Have you used a weighbridge?

[Surfer]

As we were considering obtaining another car which had a lower maximum braked towing weight, we decided to take the caravan to the local public weighbridge to check its weight loaded as if we were going away. Cost us £6.
The original MTPLM for the caravan was 1695kg, but we had it upgraded to 1800kg as we had a motor mover fitted. Anyway much to our horror we were well over the listed MTPLM of 1800kg by 100kg! The caravan weighed 1900kg! Luckily the axle weight is 1000kg so 2 x 1000kg = 2000kg so we would have been okay if stopped by VOSA.
Anyway took the caravan back to the storage depot and started removing stuff. Charcoal and chairs out the front locker for starters. Then bedroom area. The wife had been stashing stuff there and removed over a suitcase full of towels, dishwashing clothes, and lots of spare "just in case" stuff. Under the bed a few items, but not much. I think we have now reduced the weight considerably. We are away this weekend so will do some more digging and probably remove the metal cultery and maybe some pots, pans and casserole dishes. Also far too many glass glasses and ceramic cups.
Hands up those who have taken their caravan to a weighbridge and found it to be overloaded. How many of you have actually used a weighbridge?

 

[Sproket]

Was it a drive over weighbridge that the ministry / vosa use, or the local scrap yard ?
Come on in & let's weigh ya!
There is a vosa one a few miles up the road from us & the first time we went away first stop was this drive over weight bridge, was 20kg over on the caravan axle ( 1600kg ) 1.2% so Just put a few things into the truck & drove round again & re-weighed.
So i bought one of these a few years ago so i could check the weights easily at home or when away, It's easy to use for the truck axle weights & the van.

 

[Surfer]

It is one of the public weighbridges recommended by the council. The caravan was detached from the vehicle. That Reich gimmick, do you drive onto it and can it take both wheels on a twin at the same time, obviously on the same side. How do you use it. We find the Reich Towball load control to be very accurate. See here for a listing of public weigh bridges. We used D H Phillips a building merchant for sand, stone and gravel.

 

[Martin24]

I do wish everyone would stop worrying me about weights!!! I'm begining to think my methods are a bit on the dodgy side!!! I probably won't be able to sleep before getting in to bed again!!!!!

 

[Surfer]

I wish losing weight was easy. Removed a lot of stuff out of the caravan, but having difficulty getting it under the 1800kg without the wife chirping in the earhole. We away this weekend so will go through the caravan again to determine what we need and what we don't need. I think we are carrying too much just in case stuff!
Also need to carry a lot less tin stuff as most tins seem to weigh about 430gms. Guess we will have to do a fair amount of eating this weekend! So much for losing weight! LOL!

 

[RayS]

For the first time ever I put my van on a public weighbridge a few weeks ago. If you read the thread 'Plated weights' you will see what information is shown on the side. The nasty surprise was that it was virtually up to max weight when nearly empty for service.
The big culprit is the front chest of drawers which is an 'extra' but we couldn't manage without it. I remember when fitting it that it was very heavy but I thought 'Oh good, German quality'.
I suspect that our Continental chums are much less bothered about weight than we are - both all up weight and noseweight. The brocuhure for my Burstner shows it on tow behind a Mercedes C class which has a fairly low ball weight limit, but there two bicycles on a fixture on the drawbar and the caravan spare wheel lives in the front locker so no way could they have got down to the stated limit.
The weighbridge at Martock in Somerset is well run and organised and costs about £8 but you get the option of a second weighing in this price, either at the time - perhaps with the car coupled to get the overall outfit weight, or at a later date to suit you, so I thought it good value.