Worried About Motorhome Payload

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hi guys . are you worried how much stuff you pack in you m/h & the weight you can legally carry . we down sized from our avatar tag with about 1,000kg p/load to our swift 548kg p/load so we lost half of the load which we did . but if we weighed it fully loaded for our 3 months trips i bet we would be over but the boss said he's not that bothered because over our many years touring & stopped many times ( just routine stops ) for one thing or another its never to weigh us .the boss had been stopped & weighed many times & taco checks driving HGV'S . so have you been weighed YOU not a friend of a friend of a friend just like people getting GASSED :ROFLMAO:
 
I have never been weighed by the powers that be.
But I do take a set of weighing scales with me so that I know what weight I am carrying.
It eases my mind.
I also have a carbon monoxide alarm for when I might get gassed.
 
We've never been stopped for anything by anyone.

We do go to the weighbridge before leaving home if we're heading to Norway as we're stuffed to the gunwales with food-type provisions! :giggle:

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dunnah01 said:
The van is designed to only safely carry up to the stated payload/MTPLM. If overloaded than components are potentially unsafe so it doesn't matter whether you get stopped or not if the brakes aren't good enough or the wheels fall off.
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it thats the case how comes many vans can be uprated with a slip of paper?
 
Never been stopped but always aware, Last van we used to weigh it before every trip we were sometimes 100kg over so we uprated the van. Now have a van with 1350kg payload and we always have about 250kg spare so don't need to weigh but the air suspension has a weighing setting so easy to check.
 
Never been stopped but always aware, Last van we used to weigh it before every trip we were sometimes 100kg over so we uprated the van. Now have a van with 1350kg payload and we always have about 250kg spare so don't need to weigh but the air suspension has a weighing setting so easy to check.
 
Yes. We were pulled in on a roadside check on the A38 when we were heading for the Plymouth ferry.

We were well within weight limits as we hadn’t fully loaded our m/h but the DVSA official doing the check managed to break the micro switch on the bonnet alarm. But that’s another story.

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The only time I've weighed mine it was fully loaded with all liquids, gas, clothes, food etc. before a foreign trip just after I bought it 7 years ago. It weighed 2505kg vs max permitted 2800kg. I travel solo and haven't any need to keep putting more stuff aboard and only buy/carry maybe half a dozen bottles of wine at any one time.
When I drove it onto the weighbridge at my local metal recycling place the guy shouted from his kiosk: "Sorry mate we don't recycle vehicles". How we laughed. :(

RH side.jpg


I know how to live small after 40 years of tenting with a motorbike.

All you need for a 2 month 3,400 mile European tour, cooking every meal except two at the tent........

Resting in Pyrenees.JPG


Marigold at St Emilion.JPG
 
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We have always weighed our motorhomes and have managed to stay below 3500kg.
However, most owners I speak to have never weighed their van and have no idea what it weighs.
I would go as far as to say most don't really care - they just load it up and go.
Owners of touring caravans appear to care even less and I have been amazed at how much some of them carry in the caravan.
Bicycles, awnings, chairs, tables, etc. etc.
There is a motorhome hire company near to us that hires out a 6 berth rated at 3500Kg!!!
 
Loaded up with water and our kit plus 3/4 tank of diesel for a week away - cost us a tenner at the local weighbridge to find out we were 100Kg under our 3.5 tonnes, probably 70 under with full fuel tank.

Your 'boss' should keep in mind that in the event that you are involved in an accident where you haven't stopped in time, weight will be very much on the mind of the investigating officer.

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poppycamper said:
Because I believe most van are downgraded to 3500kg by manufacturer to cater for our ridicules licence rules.
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Not just ours, it's been the same in Europe since 1999, they just have different exemptions for emergency vehicles. Only Germany has managed to alter their 'B' category. It's up for revision though due to the E-mobility ruling which allows those with only the 'B' category to drive electrically powered vans upto 4250kg.

www.aboutcampbtob.eu

Public hearing for an amendment to the European Driving Licence to increase weight limit for driving motorhomes - Aboutcamp BtoB

The EU Commission is organising a public hearing on an amendment of the European-wide driving licence directive to increase the 3.5 tonne weight limit
www.aboutcampbtob.eu www.aboutcampbtob.eu
 
Bailey58 said:
The other thing to consider is if you were involved in an accident, even a no fault, the police/insurance company would issue a summons, impound the vehicle, refuse to cover losses, take your pick.
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One of our previous vans was hit by an HGV, the police/insurance company didn't do any of those things. Do you have a source for this information or is it just an assumption?
 
Until I subscribed to Fun the question of payload had never occurred to me and it seems many are not aware either.
I don't think many people realise that a great deal of the base vehicle's payload has already been taken up by the the converter's bodywork, internal equipment and accessories and load it up as if the base vehicle still had the same weight capability as if it the same base vehicle had been sold as a builder's truck.

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I think there are many owners who don't know what their outfit weighs, probably because they are unaware of a need to.
If folk were at risk of getting into trouble from being overweight (their motorhomes) I think we would know about it.
 
We were weighed in Dieppe July 4th 2020, they weighed the 4 motorhomes that just got off the ferry at the top of the hill. Fully loaded, 25% water on the control panel, inflatable awning - everything (avatar). Figure was 3319kg for the 2 of us before we hit the Lidl on the roundabout. In current spec + driver + gas van weighs 2956kg.
 
dunnah01 said:
The van is designed to only safely carry up to the stated payload/MTPLM. If overloaded than components are potentially unsafe so it doesn't matter whether you get stopped or not if the brakes aren't good enough or the wheels fall off.
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Not necessarily so, my van was plated 3850kg with 2000kg each axle but bought new plated 3500kg with 2000 kg each axle so a bit of overweight no problem other than unlawful which I naturally don’t do.
 
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Mixyblob said:
One of our previous vans was hit by an HGV, the police/insurance company didn't do any of those things. Do you have a source for this information or is it just an assumption?
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Maybe not in your case if it appeared you were legal but it's been been aired many times on Fun and elsewhere that an insurance company looks at any loophole when assessing a loss, that goes for the police too if they suspect an excess load is a contributary factor in an accident.
 
Jonno1103 said:
It's up for revision though due to the E-mobility ruling which allows those with only the 'B' category to drive electrically powered vans upto 4250kg.
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Wont help those who still have diesel vans.
As you said only for electric vans.!

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dunnah01 said:
The van is designed to only safely carry up to the stated payload/MTPLM. If overloaded than components are potentially unsafe so it doesn't matter whether you get stopped or not if the brakes aren't good enough or the wheels fall off.
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hi with the boss driving & loading hgv's for many years he just takes a look at the tyres of the m/h plus he takes a measurement before loading so he can tell how much the springs have gone down & he can tell if its overloaded by the way it drives
 
Been weight checked many times in a truck, checked once in my old damon rv, never been checked in anything else
 
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poppycamper said:
Because I believe most van are downgraded to 3500kg by manufacturer to cater for our ridicules licence rules.
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yes your right poppycamper mainly because people buying m/h's now don't have the c 1 licence like we have through grandfather rights
& have to take a test which is expensive
 
Good though manufacturing precision may be these days, I don't think we can be sure when a vehicle will become unsafe.
A bit like "use by" dates on food labels, there are indeterminate variables that describe the conditions for safety and a favourable margin of error will have been applied.
The "P" in MPLW is key (permissible, not possible) - the weight is that is allowed. Evidence suggests that you can get away with much more although I choose to heed that recommendation as best I can to be on the safe side.
There used to be a time when many funsters claimed to weigh their vehicles regularly (as much as every time they went out) but that does not tally with my own experience nor the notion that most would rather avoid any additional expense. So I think most of us only guess at what we weigh (with our own favourable margin of error).
I'd rather not know how much I'm over by (I'm sure it's increased during two year's of Covid stagnation).
What matters to me is that I feel comfortable driving. If I was a worrier, I don't think I'd choose motorhoming for relaxation.
 
Trevor Wbm said:
Loaded up with water and our kit plus 3/4 tank of diesel for a week away - cost us a tenner at the local weighbridge to find out we were 100Kg under our 3.5 tonnes, probably 70 under with full fuel tank.

Your 'boss' should keep in mind that in the event that you are involved in an accident where you haven't stopped in time, weight will be very much on the mind of the investigating officer.
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i am not worried about that he's ex hgv for many many years

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