A community RV ‘weigh-in’ will take place in Mount Gambier, SA, on June 17.
Spearheaded by Matt Sutton of Everything Caravan and Camping, the weigh-in is principally designed as an educational effort.
“The weigh-in will involve mainly getting your recreational vehicle weighed to ensure it is under what the manufacture recommends it should be, and we can also weigh the tow vehicle if required,” Mr Sutton told GoRV.
The weigh-in is focussed on educating the RVing public. Although it will be run with the support of the police, no fines will be issued to overweight rigs.
“It’s no secret that there are plenty of vans on Australian roads that are loaded heavier than what they should be,” Mr Sutton said. “In most cases, this is due to a lack of education, RVers not realising what their van’s Aggregate Trailer Mass is, or Gross Vehicle Mass in the case of motorhomes. We want to increase the awareness and safety of all RVers.”
Mr Sutton has purchased four portable scales and the Everything Caravan and Camping team, along with Marty Ledwich from Rveethereyet.com, will be weighing the ball weights and loaded weights of any RV whose owner wants a dose of ‘truth serum’ regarding how they’re loading their van.
All RVs are welcome, from caravans to fifth wheelers, camper trailers and motorhomes.
The Mount Gambier weigh-in follows an educational campaign held by Victoria Police in Newmerella, Vic, in which holidaymakers were pulled over and had their RVs weighed by well-equipped and well-educated police officers, in particular Acting Sergeant Graeme Shenton, who will be on hand to assist Everything Caravan and Camping run the event in Mount Gambier.
“This will be a great opportunity for anyone towing a caravan or any large trailer to check their actual weights and find out if they are actually legal,” Mr Sutton said. “There will be no charge for attending. Many RVers are finding out that their rigs are overweight, some by hundreds of kilograms. Apart from being illegal, it is unsafe both for themselves and for other road users. We strongly urge you to take advantage of this free service. Until then, safe travels.”
The weigh-in will be held on June 17 at the old Master complex, Mt Gambier Market Place, 204 Penola Road, Mt Gambier, from 8.30am.
We have an issue with weight we have been trying to solve and have tried getting an answer from Mazda to no avail. The issue is the GCM. Both car and van are under their GVM and ATM and ball weight however the GCM is over weight. Mazda say we can carry up to 3200 in the BT50 we have and tow up to 3500 which makes a GCM of 6700 but their printed collateral states 6000 GCM. So really we cannot load to the max limit. As it is we have kept our weight down as much as possible and are only actually over by (as at last weight) 278kg. In other words 6278. Our weight is in tools in the car Iwould say which we need as we are permanently on the road in our new vehicle. We have tried to make sure we only have what is absolutely necessary.