GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #35 | Page 21

RV FEATURE An overloaded caravan is an illegal caravan. Full stop. If you are wondering why I would bet a 12-year-old that I could guess the payload (see page 12), this is why. It was a fun way to undertake a serious exercise. Twenty dollars is a cheap price for such crucial data, in my view. Every trailer has a Tare weight – the weight of the trailer as it leaves the factory, before it is loaded with anything. This weight includes the weight on the jockey wheel (or towball). It will also have an Aggregate Trailer Mass (ATM) – a rating that species the maximum permissible weight of the trailer after it is loaded. This also includes the weight on the jockey wheel/towball. The payload capacity is the difference between ATM and Tare. My Coromal Appeal had a Tare weight of 2000kg and an ATM of 2500kg. Therefore, it had a 500kg payload capacity. As revealed on page 18, my payload had a combined weight of 290.14kg – well within the 500kg limit of the caravan. This meant the loaded weight of the van was, theoretically, 2290.14kg. I was golden. Or was I? As always with caravanning, there is more to the story. Gross Combined Mass (GCM). You’ve heard about this before, no? We’ve covered the ins and outs of GCM extensively in previous issues of GoRV. It is a rating set by the tow vehicle’s manufacturer that specifies the maximum permissible combined weight of the tow vehicle and trailer. And so, when loading up both Coromal and MU-X for a family trip, I had to take this crucial rating into account, too. Even the roof rack and solar panel had to be accounted for. / 21