Theres an increasing incidence of weigh bridge road checks being utilised around Oz to measure the roadworthiness of caravans, and checking ball weights and ATMs and GVMs with some pretty horrid stories of people being forced to unhitch on the side of the road because either the car or the van exceeds its plated limits.
We headed down to Wye River on the Grand Final weekend. With the planned mods for our van all but finalised it was a good opportunity to load it up for a simulated extended trip to fine tune the packing and tow hitch heights ext, and to see how it handled. All good on that front …. and weigh it on the way back.
On the way back, we hit the public weigh bridge on the Geelong Road and thats where it all went pear shaped. Ive rounded up the figures so its easier to get the picture.
The Mighty Navara was a whopping 300kg overloaded, and the Behemoth was 100kg overloaded. We didn’t have a lot of the stuff onboard we would be planning to take away on an extended trip. The ball weight was right on the vans and cars limited, but because of the proportional reduction as the car approaches its GVM, the ball weight was now well over. I expected the ball weight with the alum box on the draw bar packed up with little thought, but the rest threw me a massive curve ball.
The car has a cargo capacity of a ton, and because we poo poo’ed the slide out lounge and added that weight back to the ATM as cargo, out van has a unique (for a Jayco) cargo capacity of 600kg.
The alum tool box on the draw bar only carries what most people would load into theirs vans by default, and the box itself is only robbing a measly 30kg for the added convenience. In our case the van is also unique because the removal of the slide out lounge removed 100kg form the front of the van and left the ball weight a dangerously low 145kg, so for a 30kg sacrifice the tool box added “required” weight and a lot of convenience. The only extra in the box that not everyone would be carrying was the 2kVA generator at 25kg and diesel fuel tank at 10kg. The rest was chairs, shade mesh sun walls, hoses, ramps etc …… plus a lot of air. We didn’t even have generator fuel, but both water tanks were full.
Ive spent a lot of time jerking around with the van with mods etc, but other than the 30kg tool box none have added weight, in fact some have reduced the weight.
The 100kg over loaded van itself has an added additional 120ah battery at 35kg, but I removed the 2 plastic concertina curtains and the glass shower screen, saving most of that at 30kg. As the Princess lamented we only had onboard clothing and food for a weekend as well …. not only could we add not one single pair of socks, we had to find at least (and preferably more) 100kg to remove from the van
The 300kg overloaded car had on fleeting glance the added weight of a kayak at 25kg, and kayak gear at 30kg (I couldn’t be bothered sorting what I need for the kayak so I took the lot), and the Engel which lives in the car anyway. We had 80ltrs of fuel onboard, along with “us” at 200kg. So all in all, removing what I was carrying including all the fuel would put us marginally under ….. but its pretty hard to enjoy the holiday when we’re not in the car …. which has no fuel anyway.
So the long and short of it is the cars carrying capacity is all well and truly gobbled up with the other bolt on stuff, canopy, bullbar, winch, alum trade tray, V1 hitch, and 300kg van ball weight. I have a long range tank but it was only half full at the time.
I did for a fleeting moment contemplate upgrading the mythical tow master da da drrrrrrr, the Landcruiser. But typical of most bloated, overrated so called legends ….. that would just put me 300+kg further in the sh!t because it can’t match the Mighty Navara’s carrying capacity. (lucky for me because I don’t have a lazy 50 gorillas lying around)
I can get around the van weight, after searching cabinet by cabinet Ive culled 130kg from the van at the expense of one of the DC batteries and half the front tank of water. But th car is a different matter; its a whopping 300kg so Ill be stripping off accessories i order get the weight down starting with the canopy and winch. I have the canopy for work, so Im not too fussed about that one. The winch was a toy, so disappointed but oh well …..
I will get the weight under, but its going to be tight and the car will basically look like its straight out of the dealership with both the car and van basically empty. And to honest if im to arrogant or to stupid and be 400kg overloaded, I should be put off the road
We headed down to Wye River on the Grand Final weekend. With the planned mods for our van all but finalised it was a good opportunity to load it up for a simulated extended trip to fine tune the packing and tow hitch heights ext, and to see how it handled. All good on that front …. and weigh it on the way back.
On the way back, we hit the public weigh bridge on the Geelong Road and thats where it all went pear shaped. Ive rounded up the figures so its easier to get the picture.
The Mighty Navara was a whopping 300kg overloaded, and the Behemoth was 100kg overloaded. We didn’t have a lot of the stuff onboard we would be planning to take away on an extended trip. The ball weight was right on the vans and cars limited, but because of the proportional reduction as the car approaches its GVM, the ball weight was now well over. I expected the ball weight with the alum box on the draw bar packed up with little thought, but the rest threw me a massive curve ball.
The car has a cargo capacity of a ton, and because we poo poo’ed the slide out lounge and added that weight back to the ATM as cargo, out van has a unique (for a Jayco) cargo capacity of 600kg.
The alum tool box on the draw bar only carries what most people would load into theirs vans by default, and the box itself is only robbing a measly 30kg for the added convenience. In our case the van is also unique because the removal of the slide out lounge removed 100kg form the front of the van and left the ball weight a dangerously low 145kg, so for a 30kg sacrifice the tool box added “required” weight and a lot of convenience. The only extra in the box that not everyone would be carrying was the 2kVA generator at 25kg and diesel fuel tank at 10kg. The rest was chairs, shade mesh sun walls, hoses, ramps etc …… plus a lot of air. We didn’t even have generator fuel, but both water tanks were full.
Ive spent a lot of time jerking around with the van with mods etc, but other than the 30kg tool box none have added weight, in fact some have reduced the weight.
The 100kg over loaded van itself has an added additional 120ah battery at 35kg, but I removed the 2 plastic concertina curtains and the glass shower screen, saving most of that at 30kg. As the Princess lamented we only had onboard clothing and food for a weekend as well …. not only could we add not one single pair of socks, we had to find at least (and preferably more) 100kg to remove from the van
The 300kg overloaded car had on fleeting glance the added weight of a kayak at 25kg, and kayak gear at 30kg (I couldn’t be bothered sorting what I need for the kayak so I took the lot), and the Engel which lives in the car anyway. We had 80ltrs of fuel onboard, along with “us” at 200kg. So all in all, removing what I was carrying including all the fuel would put us marginally under ….. but its pretty hard to enjoy the holiday when we’re not in the car …. which has no fuel anyway.
So the long and short of it is the cars carrying capacity is all well and truly gobbled up with the other bolt on stuff, canopy, bullbar, winch, alum trade tray, V1 hitch, and 300kg van ball weight. I have a long range tank but it was only half full at the time.
I did for a fleeting moment contemplate upgrading the mythical tow master da da drrrrrrr, the Landcruiser. But typical of most bloated, overrated so called legends ….. that would just put me 300+kg further in the sh!t because it can’t match the Mighty Navara’s carrying capacity. (lucky for me because I don’t have a lazy 50 gorillas lying around)
I can get around the van weight, after searching cabinet by cabinet Ive culled 130kg from the van at the expense of one of the DC batteries and half the front tank of water. But th car is a different matter; its a whopping 300kg so Ill be stripping off accessories i order get the weight down starting with the canopy and winch. I have the canopy for work, so Im not too fussed about that one. The winch was a toy, so disappointed but oh well …..
I will get the weight under, but its going to be tight and the car will basically look like its straight out of the dealership with both the car and van basically empty. And to honest if im to arrogant or to stupid and be 400kg overloaded, I should be put off the road
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