an unrelated pic MadJack posted with his tank (I think thats what that was) attached with strapping. Got me to thinking, maybe I'm going too complicated with my mount. Any ideas?

This is going to be my choice for pvc belly tanks. Drill a single hole and it's installed. I plan on being double nutted to keep the mounting nut from backing off. I also planned on some thin rubber wrap for the pvc to help with possible abrasion. These clamps are made in several diameters.

Just google "pipe hangers " images for several types of designs.

d, IIRC, that strapping was 1.5"(or was it 2) heavy gauge strapping used in the installation of overhead garage doors...we bent it into shape, dropped a carriage headed bolt thru the floor and tightened it up with a nylock type nut...worked pretty darn good and kept the piping as high as possible............
madjack

dh wrote:Then I saw an unrelated pic MadJack posted with his tank (I think thats what that was) attached with strapping. Got me to thinking, maybe I'm going too complicated with my mount. Any ideas?

Take a look under any car manufactured in the 21st century. You will probably find a plastic fuel tank being held up by nothing more than two metal straps. If it's good enough for the auto industry.....

Thanks for the replies. I like those hangers Bob, but they are a little pricy and can't get the tank as close to the belly as the strapping. MJ, I had a no $#@% moment when you mentioned 1.5'' straping. I was thinking the skinny stuff thats rolled up when I saw the pic. I got a 5' piece of the heavy stuff today.

Thanks for the replies. I like those hangers Bob, but they are a little pricy and can't get the tank as close to the belly as the strapping. MJ, I had a no $#@% moment when you mentioned 1.5'' straping. I was thinking the skinny stuff thats rolled up when I saw the pic. I got a 5' piece of the heavy stuff today. How much support does it need? Two straps per 5' tank enough? Its 6'' sched 40.

The volume of your tank is 7.35 gal per 5' and the weight apart from the pipe is 61lbs. The pipe hanger pictured by bobhenry is for a static application and not for something bouncing down the road. Using a couple of straps to secure 61 lbs seems questionable.
Also, figure that you need a gray water tank of equal volume in many/most parks.
The cost of 6" pipe is MUCH greater than for 4", I found that out the hard way. My 6' section with fittings was 150$ and yes you can do better than that, but it will be considerable! A final thought it has to be accessible and cleanable. My personal feeling is that you would be money ahead buying an RV water tank for about the same or less money.

a big truck parts place(traction) will carry stainless steel muffler clamps that are designed to hold the heavy exhaust of a big truck in place while bouncing down the road. they look much like the clamps pictured earlier. patrick

Shadow, I didn't go with the clamps, but the heavy straps. I would easily trust 2 straps to hold well over 100lbs. I'm more concerned about properly supporting the pipe. I got both tanks out of a single 10' pipe. I have a minimum of fittings as there are no bends. I got both tanks for around $120, which is only $60/tank including brass fittings/dump valves, not too bad. If you know somebody who is moving, hit them up for some Lowes 10%off coupons, my new neighbor got 4 of them, had to fill out a seperate change of address for everybody in the house and got four of them.

Two hangers of doubled up standard plumbers tape will more than hold your tank. Slide under any SUV and look at the thin straps used tp hold 40 gal of gasoline. To add grip and protect the pipe I'd cut a section of rubber, like an old bicycle tube to put under the strap against the tank, free at any bicycle shop. ***** If you haven't bought the pipe, here is how I got mine. I stopped at a road construction job site where they were putting down water and sewer lines, their Idea of trash was a pile of 3-6 foot long pieces of 8,10,& 12" plastic pipe. I picked up some of each all I need now is the end caps.

Do you plan on mounting the big pipe under the trailer? Especially that 10'' & 12'' will hang really low. I've got a torsion axle, and am able to put the tanks cross wise behind the wheels. If you made a line spindle to spindle where a standard axle tube would be, the fresh tank will centered on line, with grey tank just behind it. Helps with clearance and the wheels will help hide the tanks. Also a full fresh tank won't affect trailer balane, and a grey won't affect it that much for the short drive to the dump station.

Ha, I got distracked in my own post. Before you get carried away with that big pipe, price end caps and fittings for it first. Box stores won't have it, so you gotta go to the plumbing place and pay up. Also, watch wall thickness. I went with schd 40, lighter than 80 but can take a rock bette than schd 10.

boy, there's a lot of ideas for me here. I was thinking the 4" pvc tucked underneath between cross braces.

(yeah that is showing 6" and 4 to a 2' space, so maybe 5 grey, and 3 cold and 2 hot... that would be about 25 gallons.

now, I can see drain points and pump connection points at the bottoms, but to have the fill points at the tops I need the fittings at the top, so there is another 1/2" of drop below the flooring, at what must be the highest point of the tank. So I'll need like 1" over the "low end."

I do have some regular gas tank straps, but I can't do all of these with those, so plumber's strap and as someone said, doubled up, and cushioned. (and covered against stone impacts, with maybe those thin styrofoam packing sheets and a tarp.

one thing I do know, that the pvc can be drilled and tapped (threaded) and used that way. Just screw fittings right into the pvc.