Don't Mention the Weight!

The Problem

From our reading of the Explorer Motorhome Facebook group we discovered that our motorhome has a GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) of 3,500 kg and that the total weight of the motorhome can be an issue once fully loaded. It is obviously illegal to exceed the GVM of the vehicle.

Ah good, something else to worry about!

At delivery we were given a booklet with useful information about how things work in the motorhome, which included a handwritten delivery weight of 2880 kg. It seemed that we had a generous amount to play with when setting up the motorhome, even after adding our combined weight of around 150 kg.

We’d bought huge amounts of stuff to stock Matariki with prior to delivery, from bedding to pots and pans to cutlery and crockery, and looking at what amounted to a car load of goods, the worry started to set in and fill in those sleepless parts of nights before we took delivery. Would we have to leave some of our purchases out to save weight? Would I have to leave Meg behind? But everything we’d bought was essential for comfortable travelling. Okay, maybe the 11 kg tool kit wasn’t technically essential, but if we break down in the middle of nowhere…… Another sleepless night!

Much discussion on this topic on the Facebook group did nothing to alleviate our concerns.

The First Weigh

I became obsessed with our need to check our weight at the first opportunity and started Googling until I found the Caboolture Public Weighbridge, which was on our way to Imbil for our shakedown trip.

So on the Friday morning of the first day of our shakedown trip, we headed up the Bruce Highway and turned off at Caboolture, to the weighbridge which was just off the highway. There was only one lane open at the weighbridge, so we had to wait for about 30 minutes for our turn. Once on the weighbridge you have to enter some details on an electronic device and pay $30 to get a weight printout. We were so happy to see that our weight was 3160 kg, without us in the vehicle, so we had nearly 350 kg to play with, or nearly 200 kg with our weight added in.

This weight included a near-full fuel tank (140 litres), and we thought also included a full 110 litre fresh water tank, however once at Imbil we discovered that the water tank was only partly full.

After that initial trip we added more weight with more purchases, and still had to factor in carrying the Weber BBQ and bikes for future trips, which meant we would have to recheck the weight with all these inclusions.

The Second Weigh

Our third trip was to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. Before we left home for this trip I’d researched public weighbridges in the Toowoomba area and found one about 25 km to the west at a servo in Charlton, which wasn’t quite on our way but I was keen to check our weight again.

So, after checking out of the campground on the way home, we headed to the weighbridge, which was about 30 minutes away. After our first weighbridge experience at Caboolture on our first outing, we expected to have to wait for ages to access the weighbridge and, approaching the BP servo, we could see that it was a very busy truck stop. However, the weighbridge was empty despite the dozens of trucks, cars, motorhomes and caravans around the servo. The weigh only took a couple of minutes and cost $35. Once again we were a bit concerned that our weight was getting close to the 3,500 kg maximum, but our fears were unfounded when the weight came back at 3180 kg. With our weight added in that made the current GVM about 3330 kg, so a good 150 kg to spare still, with only our bikes and the Weber BBQ to add for longer trips.