Van nearly overweight
Comments
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most interesting post, not being a techno head have learnt quite a bit, but the one defining factor from all of this is that i will not be getting rid of my 2008 Coachman any time soon, with a MTPLM=1575kg, MRO=1369kg, essential habitation equipment=47kg, personal payload=144kg, which does not look too bad compared to some and the old girl sits on chunky 205/65 tyres, and although i have no idea what the axle plate says, my friendly service engineer tells me that it is more than sufficient. Dont understand all this replating business, afterall the physical characteristics of the caravan/MH do not change, so what benefit is this, does it just make the vehicle legal?. I accept for an MTPLM of 1575 KG, you need something bigger than a Skoda Yeti, but i think some of the bigger cars would suffice, you def do not need something like a Discovery, I have a Kia Sorento, modest SUV at a reasonable price.
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ok get that, but if you are now running at 90 pct of the recommended car v caravan weight, and then you get a plate upgrade, surely your 90pct could then become 100 pct, but technically nothing has changed, but then you have an accident e.g. run into the back of somebody and that nice insurance assesor comes along checks the plate etc, is there not a danger you may invalidate your insurance ???
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You would only be illegal if you exceeded the max weight the car is allowed to tow. Likewise, if you exceeded the GTW.
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Your car is plated to determine what permissible train weight for car and trailer are and permissible axle loads for the car. Provided that you are within the Gross permissible weights for the car and plated MPTLM for the caravan there is no issue. If I stuck with the manufacturers plate by the caravan door then, without upgrading the plate I would never manage with the permitted payload. Many payloads are ridiculous.
Mine, after taking into account the battery, additional gas, motormover would leave me with just around 80kg for all contents.
Looking at it another way; our caravan is theoretically a three berth as we don't have the optional bunk but the side dinette makes a single bed. SO the remaining 80kg would (theoretically) be shared by 3 people giving about 27kg each. If I fly abroad for a holiday I get 23kg as standard luggage allowance and I don't pack pans, groceries, toaster, fans, bedding etc.
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If I stuck with the manufacturers plate by the caravan door then, without upgrading the plate I would never manage with the permitted payload. Many payloads are ridiculous.
excuse my ignorance, but surely when the caravan is manufactured the manufacturer puts a plate on giving the max permissable weight, this is surely not a finger in the air figure, so if the plate says e.g. 1500kgs then i would have thought that is the specification that the caravan is manufactured to, so if you now replate to 1550kgs surely you are undermining the manufactured capabilities of the caravan, and as a consequence you now load to the new plate and are by definition overloading the caravan, and importantly the axle if this is geared to the manufactured specification, if my logic is good i can not understand why manufacturers would agree to replate unless there is some give and take in the original specifications, or i missing something?.
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The plate "upgrade" is in effect a reversal of the "downgrade" that the manufacturers' marketing people did in order to make it look as if that particular model was suitable to be towed by a smaller vehicle. The engineers that designed it were working to the "upgrade" figure, or perhaps even higher.
I'm sure it helps some of those with an all-up restriction of 3500kg on their licence to stay legal.
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Quite simple Rufs. Many caravans have type approval to a higher MPTLM than advertised by the door or often on their specifications. They have an interest in making the caravan low in weight to encourage buyers. To do this they only give minimum user allowances on UK caravans in general rather than using the figure that they have approval for.
Another issue is the daft situation with drivers who passed their test after 1996. Without taking a towing test they are limited to a train weight of 3,500kg. If the MAM of their car was 2,100kg they could tow my caravan with an original MPTLM of 1,400kg but with the 100kg upgrade they would not be permitted to tow it. It is a daft situation that the greater the vehicle MAM the less weight can be legally towed by such a driver.
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The plate by the door doesn't necessarily display the maximum technical MTPLM limit. Only the statutory plate does that. Manufacturers may issue a new label for next to the door to bring the details into line with what is already shown on the statutory plate. However, this will not affect the technical specification of the caravan in any way.
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The 3,500kg that Navi referred to was for train weight - car MAM plus trailer MPTLM. What happens if anybody exceeds weight limits? - They break legislation and can presumably be prosecuted.
As far as upgrading MPTLM for me with a full licence it is a no-brainer. Even if I don't use all the extra 100kg MPTLM it gives me a bigger room for error if stopped and weighed.
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sorry bit behind, but catching up, yes they do, my owners tech manual shows Battery 80 amp hr 17g in the essential habitation equipment
first time i have read the owners technical data book fully, with a 5 berth van and only 2+dog never gave being overweight a thought, but sure we are not, put all heavy stuff in car i.e. awning ground sheet, table chairs, my only concern is my bike which travels in the van.0 -
doesn't necessarily display the maximum technical MTPLM limit. Only the statutory plate does that.
I have tried unsuccesfully to find this statutory plate on my Bailey Senator. Has anyone actually seen one of these plates, and could give a hint as to in which obscure place it has been fitted?
Looking in the gas bottle locker all I can find are barcodes for various body parts.
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Recently, some manufacturers have combined the plate next to the door with the statutory plate. If this has been done, the label by the door will include the type approval number and the maximum axle and noseweight loads. Only if these are present does the plate comply with Construction and Use Regulations which apply to all caravans built since the introduction of whole vehicle type approval in 2014. Otherwise, there must be another plate elsewhere which has all the relevant information. The regulations require it to be readily accessible. In other words, one cannot be expected to crawl under the caravan to find it.
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2014 is the clue. That's only a couple of years ago, so my 2008 Senator will not have one, nor many other caravans in use in the UK.
I shall have to lie in the muck and look at the axle plates.
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not going to bother, my service engineer said my caravan was fitted with top of the range axle, and not one of the flimsy ones they use today, and that weight of carvan vs axle was not a problem, and that the axle was in as nearly new condition, so no worries
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