...that sitting at home in front of a computer with lists of MTPLMs, spec sheets, MIROs, GIROs and BIROs is absolutely no substitute for getting a proper weight from a weighbridge.

I took our Troll down there today, for the first time. I should have done it before. I've had nearly seven years to do it, and the weighbridge is only five minutes down the road, but I never got round to it.

And I'm rather ashamed to say that I guessed at what stuff weighed. Educated guesses rather than complete stabs in the dark, but guesses nonetheless.

I'm fine with load distribution and noseweights - not anal, but comfortable with the notion that the noseweight will be there or thereabouts as long as we take the same amount of gubbins with us each time and put it in the same places. And each time I've checked it, it's been around 65 kilos, give or take a kilo or two.

The weighbridge trip was illuminating.

Our Troll has a 1200kg limit, and we have a mover, its battery, a spare wheel, a water heater and all the usual permanently-fitted gear. The awning goes in there too, as do a couple of fairly hefty camping chairs and a pair of Duvalays.

With everything in except for the fridge contents (we collect the van from storage en route to wherever we're going so non-fridge grub and our clothes go in the car), the van weighed 1160 kilos.

The total gross weight of the whole outfit was 2540kg, so the car weighs 1380kg with a full tank, but that's with nobody in it. By the time you add a couple of racing snakes like what we are, two dogs and all the other holiday clobber we're hovering at something somewhat heavier, so weight ratios and what have you are no problem.

This was kind of important because when we changed cars about 18 months ago we went from a two-tonne four-wheel drive tank which would pull the side off a small house to something that was a lot lighter, more pokey and a sh*t load more fun to drive when the van wasn't attached.

Anyway.

When I did my rudimentary sums beforehand I came up with a van weight of round about 1080kg, and that was totting up from some of the many lists of what stuff weighs that you can find on the Internet.

So I underestimated by 80 kilos. Which is quite a lot really. It's like the weight of a full-sized human bean.

If you haven't had your van weighed, I reckon it's worth doing. There's no substitute for a proper jumbo set of scales. Saves guessing, and maybe some unnecessary worry.



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Quote: Frantone wrote in post #2

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Was it a commercial weighbridge? And did it have a stated margin of error?

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Frantone. You didn't tell us you were a Motorhome owner? Gosh!! You dark horse you. Randa

Turns out that the margin of error on the local weighbridge actually is 20 kilogrammes.

If I was particularly worried about sailing too close to the wind, we could always leave the tropical fish at home.

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