How to Work Out Your Caravan and Car Weights
We have just come back from some time on the road again and it seemed like a good time to re-weigh our own rig and see how we stack up.
So here was the raw data:
Jayco Silverline 2018 21.65 3 fully loaded with both water tanks full 2780kg
Caravan ball weight 283kg
Holden Colorado 2018 loaded for holidays 2782kg
How does that stack up against what is legal?
The compliance plate on the van is where we start to assess whether we are within spec or not. See the image below to show the permissible travel weights.
What this image shows is:
Tare weight (unloaded as it leaves factory) 2641kg
GTM Legal Limit = caravan loaded but not inc towball weight 2932kg
ATM = GTM + Towball 3116kg
Towball allowable – 350kg
We also need to know the GVM of the car which is 3150kg and then the GCM for the Colorado which is 6000kg.
When assessing caravan and vehicle weights you need to be compliant on each of the measurements. So here is how we came out:
GTM was 2780kg and 2932kg was the legal limit PASS!
Towball was 350kg and we weighed in at 283kg PASS!
ATM was 3116kg and we weighed in at 3215kg FAIL!
GVM was 3150kg and we weighed in at 2782kg PASS!
GCM was 6000kg and we weighed in at 5423kg PASS!
We managed to comply with 4 of the 5 measures required and the simplest solution to the problem is to drop some water and drink some of the beer we had stacked away.
So this is simply a real life situation where we realise that even though we don’t feel overloaded, we actually are around 100kg overweight on the AGM measurement.
If you aren’t sure of your own caravan weights then just give me a call and we can come and check it over for you and ensure you are fully aware of your status. Mobile caravan weighing is our business and we come to you – charging $150 for one vehicle and $200 for car and caravan.