Payload - How much do you actually carry?

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  • Lutz
    Lutz Forum Participant Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2023 #32

    Always be aware that MIRO does not refer to the actual ex-works weight of your particular caravan. It is a generic weight of a caravan that the manufacturer for type approval and that could have had a different specification. A published or quoted MIRO can therefore only be a rough guide, so what it includes or doesn't include isn't really that important.

  • jennyc
    jennyc Forum Participant Posts: 957
    500 Comments
    edited August 2023 #33

    As a general point Re re-plating to increase your payload allowance, you can find your chassis max by wriggling underneath the fan and reading the value which is typically attached to the axle. With longer and heavier vans being built on single axles, there may be little or no scope for a revised weight plate. Given today’s widespread use of motor movers, growth in AirCon, touring bicycles, with electric versions on the increase, compounded by the demise of CalorLite, the usable portion of payload available for personal effects has, in many cases, becomes almost  impossible. While I’m not advocating overloading, my observations suggest that doing so is widespread through necessity. There was a time when caravans were plated well below the chassis Max as an aid to car/ trailer compatibility. Alas no more. A solution may lay with chassis manufactures like Alko upgrading suspension, though tyre loading would quickly become the limiting factor. With hollow worktops and lightweight materials I’m not sure that the superstructure’s weight has much scope for reduction. The UK market is very much focussed on comfort, which contrasts starkly with many continental users, who don’t have ovens and other 'must have’  facilities which add weight. The reward is higher towing speeds facilitated by higher legal limits on their roads.

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