We Weighed the Motorhome

I'm a little embarrassed to say that before now we had never had the motor home weighed.  We knew we should do it, but just never seemed to got around to it.  Also, it's a little confusing and somewhat intimidating.

We were told it is best to not only weigh each axle, but each wheel, to make sure you aren't carrying too much weight on any side.  If your front axle is rated for 7,000 pounds and you have 7,000 pounds, that is fine,  unless you have 5,000 on one side and 2,000 on the other. Tires need to be inflated to a pressure that will handle the weight they will carry, and not to exceed the tire's maximum tire pressure.

We checked around and found the best place to weigh rigs is on a certified CAT Scale.  This is a good link to a certified scale near you.

Cat Scale Location

I just found out that there is a video on this website to explain exactly how to weight your RV.
 

It turns out there is one near our house, but when Al went there, he was told they couldn't weigh each individual axle and certainly not each wheel.  We think the guy he talked to was misinformed and didn't know how it all worked.

When we were in Keaton Beach, we found a Cat Scale in Perry, Florida, when we went into town one day.  We decided to go ahead and weigh the MH when we were loaded up and ready to leave.  We had the toad attached, and all the things we normally take when we camp.

We had 1/4 tank of fresh water, 3/4 tank of fuel, empty gray/black water tanks.  They kayaks were loaded on the back of the truck, so we felt we had a pretty accurate weight.  The only thing we didn't get included was me...as I was outside trying to push the button that was up in the air twelve feet!  So we figure, we'll need to add another 125 pounds  :)   ha ha

For those of you who haven't weighed your rig and may have been intimidated, like we were, it is very easy.

There are several distinct sections on the scale.  You need to get your front tires on one section, your rear tires on the next section, and your toad on the third section.  I read since that it's best to try to center each axle, but we didn't know that then.

There are instructions there.  They tell you to let off the brake, hit the button for service, then come inside the store/building for your ticket.

I went inside to ask the lady to start the weigh because the button was too high to be reached from the ground and Al couldn't reach it from the MH either.  It is geared more towards truckers.  The lady inside asked me my "number."  She didn't specify what number she was talking about....my tag, my home telephone...what???
I'm not sure she really knew either, but she finally just keyed in a number.  I now think this is the truck number and they also wanted the name of the company.

Anyway, I paid the $9 while Al parked the MH.  I got my little yellow ticket.


It read as follows:

Steer Axle   -   6,380 pounds
Drive Axle   - 11,780 pounds
Toad        -       3,700 pounds

Gross weight - 21,860 pounds.


According to the paperwork we have on our motorhome, we cannot exceed 7,000 pounds for the front axle, so we're goo there.

Our rear axle cannot exceed 13,500...okay there too.

max total w/o toad should be no more than 20,500...okay


max total with toad, no more than 25,500

The way I read this is.... WE GET TO BRING MORE STUFF!!