| RV FEATURE
WHAT NOW?
In your endeavour to calculate your van’ s payload capacity, and to not exceed it, the best advice hasn’ t really changed over the years …
1. If your prospective van is second-hand, always get a weigh bridge certificate prior to purchasing.
2. If you’ re about to buy a new van, request a copy of the manufacturer’ s weigh bridge ticket for that particular van, and if in doubt, weigh the van yourself and cross-check your findings with those of the manufacturer.
3. Load your van within the known payload allowance, the weight difference between ATM and Tare. If you need to create more payload capacity, strip out / off unnecessary items. Do you really need two 9kg gas cylinders?
4. Investigate light-weight solutions, such as silicone cookware. If you have a spare few thousand in your back pocket(!), replace your lead acid battery with a lithium battery.
Remember, as the driver of the vehicle towing the trailer, you are responsible for ensuring you’ ve loaded the van within spec, and that you haven’ t exceeded the towing capacity, including the Gross Combined Mass, of the tow vehicle.
CASE STUDY
I own a Goldstream Wing 3 wind-up camper. For curiosity’ s sake, I weighed all of its contents to calculate my legality when towing … with interesting results!
FACEBOOK FEEDBACK
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We threw it open to vanners on Facebook. Is 300-400kg of payload capacity enough on a modern caravan?
“ The best advice in any article about payload is to ask the manufacturer to plate the van to its max theoretical ATM. This will solve any issues about payload and it costs nothing. You can then load to whatever your lowest applicable rating is and will never have anything to complain about.”
“ Most RVs’ and caravans’ allowances are ridiculous. I know someone who just had a new van weighed at a Qld Transport inspection day and had gas, water, etc., but no food or clothes in it and had 4kg left to use. What a joke.”
“ Caravan manufacturers should provide Tare weights after water and gas tanks are full.”
“ We have a payload of 970kg and we have three water tanks plus grey water. Early days with this van so we will see soon enough,”
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14 gorv. com. au