Are you loaded properly (1 Viewer)

lorger

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 11, 2008
9,630
90,343
Dumfries
Funster No
3,262
MH
Knaus Sun 650MEG
Exp
2007
Hi
While waiting for Lorraine to finnish work today i popped in to wh smith and had a read at motor caravan mag and a report in it said that the vosa had found 80% of all motorhomes it had stopped where over their overall limit or single axle limit i thought this sounded a bit high but scary.

Your thoughts
Gerry
 

Geo

Trader - Funster
Jul 29, 2007
11,757
14,563
Mansfield,Notts
Funster No
35
MH
Autotrail Tracker FB
Exp
45 +years with breaks
It is high, too high, and the reason for it is, European manufacturers simply build on the wrong vehicles:whatthe: leaving pitiful and woefully inadequate payloads hence 80% are overloaded
Ive even read of brand new empty motor homes going straight from the dealers to the weigh bridge with just the driver and being ON the limit:Doh:
 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
unfortunately due to euro licencing and now ours it doesnt make sense for camper manufacturers to build on over 3.5ton vans. i think campers needatleast 4.5 or more . i just wrote on other post i like the renault mascot goes up to 6.5ton ideal and rear wheel drive. its the max gross weight that vosa know its hard not to break. if you talk to vosa in cornwall they are always picking up campers just down the road from me .atleast twice a month in summer. cheers alan.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

ronald4874

Free Member
Oct 31, 2008
175
6
Poole Dorset
Funster No
4,737
MH
CB 6.5 metres
Exp
About 15yrs plus early years in caravan & cruiser
Overloading

Hi Gerry,
I would have thought this area was obvious. Overloading is a serious offence and people have been fined lots of dosh as a consequence.
In the paper an English chap was reported to have been overloaded on one axle near Alicanti and was fined on the spot 3500 Euros by police. They took him to a bank to get the funds sorted, he then paid by credit card. The local police said to the reporter he may get some money back for a lesser offence.
The ironical part of this is that they allow the van the continue on his way.
Having first read the report I thought it might be a scam until I read that the reporter had investigated
Ron W
 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi, have you tried SV TEC . you need to speak to gareth marsh. got there no. but cant find it .google them. you could try asking at your local dvla sometimes its a paper exersize and you cando it there .cheers alan

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi twooks. i very often carry a couple small m.bikes lots grub .if you are going into morocco for 3 mnths you need plenty of wine ,beer etc .could be 250 ltr of wine between us. 150ltr beer. plus all the other bits you cant get there .also generators tools welders . spare parts tyres. it goes on . try going away for 6mths and weigh your van if its got a weight of less than 3.5 you struggle. then you need lots of spare for coming home . i have 500ltr fuel tanks 200 ltr fresh water . coming home is worse hardly buy wine or beer here if i can help it +spirits. soon all mounts up . thats why vosa are out there ,try getting into switzerland theyvery often weigh you at the border , then you have to unload to carry on. you only get stopped n weighed once to know you need more capacity. visit your local weigh bridge when you have loaded to go on holiday , you may be suprised. cheers alan.
 

haganap

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 5, 2007
12,710
25,965
planet earth
Funster No
974
MH
Carthago C Tourer
Exp
I'm an oldbie MH number 9
I know me and Alan have been here before,

SV TECH are the guys to get the job done.

I have gone from 3.5t up to 4.2t in what seemed to me nothing more than a paper exercise. It was not for safety merely to satisfy the law.

Still its done now and for the peace of mind of £230 its been well worth it.:thumb:

I have always wondered something though,. I often find meself up a 3.5t road, whats the punishment for being too big when traveling up a road for 3.5t and under?

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi, the reason i am so anal if you like about weight. i was involved in a fatal accident in 2001 ,a car driver had a heart attack ,hit me head on at a terrific speed .iwas in a big truck .we were on a 3 lane road. it took my front wheel off (broke the wheel),fuel tanks and bent the rear wheel . i tried to climb the verge on the left side of road. it span me across the road over the bonnet of a volvo car into a lamp post .then another car hit the left hand side. i suffered a dislocated shoulder and minor injury. the driver of the first car lost engine box in fact it was carnage the bonnet came round and cut him in half. the road was blocked for 11hours .luckily no one else was hurt. vosa spent days going through all the vehicles luckily no faults. imagine if i had been overloaded. or had bad brakes or something. actually i was comended in the inquest for driving up the bank. i still have occasional thoughts of what happened see the people in the car i went over.the father was a doctor he looked after me and went to see the other driver ,too late for him,. if you are overloaded you could end up with no insurance and even if its not your fault blame gets put on you. could be said to be a cause of the accident . thats why i say have a bigger payload than you need ,it is a safety issue . i know sometimes its only a paper issue .but in law its your fault. i have spent many years looking after trucks commercially and have spent lots of time understanding transport law. you have to understand it to manage commercial operations. dont fall foul of the rules they dont like it. hope thats of some use to you ,sorry to go on but i think its important. have fun cheers alan.
 
Oct 15, 2007
1,621
280
Five Roads Alyth
Funster No
633
MH
A class RV
Exp
since 2005
wow :Eeek:
how many kitchen sinks do you need for a camping [away from it all???] lifestyle


Not picking on you but therein lies the problem.

As has been said (many times) before, alot of euro's have a low payload, I've read of 195kgs on one occation.

What alot of people don't seem to get is everything adds up, a knife and fork don't weigh much, but what about the full set plus 'sharp' knives, mabey a corkscrew, bottle opener, can opener, scissors etc etc etc.

Traveling with water in the tank, that seriously weighs, maybe you don't but what about the bottle/s in the cupboard, the milk, cheese etc etc in the fridge, it may seem insignificant but it all adds up and as you've read quickly exceeds many 'vans payload.

And remember, the listed payload is one thing but what extras have been added since, before you even start with your own goodies??

Alan has a good point, the base vehicles/plating often isn't up to what people want and the people don't realise then the get fined.
 

ronald4874

Free Member
Oct 31, 2008
175
6
Poole Dorset
Funster No
4,737
MH
CB 6.5 metres
Exp
About 15yrs plus early years in caravan & cruiser
Overloading

SV Tech replated my Peugeot Boxer M/H about 9 years ago.
At the time It was increased from 3.2 T to 3.8T and was fitted with Air Rides to take the rear end weight of a scooter. This decreased the pressure on the rear springs and levelled out the van. Checking the tyres it was also obvious that the originals, fitted with the vehicle, were too low on capacity to take the increased weight. The tyres , 195's were increased to 225's to take the load especially on the rear axle.
All in all the cost was approx £1100 for SV and about £400 for replacement tyres, I did sell the existing tyres that had only done 1000 mile.
Ron W

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

JayDee

Free Member
Oct 7, 2007
1,057
169
N. Devon
Funster No
556
MH
A Class
Exp
7 Years after 5 years with caravan.

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi jaydee, is it being too rude to ask how much they charged .or did you do it another way?i know on some trucks its a case of altering bump stopsor extra leaves in springs. i imagine in your case it was justa paper exercise.i believe 3.5 up is easierthan3,2 because of the suspension. we would all like to know what they do to which vehicler i,m sure. cheers aln.
 
Aug 1, 2007
1,288
275
Billingham
Funster No
48
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
since 2003
With carrying a motorbike I needed to know the axel weights (although I didn't really need to know, it amazes me how many people get through life, not knowing anything about the rules of what they are doing), so I went to the weighbridge and I still had plenty of room for beer. Although I did have to rearrange the storage of anything heavy, to move weight from the rear to the front.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Sep 23, 2007
1,702
1,966
Leicestershire
Funster No
347
MH
A Class
Exp
4 and many as a tugger
I have a pair of load cells capable of weighing up to 2.5t. It might be worth me bringing them to a meet sometime and checking a few funsters axle weights.

Andy
 

PORKSTER

Free Member
Sep 15, 2009
1,951
4,772
Sussex coast
Funster No
8,475
MH
Lowline
Exp
learning
Out of interest how do we find the weights etc of our vans ? what should each axle weigh etc.I have a weighbridge less than a mile from home I would love to know whats what.I would guess fully loaded going to a race meeting im over limit I do know my rear springs have been altered but dont exactly know how.If its any help I own a lwb 310 sprinter Ruddock race conversion.Ta for any advice in advance Paul

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
there is normally a plate some where rivetted to the van listing front axle wt rear axle wt tran wt. and gross vehicle wt. the gross wt will be less than the two axle wts but its to allow for load placement. motor sport meetings can be a good place for vosa to hassle again they know you are loaded with tools etc. down here stock car gets lots of attention. specialy on train weights. car pulling trailer with another car on it almost definately over loaded. looking back i can say i used to break the law all the time using an a frame behind my vw camper to recover other vw campers .at the time didnt know the rules and have driven miles here and abroad. if stopped showed a recovery business card and went on my way . good job i didnt have an accident. doesnt make it right they would have thrown ther book at us . i would hate for anyone to be caught over loaded , not knowing isnt proof of innocence.could spoil a pleasant holiday. cheers alan.
 

lesleyjean

Free Member
Jun 21, 2008
1,748
2,392
Funster No
2,989
MH
A class
there is normally a plate some where rivetted to the van listing front axle wt rear axle wt tran wt. and gross vehicle wt. the gross wt will be less than the two axle wts but its to allow for load placement. motor sport meetings can be a good place for vosa to hassle again they know you are loaded with tools etc. down here stock car gets lots of attention. specialy on train weights. car pulling trailer with another car on it almost definately over loaded. looking back i can say i used to break the law all the time using an a frame behind my vw camper to recover other vw campers .at the time didnt know the rules and have driven miles here and abroad. if stopped showed a recovery business card and went on my way . good job i didnt have an accident. doesnt make it right they would have thrown ther book at us . i would hate for anyone to be caught over loaded , not knowing isnt proof of innocence.could spoil a pleasant holiday. cheers alan.

I know you are going to think I am thick, but how do you increase your payload.

Lesley
 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi lesley ,its not a daft question. really if you are not mecanically minded its best to speek to someone like sv tec .there are others . some vehicles use the same mecanical specification for several weight models. if yours is 3.5ton but the 4.5ton uses the same spec its a paper exercise to get dvla to upplate your vehicle. then you make/purchase a new plate to fix to your van as proof. sometimes you have to fit air shocks or uprate springs, sometimes its get tyres with a greater weight rating . sv tec specialise in chassis construction and design. they are very helpfull and are recomended by dvla at swansea. having had a discusion with hagnap a while ago ,he as done it and gained 700kg i think . ask him is it worth it .i thinkl it is . or speak to jaydee he is closer to you i think. he gained 300kg. hope its of use to you .cheers alan.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

lesleyjean

Free Member
Jun 21, 2008
1,748
2,392
Funster No
2,989
MH
A class
Thank you, I will contact one of them because I tend to take a lot of extras and have never had my axle's weighed. I wouldn't want to break the law and I know ignorance is no excuse.

Mine is a 3.85 I think.

Cheers

Lesley
 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
hi lesley .i now have upto about 5ton payload on my truck . max train 9.8ton. i actually down plate it voluntary so it can be driven by others on an early car licence.years ago i left uk in a vw camper to tour africa .it was half a ton over weight before full fuel and water etc never mind hidden wine to take from spain. its amazing how quick it mounts up .wet suits ,diving belts ,surf boards . fishing gear. even worse if you times it by 4 . or 6 as some are 6 berth. there are 6berth m,homes out there that can not legaly carry 6 people never mind their luggage. its criminal.
 

Landy lover

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 11, 2009
2,296
5,928
Zummerzet
Funster No
7,453
MH
27ft Eurolight
Exp
Camping Caravaning now 5'ering 49 years
Totally agree with all you have said here VWAlan but would add to that good advise two relevant points. Many people forget that the Max weight of a vehicle includes all the passengers - I have heard many times where people have prepared for the holiday the driver has just popped down the weighbridge then comes back knowing he is borderline on the weight limit and then loads up wife, kids, sarnys the wife has been doing etc etc and goes off happy that he is not overloaded where as infact he is grossly overloaded. The other point that many people are not aware of is that the gross weight given is a design maximum weight for the vehicle - this applies to not only springs but also brakes, tyres etc - You like me operate your vehicle well below max weights allowing a good safety margin but many M/Homes are operating right on the safety limits and sometimes well beyond. I am sure some people would be horrified if they new the truth.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

thehutchies

Free Member
Aug 31, 2007
1,527
1,775
The Wheelèd Shed
Funster No
200
MH
.
Exp
.
Thank you, I will contact one of them because I tend to take a lot of extras and have never had my axle's weighed. I wouldn't want to break the law and I know ignorance is no excuse.

Mine is a 3.85 I think.

Cheers

Lesley

If yours has the Al-Ko rear axle, SV Tech say it can't be uprated as it is a torsion bar system, rather than traditional springs.
I'd hoped to do something similar to ours but there doesn't seem to be any way around it, unfortunately.
 

falcon

Free Member
Jun 20, 2009
33
0
Liverpool
Funster No
7,190
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
0.25
I know me and Alan have been here before,

I have gone from 3.5t up to 4.2t in what seemed to me nothing more than a paper exercise. It was not for safety merely to satisfy the law.

Still its done now and for the peace of mind of £230 its been well worth it.:thumb:

This is naive, but how can a 3.5T vehicle be replated as 4.2T without mods?
 

haganap

LIFE MEMBER
Dec 5, 2007
12,710
25,965
planet earth
Funster No
974
MH
Carthago C Tourer
Exp
I'm an oldbie MH number 9
There is a lot of good advice on this thread regarding payloads, However people should try UK Motorcaravanning & Caravanning - Out&About Live
do a search on payloads on there and there is a very useful thread by Brian Kirby who seems to be a bit of a guru on axle weights and loading, well worth a look, I also pmd him and he was more than willing to give some very good advice, It all regards uprating your van but not taking in to consideration each individual axle weight and also loading.

As regards what everybody is saying, the most important bit of advice I can give is to do the following--

Load your van for your week away as you would,
fill up the diesel
put enough water in for your journey
add anything else you would normally take including passengers

AND VISIT A WEIGH STATION ITS DIRT CHEAP AND NOT WORTH DISCUSSING UNTIL YOU HAVE GO TODAY ITS A SIMPLE EXERCISE-----

Following that you will then know what and if you have to do anything. If like me you were over weight without even putting the family/bikes in then you know you have a problem.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,980
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
This is naive, but how can a 3.5T vehicle be replated as 4.2T without mods?

Good question .. I'm not entirely sure but I believe that some vans have been downrated so that they can be driven by those on a 3.5t license, particularly for the French market.. Up grading is then a paper exercise..

The same is done on some RVs that have been downrated to 7.5t.. this of course eats into the payload and leaves many vans almost useless..

jim
 

vwalan

Funster
Sep 23, 2008
8,835
5,798
roche cornwall
Funster No
4,148
MH
lynton5th wheel
Exp
since a child
its all very simple .i took a 5ton trailer and made it into a living van.i then voluntary down plate it to 3.5ton . living vans upto 3.5 ton dont need moting. i followed instructions from dvla. as the caravan converter i decide its max gross weight.
a manufacturer of vans /chassis builds say 300 vehicles .so long as they dont go over the design wt. they plate some at 4.5 some at 3.8some at 3.5 some maybe lower. if you have a low wt you just prove to dvla its the same spec as a higher one ,bingo. companies like sv tec ,wheelbase ,etc have spent years following the development of suspension and chassis construction .also have agreements with vosa and dvla what is aceptable.because of licencing laws, taxthresholds it can be advantagous for companies to be able to move the same truck into different wt levels.
the problem years ago used to be that people changed 3.5 ton springs for 4.5ton springs and assumed they had created a 4.5 ton vehicle.wrong.the 4.5springs were heavier ,if you didnt update the paper work you actually had less payload. mercs were the favourite then. hope thats helped . its hard to put it in writting ,i,m better at talking ha ha , cheers alan.
 

JayDee

Free Member
Oct 7, 2007
1,057
169
N. Devon
Funster No
556
MH
A Class
Exp
7 Years after 5 years with caravan.
hi jaydee, is it being too rude to ask how much they charged .or did you do it another way?i know on some trucks its a case of altering bump stopsor extra leaves in springs. i imagine in your case it was justa paper exercise.i believe 3.5 up is easierthan3,2 because of the suspension. we would all like to know what they do to which vehicler i,m sure. cheers aln.

Hi Alan,
Sorry for the delay - haven't been on for a couple of days.

SVTech charged us £230 incl VAT (she's sure that's the figure:Smile:). We can confirm this next week, when we get back home.

For others reading here - SVTech ask all the necessary questions, such as what the manufacturers plate says (not the converters - in our case they were a bit different), the vehicle numbers, wheel size, all sorts of stuff. They then sent the necessary documentation to be taken to the DVLA. DVLA checked it all and issued a new tax disc and send the new registration document through the post. Dead easy. If your vehicle cannot be up-plated SVTech will be able to tell you straight away - so no charge.

There are people driving around in motorhomes who will fill the space, without any regard to payload. I think that dealers could be of great value here by explaining the legal ramifications of payload - but then there are some who would not want to risk losing a sale and to hell with helping the customer. And there are owners out there who don't give a stuff about payload (we met such a one at Lowdhams in September. Scary to think what condition their vehicle could be in).:RollEyes::Eeek:

I'm with you on this Alan.


John

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top