I have been an absolute complacent fool. Just started reloading our van after it had been back for a bit of warranty work and thought I would weigh the items going back. Items in the front locker came to 77kg add that to the weight of the battery and the motor mover and i'm over the 100 mark.
I have not started on the equipment on the inside yet but I only had 156kg to start with.
Never ever crossed my mind to double check the weights, we were so careful all them years ago but years of adding the little extras have caught up with us.
So I started my own little diet club and managed to get the weight of the stuff in the down to 36kg, an example of unneeded items. We had 3 mallets, why would we need 3 there's only 2 of us. There was 2 gas bottles, not used a full bottle in 2 years. Aquaroll adapter, not going on a service pitch until August.
Tomorrow I start on the inside..I think it will be a battle with OH over the amount of clothing she needs.
Good work. Front locker of my van is as empty as I can get it. One gas bottle,awning pegs,mallet and ramps.thats it. Use it more on site but other than that it stays empty
------------- Who needs travel agents,we have our static
Its amazing what you think you need and accumulate.
We had 8 food trays, dinner plates, cups, sandwich plates, bowls etc etc etc. Bought from ASDA picnic section at the end of the season.
But there is only 3 of us.
Electric kettle and 3 gas kettles? Do we need 1 each?
No issues with being overweight but just towing more than we needed.
I got rid of the extra junk. Went up a bottle size from 3.5 to 7kg and added the spare wheel to the front locker to get the noseweight closer to 75kg.
Quote: Originally posted by pompeyjon on 19/2/2014
Blimey made me think ..but .. then only gas botle in front locker rest in car... I worry about nose weight constantly
That made me wonder what the nose weight was on the OP's caravan.
------------- It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
Nose weight was always ok, but this was down to me loading other items behind the axle, which I know also creates an unstable unit.Its become very clear my van was massively over weight. I think I just simply lost track of what was in the whole of the caravan.
Silly example she had in there 20 pairs of socks for me, I had 5 pairs of trainers, Walking boots, Walking shoes, 2 pairs of flip flops ( No Crocs ).
Out of interest how much stuff do others take in there vans to keep within their payload limit.
To be honest I empty most of the stuff from inside the van between trips, apart from crockery, pots, pans etc.
I then put in what we need depending on season and length of our trip.
For example we very rarely take awning for short trips, or folding chairs in winter etc why carry all that weight when not being used..
Take what clothes we think we will need, also waterproofs, walking boots, couple of daypacks etc.
Really try to only take what we need for each trip which obviously varies again by duration and season.
Big items like aquaroll, wastemaster are in bags stored in shed and put inside van before we leave.
Front locker holds gas bottle, spare wheel, chocks and ramps.
Post last edited on 19/02/2014 13:26:31
------------- It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
I can see how easily this gets put of hand. First year of moving from the TT to van we emptied it after each trip as just in the habit of doing that I guess. Last year was year 2 and although it is still fairly empty I notice that under our back bunk is full and we don't use all the stuff every time. My dh is careful though and does have a spreadsheet showing everything's individual weight. It does no harm to be reminded of these issues though.
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