Yes, I’m a little obsessive about weighing. Not because I think I’m over- mostly because I’m curious and this is like a new toy/game for me.
I’ve now weighed my camper in 3 different states:
- At the start of the season– fairly minimal for what we typically run with
- At the middle of the season and just prior to a 3-week trip (with an extra adult, at that)– this is the heaviest that we’ll likely ever be
- Completely empty & awaiting a trip back to the factory- this is as close to the day we brought her home as realistically possible
hat third one is what I want to talk about. I weighed with my fresh and hot water tanks completely empty, waste tanks as empty as they get (just a couple of gallons of water + chemicals) and all storage, cabinets, drawers, etc. completely empty. Here’s what I found:
- Dry weight:
- Advertised dry weight: 11,840 lbs.
- Yellow sticker dry weight: 12,239 lbs.
- Actual weighed dry weight: 12,440 lbs.
- Dry pin/hitch weight:
- Advertised dry pin/hitch weight: 1,825 lbs. (15.4%)
- Actual weighed dry pin/hitch weight: 1,840 lbs. (14.8%)
- And now, reality:
- My camper’s weight: 13,860 – 14,820 lbs.
- My pin/hitch weight: 2,300 – 2,540 lbs. (16.6% – 17.1%)
All told, the advertising was fairly close to my real “dry” weights. The discrepancy between the advertised dry weight and the yellow sticker weight would likely be the upgrades that we bought on the camper (solid surface counters, electric stabilizer jacks, sofa in-place of a bunk, etc.). I think 400 pounds can be accounted for pretty easily.
I’m impressed that the yellow sticker is so close to accurate. It’s 200 pounds different- but I don’t know if they include full propane in their estimate and, of course, I’m carrying a little bit of water in each black tank. I think it’s close enough for government work.
The dry hitch weights shock me- they’re almost identical. If I had to guess, it would have to be due to the extra weight in the bunkhouse (airbed/sofa vs. bed) and water back in those waste water tanks (there are 2 tanks behind the axles). You can see that the percentage of hitch weight actually decreases in my empty camper.
And then the reality weights need the caveat that this is my reality. My wife and I are known to pack heavy.
