IN RECENT times the caravan and self-drive holiday industry has exploded within Australia, leading to holiday makers investing in vehicles and mobile accommodation, giving them the freedom to park up at their desired destinations.
As many have learned from experience, we pack far too much of everything and hit the open road on our great outdoors adventures, ill prepared for what is ahead.
In days gone by, caravan set-ups could get away with a few things however these days everyone has a dash camera and nobody gets away with anything.
We have all seen the footage on our phones, of caravans getting out of shape and a wobble ending in catastrophic disaster to say the least. This is inevitably followed by calls for the industry to be regulated or the driver to be specifically licensed to tow. Then there are the calls from the heavy vehicle industry for caravans to be banned from the road as they “drive too slow” (that’s another story for later).
As this is our fifth caravan, I speak from experience, when I suggest that the biggest issue with the mobile self drive holiday industry is, you must know your weight limits and accurately assess your actual weights.
Having a look at a vast majority of vehicles and caravans on the road, our set-up would be one of the most common and I have gone through the exercise of weighing, modifying, re-weighing, adjusting, re-weighing, moving, and discarding, to ensure my weights are practical and legal.
The initial problem starts with … a caravan’s displayed ‘tare’ (empty mass) weight is not the actual tare weight of the caravan. Caravan manufacturers do not include the weight of rollout awnings, microwave ovens, TVs, any accessories, water or gas. Then the ATM (Aggregate Trailer Mass) is calculated at the tare plus 300kg for a single axle and 400kg for a dual axle. Then we load all our personal belongings, toys and sporting equipment and the end result is your caravan is overloaded.
Now we can talk about the towing vehicle, with the same weight assessment procedure, we review the vehicle’s tare, individual axle mass and total GVM (gross vehicle mass), calculate the carrying capacity, calculate the weight of dad, mum and a few strapping family members, and don’t forget the weight of the long list of vehicle accessories fitted to your vehicle, and all the equipment on the roof rack. Then, remember that your caravan’s Ball Mass (usually 10 percent of the ATM) around 250kg is added to the GVM. Now we have an overloaded tow vehicle.
So we are now on our way for our great adventure and we do the right thing by visiting a weigh bridge only to be surprised at learning our axles are overloaded, our vehicle is grossly overloaded and our caravan also exceeds its allowable mass.
Then comes the biggest shock, the allowable GCM (Gross Combination Mass), which is actually less than the GVM and ATM combined, has also been exceeded.
The result: we are dangerously overloaded.
The reality is that most drivers will not take the time to enlighten themselves of this matter until there is an incident and their insurance provider fails to accept their claim. Confused, you have just admitted that you need professional assistance.
About now, you are probably thinking “is it all worth it?”.
The answer is “yes”!
We love our caravan adventures, experiencing new country, meeting new people, enjoying the safety of Australia.
However, make sure you are aware of your weights.
