A Weighty Problem

[MrJan]

Probably a lonshot but does anyone know the rough weight of an unladen, 2 axle car trailer that is just about long enough to fit a Caterham type thing on? My driving license will let me tow as long as combined load and vehicle weight are less than 3.5 tonnes. The tow vehicle is a VW camper van (on a G plate) but I have no idea when it comes to guessing weight, all I know is that the car to be towed weighs 0.5 tonnes, I'm just hoping someone else has enough of an idea to know whether I'l need to do the trailer test or if it'll be okay.

Cheers (although I expect this thread to plummet) :D

[GridGirl]

Well I would have thought the owners manual will tell you the weight of the car your going to tow with and the trailer should have its weight written on it somewhere or would come with information telling you its weight as we don't all have weighbridges to work this kind of thing out. :p

Do you actually have/own the trailer?

[Mark]

How heavy is the camper van?

[jim mcglinchey]

In my learned opinion the trailer would way somewhere between 500 and 750 kg so you should be well under the 3.5 tonne limit.

[MrJan]

Haven't got a clue about the camper van. Sadly as it's a conversion I don't think there will be any info on that either.

As for the trailer we do own it but it's abit old and has just been de-rusted and re-painted so any markings are probably gone by now but will definately check :up:

To be honest the rules regarding these things are always bloody confusing and it all depends on one weight being something but another being something else.

[Mark]

Why not just take it to a weighbridge and find out?

[MrJan]

Cos I can't drive it :p : ;)

Seriously though that might be what we end up doing :up:

[Hazell B]

Jim's 500kg plus is about right.
I too have had to check weights and mess about with a calculator many times thanks to extremely complicated UK laws for drivers who passed their test. All of our twin axel trailers (except the newest one) have been either a two horse trailer or cut down versions of one, the lightest being a tad under 500kg and the heaviest almost 800kg. Remeber you should probably also look at the wet weight of your vehicle, not the dry one when working out, plus add in any tackle in the vehicle and passengers. It's actually really easy to go over the legal weight - as an example I was so close with one horse and the trailer that if I carried the saddle and rugs in the Land Rover I was legal and if it went in the trailer I wasn't :mark:

Not that anyone ever gets prosecuted, even the police and DVLA can't work it all out :s

[MrJan]

Cool. Looks like I'll have to take the test now because I've re-read the info and I think that although car, trailer and load have to be under 3500kg the trailer and load must also be under 750kg. It's stupidly confusing really like most things in the UK. I've also had to look at getting a license from the MSA and that is equally difficult to understand.

Cheers for the help though, now I just have to save up for the bloody training and test, oh and remember how to drive like a good little boy :rolleyes: :D