Weight limits

[Hes]

Hi everyone we are new to both motorhome and this blog.
We are thinking of purchasing a new florium 75lmf a class.
With the extras included IE awning etc it leaves a payload of around 465kg. My question is would this be sufficient for a retired couple with 2 electric bikes (44kg) and an inflatable kayak at 19kg.
We are looking to tour Europe and are thinking that this may be easier with a MH rather than our caravan.
Also have any of you knowledgeable people have any experience of the florium manufacturer?
Thanks in advance of any advice.
Steve and maz

 

[Funkyflower]

Hi everyone we are new to both motorhome and this blog.
We are thinking of purchasing a new florium 75lmf a class.
With the extras included IE awning etc it leaves a payload of around 465kg. My question is would this be sufficient for a retired couple with 2 electric bikes (44kg) and an inflatable kayak at 19kg.
We are looking to tour Europe and are thinking that this may be easier with a MH rather than our caravan.
Also have any of you knowledgeable people have any experience of the florium manufacturer?
Thanks in advance of any advice.
Steve and maz

Hi, yes we downsized and brought a 2018 Florium LMC65. Nice to look at but awkward to live with long term. Build quality only average with poor manufacturers PDI with irritating faults.
Previous MH was 2017 Pilote Galaxy which was much better overall.

 

[Minxy]

when I up plated mine through SVtech the kit cost ~£450, fitting ~£200 and new rear tyres £200. no change to insurance price and a much better ride as well as piece of mind. if you have a C1 it's a no brainer

Trouble is with an Alko chassis you can't fit any of the standard kits hence the much higher cost.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

A rookie question but I assume the weight on the logbook is the one to go off?
Mine says 3500 on logbook & Hymer plate on body but also 3650 on Fiat plate under bonnet & 3850 on Alko plate under bonnet!

 

[enark]

Hi, many manufacturers try to market them at 3500kg and under due to the licence limitations of those that passed their test from 1997. However most vehicles are upgradeable by about 10% without any physical modification, SV Tech are one such enabler, costs about £300, benefit is your annual vehicle tax drops to about £165, so that pays for itself in a couple of years, and allows you to be road legal with additional weight.

it May reduce the resale opportunities, as some drivers may not have the licence category to drive it, this also kicks in at 70 years of age, as you then need a medical to continue with over 3500kgs..but can be down graded back to 3500kgs to if required for sale…..also I understand the government are consulting on reverting to 7500kgs for all B test drivers? What the outcome will be is unclear att.

enjoy

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[enark]

A rookie question but I assume the weight on the logbook is the one to go off?
Mine says 3500 on logbook & Hymer plate on body but also 3650 on Fiat plate under bonnet & 3850 on Alko plate under bonnet!

The feller at SV Tech explained that to me, yes you have to go off the log book, but the former plate must remain on the vehicle. Mine now has 3…..

also make sure the log book says the correct weight in both columns…

 

[Lenny HB]

A rookie question but I assume the weight on the logbook is the one to go off?
Mine says 3500 on logbook & Hymer plate on body but also 3650 on Fiat plate under bonnet & 3850 on Alko plate under bonnet!

Last plate fitted takes supercedes the other plates, in your case it will be the Hymer plate.

 

[mikeg40]

A rookie question but I assume the weight on the logbook is the one to go off?
Mine says 3500 on logbook & Hymer plate on body but also 3650 on Fiat plate under bonnet & 3850 on Alko plate under bonnet!

the Fiat plate is for the chassis but builders plat/logbook one is the legal one. I beleive the fuel tank is restricted too to keep weight down

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

the Fiat plate is for the chassis but builders plat/logbook one is the legal one. I beleive the fuel tank is restricted too to keep weight down

I don't think the fuel tank is restricted - I put over £140 in August at Sainsbury's & it wasn't on empty then

 

[Lenny HB]

I don't think the fuel tank is restricted - I put over £140 in August at Sainsbury's & it wasn't on empty then

Swift & Autotrail often fit 50 or 60 t tanks, Hymer fit 90 Lt.

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[Minxy]

I don't think the fuel tank is restricted - I put over £140 in August at Sainsbury's & it wasn't on empty then

That's roughly 75 litres so unless you've got a hole in your tank it's at least a 90 litre one.

 

[Old Gibber]

My A Class is 6.4M and is a whisker under 3500Kg fully loaded. Anyone who tells you that a motorhome over 6.5M can run at 3500Kg speaks with forked tongue.

Really? The last motorhome I had was 7m with a large garage, and fully loaded for a long holiday (including 2 electric bikes, and a full tank of water) it came in at just a tad under 3.5t. It all depends on how much unnecessary junk one calls necessary.

 

[TheLifeofBrian]

That's roughly 75 litres so unless you've got a hole in your tank it's at least a 90 litre one.

I thought there was a hole when I was filling it up

 

[Lenny HB]

Really? The last motorhome I had was 7m with a large garage, and fully loaded for a long holiday (including 2 electric bikes, and a full tank of water) it came in at just a tad under 3.5t. It all depends on how much unnecessary junk one calls necessary.

Depends on the brand, Hymer nearly always spot on with weight, Carthago nearly always 130kg over (cyberyacht has a Carthago). Also the size of the water tank. Our last van was a 7.2m Hymer I uprated it as it had a piddly little 100 Lt water tank so I had to carry 2x 20Lt containers of water in the garage.
A good rule of thumb is anything over 7m can't be run at 3.5t.

 

[Peregrinator]

Hi everyone we are new to both motorhome and this blog.
We are thinking of purchasing a new florium 75lmf a class.
With the extras included IE awning etc it leaves a payload of around 465kg. My question is would this be sufficient for a retired couple with 2 electric bikes (44kg) and an inflatable kayak at 19kg.
We are looking to tour Europe and are thinking that this may be easier with a MH rather than our caravan.
Also have any of you knowledgeable people have any experience of the florium manufacturer?
Thanks in advance of any advice.
Steve and maz

I have a similar MH, we were 20Kgs over, and we didn't even have cutlery, clothes, food or the bikes, there was a full tank of water & half tank of waste water, I uprated using SvTech Ltd, it is very easy just a paper exercise no more, we uprated to 3700kgs, and when weighed on weighbridge fully laden, although we were under, was not by much, so decided to uprate it again, I installed rear Air Suspension, which was very easy to do myself and ask SvTech Ltd to do new plate for 3850Kgs, they just ask for photo of Air Suspension, and supplied said plate free of charge, the web address below, Air Suspension makes the drive better plus don't bottom out when using certain ferries if rear is lifted, Hope you have a great time, and enjoy it to the full.

Motor Homes

Congratulations! You’ve made the first step in knowing how to operate your motorhome legally. Whether that’s to increase the carrying capacity due to limited weight or reduce the design weight due to licence restrictions, we can help you. The main reasons people use our motorhome services are...

www.svtech.co.uk

P.S.
The quoted weight for your MH does not include an oven & only one Gas bottle.

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[Badknee]

I’m going to stick my neck out here and say 80% + of motorhomes are probably overweight, come on let’s be honest.
Dealers who sell a 6 berth Motorhome @ 3.5t to a family should be strung up.

We’re on a site in Spain and the stuff that the Germans around us are carrying is astonishing. Scooter, full awning, domestic 230v full size fridge, outside cooker, outside 230v oven and most of them are the same. 3500kg? Yeh right

 

[busby]

Swift & Autotrail often fit 50 or 60 t tanks, Hymer fit 90 Lt.

They know you Hymer owners have lots of money,,BUSBY.

 

[Shropshire lad]

No you're not worrying about nothing, it's an important thing to bear in mind and could affect how you use the MH, what you can take with you, how much 'concern' it will cause you. As it's on the Alko chassis you could put semi air suspension on the rear but it would cost at least £2,000 plus the uprating fee (around £180) so not a cheap option and you'd still likely have to compromise somewhere. We have a 6.41m A-class which is a 'light-weight' construction but comes in at 3083kg not including extras fitted, we had the semi-air on the rear and uprated to 3850kg as we knew 3500kg with a payload of 417kg wasn't sufficient. There are 2 of us (100kg and 74kg) and 3 dogs (20kg total) but once we add in the fitted accessories (awning, extra battery, extra gas bottle, TV etc) plus our gear (e-bikes, inflatable kayak, chairs, tables etc). Of the 3850kg we probably have about 100kg to spare overall in touring trim as we travel with a full 150L water tank, so if you take that off, it means we travel around 3600kg minimum with no water, something we never do. ... with a longer MH it's not just how much payload capacity you have where you need it - a good chunk of the spare capacity will be on the front and no the rear which is where it is usually needed - unless you fit semi-air you will still only have rear axle capacity of 2,000kg, we went to 2240kg with it.

Had rear air fitted recently at a cost of £1000 from A S Suspension. Updated my 6.9m Motorhome to 4000kg. Totally agree with comments re dealer who sell vehicles whose actual weight is way higher than specified.

 

[Kiters74]

I recently had our rear suspension upgraded to air also replated to 3850kg had this done after going on a weight bridge after loading for our 2week trip only to find We only had 55kg spare? that was with no water in and only one 6kg gas bottle, I believe if most of M.homers went on a weigh-bridge they will be over weight !

 

[mikeg40]

I don't think the fuel tank is restricted - I put over £140 in August at Sainsbury's & it wasn't on empty then

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/ducato-fuel-tank-size-increase.262727/ mine is 60 litre

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[GrahamnSue]

We recently bought a 3500kg Florium Wincester 65 LMC due to previous driving licence problems.
We took it to a weighbridge with full diesel, full 2 x13kg refillable gas bottles, 20% water, garage fully loaded, but no clothes and it weighed 220kg under the permissable weight which I thought was quite good for an all fibreglass motor home.

I really can't imagine any A class motorhome over 6.5 metres being suitable to run at 3500kg.

Although we have only been away four times up to now, the quality and usability have really impressed us (but everybody is different).
The only thing we would change at the moment is the table, to give us more space in the front (usual problem with continental motorhomes).
Not at all impressed with the Fiat part, but previously been used to twin turbo Iveco with ZF gearbox and Cummins engined motorhomes.

Unless you have driving licence issues you should be looking at motorhomes weighing probably 4250kg (just my opinion of course).

 

[Lenny HB]

They know you Hymer owners have lots of money,,BUSBY.

Nope, spent it all on the Motorhome.

 

[DerryW]

when I up plated mine through SVtech the kit cost ~£450, fitting ~£200 and new rear tyres £200. no change to insurance price and a much better ride as well as piece of mind. if you have a C1 it's a no brainer

Mikeg40. It will cost an awful lot more than you suggest, upgrading, it's on an Alco chassis. I believe more in the region of £2.5k

 

[Towat101]

One option maybe to consider a small box trailer to carry some of the heavier items, the train weight is much higher than 3500kg.

 

[enark]

when I up plated mine through SVtech the kit cost ~£450, fitting ~£200 and new rear tyres £200. no change to insurance price and a much better ride as well as piece of mind. if you have a C1 it's a no brainer

I updated from 3500 to 3850 and the cost was £260 + VAT. Just paperwork….i then almost instantly received a cheque from the DVLA for £105 to rebate the reduced tax….PHGV..

just depends on your present chassis and tyres, and how much additional payload you want, an extra 350 kgs was more than sufficient for my needs….

also it prevents the kids borrowing the MH (at present?)

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[Minxy]

The uprating paperwork can be done for about half the cost via Van Weight Engineering which is who a lot of funsters now use rather than SVTech.

 

[suavecarve]

The uprating paperwork can be done for about half the cost via Van Weight Engineering which is who a lot of funsters now use rather than SVTech.

Another VWE user.
They do exactly the same for half the price,

They have enabled me to bring 60 litres (illegally) extra of wine back for the savings I made and the extra weight attained.

I like VWE !

 

[Minxy]

Another VWE user.
They do exactly the same for half the price,

They have enabled me to bring 60 litres (illegally) extra of wine back for the savings I made and the extra weight attained.

I like VWE !

Oooooo ... you naughty boy ... especially being employed in the 'business' you are!

 

[suavecarve]

Oooooo ... you naughty boy ... especially being employed in the 'business' you were!

Adjusted for accuracy,

 

[enark]

Another VWE user.
They do exactly the same for half the price,

They have enabled me to bring 60 litres (illegally) extra of wine back for the savings I made and the extra weight attained.

I like VWE !

VWE quoted £230, and SV tech £260, but recommendations swung it, either way it pays for itself in a couple of years.

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[VXman]

Make an enquiry to https://www.vanweightengineering.com They will give you free advice on what weights you can achieve on you vehicle as it is and what you can do to increase you allowed weight.