Regards to the ATM; once the caravan rolls out of the factory completed and ready for licensing it is weighed. This is the tare weight which can be described as the unloaded weight i.e. it includes empty water tanks, empty gas bottles, spare tyre.
From the tare weight, it then depends what spec the van is to what the ATM will come out as.
- a single axle no shower model will have 300kg added to the tare to get the ATM.
- a single axle shower model will have 375kg added to the tare to get the ATM.
- a tandem axle no shower model will have 400kg added to the tare to get the ATM.
- a tandem axle shower model will have 475kg added to the tare to get the ATM.
So mine rolled out of the factory and weighed 2217kg (tare weight). It is a tandem axle with a shower so they add 475kg which comes to 2692kg ATM.
As for the ball weight; I'm hoping that after building caravans for a while they have figured out for each model where to put things to come up with a reasonable ball weight out of the factory to allow for a safe ball weight once it's loaded. Mine was 170kg from the factory which I think is ok and allows me to load a reasonable amount up front to get to the generally accepted 10-15% of ATM. So they don't decide the empty ball weight, they just weigh it as it comes out of the factory. As for the max ball weight, this one has me stumped! Considering all the differing max ball weights I've read on this forum and seen on my travels I'm pretty sure they don't have a way to work out the max weight. I imagine they use the weeks lotto numbers and rearrange them to come up with it!
