How much does your cargo weigh? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

How much does your cargo weigh?

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, we just switched from a Class A to a 5th wheel and just did all of the dry weight compared to travel weight so we can answer for our particular "weight of our crap" question. At the time we weighed we added 2720lbs of our "stuff". The freezer and cupboards were not as full as normal so I figure we could add another 100lbs easy. We fulltime and have for 7 years this month.

I think at one time when we weighed our stuff while in the motorhome I had us figured at 3000lbs of "stuff" and I do not consider us overly crammed with useless items, in fact we have cargo and cupboard space empty.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're not even on the road yet, but we have cargo weight budget of about 2300 lbs.

clothing & linens... 220 lbs
kitchen supplies, equipment & food... 420 lbs
tools, maintenance items, spares & supplies... 150 lbs (may be able to carry some of this in the truck, already planning on carry some stuff already)
"toys", hiking & camping gear, bikes, bbq, extra 20 lb propane bottle... 500lbs
hobbies and other personal gear... 300 lbs
misc electronics, gadgets accessories etc... 120 lb
cleaning supplies... 40 lbs
dog food, dog toys and accessories... 60 lbs
minimum water in tanks( 20gal)... 170 lbs
unknowns "fudge factor"... 320 lbs representing about 15% of our estimate so far (the unknowns include the total weight of the options to be installed above what we have already estimated for those, things we overlooked.. and there will be things we overlook, On the weight saving side, we have spare payload capacity in the truck so we can carry some gear there to ease the loading.

We estimated the cargo weight by subtracting the estimated weight of known/planned options and upgrades from the MFR CCC of the fifth wheel we have under consideration. Two of these upgrades will be solar (625 lbs) and the washer and dryer (250 lbs) but neither is a 100% certainty at this point. The genny(s) will ride in the truck bed.

Anecdotal evidence from other forum members, we've polled on this, is in the range of 2000-3000 lbs for 2 people. We feel pretty good about our target numbers.

Hope that helps.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Each individual will vary, but a good rule of thumb is 3,000 lbs.

LarryW21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

1200 pounds camping alone. 1400 pounds if DW is along.

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

RonC wrote:
Each individual will vary, but a good rule of thumb is 3,000 lbs.

X2^^. Two of us full-timing we are consistently around 3,000 lbs. cargo across the scales. This includes bikes, an inflatable kayak, and the rest of the usual "stuff" (George Carlin's favorite term).

Rob

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well it sounds like I should plan on around 3,500 lbs. and I'll be really safe. I will have the option of moving stuff from the RV to the toad if I need to so I think I'll be fine. The coach I'm looking at has about 5,000 lbs. of CCC after I subtract what I'll be using up for the toad. Thanks for everyone's input. Now to get the house ready to sell. Any volunteers to help??

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yep I'm on board with the GVCWR of the coach and toad. The coach I'm looking at has a GVCWR of 33,000 with a CCC of 6,200 or so and a coach GVWR of 28,000. Those ratings give me about 11,200 lbs of weight to distribute between the coach and toad. The toad (an F150 with a motorcycle in the bed) will come in around 6,000 lbs and with other stuff in the bed (tools, fishing equipment etc.) it should come in around 6,500 lbs. that leaves me some 4,700 lbs for the coach cargo. I believe this will be more than enough, even if I keep 800 lbs of water on board. Still looking for those volunteers to help tear down the chicken coop.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our NH Majestic was about 19,000 dry and is 23,300 last time I checked...the latter was 25 gallons water and dry waste tanks...so about 4,000 for cargo for our full timer load.

Bobc · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are full timers and would guess we carry about 3500# in the trailer and another extra 5-600# in the truck and Jeep. So in my opinion I would plan for 4,000# and hope for less.
Food ,cloths and just stupid stuff gets heavy real fast.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our Mobile Suites, after the addition of an inverter and 2 extra batteries left us with just under 3000 pounds between the GVWR and the factory empty weight. We added a washer and dryer, so that reduced it even more. When the wife was moving stuff to the RV for our full-time RV'ing lifestyle, she worried that she was putting us up over the GVWR of the fifth wheel. When I took the RV to where we were going to live in it, I stopped by a feed store in town and weighed everything. She still had room for 760 pounds. (I was afraid to tell her that.)

Now, after being in the RV since 2011 full-time, we refer to our Ford F450 as the F450 Storage Shed.

Terry

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've only been full-timing for about half a year, but 3,000 lbs sounds about right. This includes 750 lbs of water and 100 lbs of propane as we boondock most of the time, so we often travel with full tanks, which puts us close to the carrying capacity of our MH.

We redistribute some weight to our little toad to help a little. Since our toad weighs under 3,000 lbs and our tow limit is 5,000 lbs there is weight capacity for literally a ton of "stuff" before exceeding its limit. I took the back seat (and some heavy but unessential components) out of our Chevy Cobalt we're using as a toad to make more room (and carrying capacity) in this little hatchback. I use this space for mainly for heavy tools, 10 gallons of water and a bulky but light ice chest and blue waste tote - about 300 lbs of "stuff" that I don't have to carry or find room for in my coach. We also removed some heavy things from our coach (like a sofa bed, 2 old tube type TVs, a heavy glass shower door, etc.) to free up some carrying capacity for our current 620 watts of solar. I plan on adding even more solar panels and batteries, so it looks like I will need to purge a bit more and shift more heavy items to the toad when I do. Do you think my DW will mind riding back there? Just Kidding ;) I guess there will be paper cups, plates and plastic eating utensils in our future.

Chip