The time is getting closer for us to be leaving on our 6 month WA / NT / FNQ trip.
After returning from Mallacoota last week, we decided to 'quickly' throw the van and car over the weigh bridge - we had the tinnie with us at Mallacoota so all the gear was in the car, we removed what we weren't taking and added what we were.
The tare of our little van is 1172kg and the ATM is 1472kg. The weight of the van at the weigh bridge was 1660kg - a whopping 188kgs over. (This was after a cull a few months ago!)
We bought our van second hand and realised we had no idea whether the tare was accurate ... so what do you do in this situation??? You head home and empty the entire caravan and then head back to the weigh bridge!!!! You then weigh the van again and realise you are 68kg over the tare at an empty weight. We decided this would be the battery, the timber for building up the bed end and adding a new mattress, the insertion of shelves in the ward robe and any other minor alterations. Rod holders etc were removed prior to weighing.
We then looked at all the crap we had in the van and decided what we could live with / live without. We then proceeded to weigh every single item that went back in to the cubby and have been left with 21.9 kgs for food and clothing (water tank factored in) but not grog!!!
From now on when we go camping, we won't have any extra plates / cups / cutlery for any visitors! We are now a BYO van!!!
Some of my questions are, how often do people really know the weight in their vans and has anyone ever been checked / fined for being overweight (van that is!). We were actually gob smacked at the 'little' things that add up weight wise.
The car was 100 kg over, but we should be able to get that weight down no worries.
I have empty cupboards now in the van but I am concerned if ever we get a bigger van with more cupboards we would end up well and truly overloaded (again).
At least we made the weigh bridge operators day!!!!
After returning from Mallacoota last week, we decided to 'quickly' throw the van and car over the weigh bridge - we had the tinnie with us at Mallacoota so all the gear was in the car, we removed what we weren't taking and added what we were.
The tare of our little van is 1172kg and the ATM is 1472kg. The weight of the van at the weigh bridge was 1660kg - a whopping 188kgs over. (This was after a cull a few months ago!)
We bought our van second hand and realised we had no idea whether the tare was accurate ... so what do you do in this situation??? You head home and empty the entire caravan and then head back to the weigh bridge!!!! You then weigh the van again and realise you are 68kg over the tare at an empty weight. We decided this would be the battery, the timber for building up the bed end and adding a new mattress, the insertion of shelves in the ward robe and any other minor alterations. Rod holders etc were removed prior to weighing.
We then looked at all the crap we had in the van and decided what we could live with / live without. We then proceeded to weigh every single item that went back in to the cubby and have been left with 21.9 kgs for food and clothing (water tank factored in) but not grog!!!
From now on when we go camping, we won't have any extra plates / cups / cutlery for any visitors! We are now a BYO van!!!
Some of my questions are, how often do people really know the weight in their vans and has anyone ever been checked / fined for being overweight (van that is!). We were actually gob smacked at the 'little' things that add up weight wise.
The car was 100 kg over, but we should be able to get that weight down no worries.
I have empty cupboards now in the van but I am concerned if ever we get a bigger van with more cupboards we would end up well and truly overloaded (again).
At least we made the weigh bridge operators day!!!!
