Visiting the weigh station with your motorhome

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Our very first outing - visiting the weigh station

From behind her Perspex screen, she fixed me with a pitying stare. All I had asked was “Is that the total weight including driver and passenger?”

“Perhaps you might like to think about that for a moment or two Sir, take a little time to reflect on the question”.

I reflected and couldn’t see what she was getting at. Patiently, and probably not for the first time, she explained slowly in simple words “It doesn’t include the driver sir, as you are standing next to me”!

The waiting lorry drivers chuckled and raised their eyebrows. When I walked out of the cramped office, laughter erupted behind me, echoing off the cliff walls and following me down the road past other waiting large bulk haulage trucks. It was, frankly, humiliating.

Clearly this motorhome malarkey was going to be complicated! 

Photo credit: HappiHalls.com

Our first outing in Bryony was to the public weighbridge down at the local Wharves. We patiently waited in line as a long procession of lorries trundled backwards and forwards across the weighbridge, executing incredibly tight right-angled turns around the small weighbridge office with skill and ease.

One of my favourite sayings to countless classes was ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ and so it was with weigh stations. I’d never visited one before, it was an alien unknown environment to me. In our keenness to get away to Dartmouth later that day on our first trip away, we really hadn’t read around or prepared sufficiently for this new experience. Bryony was packed up with what we thought would be the general level of kit we would normally tour with, along with clothes and personal items we were taking on our first trip. Newbies eh?

I was bamboozled from the off -  “Overall weight or both axles and gross weight sir?” I had no idea and so in front of several truckers I asked. Eyebrows flickered, looks circled the cramped office and a kindly soul stepped forward. “Go for all three, it will cost you more but then you know whether you are road legal or not” came the advice, along with words of wisdom about how to get front axle only, rear axle only and total weight sorted on the weighbridge.

 The subsequent printout (£30 cost for three weights) shocked us with how little we had to play with, payload wise. 3,480 kg. Our actual promised ‘brochure’ payload was 460 kgs. The total weight was 3,500 kgs. This left 20 kgs spare. Brilliant! Until the nice weighbridge lady reminded me the vehicle had been weighed with a passenger in it but no driver as he had been standing next to her! Oops!

 

It goes to show how difficult it is to accurately calculate your payload. Things eat into it because they are not accounted for in the manufacturers’ calculations. It seems to us newbies an imprecise science to say the least! All those additions eat into the payload total – awning, solar panel, TV and bracket! That tow bar we’d fitted with all its steel plating – how much did that weigh? The E Bikes and Thule bike rack on the tow ball- 70kgs? And what about those levellers, the 240v cable, our bedding and the mattress topper? Oh my!

 

The situation was easily resolved. We had half a tank of freshwater on board – I mean who travels with half a tank of freshwater, such a silly newbie schoolboy error! That was immediately drained off on exiting the weighbridge area, saving around 40 kgs. Now with the driver added in, we were only 14 kgs over. A ‘helpful’ lorry driver suggested “ditch the Missus”. He beat a hasty retreat after being on the end of a glacial stare!  His parting shot “You can always both lose weight”. Janner humour eh!

Another rookie mistake was filling the fuel and gas tanks full. Lesson learned - keep the fuel tank up to three-quarters full, maximum. Gas is a different issue though.  Being increasingly difficult to find across the UK at the moment, we have decided to top the on-board refillable gas tank whenever we pass a station supplying it.

So, what have we learned from our visit to the weigh station?

Make sure you really think about what you put in your motorhome and what will ‘eat’ into your payload allowance. Be really clear about understanding the various weights and definitions found on your various plates on the inside of one of the door frames.

We found these websites useful: https://thegapdecaders.com/motorhome-weights-guide/ and https://www.hortoncommon.co.uk/motorhome-weight-plates-explained/

Some tips:

1.       We have since drawn up a packing list divided into ‘essential must haves’ for safety and security; ‘niceties’ for comfort or necessity; and finally, the ‘luxury only if we can’ items. Check out our post on what are the essentials needed for motorhoming at the beginning. These websites have some good packing lists https://thegapdecaders.com/essential-motorhome-kit-list/ and     https://ourtour.co.uk/home/ourtour-motorhome-essentials-packing-list/  . In the meantime, we are training ourselves to become minimalist zen like beings. It’s going to take time!

2.       Study your motorhome handbook and try to get a fix on what they include/don’t include in the payload. What accessories on your motorhome are not included in the original weights? Research how much each of these might weigh and then deduct the total for these items from your payload availability. Then go have a few gins and a lie down to get over the shock.

3.       In hindsight it may have been better to visit the weigh station with Bryony unladen, to get a real idea of exactly what she weighs empty, but with all the additional accessories that were added by the dealership. Then we can better work out more accurately what payload we have available to play with for everything else on the lists.

4.       One way around the payload is to tow a small trailer. In this way, you just have to be meeting the Gross Train Weight and towing capacity figures. However, factor in the hassle of towing a small trailer e.g. the inability to reverse successfully with one on, or getting down rural lanes, or having to secure the trailer at site stops or in car parks etc.

We hope this post helps. If you have any useful tips about visiting weigh stations, then please share them by dropping us an email or comment. We will then update this blog accordingly. In the meantime, take care and have lots of fun motorhoming.

Steve and Maggie

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