Often read on the forum of anal levels of weight management in the van. Always thought that was a bit geeky, but short of much to do, apart from clear ours out ready for its annual service I decided to weigh everything.
What a shock, total is 139kgs, add to that 10kg for gas, 30kg for motor mover and 12kg for battery and we are 3kg over our user payload of 188kg!
So before we even pack any food, clothes etc. I need to shed some pounds!
The real shock is we don't carry anything that you would consider 'extras' just the basics.
My tip would be to check yours if you get the chance.
I was thinking of doing that this year actually and it's a good point to raise actually as I think probably many of us are trailing an with an overweight payload. If my payload is over, I can't think of anything really that I could remove as I've already ditched the old cast iron barbecue, large bag of coal and firelighters etc. as all that alone came to quite a hefty weight.
We have been through the same rigors of weighing everything, plus adding in the catalog weights for the mover etc.
It was frightening and left us in no doubt many must be way over weight as we are only two in a four berth.
Just had to be ruthless in cutting back, something that I could never instill before "we" together did the weighing.
It did not help the van was supplied 82 kgs over published and plated weight. We had to get the max weight replated up to the axle rating.
Sorry typo on the battery should have been 22kg, which makes it worse!
I honestly cant think of anything we could do without. It does not even include the awning, ground sheet and windbreak, which already ride in the car!
Would VOSA limit their interest to the axle weights of the unit and not add the the nose weight to the van's axle weight?
In my case that would give me a useful 95 kgs buffer.
We bought a Pennine Pathfinder last Aug and its payload is the smallest we have ever had.
This is made much worse as the Pennine Folding Campers do not include things like the battery etc when they are working out the unlaiden weight.
So I rigged up a set of step ladders and hung a Spring Balance from it, the type you use for weighing suitcases when flying. I then proceeded to weigh every item that goes into the FC, but some items like clothing and food for two adults for 2 weeks, I had to use other people's data.
The Laiden weight I am allowed is 1000kg. My total payload including the unit and the Motor Mover is 991kg.
This does not include the Awning and its accesories which come to another 52kg.
So, if I decide to take the awning, then clearly some of the contents of the FC will have to be carried in the car.
My last caravan had a payload of 396kg and I'm afraid we were thoroughly spoiled when it came to deciding what we carried and what we left at home. Well those days are gone now and while we will not be skimping a lot, perhaps the 2 dining chairs, the two easy chairs and the two sun loungers may have to be reduced a tad in the future.
You should find that things like leisure battery & gas bottles are included in your essential habitation payload so you don't needto also include them in your user payload. Think the same also applies to waste master & aquaroll?
We took ours to a weighbridge before trecking over to France last year then weighed everything individually. I keep a list of all items & their weights & just take them off or add them on depending what we're taking with us.
We'll find it more difficult this year as we've changed cars from a Shogun to a Passat which has a much lower payload limit than the Shogun so we can't just pile it all in the car like we did before.
With the few vans we've had, I've done the usual payload check on everything (keep spreadsheets that record weights), but I've also got the van weighed on a local weighbridge too, when packed with everything and ready for use. It was a suprise the first time I did this that I'd mis-calculated and actually about 11kgs over my estimate, but luckily still just short of the vans MTPLM.
My advice, get to a weighbridge with every van because regardless of how cautious you are, you can make errors and the usual household grade scales can't be relied upon.
Things that are built into your van will be on the delivered weight allowence. However as some folks carry 2 gas cylinders whilst other carry just one, cylinders are often not on this weight allowence. Also some are on Propane or Butane, large cylinders or small. They all weigh differently. The same is true of batteries because as folks add things like a motor mover, they tend to go for bigger and therefore heavier batteries. Indeed some new vans are coming in that have no batteries or any 12v at all.
But, as has been stated, if you know of a weighbridge near you, then get your unit weighed there.
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Topic: Weight Shock
xx Gill
