Confessions from a weighbridge
On reading the latest club magazine I decided I really must try harder to find a local weighbridge to check my caravan. I’d emptied all the food and clothing as I took the van back to storage. It only contained two gas bottles and my water bottle and waste container and my awning and poles and pegs and mallet and groundsheet and two large metal framed reclining chairs and a plastic table and four plastic patio chairs and a fold out washing line and the water in the heater and the flushing tank and two bottles of toilet fluid and the ehu cable and the mover. Plus the BBQ and pizza oven and saucepans and oven pans and cutlery and plates, bowls and mugs. It came to 1420 kg. My MTPLM is only 1350 kg. When I checked my nose weight I nearly broke my scales. Woops!
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So in full travelling mode you were around 100-120Kg over then?
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Sadly typifies that many UK vans are specified with payloads contrived only to sell them, with no thought of making them, post the sale, legally usable.
This the more so with family vans where almost by definition, the associated car full of individuals precludes carrying much of the kit within that.
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I'm still actively looking for a weighbrige sign whilst on our travels. I have checked the noseweight , 95kg, the car is rated at 150kg. I have a payload of 225kg but have done a list and been realistic about what all the items weigh and reckon I have about 30kg spare of my 1500 max.
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You have only looked at one side of the equation and assumed that YOU have overloaded the van. It would also be interesting to know what the MRO is anywhere close to what the manufacturer claims?
Perhaps the club could investigate (only Joking ).
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I’ve just entered into Google ‘public weighbridge suffolk’ which displayed a Suffolk County Council list of twelve. Which surely must be easier for you than looking for one on your travels.
The last time we weighed ours, we did so as it was with no prior unloading. Then weighed individual items which were on the don’t need, and not essential list, until we had reduced the weight to a legal maximum. There’s little point in unloading light but bulky items when moving the bottle jack to the car helps a lot. Without an overpriced weight plate upgrade though, the payload margin can be rather small.
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Here in Kirklees the council do not provide any weighbridge location information and a google search brings up incorrect locations (I have just tried). Perhaps a sticky could be set up with weighbridge locations? And, if anyone knows of a weighbridge I can use in or around Huddersfield please let me know! Even the Caravan dealers cannot tell me......
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I've come to the conclusion that manufacturer's need to rethink the whole business of weight. I wouldn't mind betting that very many caravans on our roads are too heavily laden. Manufacturers should consider building caravans that can take a far greater user payload.
David
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Off to the weighbridge tomorrow for our trip away at the weekend. I am confident all will be ok as nothing is much different to last year. However when travelling abroad I just like to have the up to date documentation in writing so to speak.
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I have looked on the .GOV website in the past and I know there is a weighbridge at the Wandsworth Council Waste transfer site. Problem is I keep the caravan at Alderstead Heath so would have to book and bring it into the heart of South London just to weigh it then return it to Redhill. From what I have seen they are very few where I live. I'm sure I will see a sign one day and just make a little detour on our travels.
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I believe many of the major scrap metal re-cyclers have them and also quarries. These may not be advertised anywhere but may well allow you to use them for a small fee if you can find where these companies are. Our local weighbridge is at the councils own waste collection depot but isn't listed by the council !!
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Our local scrap dealer has a weighbridge but I am loathe to use it as it is congested and I would probably pick up a puncture
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The next time I got my van out of storage I unloaded all those heavy items and weighed them all. I was surprised at how much kit I had to remove to get anywhere near the correct weight. I like to keep things like awnings in the caravan so that it’s already to go on the next trip. When I go away all I want to do is load up the clothes and some food and then hit the road. It’s going to be a real pain trying to find somewhere in the house to store everything and them load it in the car boot every time we go away. The other reason I want to store the heavy stuff under the fixed bed is to balance up the nose weight. Either the caravan is going to be overloaded but the nose weight correct or the nose weight will be too heavy and the caravan the correct weight. I really need a caravan with a much larger payload in which I can make use of all that storage space. Why build in all those cupboards when to use them would make the caravan overweight? BTW my outfit has always been completely stable on the road despite being unwittingly overloaded
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Tony, as me tinned unthread,kt won't be just caravans that are travelling overweight, there will be many MHs too.
Manufacturers are producing MHs at 8m length and putting them on the light (3.5t) chassis and offering payloads of around 200kg.
this might seem a lot to a caravanner but it has to include the passenger (75kg), fresh water (100kg), any dealer packs (25kg).....
ah, I was going add All Other Stuff.....but I realised the whole payload has alread been used up
totally hopeless.
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We have a swift dealer special with a mtplm of 1350k. After 2 years the offside tyre is feathering on the inside edge and according to Alko we have overloaded the van which has caused this problem. We have also discovered the axle maximum load is 1350k. So off to local weighbridge (council) with the van empty but for mover, alko jack brackets, ehu cable, step, and 11k gas bottle. With the weighbridge zeroed (operator recommended this to get a true weight) the van weighed 1240k. Taking off the mover and brackets weight the van weighed 1210k - but miro is 1200k (10k allowance for gas bottle). So we have started with an overweight van!
Consequently we have weighed every item carried in the van and excluding clothes and food we have 9k spare!
Now we are keeping a eye on the tyre to see if Alko are right or just saying b!&+()@t.
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David they do. They are usually twin axle and whilst the weight limits are still small, the upgrade ratios are significant compared to single axles. I bough a new van last year and the max upgrade was 30kg. The very similar van, which was 30cm longer at 7.8m was twin axle and the weight upgrade option was 200kg,
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Took our van to the local weighbridge yesterday.
Long story short - the MIRO is incorrect. No surprise I hear you say. Except it is shown too heavy and MIRO is under that stated by Lunar!
Upshot is we have more payload than we thought! Ruddy confusing isn't it?
BTW - The weighing didn't cost me anything.
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