It’s Time to Lighten your Overloaded RV

While enjoying your RV to its fullest, you might not think too often about its safety. Your vehicle may be suffering from frequent overloading, and you might not be aware of it. For trucks and cars, it shows; but it is different for recreational vehicles. There are some RV’s that are equipped for extra weight capacity, but even that has a limit. Often we surpass the RV’s safe weight limit by piling in extra stuff.

Here are some quick tips for avoiding overloading your RV by distinguishing what’s necessary and what’s not to carry along. It is important because the more you carry, the worse fuel economy you'll get and the greater the risk of unbalanced loading.

Avoiding bringing unnecessary tools

If you love your RV, you must be keeping it clean and running like a top. To that end, you might keep a number of repair tools along with you when you set off in your RV for a trip. Your attachment is understandable, but you must also understand that these tools are usually heavy. So, it’s best that you only carry select basic tools that are mandatory and leave the rest of the garage at home.

Water weighs a lot

Water can be a major contributing factor in overloading your RV. Each gallon of water that you have on board weighs a little more than eight pounds. The combination of full waste tanks as well as freshwater tanks (60 gallons) totals to around 1700 pounds of water. That's half the weight of a car!

Chuck off extra niceties

When setting off for a tour people tend to load up on additional pillows, sheets, toys, and gear. Remember that not everything you want to bring is everything that you need for a great trip. Reducing the number of low priority items can easily shed a few hundred pounds off your RV.

Do you really need a generator?

Try to take necessary measures so that you can avoid bringing along generators on the RV. This is for a simple reason that an average generator will end up adding an extra weight of 50 to 100 pounds.

Camping goods

Tables, lawn chairs, shades, decorations or even barbeques, all contribute to weight. Weigh each item and only carry those that you will most definitely use as outside stuff. Alternatively, bring lighter versions of these items available at many outdoor gear stores.

Kitchen appliance and dishes

With the extended kitchen cupboard area that the newest models of RV’s are providing it surely becomes tempting to bring everything but the kitchen sink. But just having extra cupboard space does not mean your RV will appreciate the extra load.

Become an E-Bookaholic

Magazines or books quickly add weight to an RV. The avid reader should consider bringing along an e-reader. These handy devices allow you to bring a whole library without the paperweight!

Even stocking extra beer and canned food can cause overloading of RV’s. Not having to hit the grocery store by stocking up is nice but ensuring the longevity and safety of the RV is more important.