Help Diet Needed. (1 Viewer)

haganap

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Well those that followed the previous thread, (weighbridges)

I have been and got weighed. It felt like going to slimming world ::bigsmile:

this is the result.

A massive 260kg over weight.

So here is what I have worked out,

Van unladen 3150
which therefore allows 350kg of load.

extras fitted, roof air con, satellite system, additional battery, bike rack (removed when weighed)

I filled up with both fuel and water prior to being weighed. I have in the van skis, and all ski clothing, numerous bottles of pop, the usual cupboards of food, I also have a calorlite gas bottle.
Incidently I weigh 75kg :Blush: and I put Nikki in the van (probably where the additional came from hardhat) but in reality only 50kg. The kids weigh no more than 20kg each.

So should I be worried by todays findings? If as mentioned I can pay a couple of hundred spondoolies and be re weighted to 4100kg? with out actually doing anything extra to the van?

Who actually knows how much there van weighs? or indeed who cares? and what are the implications for being found overweight?
thanks
the
haganaps
 
Sep 23, 2007
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If you recall I weighed the Autotrail and had arround 200kgs spare. But Lynn aand Ashley were not in the van nor were the Bikes. So we were right on the limit. And I aways considered we travel light. As for being fined for being over weight, Lynn's brother was pulled by the Feds in Scotland. He was moving house and hired a Merc Sprinter Luton van and was found to be 1500Kgs over weight. The fine came through yesterday £80 and no indorsement.
 

Jim

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Paul, have you thought about buying a trailer? We always towed one with our European Motorhome. It meant that we could carry everything we wanted, in addition we could carry canoes and bulkier stuff. A small trailer is a way of carrying a lot of extra weight , safely and within the law. Just a thought mate. :Smile:

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Brisey

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Hi Paul

Have heard stories of the french police carrying out roadside weight checks.
Instant on the spot fines and load reduction before being allowed to resume your journey. We have gone the route suggested by Jim and have purchased a small camping trailer, only downside is that the ferry costs more.

I can just imagine having to decide whether to dump my gear or to leave SWMBO on the roadside.:whatthe::Eeek::whatthe:
It could be a close call.:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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haganap

haganap

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Paul, have you thought about buying a trailer? We always towed one with our European Motorhome. It meant that we could carry everything we wanted, in addition we could carry canoes and bulkier stuff. A small trailer is a way of carrying a lot of extra weight , safely and within the law. Just a thought mate. :Smile:

actually Jim we have thought about this. Although we have no dog to put in one :ROFLMAO:. i need one anyway for a few house jobs, already have a towbar so may well do that.

but I have just looked at this
Link Removed
which makes me feel a little better. And I have spoken to svtech who say that I do not need to make any modifacations to get it rebadged to 4.1?

so although pleased ive been weighed, which allows me to watch what I put in not as worried as I was 3 hours ago:Cool:
 

JayDee

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Well those that followed the previous thread, (weighbridges)

I have been and got weighed. It felt like going to slimming world ::bigsmile:

this is the result.

A massive 260kg over weight.

So here is what I have worked out,

Van unladen 3150
which therefore allows 350kg of load.

extras fitted, roof air con, satellite system, additional battery, bike rack (removed when weighed)

I filled up with both fuel and water prior to being weighed. I have in the van skis, and all ski clothing, numerous bottles of pop, the usual cupboards of food, I also have a calorlite gas bottle.
Incidently I weigh 75kg :Blush: and I put Nikki in the van (probably where the additional came from hardhat) but in reality only 50kg. The kids weigh no more than 20kg each.

So should I be worried by todays findings? If as mentioned I can pay a couple of hundred spondoolies and be re weighted to 4100kg? with out actually doing anything extra to the van?

Who actually knows how much there van weighs? or indeed who cares? and what are the implications for being found overweight?
thanks
the
haganaps

Paul,
We had a similar (though not quite so extreme) shock, when we weighed our Dethleffs.
We had a full tank of water (110kg), so we reduced that to about 25 litres - just enough for travelling coz anything less and the submerged pump sucks air.
We also chucked out the drive-away awning, which we hardly ever use and that saved another 30 or so. I trimmed down my toolbox by about 7 kg and told the missus to lose some weight (still got the bruise:RollEyes:). We removed a few other things which were a bit OTT and now we're reasonably OK. Fuel should be part of you MIRO (unladen weight) as should the driver - rated at 75 kg., but it would be quite hard to get anywhwere without both of those ::bigsmile: We thought about, then rejected, the idea of a trailer - after all we left caravanning to get away from towing and the restrictions that it imposes - but a lot of people do pull a box trailer.
If you reduce your cellar to one case of wine rather than two or three you could save another 15 or 30 kg; and reduce even more by using chateau cardboard - saves the bottle weight :Smile: Or you could join Suntreckers and save the weight of the clothing :ROFLMAO:.
Might be a bit chilly in the winter though:Blush:.

John

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Geo

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Non-commercial drivers: No prosecution should be taken for overloading. VOSA recommends that a prohibition is issued and an ‘overloading guidance leaflet’ handed to the driver.


Do you realise the implications of a prohibition order
Ie you have one journey left and that is home, and then book in for a full MoT Test, regardless of when its due
the new Mot then lifts the prohibition order, even though the tester has no idea if the vehicle is still over weight :Doh:
Geo
 

Jim

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Didn't know that. No wonder the vast majority are not worried too much then Geo. :Smile:

Many motorhomers travel overweight, the payloads on some vehicles is very restrictive. I understand that the braking and handling need to be taken into consideration. But I would have thought that a carefully laden extra half ton would not be too dangerous. Or is it?
 

ourcampersbeentrashed

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I have in the past worked vehicle check points with the Police and VOSA. In the main they tend to stop lorries and vans that look overloaded and on these occasions the check points have been put in place for specific reasons these can include

making sure people carrying waste have the correct licenses

vehicle ownership, tax disc and vehicle safety checks

vehicle emissions testing

Although it is always possible in England that you may get stopped at a check point
you are more likely to get stopped if you were driving a commerical vehicle

A previous poster is however quite correct that a prohibition notice could be issued which means you have to leave the vehicle where it is.

Having spoken to one of my VOSA colleagues, you could also be given the option to unload the excess weight but this is done at the discretion of the VOSA officer at the time. This would mean sticking food etc and other things easily replaced into a cab to someone you know, emptying your water tanks etc and being reweighed on the weighbridge until it is below the limit.

Hope you find this helpful

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Sep 23, 2007
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The local Council weigh bridge charges £4 plus vay per weight. So if you weigh the front axle and back axle seperate they charge you twice.

Andy S
 
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haganap

haganap

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mine was free today, he said don't worry the boss is out.::bigsmile:

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A and K

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Hi Graham,
It cost us £5 in total to have both our front and back axles weighed individually at the local sand quarry.
 

JeanLuc

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Does it matter if you are overweight?

Apart from any issues of criminal offence, possible prosecution, safety (maximum weights are specified by manufacturers for a reason - braking / handling / tyre blow-out etc.) there is the matter of insurance. Were you to have an accident whilst over the MTPLM and the insurers decided to check the vehicle's weight at the time, they would be quite within their rights to refuse cover as you would have voided the contract.
 

Douglas

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If you remember I did say most vans were over weight!! but seriously this is a case of the laws not fitting reality or the motor home industry not making a product that is fit for the purpose for which it was bought.

In 1987 or was it 1997 the Euro law was introduced the said if you have an ordinary car licence you can only drive a vehicle of no more that 3500kg, so what the M/H industry do? they turned out M/H's that had little or no payload You may have head the story about the guy who took his brand new M/H to the weigh bridge on the way home from the dealer only to find that the van was over weight before he even put anything in it!!!! The manufacture's had fitted false plates on it.

I also think that the police know about this and do nothing about it, (with maybe the exception of the French police) as its a can of worms that the politicians don't want opening as there must be thousand and thousands of M/H vans in Europe that are illegally over weight.

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haganap

haganap

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Apart from any issues of criminal offence, possible prosecution, safety (maximum weights are specified by manufacturers for a reason - braking / handling / tyre blow-out etc.) there is the matter of insurance. Were you to have an accident whilst over the MTPLM and the insurers decided to check the vehicle's weight at the time, they would be quite within their rights to refuse cover as you would have voided the contract.

although I take on board what you are saying can you answer me this in relevence to what you say about braking, tyre blowouts handling etc.
Like said I have contacted a reputable company whom have said the following.

" my van can be uprated to 4100kg (if it has air susspension which it does or 3850kg without) there is NO need to have anything uprated on this van. once uprated it would be classed as a PHG, making the tax £15 per annum cheaper". Each axle weight added together adds up to 3850. The only purpose of having my van weighed was too look at the safety aspect, nothing else. I can drive over 3.5T due to my age, I am a long way from being 70 so wont need a medical to do so. Therefore if I can simply go and get it rebadged WITHOUT having to uprate susspension or brakes etc, then why can I not simply drive it up to that weight safely?
Thankyou
 
M

Mayurua

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Costs me a £5 at my local wighbridge in Boston Lincs
Dave
 

Wildman

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My Beast, is over 3.5ton so most garages cannot MOT it. When I got it Mot's last year I noticed the MOT paperwork included braking efficiencies, axle weights and total weight. My 508D weighed in at just over 4 ton, and it was loaded ready to go, Max weight 5 ton, so stacks of payload, not a problem I will have, even with a motorcycle on the back let alone a small scooter. It does remind me however that as the "A" frame falls out of favour and people start carrying motorcycles then more and more of you will find you are overweight. Luckily providing your licence allows it you can get re-rated up wards.

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JeanLuc

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although I take on board what you are saying can you answer me this in relevence to what you say about braking, tyre blowouts handling etc.
Like said I have contacted a reputable company whom have said the following.

" my van can be uprated to 4100kg (if it has air susspension which it does or 3850kg without) there is NO need to have anything uprated on this van. once uprated it would be classed as a PHG, making the tax £15 per annum cheaper". Each axle weight added together adds up to 3850. The only purpose of having my van weighed was too look at the safety aspect, nothing else. I can drive over 3.5T due to my age, I am a long way from being 70 so wont need a medical to do so. Therefore if I can simply go and get it rebadged WITHOUT having to uprate susspension or brakes etc, then why can I not simply drive it up to that weight safely?
Thankyou

My comments were of a general nature regarding over-loading rather than your specific case. Of course many vans can be re-plated with no problem as you intend to do. Sorry that I did not make this clear. I think the answer to the last part of your question is that the maximum official weight currently is as plated and registered with DVLA. It may be safe to exceed it, but it probably will not be legal.

However, and thinking about our members generally, my concern was geared more towards an often reported situation where people put a lot of weight on the rear axle. In 'another place' (MHF) I remember a post where someone seemed to be content to deliberately mis-understand the details of the plated weight. As I remember it, he was confused as to why he could not just add together the maximum loads for each axle even though that was higher than the declared MTPLM. Also, I remember reading an article in one of the mags by Dave Newell (who is a member here) concerning his meeting with a MH that had a virtual motorbike workshop in the rear garage and the owner was scratching his head wondering why one of the rear tyres had blown-out.

Sorry if I seemed to be making obtuse statements about your plans - that was not intended.

Philip
 
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Jun 18, 2008
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although I take on board what you are saying can you answer me this in relevence to what you say about braking, tyre blowouts handling etc.
Like said I have contacted a reputable company whom have said the following.

" my van can be uprated to 4100kg (if it has air susspension which it does or 3850kg without) there is NO need to have anything uprated on this van. once uprated it would be classed as a PHG, making the tax £15 per annum cheaper". Each axle weight added together adds up to 3850. The only purpose of having my van weighed was too look at the safety aspect, nothing else. I can drive over 3.5T due to my age, I am a long way from being 70 so wont need a medical to do so. Therefore if I can simply go and get it rebadged WITHOUT having to uprate susspension or brakes etc, then why can I not simply drive it up to that weight safely?
Thankyou

Can I ask which company. I'd be interested in getting our's up-plated (I think I've just made a new word ::bigsmile:). I too can drive a larger vehicle due to lack of youth.
 
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haganap

haganap

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Can I ask which company. I'd be interested in getting our's up-plated (I think I've just made a new word ::bigsmile:). I too can drive a larger vehicle due to lack of youth.

SvTech - Special Vehicle Technology is where I contacted, mentioned in another thread.

its not the lack of youth though, in this case you have to have the lack of youth but at the same time not be over 3score and 10.:ROFLMAO:

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sostas

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Quite apart from what we do or do not want to carry and any procecution that may occur should a motorhome be found to be (grossly) overweight. If the said motorhome was involved in a serious accident what would be the insurance implications? I suspect (although I don't actually know) that the driver would find him/herself uninsured. This could then have untold consequences.
Sostas :cry:
 

Terry

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Hi Paul I can only comment on what happened to us in a tranny van (goods )a number of years ago--- Police followed us into m/way services to fill with fuel.After filling up my mate took over driving :ROFLMAO: police stopped us on slip road,asked where we were going and mate said Birmingham or somewhere but I said to find a weigh bridge.Plod told me I was a smart ass but he took drivers word (dam):winky: We followed him to a weigh bridge where we had to leave above half contents of the van (a lot over)on the roadside before being allowed to continue :Angry::ROFLMAO:said if within 10 % he would have given a telling off and let us go :ROFLMAO:Mate ended up with 3 points £75 fine and firm ended up with £200 for allowing us to travel over weight and no goods that we left :ROFLMAO:Me (scott free) I felt guilty but bough my mate a pint :ROFLMAO:
terry
Empty the water and take out what you do not need :thumb:
 

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