Think I am hooked (1 Viewer)

[Vipar]

Greetings peeps welcome from Bexley

 

[StumpyChris]

It is a good point pappajohn makes about weights. Dolphin quote a max payload of 590kgs which tallies with Swift’s quoted MIRO after allowing for the weight of the extras fitted as part of the Sprit pack (awning, solar panel etc) the auto gearbox adds another 33kg reducing payload to 557Kg or say 500 kg after adding a modicum of water for a brew on route - not a full tank!- and a bit for luck so that is the figure I am working to.

I am adding a weight column to my spreadsheet and will allow for the weight of the passenger (posting that breaches the Official Secrets Act) and the excess drivers weight over 75Kg (gulp) but given there will be only the 2 of us with no bikes or tow bar and no garage to store rubbish in my back of the enveope calculation is that we should be ok - I have been reading threads for a few months so I am aware of the problem. Do the experts agree?

I do plan a trip to the weigh-bridge to check weights anyone know a scenic one in North Hampshire?.

Quite how you keep a 6 berth 7.5m van under 3500kg defeats me though.

 

[Wendo55]

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[nicholsong]

Stumpy

Does Swift's MIRO include 90% of tank fuel? And spare wheel? Not all do.

Assuming it does, so does not eat into the 500kg then you have to load

2 people of (coy) weights, so maybe 175kg
Water hose
Levellers
Tool box
Gas over and above the 6kg ally botle in MIRO
Spares- water pump, bulbs, repair tape, bolts, screws etc.
Outside table and chairs
'Ship's Library' - legal docs., manuals, map and sites books, hobbies books.
Cameras, laptop, satnav, phones and chargers,
Television
Carpets, rugs
Bedding(including spare set), towels
Kitchen equipment - pots&pans, cooking utensils, cutlery, plates glasses, mugs
Cleaning equipment for outside and inside, bucket, ladder?
Any pets and their bedding and food.

That is all before the items I have missed, and then personal clothing, not forgetting outside clothing and boots and shoes - all for two seasons, even on Spring and Autumn evenings. Do you want to do washing while away?

Then how much food will you carry? Remember cans and jars are heavy, pastas, potatoes, onions, fruit - it all weighs. Contents of fridge - Juice, butter, eggs(just weighed 10=650g) before you start on meals for 3 days.
Then we get to drinks whether soft ot alcohol. If alcohol 6 bottles of wine and six beers, or equivalent in soft drinks.

Then when you have eaten/drunk a full cassette weighs 17kg. (and a spare)

Of course a lot of weight can be saved using plastic, but for us that is yuck, especially for eating and drinking.

How often do you want to shop and fill with water/fuel, whether on campsite or in the wilds? Your NZ experience will inform that.

I shall be interested to see your spreadsheet. I just picked up my filofax 450g.

Geoff

 

[StumpyChris]

nicholsong thanks that useful your estimates match pretty much the sites I had used for reference. Swift seem to include 90% fuel and ad Blu, plus driver at 75Kg and dry water tanks, not sure on the spare but at least this van is supposed to have one.

Swift have refreshed their website for 2021 season and have lost the page I was using now the notes on the 2021 motorhomes specs refer to caravans.

Will be getting the bathroom scales out to weigh what we have already bought - Cadac, 2 chairs, table, and a Duvalay mattress topper.

(Got to love auto-correct the last line read “a Duvalay mistress cover“ which is tad different)