UNDER PRESSURE WEIGHTS & YOUR TYRES
Working out the tyre pressures for your motorhome is not as simple as looking up a number in the owner’s manual for your car. On a car, it’s easy for manufacturers to work out the weight of the vehicle – you simply allow a set amount for the passenger weight and a maximum payload for the boot. The amount of variation isn’t that great and you have to make a real effort to overload a car.
With your motorhome, it’s different. Not only do you have a much larger volume to fill, but you also have to factor in the weight of a range of kit, and allow for a garage, bike racks and the almost endless number of add-ons that owners can bolt onto their ’van.
While many manufacturers weigh each individual vehicle off the line and supply a label or documentation to this effect, not all do so and many brochure weights are based on calculated values.
No matter how the weight is decided, the one thing that no manufacturer can predict is what the owner will then add to their vehicle.
It’s this unknown extra weight that can cause problems with overloading. One owner might pack lightly, while another will add awnings, habitation air conditioning and a scooter rack, and then fill the garage with their anvil collection!
If you’re one of those owners whose ’van simply bristles with every possible accessory, you need to be very aware of your payload.
It’s the driver’s responsibility to know the weight of their motorhome and simply stating “I don’t know the weight” is no defence in court. Legally, you have to know the weight of your vehicle and can be prosecuted if your ’van is significantly overladen.
A recent round of roadside checks by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency revealed that over 80% of the motorhomes stopped were overweight. So it’s not
