# 3 extra water tanks fitted underneath AlKo chassis



## Snunkie

Our Argos 747 came with 3 extra water tanks fitted under the chassis as the previous owner intended on wild camping and wanted the extra water capacity. They are apparently official tanks made for this purpose.
These tanks are huge and we don't use them but we've started to wonder whether this would have done the chassis/suspension any harm when they were used.
We've mentioned on here before about our MH sitting very low and it still bothers us as to why as other 747 owners say theirs does not sit this low.
I've also started to add up the weight of all the extras fitted (prior to us owning it) such as dometic air con, 4 bike rack, full tow bar and supporting structure, Camos Dome, solar panel, spare wheel in garage, let alone how much these tanks must weigh which I have no way of knowing without removing them

Does anyone else have them fitted me if so would you know the weight?

Many thanks

Lucy


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## cabby

The only way to tell is to see how much water is needed to fill them.

cabby


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## Timberland2013

Good evening.

If you can get under to measure them - length - width - depth - we could work this out. 

Or there could be a manufacturers mark on eg cak tanks - there would then be a number realitive to capacity.

Kind regards

Lee Sowerby

Director

Timberland Motorhomes


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## inkey-2008

Could be they are not empty and that is why you are so low. 

Ours had 2 extra tanks fitted. the tanks if plastic don't weigh a lot. 

The tow bar if it is Alko one weighs a ton. It dropped on me as I removed it. Ouch.

Andy


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## 747

You are not the first member to bring this point up. Unless the additional water tanks are the lowest point on the van, the Argos seems to be low to the ground anyway (from what I have read on this forum).

I have the 747 Active and it has never bottomed out yet and looks quite reasonable as regards ground clearance.

There had been an extra tank fitted to the rear end of mine at one time (the filler is still there) and there was an odd looking blanking plate fitted about halfway down the nearside (so possibly another fill point). It was probably done on mine for a different reason. That is because it is impossible to drive with a full water tank AND/OR carry passengers in my model as it will be overweight on the front axle (Vorsprung Durch Technik was not in the Burstner dictionary :roll: ).


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## Snunkie

We did try and fill them up once but it took forever and we didn't want to drive with them full because of the weight so it all seemed a bit pointless to be honest. 

Also, to fill them up, there are 2 hose connectors where you just clip your hose on but hubby wants to know where the air comes out when you fill with water as there only seems to be one way for water to go in and come out. One of the pipes must have hit the ground at one point as it has a leak in it.

What would be the point of these tanks? I wouldn't want to drive with them full which is the only way you could wild camp for a few days. If you were on site you'd just refill the main tank. To use the extra tanks you've got to crawl underneath to connect a hose to fill or a pipe with a 12v water pump attached with the other end of the pipe going into your main tank.


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## davesport

It all sounds a little bit Heath Robinson from your description. I see from the Burstner Website that the payload is quoted as 700 Kg. That's the same as Hymer quote for my B644. That figure was nowhere near accurate & was closer to 400 Kg's before I uprated. See this post Hymer B644 weights

As an aside, have a look at the payload on this Twin axle hymer Simply preposterous !

I guess what I'm thinking is that with all the extras you've highlighted & the water tanks full I'll wager you'd be overweight.

I'd get myself down to the weighbridge !

D.


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## tyreman1

The first owner obviously spent a lot of time and money setting this van up,have you checked that he didn't fit air suspension as well for it to cope with the weight......at least you can get some money back selling the tanks when you get them off.


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## drcotts

Just measure the dimensions in meters and work out the cubic meters. Every cubic meter will weigh exactly one tonne (the metric system is based on water) eg 0.7m x 0.5m x 0.5m = 0.175 cubic meteres or 0.175 tonnes and this would be 175 litres of water approx

It sounds like you will have at least a tonne of extra water.

It depends on the weight limits of your chassis as to wether you are legal or not but i sort of think you may be a tad over weight. 

Yes you can get the suspension uprated so it doeasnt break but its not so simple as that....


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## davesport

> The first owner obviously spent a lot of time and money setting this van up,have you checked that he didn't fit air suspension as well for it to cope with the weight


From my experience, fitting air assistance doesn't increase the payload. It simply serves to raise the ride height whilst heavily laden.

[/Prepares to be shot down in flames]

D.


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## Snunkie

From memory (I will check the paperwork) the payload for our 2008 argos 747 is 1250kgs. By the time I've taken off the Camos dome, spare wheel, air con, solar panel, bike rack, tanks I don't think there'll be any payload left.

Yes he did spend a lot of time and money setting this motorhome up but then didn't get the time to use it so sold it to us at 4 yrs old with only 4,000 miles on the clock which we doubled in the first 4 months of owning it. Definitely no air suspension and he said he wasn't bothered about the weight.

We have a weigh bridge 10 mins away. Never done it before, what's the process? Do I weigh the MH as it is, packed and ready to go away? Do/can axles be weighed separately (sorry if that's a stupid question)


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## davesport

I've weighed mine both empty & loaded ready to go. I guess the latter's more important in your case. The weights you need to know are front/rear & total. I've no experience of weighing a tag. I'm guessing it would be safe to weigh both of the rear axles as a pair & divide the result. Getting individual weights for the individual axles on a weighbridge could be complicated.

If you do have a defacto 1250 Kg's of payload you might be Ok.

Good luck & let us know what happens  

D.


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## cabby

weigh front then whole vehicle, this will allow you to work out the weight on each axle.plus knowing your mass weight overall.

cabby


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## 91502

3 extra tanks seems like a lot of water even for wild camping, we only have one tank 200L I think and that will last 4-6 days.
Maybe there not water tanks ?
Maybe there for filling with wine on your return journey, one red, one white and a rose?
James


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## Snunkie

Filling with wine sounds good! But they are definitely water tanks and he had them fitted for wild camping as I had a good chat with him when I purchased it. 

Just got back from weigh bridge:

Front axle 1980kgs
Rear axle 2960kgs
Total 4940kgs

Which only leaves me 60kgs payload.

Scooter wasn't in there and that weighs 102kgs so that can't go in
Hubby and eldest child wasn't in there so that's another 100kgs
Had only 1/4 tank diesel and 1/4 tank water

Bugger!


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## drcotts

davesport said:


> The first owner obviously spent a lot of time and money setting this van up,have you checked that he didn't fit air suspension as well for it to cope with the weight
> 
> 
> 
> From my experience, fitting air assistance doesn't increase the payload. It simply serves to raise the ride height whilst heavily laden.
> 
> [/Prepares to be shot down in flames]
> 
> D.
Click to expand...

No your quite right mate. Lots of people think its just a chassis thing but it aint. if your way too heavy dont expect the brakes to stop you.
Hence my last post

skumkie what are the plated weights of your vehicle (from the plate under the bonnet) as you have to be under on all 3 weights not just the total mass.
the rear seems a bit heavy


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## Snunkie

Plates says

5000kgs
6000kgs
1- 2100kgs
2- 1500kgs
3- 1500kgs


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## davesport

Snunkie, did you find out how much water you're carrying when all of your tanks are full ?

D.


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## Snunkie

No Davesport, was no point wasting time on that as we wouldn't fill them. I was more concerned with the weight of the tanks empty as they are fixed to the chassis and wondered if dropping them would help the payload much.

Would never even consider filling them and travelling as van is so low as it is. it May be that the previous owner filled them and travelled and that is why it sits so low?


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## fdhadi

We were parked in our m/h next to an Argos 747 on a pay & display in Stratford Upon Avon Sunday just gone. I could not believe how much lower and heavier it looked compared to our 747.


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## Snunkie

It's definitely lower than it should be in our opinion.

We reckon previous own filled this tanks and may have caused it to sit lower, in addition to the hefty towbar fitted.

Hubby is underneath the MH as we speak removing the tanks of so I'll be back on to let you know how much they actually weigh.

We've decided against removing the towbar as feel it gives us a considerable amount of protection at the rear end


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## Snunkie

Timberland2013 said:


> Good evening.
> 
> If you can get under to measure them - length - width - depth - we could work this out.
> 
> Or there could be a manufacturers mark on eg cak tanks - there would then be a number realitive to capacity.
> 
> Kind regards
> 
> Lee Sowerby
> 
> Director
> 
> Timberland Motorhomes


Thanks Lee

The measurements are as follows:

Tank 1 = 100.5cms x 96cms x 20.5cms estimated weight 15kgs-17kgs
Tank 2 = 95cms x 36cms x 20.5cms estimated weight 6kgs
Tank 3 = 115cms x 48.5cms x 20.5cms estimated weight 7-8kgs 
The bars that they were fitted on with weigh about 1.5kgs each and there are 6 of those so another 9kgs

Not a huge saving at around 40kgs but as the tanks were completely unusable (because of the weight issue if they were filled) there was no point leaving them on there


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## 91502

If my calculations are right it would be getting on for 400kg if they were all full! 
How long did they wild camp for without a tap?
James


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## Snunkie

JP said:


> If my calculations are right it would be getting on for 400kg if they were all full!
> How long did they wild camp for without a tap?
> James


Well you see that's the thing James, I don't actually know. He only did 4k miles in 4 years because he didn't get much chance to use it as was always busy working. Hence we get ourselves an absolute bargain but we are a bit concerned now that the once full tanks of water have probably damaged the shock absorbers\suspension which could be the reason it sits so ridiculously low. We also (well hubby did) discovered today what we think was the source of the burning tyre smell that we have smelt on occasions, there is only a couple of inches clearance between the tyres and the top of the wheel arch and if we go over any sort of bump at speed then the wheels are hitting on the arches and have scored, cracked in one place even, the wheel arches. We have managed to lighten it up by 74kgs approximately which is nowhere near enough.


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## fdhadi

A lot of Motorhomes that have a Garage are used by Motor cross Racing Teams. These teams often fit extra tanks for their own use and so they can wash the motorbikes down when at weekend events.

I don't think the majority of these teams worry about payloads, they seem to load the van to the hilt.


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## fdhadi

After reading an earlier post from Lucy (Snunkie), with the extra 400ltr fresh water tanks and the standard 150ltr freshwater tank, what did he do with the extra waste water?

Also, if the chap you bought the mh from wildcamped for long periods at a time, did he have extra batteries fitted or maybe carry a generator?

400ltrs water = 400kg
Generator = 75kg

Thats 475kg from a 700kg payload

Change of clothes??


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## 113016

fdhadi said:


> After reading an earlier post from Lucy (Snunkie), with the extra 400ltr fresh water tanks and the standard 150ltr freshwater tank, what did he do with the extra waste water?
> 
> Also, if the chap you bought the mh from wildcamped for long periods at a time, did he have extra batteries fitted or maybe carry a generator?
> 
> 400ltrs water = 400kg
> Generator = 75kg
> 
> Thats 475kg from a 700kg payload
> 
> Change of clothes??


That is one hell of a heavy geny  
I carry one of these at 21 kg dry weight

http://www.honda.co.uk/energy/generators/EU20I/specifications/


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## Snunkie

fdhadi said:


> After reading an earlier post from Lucy (Snunkie), with the extra 400ltr fresh water tanks and the standard 150ltr freshwater tank, what did he do with the extra waste water?
> 
> Also, if the chap you bought the mh from wildcamped for long periods at a time, did he have extra batteries fitted or maybe carry a generator?
> 
> 400ltrs water = 400kg
> Generator = 75kg
> 
> Thats 475kg from a 700kg payload
> 
> Change of clothes??


Just 2 batteries. He had a generator but much lighter than 75kgs. Ours weighs 28kgs for example

There isn't a 700kgs payload available, take off the towbar, Aircon, Camos dome, solar panel and put 6 people in and you're at the limit. No payload at all for 400kgs of water

Main tank is 120ltr


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