We have been traveling in our 2006 PW Excel, built on a Ford E-350 chassis, for 7 years. We have never had it weighed. Before our first trip, I made an estimate of the weight in each compartment and added them up. I was confident that I was within the cargo capacity of 1044 lbs. with full water, gasoline and propane tanks, shown on the factory sticker. Over time, we probably are traveling somewhat heavier.Of course, everyone packs and loads their vans differently but I am curious if anyone has ever weighed their fully loaded Class B and checked against the allowable factory carrying capacity.I will appreciate any feedback.

We are mindful of what we are putting into our RT but we always travel with tanks full of water, refrig fully stocked, 7 or 8 gallons of drinking water, clothes, fully stocked pantry. No, never weighted it because it has never been an issue. We use a hitch mounted carrier when we are going to be gone for more than a week. I am very careful to only put light weight stuff on the carrier...usually a screen tent, chairs, things like that. I am mindful to never put more than a hundred pounds back there just to be extra safe. I maintain our RT very carefully and it lives in a garage that is heated and air conditioned so it looks brand new after almost seven years.........BUT............we bought this thing to use, not abuse, but use. Candidly, I think sometimes some of us are a little excessive on the techo perftecto stuff when we travel. This ain't an airplane, it is a vehicle and we are going to use it and enjoy it to the fullest, literally and figuratively. That is what we bought it for.

Our 2006 Sportsmobile built Sprinter 2500 weights 7800lbs fully loaded: full water tank, two weeks worth of food and three adults aboard. That is 750lb below GVWR. That does not include a generator or propane system since we left those off our vehicle.

When passing through Oregon a few years ago I stopped at one of the state run digital scales. That Oregon Weight Station was closed for the night, but Oregon at that time left its scales turned on 24/7 (I don't know if they still do that - maybe someone can report). I was able to weigh just the front axle of my Roadtrek without even getting out of my RT. Nice big digital numbers displayed to the left of my driver side window reading 3,900 lbs. Pulling forward, 4,950 lbs for just the rear axle. Backing up and putting both axles on the scale 8,800 lbs. Putting just the front and rear rightside tires on the scale I got a reading of 4,300 lbs. My 2002 Chevy 190P RT has a GVWR of 9,500 lbs and was 7,370 lbs when it left the factory. At that time I used the scale I was traveling with full tanks and cargo for two full weeks. I recommend that everyone have their unit weighed. While I was 700 lbs under my GVWR at that time, I know a number of individuals that are overloaded and don't even know it.

This is an important safety issue. Bigger RVs, especially Class Cs routinely run overweight. I suspect this is less of a problem with our Class Bs but am not sure. In case of a major insurance claim over an accident, I wonder if the insurance company might evade responsibility if the unit was overloaded. Not easy to determine this, but with a lot of money involved it can be done.I may stop at a truck scale on this trip just to satisfy myself that we are OK.

jjson775 wrote:This is an important safety issue. Bigger RVs, especially Class Cs routinely run overweight. I suspect this is less of a problem with our Class Bs but am not sure. In case of a major insurance claim over an accident, I wonder if the insurance company might evade responsibility if the unit was overloaded. Not easy to determine this, but with a lot of money involved it can be done.I may stop at a truck scale on this trip just to satisfy myself that we are OK.It was a bigger problem than you might think for B's when the RV manufacturers were using the 2500 Sprinter's. I did a little checking and found that in 2007 a RT 210 had a GVWR of 9,600 lbs and a unloaded vehicle weight of 8,300 lbs. A RT RS Sprinter's (2500 chassis)GVWR was 8,550 lbs and unloaded weight was 7,300 lbs. That's 1,250 lbs of CCC in the case of the Sprinter and 1,300 lbs in the case of the RT 210 wide body. Checking a little closer you will find that the unloaded weight includes only the base vehicle and fuel, not included is a driver, any passengers, water, propane, generator, optional equipment and your stuff. Not hard to overload either of these two RVs and likely the reason that most are now only using the 3500 Sprinter chassis and not the 2500.

Cargo carrying capacity | Good Sam Community

loving_retireme
Explorer
May 31, 2013
When passing through Oregon a few years ago I stopped at one of the state run digital scales. That Oregon Weight Station was closed for the night, but Oregon at that time left its scales turned on 24/7 (I don't know if they still do that - maybe someone can report). I was able to weigh just the front axle of my Roadtrek without even getting out of my RT. Nice big digital numbers displayed to the left of my driver side window reading 3,900 lbs. Pulling forward, 4,950 lbs for just the rear axle. Backing up and putting both axles on the scale 8,800 lbs. Putting just the front and rear rightside tires on the scale I got a reading of 4,300 lbs. My 2002 Chevy 190P RT has a GVWR of 9,500 lbs and was 7,370 lbs when it left the factory. At that time I used the scale I was traveling with full tanks and cargo for two full weeks. I recommend that everyone have their unit weighed. While I was 700 lbs under my GVWR at that time, I know a number of individuals that are overloaded and don't even know it.
McK
Explorer
May 31, 2013
Our 2006 Sportsmobile built Sprinter 2500 weights 7800lbs fully loaded: full water tank, two weeks worth of food and three adults aboard. That is 750lb below GVWR.

That does not include a generator or propane system since we left those off our vehicle.
PSW
Explorer
May 31, 2013
We are mindful of what we are putting into our RT but we always travel with tanks full of water, refrig fully stocked, 7 or 8 gallons of drinking water, clothes, fully stocked pantry.

No, never weighted it because it has never been an issue. We use a hitch mounted carrier when we are going to be gone for more than a week. I am very careful to only put light weight stuff on the carrier...usually a screen tent, chairs, things like that. I am mindful to never put more than a hundred pounds back there just to be extra safe.

I maintain our RT very carefully and it lives in a garage that is heated and air conditioned so it looks brand new after almost seven years.........BUT............we bought this thing to use, not abuse, but use. Candidly, I think sometimes some of us are a little excessive on the techo perftecto stuff when we travel. This ain't an airplane, it is a vehicle and we are going to use it and enjoy it to the fullest, literally and figuratively. That is what we bought it for.

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