Considering a camper trailer

OK.

When I initially registered the trailer with VicRoads, I wrote 250 Kgs on the rego form. That did not include the weight of the lid (moderately heavy, probably currently 50-60 Kgs), or the new McHitch coupling (pretty big and heavy by comparison with a standard 50 mm ball hitch). I weighed it "by eye" - IOW, an outrageous guess at what it might weigh ... :lol: :rotfl:.

After most of the mods had been completed, I had it weighed. This is the weighbridge certificate:

Trailer-weight-without-CT-tent_WRONG_21Mar2014_cr_E.jpg


Weight = 140 Kgs.

Considering the perfectly reasonable queries raised here regarding the weight of my trailer (thanks, everyone ... :) ), and my own suspicions, I pulled everything out of or off the trailer that may or may not be included when touring, and dragged it to the same local weighbridge (Commonwealth Gov't certified ... ). This left the spare, 200 mm jockey wheel, safety struts for the lid, the CT tent, poles, pegs, ladder and all the security cables and locks. No Jerry cans, roof rack, storage box, annex (but still including the annex poles, pegs and ropes).

At the weighbridge, I completely disconnected the trailer from the car, including the safety chains. It was sitting on its wheels and the jockey wheel.

Apart from having the CT tent fitted, and about 15-30 Kgs of extra steel etc to reinforce the lid, it is pretty similar to when it was weighed last year. The weight of the CT tent is 100 Kgs according to the manufacturer of record. This includes the tent, travelling cover, mattress, all poles and pegs and the base board. This weight does not include the sun room wall panels (3x), the sun room floor, or the sun room infill panel for the rear of the trailer, or the carry case for these items. These latter items weigh 13 Kgs in aggregate.

Here is this morning's weighbridge certificate:

Trailer-weight-with-CT+tent_17Jan2015_certificate_E.jpg


Take the current certified weight, 460 Kgs, deduct the weight of the CT tent (100 Kgs) and the modifications done since the last weigh in (say 40 Kgs), and there is still a slight discrepancy between today's weigh in and last year's... Like around a mere 180 Kgs ...

I would like to thank ST and everyone else who made my slight suspicion grow into a huge suspicion very, very much :biggrin:.

This will make my fully loaded trailer somewhere between 560 and 650 Kgs.

Having towed it fully loaded over some pretty nasty 'roads' (but without the extra weight of the CT tent), I know that Roo2 will handle this with ease.

It's still a very good thing to know the truth about this.
Thanks again, everyone :cool:.
 
^ Mate, I never throw anything away ... :iconwink: :rotfl:.

Apart from the fact that I will ask for my money back from the owners next week for the first weigh in ...

I also have both certificates scanned into my Docs folder that's backed up all over the place.

But no, our rego cost is based on break points for the trailer GVM, rather than its tare weight per se, AFAIK.

If you factor out the very heavy gauge steel in mine (except for the drawbar and axle ... ), you should be able to get the tare weight of yours down substantially. The extra foot of tub length on mine also comes at a weight penalty.

If I were you, I would work on 2.0 thickness for the perimeter frame and ladder frame cross members. I would not go below 1.6 mm for the sheet however. One could make a virtue of what was a necessity for me. Have the sides and top edges rolled/bent separately from the tub base. Then have the tub base made so that it comes about 150 mm up the sides and then weld the two sections together. This allows the tub tops to be mild steel, with the tub floor and part way up the sides made from galvanised sheet.

I have just miked some parts of mine. My guards are just over 4 mm thick. Fillet plates from the perimeter frame ends to the tub sides are 2.5 mm at the front and 3.0 mm at the rear. The front originally did not have a gate.
 
Back
Top