Water Tank in Argosy 20'

[Aldo]

I have a '75 Argosy 20' rear-bath model with the mother-daughter front seat, dinette and rear bench seat that fold down to make a bed. The water tank is located in a box underneath the rear dinette bench seat. The box is covered with carpet, so I can't see how to access the water tank.

Does anyone know if the water tank can be serviced without tearing out the entire box? Can one of the panels be removed, or do I have to take out the bench seat and entire box to get at the water tank?

[Aldo]

Well, I finally gave in and got down to exposing the on-board water tank on the '75 20' Argosy M.H. in order to find the source of the water that free-flows across the floor, when I fill the tank. These things just were not built with access panels to anything.

As I explained, mine is the 20', rear-bath model, with the mother-daughter bench seat for the passenger seat and a dinette behind that with another bench seat that converts to a bed, when the dinette is removed and both benches are laid flat. The water tank is in a box under the rear bench seat. In order to get to it, you have to pull out the dinette table and disassemble the box.

Pulling the dinette table is no problem, since it is made to be removed easily.

Then, you remove the storage drawer from under the bench seat. That gives you access to the bolts holding the bench in place. Once you pull them, there is another screw that ties the bench frame to the upper box that contains the storage drawer.

Then you pull out the bench and unscrew and remove the framework that contains the storage drawer underneath the bench. That leaves you with a carpet covered box, wherein lies the water tank. In order to get at the screws holding the box in place, you have to pull up the carpet that is glued and tacked to the plywood. Pull up the carpet and you will find the plywood box. However, it isn't that simple. This isn't just a simple box.

Noooo...you find that the box has a multi-layer top. I don't know why, but the top of that box is two layers of 3/4" plywood with a space between them. The top piece is screwed to the bottom piece with 3" wood screws every five inches around the outside edge. You need to have a screw extractor handy, as the tops of the screws are filled with contact cement that was used to hold the carpet in place...along with the 18 gage staples.

Once you remove the top plate of plywood, you will have access to the screws that hold the lower piece of plywood in place. Those are easy. They are short...and not filled with glue. Once you pull that piece out, you will have easy access to the water tank.

It is an L shape that goes around the steel box that protrudes from the bottom of the coach. In my case, that's where the generator is located.

Fortunately, I found that the only leak was a poorly connected drain hose. No problem. At least it wasn't the $300 water tank. However, since the leak wasn't in the tank, and there was a lot of water leaking across the floor, that meant that my job was not done.

I put some water in the tank and looked for the leaks. Dang! the water was now coming from under the bed. No problem...I'll just tear out that side of the motorhome.

The sofa behind the driver's seat converts to a bed. Underneath the bed are storage drawers. Under the drawers...there is not an access door that would allow you to inspect or work on the plumbing. No...not that easy. I will disassemble the entire sofa and storage structure to find the leaky pipes.

I will put up some pictures when I get it all fixed.

[mprokop87]

Sounds like you have quite the project ahead of you. Im finding that I have a few leaks in my moho as well, mainly from old seals around windows and missing rivets though.

Im looking forward to seeing some pictures.

[Aldo]

Some photos showing the box where the water tank sits, after the box is removed and the layout of the water lines in the 1975 Argosy 20' model. As you can see, I replaced the drain valve and the soldered joints with lead free compression fittings.