Tare Weight

[masterplumber]

Where would I go to find a definitive definition of Trailer Tare Weight?

The background to this question.

have got a 2 month old caravan.
put the bare essentials in it, including water & gas
put it on a weigh bridge to see how much we had for clothes. 10kg was the answer.

we ordered the van, which was to yet to be manufactured with a solar panel, extra battery and fold up "A" frame.

To my mind these Upgrades should form part of TARE but I suspect that they are coming out of the Pay Load.

When I get as much info as possible, I will unpack the van to delivery condition and put it on a weigh bridge again.

Regards
Gerry

[Old Techo]

Gerry, my lay view is that tare is the empty-everything as a vehicle rolls off the assembly line.

On a vehicle if one orders extras/accessories such as tow-bar, bull-bar, roof-rack, etc these are not part of the tare, thus eat into payload.

Vans are built on a common chassis that will carry certain load specs. A van that has 'factory extras' is unlikely to be built on a special-order chassis with a higher tare. A common major limiting load factor will be suspension, axles and tyres.

[masterplumber]

Hi OT

This is the email that I got from the manufacturer.
"Good morning,

The tare weight on the caravan is the total weight of the caravan when just completed production, this does not include gas or water in the tanks, just all the internal and external fittings."

It just occurred to me that the answer might be in VSB 1

Regards
Gerry

[masterplumber]

I probably have the answer here from VSB 1

"12.7 Tare Mass
Tare Mass is the total mass of the trailer when not carrying any load, but when ready for service, unoccupied (if relevant) and with all fluid reservoirs (if fitted) filled to nominal capacity except for fuel, which shall be 10 litres only, and with all standard equipment and any options fitted. This includes any mass imposed onto the drawing vehicle when the combination vehicle is resting on a horizontal supporting plane. (Fluid reservoirs do not include water tanks and waste water tanks fitted to caravans)."

Now if the manufacturer fitted the Solar Panel, Battery and Fold Up "A" Frame, should that be in the TARE?

Regards
Gerry

PS: don't like to brag but, I knew you would have a short cut to the pass word question, OT

[Old Techo]

Now if the manufacturer fitted the Solar Panel, Battery and Fold Up "A" Frame, should that be in the TARE?

With the benefit of that ruling I agree.

However, I think you need to be careful that some of your mods are not done post-production by the dealer or outsourced to a 3rd party. That could relieve the manufacturer of any obligation to adjust the tare.

I would not expect a manufacturer to be responsible enough to automatically seek a higher tare chassis to accommodate your extras.

[masterplumber]

The manufacturer first suggested that they could give me additional 84 kg ATM with a new VIN plate or that I gould traven with empty water tanks.

I opted for the new VIN plate. I expected that this would give me a payload of 384 kg on my single axle van.
deduct 120 for water and 18 for gas and that I thought would leaveme with 246 kg for other stuff.

I would expect that he jockey wheel would be part of the van.
How about tbe jack that was supplied in the van?
And an even more tricky one. Water in the Hot Water System?

I am really struggling with the idea that the little lady has loaded 236 kg into it, so I guess that unloading it and a weigh bridge visit is the only solution.

Not really happy with the quality of the plumbing, but I am a hard task master and that is another topic.

Regards
Gerry

[PeterD]

I would expect that he jockey wheel would be part of the van.
How about tbe jack that was supplied in the van?

Depends whether you carry them in the tug or the van.

And an even more tricky one. Water in the Hot Water System?

The water you carry is the capacity of the tank, the hot water system and the water in the plumbing.

I am really struggling with the idea that the little lady has loaded 236 kg into it, so I guess that unloading it and a weigh bridge visit is the only solution.

We have an 80 litre tank and two 4.5 kg gas cylinders. We carry between 450 and 500 kg in a 4.5 metre single axle van.

[hawkie]

masterplumber welcome to the dodgy world of caravan manufactures.

I would expect the tare weight to be what the van weighed as you hooked it up in the dealers yard.

No water no gas

sadly the practice of many dealers is to order a stock van and then fit the extras themselves and then not re complying the van to the new tare using your load capacity all up or leaving you with unworkable limits, many vans are over weight and people are not even aware.

[masterplumber]

masterplumber welcome to the dodgy world of caravan manufactures.

I would expect the tare weight to be what the van weighed as you hooked it up in the dealers yard.

No water no gas

sadly the practice of many dealers is to order a stock van and then fit the extras themselves and then not re complying the van to the new tare using your load capacity all up or leaving you with unworkable limits, many vans are over weight and people are not even aware.

Hi Hawkie,
I ended up unloading the van and weighing it on a weighbridge.
Then I fronted the dealer. At first they refused to believe me. Then I insisted that they check the water tanks and gas cylinders to ensure thst they were empty. Then I insisted that a staff member accompany me to the weigh bridge and there was a 90 kg difference.
At first they were going to do something about it, and we left it with them.
We sent the dealer an email explaning our concerns includkng the gas not being compliant.
No reply to the email. They returned about every third call wehn they were too busy.
After 13 days I rang and the person I was dealing with was on the phone so I said I will hang on and tie up your line.
He answered fairly quickly and told me that they were prepared to offer me a new VIN plate with the new Tare.
Replied not to bother and that we were coming down tk pick the van up.
As soon as I saw it I said that they had done notni g about the noncompliance of thd gas. He was stunned and said what noncompliance. Check your email I said and hooked up and left.
Have now emailed the Compliance Certificate and about half a dozen photos to the VBA gas inspector andto a Queensland gas inspector, so I amhoping that they will get their rear end kicked, but it isn't easy encouraging a public servant to do their job.

will post if I get any joy.
Gerry

[hawkie]

ACA like a good story of dodgy dealers