We got the Van weighed this morning. What a palaver that was.The place we went to was only 10 miles or so away but we still managed to get lost. Not a confidence boost for a man about to drive 1,300 miles in two foreign Countries. The Sat Nav ended up taking us down some treacherous country lanes which nearly resulted in a crash. The van took a bit of a beating from overhanging branches instead and now a couple of the nearside windows have some scratches on them. I read somewhere how to get the scratches out, but I haven't got time for that now.
We eventually found the place; it was almost impossible to miss actually (too much reliance on TomTom there methinks). It was the most minging site you could imagine and the guy 'operating' the weighbridge was as thick as thick cheese. It was obvious I didn't have a clue what to do yet he didn't bother trying to help. In the end, covered in mud, I wandered around the place staring into offices until, at last, I was spoken to. It got a lot easier from there although I still had to wallow in the mud a bit more before I finally got the news I had been dreading.
It cost me ten quid and all I got for the privilege was a printed sheet of headed invoice paper with lots of numbers and references on it. I had to ask him three times before he finally realised that, yes, I was actually interested in knowing the result and the overall weight of everything inside the white monster that looked so out of place amongst the Skip lorries. 3640 he announced. I pretended I knew what that meant, muttered 'kilo's I presume' under my breath and wandered back through the mud to join my family and all our stuff that we had hurriedly stuffed in just half an hour before. As we drove home ignoring the TomTom, we tried to work out from the log book if that was good news or not. My instinct said it was bad news but then I've been paranoid since the first time I filled it up with diesel. It is, after all, heavy fuel. The Log book said 'revenue weight 3850 KG gross' which means less to me than the X Factor does to Napolean. I think I can be forgiven for being confused because whilst attempting to master this particular chapter in my thesis on Motor Caravanning I have been confronted with
terms including Actual Laden Weight, Gross Train Weight, Maximum Axle Weight, Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass, Maximum User Payload and Mass in Running Order. Why does it have to be so confusing? Anyway, I didn't find out for sure where I stood until I got home and checked the Bessacarr manual (see what I did there?) to find it telling me I am allowed '3850kg MTPLM' and a Gross Train Weight of 5500kg. I'm guessing the 'train' bit refers to the allowance when towing so I think it means my van can be a total, overall, aggregate weight of no more than 3,850 kilos. Hoorah. That means I am currently underweight and don't have to be such a meany and summarily evict unnecessary teddies etc. It also means we can take more Christmas presents with us to open on our second Christmas Day assuming we can keep them out of the childrens' sight until then. What I didn't do, however, and if I'm honest I don't think was possible anyway, was have the rear axle weighed. Im not too worried abut that though because I am quite a way under to feel ok about it. I have deliberately stored all heavy items between the two axles.
terms including Actual Laden Weight, Gross Train Weight, Maximum Axle Weight, Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass, Maximum User Payload and Mass in Running Order. Why does it have to be so confusing? Anyway, I didn't find out for sure where I stood until I got home and checked the Bessacarr manual (see what I did there?) to find it telling me I am allowed '3850kg MTPLM' and a Gross Train Weight of 5500kg. I'm guessing the 'train' bit refers to the allowance when towing so I think it means my van can be a total, overall, aggregate weight of no more than 3,850 kilos. Hoorah. That means I am currently underweight and don't have to be such a meany and summarily evict unnecessary teddies etc. It also means we can take more Christmas presents with us to open on our second Christmas Day assuming we can keep them out of the childrens' sight until then. What I didn't do, however, and if I'm honest I don't think was possible anyway, was have the rear axle weighed. Im not too worried abut that though because I am quite a way under to feel ok about it. I have deliberately stored all heavy items between the two axles.We are having our first Christmas Day tomorrow and will then finish off our final bits of packing. My list has shrunk to an acceptable level now and only has a few normal last minute panic to do's on it like 'find driving licence' and 'enter route into TomTom/Route Planner'. I went out and bought a few more 'essentials' today including a canister shaped inverter with extension leads which should give us 240v power in the kitchen area whilst driving along. I might even find the time tomorrow to try it out.
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