[AuRavelling79]

Can you assist please?

Regarding cars (not vans) - is there a specified weight limit as to what you can carry or is it a case of your tyres scraping against the wheel arches?

If it's not a specific weight limit do you think 300 litres is too much for a med-large estate with it's rear seats down. (Plus driver, battery trad gear - so say 450K all in?)

[Chris Cottrell]

Jees 300 ltrs
I use a volvo 850 est good motor but it looks a bit bogged down with 125 ltrs and all my trad gear
Chris

[Chris Cottrell]

And I should think my trolley weighs 25 kg

[marc al]

  I used to carry 220 ltrs and all my gear in an old escort hatchback, I think you should be OK if you load it well.

[ronaldo]

Malc i would think 450kg in your car would be way to much. Just think that 5 average sized men wouldnt be that heavy. Most small vans only have a payload of around 600kg and they are deigned to be lugging weight around. Also dont forget that any fuel and passengers and yourself will be taken in to account if you are stopped and weighed by the police.

[AuRavelling79]

OK - but is there a specific weight limit? - don't forget most small vans are car derived anyway - so an escort van is just that - an escort with a van body. Ditto an astra. They typicaly can have 400litre tanks in them plus driver = 500kg.

And 5 x 80kg blokes (13stone ish) = 400kg plus a bit of fishing/camping gear and you'd be up to 450Kg wouldn't you?

(And that 450kg does include self at 80Kg)

[ronaldo]

The only real way to find out is to check your manufacturers book and see if there is a maximum payload or weight it is designed to carry. You might be ok but like i said earlier it may be a tad to heavy but you wont no till your loaded up. I used to have the same problem with my escort van to much weight and not enough power to pull it. Thats why i bought my pick up, plenty of power and a payload of 1240kg and room for 5 adults if needed or just the kids and their scramblers at the weekends.

[ronaldo]

Also Malc the 5 men and all the fishing gear would be spread out more evenly than the weight of your water in the tank. I may be wrong but i,m only giving you my opinion on this but thats what having a forum is all about isnt it?  Cheers Ronaldo.

[AuRavelling79]

Thanks Ronaldo - it's not that small - it's a honda accord estate 2.2 (About mondeo sized) and I've got a 125L tank on the back seat, 2 x 25L drums in the front passenger footwell and could physically put 6 x 25 litres in the far back  making 325L plus the trolley so it's evenly spread (with me in the driver's seat) but by putting just 4 x 25L in the back it adds up to 275L. (which might be more prudent)

I'll see what I can find from the manufacturer's.

[stains-away]

Hi all, just poking my nose over the fence from the cc section , one consideration here, although nobody likes to think about it is how a 300 litre tank in the back of an estate car without a secure bulkhead would move about during an accident,i used to carry a 45 gallon plastic drum in the back of an escort van secured with a ratchet strap and some wood screwed infront and behind it to the ply floor until i skidded on ice a while ago and hit a kerb,the drum (about 3/4 full) pushed the blocks out, slipped through the ratchet strap and hit the steel bulkhead with enough force to break a couple of mounts and bend the bulkhead onto my seat where thankfully it stopped,i got away with a bit of a soaking and a cold wait for a tow,i hate to think how it couldve turned out without the bulkhead,
   
Andy

[Mike George]

Do these big tanks have baffles in them, to stop the water sloshing around? If not, what effect does it have on the handling when the tank gets down to half full and you need to stop quickly on a bend?

[AuRavelling79]

Hi all, just poking my nose over the fence from the cc section , one consideration here, although nobody likes to think about it is how a 300 litre tank in the back of an estate car without a secure bulkhead would move about during an accident,i used to carry a 45 gallon plastic drum in the back of an escort van secured with a ratchet strap and some wood screwed infront and behind it to the ply floor until i skidded on ice a while ago and hit a kerb,the drum (about 3/4 full) pushed the blocks out, slipped through the ratchet strap and hit the steel bulkhead with enough force to break a couple of mounts and bend the bulkhead onto my seat where thankfully it stopped,i got away with a bit of a soaking and a cold wait for a tow,i hate to think how it couldve turned out without the bulkhead,
 
Andy

Thanks for the "heads up" Andy - this is why I have 50 litres in the front footwell (2x25L), 125L in a flat tank, across the back seats, strapped in to the seatbelt mounts - with foam cushioning filling the gap (2") between it and the front seats. Then 4 or 5 x 25L barrels in the far back behind the L.H. passenger side of the rear seats - so 275L/300 in all, but divided up into various compartments of the car.

I know it's all a bit Heath Robinson but until the car goes bang I see no point in getting a van yet.

[dai]

I use an escort van and sometimes carry containers in the back. I never feel safe while doing it though. Just imagine a 25 ltr container flying from the the back if you had an accident. 25kgs plus the momentum of your speed. Doesn't bare thinking about. I now use a trailer most of the time to carry the containers. I can carry 10 in that. I also use one of those Motor bike chains to secure my trolley to the van body, that can't fly forward or be easily stolen either. Just carrying an 85 amp hr battery in the back is scary. If travelling alone put it in the passenger footwell. Dai

[Chris_Thomas]

Hi
CC here (doesn't make me a bad person)
Your max gross vehicle weight (GVW) is on your manufacturers plate somewhere on the vehicle, and yes they can do you for overloading!
They calculate how much over you are in percentage terms and on a small car or van you dont have to be much over to get a huge percentage overload.
I nearly got caught on the M11 in an estate car, luckily plod couldn't find a weighbrige open and let us go after offloading the extra.
Let's be careful out there!
Cheers
Chris

[AuRavelling79]

Well - the plate on my car says (one above the other)

1920KG
3200KG
1 - 1000KG 
2 - 1010KG

I can't work that out - 1920KG seems to much for net weight and 3200KG too much for gross - I'd have thought the car weighed about a ton plus but I dunno and it's so old I can't find any details.

Could the 1920KG be the max gross weight? The 3200KG the weight when pulling and including a trailer/caravan?

[Tim Morton]

Another thing to keep in mind, they can do you for having too much weight on one axle, ie the rear, they can weigh each axle so you could be in theory within your wieght limit but be over the weight-per-axle limit.
Tim

[master cleaner]

i used to drive a 1.7 astra estate payload was 610kg
i had an omnitrolley in the back and 225 litres of water

then i read on another forum about 2 window cleaners involved in a crash just before christmas in the cornwall area they were using an estate car like i was and had water in the back

both of them were crushed by the water and apparently died

2 weeks later i bought a citreon dispatch van with a bulkhead you will never get me and my son in an estate car carriyng water , it only takes another driver to swerve in front of you it doesnt have to be your fault 20mph would be well fast enough to kill you

sorry about the doom and gloom but it had to be said

gary

[Chris_Thomas]

Hi Malc
1st figure gross vehicle weight
2nd gross train weight (includes trailer)
1= axle 1 (front)
2= axle 2 (rear)

Cheers
Chris
PS axle 1 + 2 dont necessarily add up to GVW exactly.