Security of the Water Tank in Later Model A'van CampersEarlier model A'vans have a 40 litre water tank located inside the van. Later model A'vans have a larger 63 litre water storage tank located under the floor of the van behind the axle. Unfortunately some of our members have experienced serious trouble with this new set-up when their tanks became detached and dropped down and scraped along the road surface. It appears that this problem has arisen when one of the retaining straps holding the tank to the chassis has broken at the point of attachment to the chassis rail. We now know of at least three cases of this problem occurring and recommend that everyone with this type of water tank arrangement closely inspect how their vans are set-up. It may however be necessary to remove at least one of the attaching bolts to properly assess the level of security of the present assembly. In my view the problem stems from the fact that there is no washer under the head of the securing 8 mm bolt and that the head of the bolt itself [13 mm across the flats] does not adequately over-lap the 10 mm hole in the strap to achieve the desired amount of robust security. Remember that one of these tanks weighs approximately 65 Kgs when full of water and therefore needs to be strongly attached. As a minimum, I strongly suggest the addition of a close fitting washer between the head of the bolt and the strap, but better still the use of a "penny style" washer, folded or trimmed to fit down along the face of the strap. See photos below: Water Tank Strap Fixing Arrangement & Vernier Caliper Indicating Strap Width Approx. 50 mm Last update 24th July 2024 Website URL "actavanning.org/index.html" Top of page |