Maximum user payload
Hi
We are relatively new to owning a caravan and wanted some expert opinions and advice please :-)
So my main issue with understanding is how do people load their caravan with items and stay within the payload limit?
We have a Maximum user payload of 173kg however optional extras of 22kg has to be deducted from this therefore leaving 151kg. We have just had a motor mover fitted which reduces it by a further 40kg therefore 111kg remaining.
We pack the awning, chairs and a few other bits in the car but still bedding, kitchen stuff, leveller, toilet fluids, Aquaroll, front locker bits, BBQ (not overly heavy at 2.2kg) etc come to 105kg and this is before clothes and food!
So I am left with 6kg to pack clothes for 4, food, some toys for our 2 girls and anything else.
Am I missing something?!!! I can go to do shopping when I arrive on site but I see people load their fridges before they leave - surly our payload limit isn't that bad!!!
Thank you in advance for anyone's advice and help
Comments
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Pack larger items in the car
Don't forget anything loaded in the Caravan try to evenly spread the weight keeping an eye on nose weight
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Are you able to replate the van to a higher MTPLM (maximum weight)......you may find this information in your technical handbook. This would allow a higher payload.
I would first take the empty van, once you have your battery and gas in place, and with the EHU, steps and any loose pump added, to a weighbridge and establish an actual weight so that you are working with real figures.
Your MIRO will include certain items, so if any of those weigh less than has been allowed for, you can use that weight, but if they weigh more you will be able to add less, so it is important to establish real figures.
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Thank you for replying... We have just recently been in contact with Elddis but for the 2016 model we are unable to increase. Frustrating as you can for the 2017!
Good idea about the weighbridge, will pass that on to my Husband. Thank you
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On the general subject of loading, we try to pack in the van only what we will use in the van, pretty much anything else travels in the car. The Wastemaster is the exception as it is carried in the front locker.
Unfortunately, payloads these days are notoriously poor, and you were possibly badly advised when you opted to add 22kg of optional extras.
Is your mover really 40kg? We have a Truma mover and the weight of it is just over 30kg.
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I have to say that's an amazingly low payload allowance. Elddis should be ashamed of selling a van with that low a load figure.
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Of your list above, I would not carry the following in the van...
leveller, Aquaroll, BBQ and toys. Let the girls pack a bag of toys each to carry in the car.
Toilet fluids.......pink is not essential, plain water is fine for flushing, blue fluid can be replaced with sachets of blue powder.....lighter to carry and less messy in use.....or you could try biological washing fluid pods such as Lidl Formil. They do work.
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My husband has weighed it at the weekend - its a Powrtouch manual (single axle). Advertised as 30kg but then with all the fitting equipment it comes to 40kg on the dot. I do wonder if people go from the 30kg because if you were not in a position to weigh and check or you just didn't, you would be none the wiser!
We purchased an ex-demo so the extras being the SE pack were already included. This being a spare wheel, radio, Alloy wheels etc so didn't have a choice with that one (unless we went for a didn't caravan).
It does look as though we are just going to struggle rather than me missing a key point about something :-) Good job the 43kg awning fits in the car!!!!
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I am not sure we would fit everything in the car :-) We have a VW Touran and the awning is quite big and takes up a lot of space. Next time we are loading to go away we are going to have to be careful loading the car and see how much more we can squeeze in!!
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Well, thank goodness we swapped to a MH. That payload is ridiculous in my opinion and doubtless part of the manufacturers' ploy of theoretically lightening vans for obvious reasons.
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For the spare, if you could sew a cover for it, it would be easier to pack as no worry about other stuff getting dirty from it. Once on site you could possibly store it in the van.
I am surprised that the weight given for the mover does not include the whole thing, it is sold as a complete package and no additional items should be needed for fitting it. I would be taking that up with Powertouch, who incidentally are owned by Truma.
Bedding and kitchen stuff, don't forget towels and toiletries......are you maybe taking too much? We have found over the years that there are lots of things we thought we needed that we never used, now we try to be more minimalist.
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I can only agree, they are going with the bare minimum to make the van suitable for more cars. Vans have got heavier while cars have got lighter, thus increasing the problem.
However MHs are not exempt, some that are sold to be under 3500kg also have unrealistic payloads for couples, let alone for families.
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Caveat emptor. Ours is over 400kg.
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Load what you think you will want to take, and go to a weighbridge. It's the only way to know exactly your total weight, which is what really matters. If you are over,(bound to be), then you know what weight you must lose from the van. Personally I would take the motor mover off and sell it. I know you have just had it fitted, but it will probably be the only real way, short of loading just about everything into your car, which is a pain in the ****, of being legal. Remember that your car doesn't generally have that great a payload either. Being overweight when towing has the potential to land you deep in the proverbial, and isn't worth it. Reversing really isn't that bad, and remember we all need a couple of goes sometimes.
I removed a mover from my first van, once I realised it just wasn't practical. Hurt my pocket like hell, but sometimes you have to admit to a mistake and deal with it. I think companies who fit them really should explain the weight issues to new customers, but they just take the money and run.
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Without knowing why people fit movers, you cannot really give that advice.
It is not all about reversing, a mover may be needed to get a van into its storage position, whether at home or elsewhere.
A van may be easy to position on a pitch by hand or with car, but to, for example, get any van up a slope nose first when it cannot be towed there, will need a mover.
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whilst this payload is undoutedly low (especially when compared to a MH) the actual usable payload for a caravanner will be the sum of the payload in the car and the caravan....in total this might be sufficienct for ypur needs.
a MHer has to carry passenger(s), water and all other paraphernalia in a single unit, without the luxury of spreading it over two vehicles....
for some, the 400kg mentioned by TW would be far too low (a passenger and a tank of fresh water could account for half of this straight away....)
so, while it is a small payload, a visit to a weighbridge is imperative to ensure the accuracy of the capacity within the van....DO NOT rely on a manufacturer brochure or, worse, 'what the salesman said'.....
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We do have a roofbox which we have recently invested in and this takes the awning chairs and a couple of bits but is pretty much full. The overloading of the car is something we are mindful of.
The reason for the mover is because we have the caravan at a storage site and to get it on to our drive is extremely difficult. We attempted it to see if we could and I wouldn't want to try again! The reversing side of it is no problem for my husband as he was previously a HGV driver so is quite confident with that. So we wanted to save storage fees and have it at home and to do this the only option was a mover
The reason for the refusal of increasing the plate was that the specifications for our caravan do not allow it. I did go back to clarify but they wouldn't elaborate on this further.
My husband is hoping to get to a weigh bridge later today so fingers crossed!!!
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KjellNN
I get your point, but bottom line, if the outfit can't carry what the users need, safely and legally, then there's not much point being able to park it safely on your drive etc. Movers are a relatively new phenomenon, and people coped before they were invented. There are other things such as front end towbars and independant track wheeled movers that can help with particular health issues etc, but ultimately everyone managed before. It may be that parking it nose up a slope is preferable but not practical. Then you have to accept that you park it the other way and look at other options to protect it etc. If it's in storage and difficult to site, ask for another position etc. I bet that if the mover packed up people would find a way around it. I've never seen a van abandoned at the side of the road because the mover packed up 😉
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Totally get your point on that :-) I guess for us the mover is to have it at home and save £400-500 pa on storage and without it having it on the other side of the garden would result in us not having it at home. The alternative is for us to arrange for another person to help my husband which just isn't realistic as we live on a main road so that person would need to be there as soon as we got home. Sadly my muscles were just not up to the job when we tried!!!
Reality is we can't have it all and if we compromise on the weight for the mover then something has to give. With having a 1 and 3 year old safety is my priority but I do wonder with these who ram pack their caravan whether they do stick to their maximum.
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I bet that if the mover packed up people would find a way around it. I've never seen a van abandoned at the side of the road because the mover packed up.
In my case you might loose money on that bet. A couple of years ago we had the 11 year old mover motor on one side drop off the caravan and it was then run over by the caravan and destroyed. Without it the caravan would not be left at the roadside but neither would it return to storage at home. Wide gateway, sracks of room on drive but narrow road frontage means that I would not get the car and caravan in.
That has been the case for the last 12 years. Prior to that with other car and caravan combinations I would have towed straight in depending on how other vehicles were parked
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Bigfoot or Mr Shifta would probably have done what you need, and cost a few hundred. I'm not sure that you can buy either new nowadays, though I may be wrong, but there are quite a few available second hand on ebay etc. Possibly even a garden tractor / lawn mower would work. I feel for you because I have been there myself. I removed the mover and got just over two thirds of my money back. Not good, but could have been worse, and I was then within my weight limits 😁
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You mention a leveller, do you a set of plastic ramps or a steel one?
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If you are like us, there are many things that permanently live in the caravan including things like pots and pans and cutlery. All these things we think of as "not weighing very much" but they all add up and sometimes with surprising results.
If you have not already done this may I suggest that you weigh everything and put their weights on a spreadsheet. We first did this years ago and then add or subtract things as we go along. It is a time consuming job initially but once it's done it's done. We have also weighed things like sleeping bags and pillows and now have a reasonably accurate 'average' weight for the food that we take with us and what a week's worth of clothes weigh, again as an average. Sometimes items may travel in the car and so that weight is deducted from the payload for that particular journey. Some may say it is a bit sad but I'd sooner be sure rather than sorry. If the weights are very near your maximum it helps decide what can be left at home or put into the car.
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If as I believe has been intimated a second strong individual together with your male OH can manhandle the van that second helper is just about what you can reasonably expect from the old Mr Shiftas [no longer offered new].
I used one for many years on my challenging up and down concrete drive I measured at 1:14 slope. It worked fine with our single axle 1100 kg van but struggled in damp [slippie] conditions with our single axle 1750 kg van.
These devices carry their own battery which adds to the all-important weight to achieve the traction; power is not the issue it is getting enough traction particularly in the wet and more so trying to stop the van once it is moving. The battery being onboard it can be left on-charge at home ready for full power use.
All said, IMO the payloads offered on UK is totally inadequate and a trap set to catch the unfortunate unfamiliar buyer. My van has a 282 kg allowance, IMO about the right allowance.
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I too have a spread sheet that we did when we got our first van last century and everything like you was weighed. And no it isn't sad.
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Yes I do love my spreadsheets :-) we have weighed everything we have put in there and added to the spreadsheet and its taken up the majority of our allowance. I have also only packed things we really need and purchased "light weight" saucepans, Melamine plates etc. To be honest I do weigh everything that goes in on each journey as I don't want to be the ones not arriving to their destination! Plus with 2 young children I would never forgive myself if anything happened and it was my fault. Maybe once we get into it a bit more we will know things will weigh a certain amount etc but till then I rather be sure!
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