Overloaded Campers
An article by Julia Hartman
It's a fine line between being prepared and being overloaded. If it is shown that being overloaded contributed to the accident, your insurance company may not pay the claim. When you think about the amount of money invested in your vehicle it just isn't worth it!
The G.V.M. (Gross Vehicle Mass) is on the registration papers. This is the maximum amount your vehicle can weigh all up. Take your fully loaded vehicle to a weigh bridge and see what it really weighs. If that is not possible, have a look at the TARE on the registration papers and consider what you have added, don't forget passengers and fuel. My pantry alone is nearly 100kg. Water weighs 1kg per litre, a suit case full of clothes or tool kit is about 30 to 40kgs. How the weight is distributed throughout the van also effects how safe it is.
The solution could be an extra axle increasing your GVM by around 1 tonne or a trailer depending on your configuration. When I found out just how much I was over, I needed both!
I did already have an extra axle but it was not good enough to increase the GVM much beyond the additional weight it added. A lazy axle can turn a Landcruiser or Patrol Station Wagon into dual cab or stretch the passenger area to provide another row of seats. A lazy axle not only makes it possible to increase the length of the vehicle but also improves the handling and stability without increasing the turning circle. There are no driveline modifications so your vehicle warranty is not affected.
The trailer turned out to be the best decision ever. Not just for the extra carrying capacity and ease of access but because I could leave it behind for small adventures.
The trailer is custom built for the vehicle with identical tyres and axle width. It is easy to tow and I now have as many spares as I have tyres on the main vehicle. No it didn't cost me a fortune to have all this custom built. Many engineers hit hard for one-off constructions but Six Wheeler Conversions in Dalby Queensland specialise in unique items, so they have a team that are prepared to think outside the square. There wasn't one problem I was experiencing that they could not find a solution for, right down to the extra leverage because I am too week to pull on the trailer hand-brake. Things that I thought I was just going to have to live with like the poor braking of the original vehicle were just not on.
The trip to Dalby was well worth the effort. Travelling through mile after mile of wheat fields, soaking in the wide open spaces and feeling very proud of the work ethic and ingenuity that has put Australia ahead of most countries in just a couple of hundred years, made me realise that it is places like Dalby where you'll find the real answers, not in a city factory.
Don't rattle your brain for a solution to your vehicle problems. Go to Dalby, 200 kms. west of Brisbane, and let them take a weight off your mind.
Yes, Julia is bogged!!!!
Julia is the founder of the accounting firm BANTACS and is currently experiencing a working holiday along the East Coast fruit picking and giving free workshops on how to take a working holiday and claim it against your tax.
Kym note: Six Wheeler
Conversions are at
3 Owen St East
Dably Q 4405
07 4662 5424