Weighbridges

Hi all,

This is a reprint of a post I made on the www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com earlier in the year but now we have our own 'local' forum it may be of more use.

We fill our vans with all sorts of kit, (maybe we should have a competition to see who carries the most irrelevant piece of gear!) and it is easy to overload the van. There are loads of stories of Police setting up roadside checks in Britain and Europe (with on the spot fines in europe).

Luckily in N. Ireland we have a network of free self service weighbridges, see www.dvtani.gov.uk/compliance/weighbridges.asp

I used one earlier this year at Loughbrickland as I was still relatively new to motorhomes. These are available 24/7 and very easy to use.

Press the request button on a box similar to a pelican crossing and when the green light shows slowly drive over the plates in the roadway.

It gives the front axle weight in kilos on a digital overhead sign, followed by the rear axle and after a short delay, the total weight.

My front axle read 1430kg (rated for 1600), the rear axle which is probably more important as this is the one we load, was 1800kg (rated 2300). The total was 3230kg (rated at 3500).

The van was in it's normal trim except for holiday clothing, so it was good to know there was plenty of reserve.

There was no print out available but this is not important as the figure was only accurate on the day of weighing. Worth doing if you are passing one.

All the best,

Davy

I got the guys in the MOT center to weigh mine last time.

Our van has a small payload and we need to be careful.

For example :
We headed off on Friday night with 200 litres of fuel and water on board which takes a massive chunk out of our allowance.

During winter we run lighter as the barbeque, loungers and summer stuff is left at home.

LOL.. an expensive battery indeed......

Yes I know what you mean.
We never thought much about it when buying.

Our Payload is only 490 KG.... not much when you consider the 100kg of fuel and two people to start with..

We do manage to keep the weight down but long trips can be a problem as I like to head off with some water and a full tank of fuel not to mention all the food..

Good subject this, I was into my third motorhome before I even heard about payload, talk about ignorance, I went all over the place in a 3500 chassis Kontiki without even giving it a thought, had it right down to the Med, loaded up with wine on the way back and 4 of us in it, one day in the next van I owned a 3850 chassis Bessacar thought I would take it over the bridge, it was 4200 and I didnt even have the scooter on the back, your 490kg payload is good,though some manufactures weigh with no gas tanks or water etc so it is very important to check the actual weight, the police have on several occasions on the mainland pulled over Motorhomes and checked the weight,heaven forbid if you were involved in an accident, most likely it would end up in the mot centre and weight would be very important, I would suggest everybody checks what weight they are all loaded up and see if they are over weight, you will be suprised, I was

Found our "Caravan Council" certificate in the van, user payload 715KG - VERY impressed with that.

ohhhhh!! good question..

/away to get scales.........

What about the rest of the week?

Just read this and asked hubby what ours is. 695 says he, I'm quite impressed with that till he says, take out the satalite, 2 solar panels, extra gas cylinder, awning, extra battery ... Think he's not getting many cloths packed for France!!

hope so for his sake!! lol

Folks,

I used Loughbrickland this evening & I can’t make sense of the total weight given.

Front axle 1,790kg against 2100 on the plate.
Rear 2,520kg against 2,650 on the plate.

So far, so good.

Then after a minute or so, the total pops up - 4,900kg against 4,700 plated.

That can’t be right, can it?

I went over it a second time and got near enough the same numbers.

Thanks Thorn.

No operator. It’s self-service.
You just press a button and when you get a green light, drive slowly over the weighing platform.
The platform weighs each axle as it passes over then is supposed to sum the two weights.

I think they are sensitive to uneven speed and maybe sloshing of liquid in tanks. Maybe that explains it.

But then, I used it 2 yrs ago and didn’t have this problem.
I’ve fitted air suspension to the back since then, if that can affect it.

Used a different weighbridge today - Grants Distillers in Girvan.

Axle weights in line with Loughbrickland but the total was as expected - 4,340kg.
This one was a standard drive on weighbridge as used by the grain wagons.

£3 for the weigh including a signed docket.

Very reasonable altogether. 2 very friendly & helpful guys working in the gate-house too.

While I was trying to figure out what was going on with the Loughbrickland total weight, I came across a thread on MotorhomeFun where a guy was charged £72!! He argued them down to £36 but that’s still robbery.