Can anyone clear up my weights on my recently purchased 1978 Puck. I have fitted a fridge and a big leisure battery so wanted to be within the law for towing weights. Took it to the weighbridge when packed up for last weekend. Most heavy stuff packed in the car and it came out at 520kg making me 50kg over what I thought was the maximum weight at 470. Hopefully pictures uploaded of my plates and some I found for the same year Puck on google. Posted to facebook page but inconclusive results. Many thanks. |addpics|qc1-1-f5b4.jpg-invaddpicsinvv,qc1-2-aa18.jpg-invaddpicsinvv,qc1-3-3111.png-invaddpicsinvv,qc1-4-d93e.png-invaddpicsinvv|/addpics|

This may help, Weight allowance - wise counsel sought . It does look like it is 470KG. The other plate would seem to be for the axle rather than the van as a whole.

Thanks for the replies. When I took it to the weighbridge it had the battery in which is almost 30kg and the fridge I added which is around 17kg but not loads more stuff as I had put any heavy stuff in the back of the car. Maybe 15 to 20kg of stuff normally left in the van.Calor lite bottle at around 10kg and underslung spare wheel at 7kg. This leaves around 436kg when taken off the weighbridge weight which points more towards the 410 unladen weight one rather than the 320 unladen weight one. I could carry the battery in tha car boot when travelling which would still leave me 20kg above the 470 on the body plate which would mean to get down to that weight I would have to remove everything else and go down to an empty van with a fridge fitted. I carry my food in a 12 volt cool box in the car so not even got the weight of food in the fridge. What I don't understand is why my body plate says 470/470 and not 320/470 as most caravan would with unladen and laden weight. to be under the 470 I would have to carry the spare wheel and possibly gas bottle in the car as well. I carry my bedding, clothes, cadac, chairs and small camping table in the car and don't take the eriba table either. I leave that at home. Seems a bit of a silly situation where I can't put anything in the cupboards in the van without possibly falling foul of VOSA.

This one I found on google as sold by Eriba Caravan Sales is virtually identical to mine in year and model is where I found the one with the 410/550 weight specs. I know what my plate says but surely there can't be 90kg weight difference on unladen weight of 2 identical caravans built in the same year. I am not worried about the weight iin the van but don't want to fall foul of VOSA at the roadside. https://www.eribacaravansales.co.uk/eriba-puck-1978-sold/

I suspect you can get a very wide variation on the exact same van from the same year. I suspect there are several factors, like the average small car in use in the country at the time, the car the purchaser has (they can ask for it to be uprated), different towing or licence laws in place. My 418 has a max load of 1300kg but thats because I got the standard UK upgrade from AL, normally it is 1000kg but I could have had 1100 or 1200 instead. Re-plating, for most circumstances, would just seem to be a paper exercise as there will be no physical change needed. Maybe Hymer can re-issue a plate with a new weight limit? I'm pretty sure that some firms will do this for a fee, in the back of my mind I have a memory of £100 being charged from one manufacturer but that could be totally wrong.

We had ours done by Hymer, I emailed them direct, they sent a new plate by post and it cost €89. They wanted the axle No and weight to check that it could be done.
Dave

Trev,
as a slight aside to the main question. You should also keep an eye on the maximum rear axle load that your car can handle - you seem to be loading lots of items in the car ( and don't forget that the caravan nose weight contributes to the load on the rear axle).

hth

Dave

E-mailed Hymer and they have e-mailed back and unfortunately can't update my plate as they have no record of my serial number. They say it is too old.

Hi Dave, I am normally one up in my car and with it being a convertible there is not much packing room in the boot if I happen to want the top down especially. I tend to fill the back seat up to minimise the weight in the caravan. If I was 4 up I could easily have 200kg plus in people so very doubtful that I am even half of that in gear. Usually my bedding, clothes, camping chair small cadac and camping table.

Hi, I live in France and have a 1993 Puck. The PTAC is important here, mine is 500, so I can legally tow it on my car insurance and not pay motorway tolls. Once you go above that it costs, that is why the older pucks hold their value here.

What is PTAC please ? Does it mean no tolls at all ? Or just the car toll ?

Hi PTAC is the max all up weight. I see now in the UK it is:

"Maximum authorised mass
Maximum authorised mass (MAM) means the weight of a vehicle or trailer including the maximum load that can be carried safely when it’s being used on the road.
This is also known as gross vehicle weight (GVW) or permissible maximum weight.
It will be listed in the owner’s manual and is normally shown on a plate or sticker fitted to the vehicle"

From the Gov. site.