What you’ve missed is weighing the van on a plate style weight bridge is ok it gives you an overall weight but what is more important is that if your stopped by vosa they use individual wheel plates that give you the weight of each corner and added together will tell them what your axle weights are. You will find it hard to get the weight distribution correct for both axles and remain under weight simply because most of the fixtures and fittings and clothes food water etc will be stored at the midpoint or further back in the van putting the majority of the weight over the back axle therefore potential making you overweight on that axle even though you are under your total permissible weight. To give you an example my van(coach built) is rated at 3700kg and when fully loaded for a 3 month trip and with minimal water(20ltrs) and myself my wife 2 dogs and 2 e-bikes on the towbar mounted carrier we were 3650kg but crucially our back axle weight was 25kg over the permissible 2000kg limit so we ended up taking the bikes off and traveling without them.
Quoted weights in manufacturer brochures use artistic licence or some kind of magic fairy dust components because all the vans I’ve driven have been much heavier on a weigh bridge than the quoted weight. Brochures have only half a tank of fuel if I remember correctly. When I worked as a courier my boss thought our Sprinter LWB High roof could carry over 1.5 tonnes because the brochure said so, but it was actually less than a tonne. I’d show him the real weight at certain customers (where they weighed you on entry & exit) showing the vehicle still overweight with 200 miles of diesel burnt off. To calculate your payload you have to allow for full tank of fuel, the driver and everything he/she normally carries. A physically smaller van weighs less and therefore has a higher payload, which is something you quickly learn in distribution, but some people don’t care - until they’re caught I guess.
this felt like a mattress ad with an accidental camper video inserted. Sadly not enjoying the content anywhere near as much as I used to. Your old uploads were awesome pre Crafer.
So from what I understand, the weight is all about your licence to drive different weight vehicles? I thought it was about safety? I believed it to be about braking etc. Please can you clarify this for me.
Advert was way too long for a 15 min video. This is becoming a big issue with multiple RUclipsrs at the moment. I get you are trying to earn but the majority of watchers get frustrated at the length of these Ads!
I have at work a 2016 lwb hi top sprinter and it too only has a 900 kg capacity. The amount of people I speak to think that because its a 3.5 ton van that you can put 3.5 ton in the back makes my head wobble 😅
You missed a trick Shaun, you should have ordered the uprated front axle at 2100kgs which would have given you another 300kgs, so 4200kgs. Issue you will have is most of your weight is also going to be on that rear axle as you have the Maxi. My 2023 LWB was converted and sits at 3360kgs. It’s two berth add me wife n 100 L water is 250kgs, so van now 3610kgs. Add food clothes luggage chairs and camping gear Cadac etc that’s not much spare left….hence we have upplated to 4200kgs. Dee at Van Weight Engineering is brilliant best advice n cheaper than the other company, the other company had also told us we needed to have air suspension while Van Weight Engineering correctly said we didn’t need air. Good luck with the rest of the build but SERIOUSLY watch that weight overall and particularly on the rear axle! 👍🏻
Good to see someone like you actually considering the weight of your conversion I'm sure there are lots on the roads that don't realise there over weight 👍
Very interesting. I've just converted a LWB Crafter (the old Sprinter style, 7m long). I was worried about weight, and was very relieved that it came out at 2.860 tonnes in a similar state to yours - most of the stuff inside, but not fully finished, with no water and not much fuel. I had attempted to keep things as light a possible on the build, using 12mm ply for the floor and no framing behind the thin ply of the walls or ceiling, but had no idea what it would add up to. I think with my result it's realistic to keep it at 3.5 tonnes. It's now available for hire, so the licensing is important for that. The 3.5 tonnes is also an issue for old people like me. Having had the right to drive up to 7 tonnes all my life and never used that right, when it came to licence renewal at 70 I didn't see any point in jumping through the hoops and paying money to keep that unused right. It would have been embarrassing to build a van I couldn't drive.
@@sallydacre438 Yes, to have a licence for anything more than 3.5 tonnes you have to get an official assessment from a doctor which is typically around £100 every 3 years
@@sallydacre438 Yes, to keep your licence for more than 3.5 tonnes after 70 you need an official doctor's examination which typically costs around £100 every 3 years.
The restriction you will have, like nearly every conversion or motorhome, is available payload on the rear axle. It would have been a good idea to have had a split weight when you were on the weighbridge. Up plating is not as simple as adding the axle loads together and you will need to fit air bags on the rear to get more capacity as 2100kg simply won’t work, talk to Dee at Van Weight Engineering, who I’ve just used to up plate my Sprinter motorhome, very professional company.
@@ABusAndBeyond You’re welcome, it’s a minefield that isn’t the easiest to get your head around🥴 until it’s explained the way Dee does it. You will also need to check the load capacity of your tyres as being suitable. Dee will send you a form to fill in that gives him everything he needs to ascertain what potential increase you can get. Hope this helps you, cheers.
When I watch van builds I always cringe at the materials used. I see people fitting 18mm ply floors, my Westfalia and Autohomes both used 6mm, for example. I went on a weight shedding exercise when I took my van to be weighed, I was carrying 30kg in crap I never use. I bet if you took out all the crap you didn't need you'd shed 50kg. Why the need for 100L or 100kg of water. My Autohomes had a 60L tank. I reduced that to 30L and still had enough water for 3 days, unless you have a shower you don't need that much water. My waste tank was 50L, I reduced it to 20L, no problems. My toilet weighed nearly 30kg with the liquid, my composting toilet weighs next to nothing.
We have a 100litre water tank because we have two kids and are also installing a shower in our van. We had a 30litre tank in our California and know for a fact that wouldn’t be enough for us
Never understood why they did the XLWB in 3.5T, you get the biggest load area but less payload than a T32 T6. I guess they were going for the feather distribution industry.
Hello Have a T6 California Ocean and looking to change the tyres, have summer ones on, was looking at all weather or all terrain, then I remembered that you put AT on your T6 Cali a few years back which ones would you choose now? sorry not watched much of you new crafter build so have you changed the tyres on it yet if not any plans in the future and what what would you go for, the van is looking great.
I fell into that trap and should have weighed first but hey-ho. Also it's not so simple, you can't exceed each axel weight so when you weigh check them separately and in France at least there are 3.5 ton limits in towns. We are over 70 now and didn't bother to renew our C1, we bought a new Beach instead 😎
Interesting... What about speed restrictions etc if you are above 3.5 tonnes? And maybe also travel on to mainland Europe; there may be more restrictions there you need to watch out for. Sorry, that may sound a bit like a spoil-sport, which really was not my intention. I hope you have many, many super trips. After all that effort in building the van, you deserve it!
The speed limit situation is far less simple than you think, and 3.5 tonnes doesn't come into it. A motorhome with an unladen weight of less than 3.05 tonnes is subject to car speed limits. If you're over 3.05 tonnes unladen it's 50 on single carriageway, 60 on dual carriageway and 70 on motorway, the same as a van. But the problem is in the definition of what is a motorhome. It's not necessarily what's in the V5. And for self-builds, getting motorhome in the V5 is not straightforward. In fact it's impossible if it's not a high top, so all those Transporter pop-tops are not motorhomes!
Plenty of them are (mine was). The converters that get the body before registration, eg Westfalia, are able to register them as “Motor Caravan” (the official term) from new. The ones converted afterwards, whether by a contractor or self converted couldn’t after about 2019 when the goalposts were moved c
Good luck, you two. Your build is coming on well. Van weight and payload has been a thorny subject for years. If you up-plate, it makes the van harder to sell as the new owners have to have C1 licences, too). That is specifically why we kept our campervan bed systems light (Patented Cabbunk Twin Large only weighs 8 kg for two extra childbeds). It is certainly a minefield!
The timing of this is perfect as I was wanting to weigh my van. I’m also in South Hants - can I ask where the weigh bridge is as I’ve also had issues trying to find one!
Don’t forget it also requires appropriately rated tyres. We added VB air suspension to our 4motion and up plated from 3080 to 3400 makes a huge difference but the self levelling and ride comfort means I would always have air suspension on a camper. I doubt you will limit your market as I can’t imagine anyone has built a sub 3500kg LWB crafter based camper with enough working payload to be practical.
Building for minimum weight from the start is critical. After full build and fully loaded our van ( old shape vw crafter xxl) came in at 3.44 ton. So just scraped in with everything on board. Worth notting the L4 looses a lot of load capacity to the L3 for not a lot of added space.
Very interesting we have a Nugget Plus and there has been a lot of discussion about weight and how poor the left over weight is for ‘stuff’. This is also why it advises to travel with empty water tanks. By the time you fill it with essentials 2 adults, 1 teen and an almost teen plus the dog there really isn’t much left for bikes or paddle boards. It’s fine for us but a consideration for all vans just because there is space doesn’t mean you can fill it. You also need higher rated tyres on it too.
The kettle is just a cheap one from Amazon - www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XC1RQFV/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_F7KCSWT7E1NFEDGWH73C?linkCode=ml2&tag=californ07-21
I'm surprised a XLWB Crafter is only rated at 3500kg. Our VW Grand Cali (LWB crafter based, 6.8m long) is 3880kg, which just about matches the 3900kg on your label.
As a man of a certain age I automatically have the C1 classification on my licenece, I knew this being old lark would count for something eventually. Keep the videos coming. 👍
Hadn't been following for a wee while as new van builds not my thing. But one stand out was two kids now! Missed that one completely. Congrats and I'm back on board now.
What you’ve missed is weighing the van on a plate style weight bridge is ok it gives you an overall weight but what is more important is that if your stopped by vosa they use individual wheel plates that give you the weight of each corner and added together will tell them what your axle weights are. You will find it hard to get the weight distribution correct for both axles and remain under weight simply because most of the fixtures and fittings and clothes food water etc will be stored at the midpoint or further back in the van putting the majority of the weight over the back axle therefore potential making you overweight on that axle even though you are under your total permissible weight. To give you an example my van(coach built) is rated at 3700kg and when fully loaded for a 3 month trip and with minimal water(20ltrs) and myself my wife 2 dogs and 2 e-bikes on the towbar mounted carrier we were 3650kg but crucially our back axle weight was 25kg over the permissible 2000kg limit so we ended up taking the bikes off and traveling without them.
Quoted weights in manufacturer brochures use artistic licence or some kind of magic fairy dust components because all the vans I’ve driven have been much heavier on a weigh bridge than the quoted weight. Brochures have only half a tank of fuel if I remember correctly. When I worked as a courier my boss thought our Sprinter LWB High roof could carry over 1.5 tonnes because the brochure said so, but it was actually less than a tonne. I’d show him the real weight at certain customers (where they weighed you on entry & exit) showing the vehicle still overweight with 200 miles of diesel burnt off. To calculate your payload you have to allow for full tank of fuel, the driver and everything he/she normally carries. A physically smaller van weighs less and therefore has a higher payload, which is something you quickly learn in distribution, but some people don’t care - until they’re caught I guess.
this felt like a mattress ad with an accidental camper video inserted. Sadly not enjoying the content anywhere near as much as I used to. Your old uploads were awesome pre Crafer.
Hi would your get an another? Land Rover defender 90
If we had the space for one, we’d love to get one 👍
GET LIZZIE AN UPGRADE TOO if your all away and you have an accident NOBODY can drive home !!!
I bet there's a lot of people travelling with there van builds over weight 🫣
Only 1 God's country and that's Yorkshire
Are you guys not adding a bathroom to the van? Curious because you've got a lot of space to play with there. Congrats on getting this far.
Van in this version will always be overloaded, a smaller Grand California 680 is 3.88 tonne, and u need 2 have HGV2, You can't cheat physics :)
So from what I understand, the weight is all about your licence to drive different weight vehicles? I thought it was about safety? I believed it to be about braking etc. Please can you clarify this for me.
Advert was way too long for a 15 min video. This is becoming a big issue with multiple RUclipsrs at the moment. I get you are trying to earn but the majority of watchers get frustrated at the length of these Ads!
Totally worth it for me to sleep in a Super King bed with two kids wanting to get in with me. I’m not sorry at all 😂 the bed is so comfy!!!
Totally missed the point !
Them mattresses are way over rated
I think you are totally missing the point he was trying to make, the advert is a full THIRD of the video@@ABusAndBeyond
Yes I skipped over it because of how long it was. 30 secs max.
4 minute ad for a mattress. Poor show guys....
People wonder why £100k pre builts are fitted out with cheap lightweight materials.
I have at work a 2016 lwb hi top sprinter and it too only has a 900 kg capacity. The amount of people I speak to think that because its a 3.5 ton van that you can put 3.5 ton in the back makes my head wobble 😅
Sounds like an excuse not to take the kids on holiday - 🤣🤣🤣
😂
You missed a trick Shaun, you should have ordered the uprated front axle at 2100kgs which would have given you another 300kgs, so 4200kgs. Issue you will have is most of your weight is also going to be on that rear axle as you have the Maxi. My 2023 LWB was converted and sits at 3360kgs. It’s two berth add me wife n 100 L water is 250kgs, so van now 3610kgs. Add food clothes luggage chairs and camping gear Cadac etc that’s not much spare left….hence we have upplated to 4200kgs. Dee at Van Weight Engineering is brilliant best advice n cheaper than the other company, the other company had also told us we needed to have air suspension while Van Weight Engineering correctly said we didn’t need air. Good luck with the rest of the build but SERIOUSLY watch that weight overall and particularly on the rear axle! 👍🏻
Do you have a C1 licence?, that's needed over 3500kg as B licence is capped at 3500kg
@@ianhewlett647 I do and so does Shaun so it’s no issue for either of us.
Good to see someone like you actually considering the weight of your conversion I'm sure there are lots on the roads that don't realise there over weight 👍
Very interesting. I've just converted a LWB Crafter (the old Sprinter style, 7m long). I was worried about weight, and was very relieved that it came out at 2.860 tonnes in a similar state to yours - most of the stuff inside, but not fully finished, with no water and not much fuel. I had attempted to keep things as light a possible on the build, using 12mm ply for the floor and no framing behind the thin ply of the walls or ceiling, but had no idea what it would add up to. I think with my result it's realistic to keep it at 3.5 tonnes. It's now available for hire, so the licensing is important for that.
The 3.5 tonnes is also an issue for old people like me. Having had the right to drive up to 7 tonnes all my life and never used that right, when it came to licence renewal at 70 I didn't see any point in jumping through the hoops and paying money to keep that unused right. It would have been embarrassing to build a van I couldn't drive.
I didn't realise that at 70 this would be an issue! I thought that as long as your doctor gave you the all clear that it was business as usual.
@@sallydacre438 Yes, to have a licence for anything more than 3.5 tonnes you have to get an official assessment from a doctor which is typically around £100 every 3 years
@@sallydacre438 Yes, to keep your licence for more than 3.5 tonnes after 70 you need an official doctor's examination which typically costs around £100 every 3 years.
The restriction you will have, like nearly every conversion or motorhome, is available payload on the rear axle. It would have been a good idea to have had a split weight when you were on the weighbridge. Up plating is not as simple as adding the axle loads together and you will need to fit air bags on the rear to get more capacity as 2100kg simply won’t work, talk to Dee at Van Weight Engineering, who I’ve just used to up plate my Sprinter motorhome, very professional company.
Very interesting. I’ll look into that. Thank you
@@ABusAndBeyond You’re welcome, it’s a minefield that isn’t the easiest to get your head around🥴 until it’s explained the way Dee does it. You will also need to check the load capacity of your tyres as being suitable. Dee will send you a form to fill in that gives him everything he needs to ascertain what potential increase you can get. Hope this helps you, cheers.
Sounds like some good advice 👍
When I watch van builds I always cringe at the materials used. I see people fitting 18mm ply floors, my Westfalia and Autohomes both used 6mm, for example. I went on a weight shedding exercise when I took my van to be weighed, I was carrying 30kg in crap I never use. I bet if you took out all the crap you didn't need you'd shed 50kg. Why the need for 100L or 100kg of water. My Autohomes had a 60L tank. I reduced that to 30L and still had enough water for 3 days, unless you have a shower you don't need that much water. My waste tank was 50L, I reduced it to 20L, no problems. My toilet weighed nearly 30kg with the liquid, my composting toilet weighs next to nothing.
We have a 100litre water tank because we have two kids and are also installing a shower in our van. We had a 30litre tank in our California and know for a fact that wouldn’t be enough for us
Agreed, there was one, highly subscribed, channel that was making their bed frame and bench supports using 4x2s!
Never understood why they did the XLWB in 3.5T, you get the biggest load area but less payload than a T32 T6. I guess they were going for the feather distribution industry.
Hello
Have a T6 California Ocean and looking to change the tyres, have summer ones on, was looking at all weather or all terrain, then I remembered that you put AT on your T6 Cali a few years back which ones would you choose now? sorry not watched much of you new crafter build so have you changed the tyres on it yet if not any plans in the future and what what would you go for, the van is looking great.
I fell into that trap and should have weighed first but hey-ho. Also it's not so simple, you can't exceed each axel weight so when you weigh check them separately and in France at least there are 3.5 ton limits in towns. We are over 70 now and didn't bother to renew our C1, we bought a new Beach instead 😎
Interesting... What about speed restrictions etc if you are above 3.5 tonnes? And maybe also travel on to mainland Europe; there may be more restrictions there you need to watch out for. Sorry, that may sound a bit like a spoil-sport, which really was not my intention. I hope you have many, many super trips. After all that effort in building the van, you deserve it!
The speed limit situation is far less simple than you think, and 3.5 tonnes doesn't come into it. A motorhome with an unladen weight of less than 3.05 tonnes is subject to car speed limits. If you're over 3.05 tonnes unladen it's 50 on single carriageway, 60 on dual carriageway and 70 on motorway, the same as a van. But the problem is in the definition of what is a motorhome. It's not necessarily what's in the V5. And for self-builds, getting motorhome in the V5 is not straightforward. In fact it's impossible if it's not a high top, so all those Transporter pop-tops are not motorhomes!
Plenty of them are (mine was). The converters that get the body before registration, eg Westfalia, are able to register them as “Motor Caravan” (the official term) from new. The ones converted afterwards, whether by a contractor or self converted couldn’t after about 2019 when the goalposts were moved c
Good luck, you two. Your build is coming on well. Van weight and payload has been a thorny subject for years. If you up-plate, it makes the van harder to sell as the new owners have to have C1 licences, too). That is specifically why we kept our campervan bed systems light (Patented Cabbunk Twin Large only weighs 8 kg for two extra childbeds).
It is certainly a minefield!
You didn't get the axels weighed then? So you don't know about the weight distribution?
The timing of this is perfect as I was wanting to weigh my van. I’m also in South Hants - can I ask where the weigh bridge is as I’ve also had issues trying to find one!
I got it done at EMR in Portsmouth. They have a branch at Southampton too but they don’t allow the public to use the Southampton one.
@@ABusAndBeyond thanks!
Don’t forget it also requires appropriately rated tyres. We added VB air suspension to our 4motion and up plated from 3080 to 3400 makes a huge difference but the self levelling and ride comfort means I would always have air suspension on a camper. I doubt you will limit your market as I can’t imagine anyone has built a sub 3500kg LWB crafter based camper with enough working payload to be practical.
Building for minimum weight from the start is critical. After full build and fully loaded our van ( old shape vw crafter xxl) came in at 3.44 ton. So just scraped in with everything on board. Worth notting the L4 looses a lot of load capacity to the L3 for not a lot of added space.
Very interesting we have a Nugget Plus and there has been a lot of discussion about weight and how poor the left over weight is for ‘stuff’. This is also why it advises to travel with empty water tanks. By the time you fill it with essentials 2 adults, 1 teen and an almost teen plus the dog there really isn’t much left for bikes or paddle boards. It’s fine for us but a consideration for all vans just because there is space doesn’t mean you can fill it. You also need higher rated tyres on it too.
Had you installed your fridge before weighing the van?
Great video. Very interesting in the up-plating process, not because we need the extra payload but the reduced VED benefit 🙂
Is it just me that kept a spreadsheet of material weught??!
I did ask before, what's the low watt kettle you use? 2.9 tons surely be enough ??
The kettle is just a cheap one from Amazon - www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XC1RQFV/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_F7KCSWT7E1NFEDGWH73C?linkCode=ml2&tag=californ07-21
@@ABusAndBeyond thanks, followed your van build looking great 👍🏻
Thank you very much for watching along 👍
I'm surprised a XLWB Crafter is only rated at 3500kg. Our VW Grand Cali (LWB crafter based, 6.8m long) is 3880kg, which just about matches the 3900kg on your label.
In the UK ( and I believe most of Europe ) you need a different licence & way more restrictions / paperwork to drive a vehicle over 3500kg
As a man of a certain age I automatically have the C1 classification on my licenece, I knew this being old lark would count for something eventually. Keep the videos coming. 👍
You still wouldn’t be legal in a van which is carrying more than the 3500 kg it’s designed to safely carry
Hadn't been following for a wee while as new van builds not my thing. But one stand out was two kids now! Missed that one completely. Congrats and I'm back on board now.
Thank you very much 😊
Interesting
Sorry guys just turned off advertisement sorry
Just skipped passed it 😂
Maybe you should send them some money to pay for the hours of work it takes to make a video to entertain you.
@@PhilipTomlinson😂😂 pigs might fly