Hi everyone robiyns here, need help I am going crazy trying to keep to 300kg in loading the van.We have been told by many caravan sales people that we must not exceed the atm, and that we must get the van weighed loaded and get a docket to put in the glove box for insurance purposes, and have been told that we will get pulled up in NSW and QLD to be weighed, and need the docket for this too.Now the problem is we want to free camp, therefore we have to fill our water tanks which in turn takes 130kgs off the 300kgs allowed which leaves me 170kgs for everything else, including battery, inverter, generator etc, and all clothes, food, dishes etc.When generator is about 30kgs and battery 30kgs, and gas 18kgs, this only leaves 92kgs for the rest. Please help with some advice on how to do this, we are losing it fast, help

Well now 34 happy wonderers have looked at our topic, yet to my surprise, not one has offered any advice, does this mean everybody has overloaded their vans and dont want to know, or is it just that I have to be patient for a while longer.I do hope that someone will come to my rescue, pleeeeeease.

I am not going to be much help here sorry but be patient someone who knows will reply in good time.

Personally I would find out what the van's GVM is. I would then put your battery, Inverter etc into the van, go to a weigh bridge and find out what the true tare weight is.

Some manufacturers understate the tare weight and may well leave you in a worse position.

Lets say your true tare weight is for example 2100kg's and your GVM is 2500Kg's then you are ok to use that 400Kg's for water and personal items.

But like I say, don't take what i say as gospel, wait until someone who really knows what they are talking about comes along!!

Yes, many people overload their vans. Many many people don't know (or don't want to know) if they are overloaded. There is no hard and fast answer.

One possible solution is to load up the rear of the tug with the heavy stuff (generator etc).

Do you know exactly how heavy the van is empty (tare)?

Hi Dunaruna,
You are right there is no hard and fast answer. My van has max tow ball 175Kgs on the plate. When I weighed it empty at a weighbridge it was nearer to 300Kgs. I tow with a Automatic 4.5ltr petrol patrol. The ball weight is a sliding scale. 150Kgs if loaded with six people. Remove 150Kgs from patrol and ball weight can be 200Kg. If I remove 200Kgs from my car the tow ball is 250Kg. In my case loading the boot is not an option.

Hi Robinys.
I don't too much about this subject, but I will watching the thread with great interest to learn more of load requirements. Thanks for the thread.

Jay&Dee

Before you do anything, check the true weight of the van empty, the plate on our van in our case was way out, the plate read tare 1891kls, the true weight was 2050kls, beware and don't trust the plate installed by the makers of the van, regards (lakeking)

Has anyone been pulled up and had their van weighed.?

I certainly never have and I have never heard of anyone else being pulled up.


Peanut

HI everyone thanks for your answers, the only reason I am panicking is that when we were looking for a van every caravan sales yard we went to was adament about not going over 300kg for single axle and 400kg for dual axle.The tare weight is 1213kg the atm is 1513kg.We want to freecamp so therefore have to carry water, once we put in 130kg of water 30kg battery, loo water 10kg, gas 18kgs, that doesnt leave much for food, clothes,dishes, linen,etc.We have a shower and toilet in our van, thats why we have to carry so much water.They also told us to put it over a weigh bridge loaded and put the certificate in the glove box when we are travelling. Thats a good question about anyone being pulled up. We were also told that if we are involved in an accident, then they weigh the van and car and if the van is over then the insurance companies will not pay out. I think I may have opened a can of worms here. Take care everyone. robiyns