Loading “stuff”

[Muggs]

We have a 24.1 on e450 chassis.

Between race car parts, tools, clothes, food and everything else including extra water on extended race trips we have been as heavy as 13,870 lbs plus 5,500 lb race car trailer behind.

The unit on an e350 would not have fit our application.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by jimbo21793

Got a reply: Called Thor.
Gas is included in the OCCC. So, my actual weight limit for stuff including me and my wife, water, etc is 3193lbs
That’s plenty of stuff!!!

That’s excellent.

Even half that would be plenty for us in a small Class A or C.

I think many who end up overloaded do so because their rigs were too heavy for the chassis to start with, or load it up with unusually heavy items (tools, compressors, extra generators, etc.).

“Upgrades” can also add up quickly because they can be heavy. Second A/C can weigh over 80 pounds, batteries over 60 pounds each (or much more depending on size), spare tires at over 75 pounds, solar panels, and so on.

[Mackeroni]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

Actually with dirty laundry, when we are loading the coach we will load some of the oldest clothes we have and then quite often they get thrown away after being worn. Helps to clean at the closet at the sticks and bricks. The first time I did that the DW thought I was nuts but then she hopped on the train.



I will say that that only works a couple of times until all them old stuff is gone. Trying that with newer clothes can get expensive fast.

This is an old biker trick. (Old trick, not old biker.) Start the trip fully loaded with old clothes. Discard things along the way as they become so stinky, even Bob Denman couldn’t stand them. Arrive home happy with a light load and minimal unloading.

Peace... Mack

[Bob Denman]

Don't be too sure of that: I've got a set of guts on me that would make a Billy-Goat jealous...

[Chance]

I traveled overseas on vacation for a week with only a medium-size backpack, and left half my clothes there to make room for souvenirs on way back. I had read about the idea in a travel magazine so prior to trip I saved clothes that were almost ready to be replaced soon anyway. Worked great — would do it again.



P.S. — Regarding vehicle overloading, I was surprised last week how easy it was to exceed a light-duty 1/2-ton pickup’s GVWR. I loaded some sand/dirt which didn’t make rear tires or springs look overloaded, but when weighed at dump it was 800 pounds over. Proportionally speaking that was a lot of extra weight (likely all on rear axle). When loading one shovel at a time, it’s easy to lose track of the total. And without actually weighing the vehicle, it’s nearly impossible to know if it’s overloaded. Weighing RVs should be considered a requirement in my opinion.

[Bob Denman]

About all that "Stuff" that we have...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

[powerboatr]

we have just under 5k lbs of carrying capacity

our first year we were near that mark. then slowly started moving things out we didnt feel were needed.



now every spring we look at the all the "stuff" and if it over heavy or not used it goes out to the storage at the home port.

we even thinned out dishes and pots and pans.


we use plastic rubber maid totes that all are the same size and fit in the basement easily. it also makes packing for trips easier as we only take what we may need for that trip


tote with beach stuff stays home in december.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

we have just under 5k lbs of carrying capacity

our first year we were near that mark. then slowly started moving things out we didnt feel were needed.



now every spring we look at the all the "stuff" and if it over heavy or not used it goes out to the storage at the home port.

we even thinned out dishes and pots and pans.


we use plastic rubber maid totes that all are the same size and fit in the basement easily. it also makes packing for trips easier as we only take what we may need for that trip


tote with beach stuff stays home in december.

We have six totes of stuff in the garage that came out of the Challenger and has not made its way into the Accolade. Pretty soon I will be going through the totes and moving stuff to the trash to get it out of the garage.

[TimmyB]

I also had the E450 chassis with 14,500 GVWR. Right after I had the Bigfoot levelers put on, I went to the CAT scale and it was 11,880, with about a half tank of gas. This left me 2600 pounds for cargo. More than enough for me.

[Pete'sMH]

Last time we went coach shopping we saw a unit with an OCCC of only 1500lbs. Salesgoober said not to worry but it was certainly a factor in searching further. Current coach has a 3700 lb capacity and I’m much more comfortable about it. I suspect there are a great many overloaded coaches out there!

[Chance]

In addition to a low OCCC rating (Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity), a prospective buyer should also look at whether it’s practical to add that much weight based on axle ratings and location of cargo compartments. We’ve looked at small motorhomes that had limited cargo carrying capacity, which we could have worked with, but in reality the motorhome’s actual cargo carrying capacity was next to zero. Practically all interior and exterior storage compartments were in back, as were the grey and black tanks, but the rear axle was essentially at weight limit. Most of the OCCC was due to lightly loaded front axle which was useless for cargo. A few manufacturers building B+ motorhomes on the ProMaster chassis had this problem.

Similarly, getting full 14,500-pounds out of an E-450 is more difficult than getting 12,500-pounds out of an E-350. There is more leeway for moving weight around in an E-350 without exceeding rated axle capacities. Details beyond OCCC can matter.