How much weight can you carry.

[LJV51]

Hello, we're looking to purchase our first used class a motorhome. Most of them are built on the Ford F53 chassis, we want something around 30 foot. The chassis has a GVWR of 18,000 pounds and a combine weight of 26,000 pounds. After adding gas, water, propane, 4 passengers and a dog, about how much more weight can you really carry in this type of motorhome. I also want to tow a 4,500 pound jeep. I realize I need to weight it once I get it but to do that I would need to purchase it first and than I'm stuck with it if it doesn't work for us, I'm just trying to get a rough idea of the cargo weight you can carry on a 18,000 GVWR f 53 chassis. And I'm guessing passengers, water, gas, propane, dog are all consider cargo.

Thank for the help.

Lynn

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by LJV51

Hello, we're looking to purchase our first used class a motorhome. Most of them are built on the Ford F53 chassis, we want something around 30 foot. The chassis has a GVWR of 18,000 pounds and a combine weight of 26,000 pounds. After adding gas, water, propane, 4 passengers and a dog, about how much more weight can you really carry in this type of motorhome. I also want to tow a 4,500 pound jeep. I realize I need to weight it once I get it but to do that I would need to purchase it first and than I'm stuck with it if it doesn't work for us, I'm just trying to get a rough idea of the cargo weight you can carry on a 18,000 GVWR f 53 chassis. And I'm guessing passengers, water, gas, propane, dog are all consider cargo.

Thank for the help.

Lynn

You are pushing it with that heavy a toad. That said there is a sticker in each coach that will state the CCC (cargo carrying capacity) which includes people water and stuff. Most dealers will allow you to weigh the coach before purchae. You want 4 corner weights. Don't forget the tow bar and any accessories you add. You don't want to exceed any weight limits GVWR, GCWR, or GAWR. For a gas coach you can expect a net CCC without water of 1500# to 2500#.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by msturtz

For a gas coach you can expect a net CCC without water of 1500# to 2500#.

Or not!! Our Dutch Star DP had a CCC of 663#'s at delivery and ALL of that was on the rear axle. The front was overweight by 50#'s if I filled the fuel and propane tanks without anything or even us aboard.
After s little discussion Newmar had us take it to Hendersons for an evaluation. They did and wrote a letter to Newmar that it was overweight and needed to be corrected. Doing so required a trip to the Spartan factory (2000+ miles one way, Newmar paid the fuel cost both ways). The OEM 12,000# axle was replaced with a 14,600# unit. While at Spartan they checked the whole rig over and said the nothing Newmar did would have changed the rear rating from 20,000 to 19,000 like on the sticker. Newmar issued us a modified vehicle weight sticker to reflect the front axle change. Spartan wouldn't even let me put it on the vehicle, they had to do it themselves.

[Gary RVRoamer]

As others have said, look at the federal weight sticker, which will be by the driver seat. All fairly recent models will show an OCCC rating, which is the max amount of occupants, gear and water weight it can carry. If an older RV, you may have to find the same info on a RVIA sticker found in a cabinet somewhere inside.

Some manufacturers use a cheaper, low capacity, chassis to keep the overall price down and this results in a minimal carrying capacity. 18,000 lb GVWR is probably going to be tight for a 30-32 foot coach unless it is a barebones model. Look for one that has the 20k or 22k chassis instead.

[LJV51]

Thank you for the feedback. I'm I correct in thinking that passengers, water, gas, propane are all considered cargo and must be deducted from the CCC?

Also I'm looking at Winnebago because I like the quality so that's all I have been considering. Is there another coach that has the Winnebago quality that I should be looking at. Were looking at a model year of 2009 to 2011.

Thank you for the help.

Lynn

[flaggship1]

Originally Posted by LJV51

Thank you for the feedback. I'm I correct in thinking that passengers, water, gas, propane are all considered cargo and must be deducted from the CCC?

Also I'm looking at Winnebago because I like the quality so that's all I have been considering. Is there another coach that has the Winnebago quality that I should be looking at. Were looking at a model year of 2009 to 2011.

Thank you for the help.

Lynn

Here's my sheet

[deandec]

Your target rig has GCWR ample rating to handle your toad of choice.

Will the hitch rating accommodate the toad?

Make your purchase contingent on a ccc to meet your needs. The seller would need to provide a certified scale ticket for this purpose. Also get separate weights for the front and rear axles to compare to their weight ratings.

You could estimate @ 700 lbs for supplies, food and clothing and dishware. 150 lbs per person based on sleeping capacity. 8 lbs/gallon for water and fuel based on tank capacity.

[flaggship1]

Whatever your looking at should have a sheet similar to the one I posted ^^^

Mine is on the inside of a kitchen cabinet door. Some are in a bedroom closet - there should be one somewhere. It is not what is posted by the driver door... if you're looking at coaches yourself - poke around. You'll find it. If your talking to dealer online / phone they may tell you they don't see one - happened to me. I found that to be a sign that the CCC didn't meet my requirements and they were being :sly:

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by LJV51

Thank you for the feedback. I'm I correct in thinking that passengers, water, gas, propane are all considered cargo and must be deducted from the CCC?

Also I'm looking at Winnebago because I like the quality so that's all I have been considering. Is there another coach that has the Winnebago quality that I should be looking at. Were looking at a model year of 2009 to 2011.

Thank you for the help.

Lynn

Here's the sticker on the driver's side wall of a 2011 Itasca (Winnebago) Class A. This F53 chassis is GVWR of 22K and GCWR of 26K. As you can see, the allowable "cargo plus occupants" limit is 4174 lbs.

That's a lot of stuff so we never come close to that limit. Weighed on a truck scale my total weight is 19,500 lbs.

Everything that you load into or onto an empty coach is considered cargo including dealer installed options.

[IdahoSRT10]

Originally Posted by LJV51

Hello, we're looking to purchase our first used class a motorhome. Most of them are built on the Ford F53 chassis, we want something around 30 foot. The chassis has a GVWR of 18,000 pounds and a combine weight of 26,000 pounds. After adding gas, water, propane, 4 passengers and a dog, about how much more weight can you really carry in this type of motorhome. I also want to tow a 4,500 pound jeep. I realize I need to weight it once I get it but to do that I would need to purchase it first and than I'm stuck with it if it doesn't work for us, I'm just trying to get a rough idea of the cargo weight you can carry on a 18,000 GVWR f 53 chassis. And I'm guessing passengers, water, gas, propane, dog are all consider cargo.

Thank for the help.

Lynn

Our MH closely fits your description. The Cargo capacity is 2,883# CW 23,000#, 31' long.

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Or not!! Our Dutch Star DP had a CCC of 663#'s at delivery and ALL of that was on the rear axle. The front was overweight by 50#'s if I filled the fuel and propane tanks without anything or even us aboard.
After s little discussion Newmar had us take it to Hendersons for an evaluation. They did and wrote a letter to Newmar that it was overweight and needed to be corrected. Doing so required a trip to the Spartan factory (2000+ miles one way, Newmar paid the fuel cost both ways). The OEM 12,000# axle was replaced with a 14,600# unit. While at Spartan they checked the whole rig over and said the nothing Newmar did would have changed the rear rating from 20,000 to 19,000 like on the sticker. Newmar issued us a modified vehicle weight sticker to reflect the front axle change. Spartan wouldn't even let me put it on the vehicle, they had to do it themselves.

Excellent catch! I was looking at a Ghost 36' Motorhome on an international 19.5k chassis. I asked the salesman what the shipping weight was. He didn't know. I insisted he check. When he finally replied they discovered that the CCC was less than 500#. This means you couldn't even put water in it. They were trying to save money by using a light medium duty chassis. He didn't have axle weights either. I think that they were overloaded on the rear axle.

[vincee]

OP, remember most RV'ers don't drive around with a full water tank, only a few gallons at 8# per to have on hand for road stops. Of course this changes if you are heading out to dry camp. Also your holding tanks should start out empty too. You can also empty your hot water tank if you so desire to save weight. My guess is with a combined weight of 26K# you should be ok if the rig weight is around 14-15K#.

[Mike and Cha]

You should be good based on the CCC label you posted. But don't buy something where you have to be as trivial as watching out how much water you can carry or having to empty the hot water heater to be within limits. And they are out there, we looked at several where the CCC was only 1500 lbs or less. We ended up getting the MH/floorplan we wanted but got an upgraded chassis for additional weight capacity even though most likely we will never come close to maxing it out(ours is about 5400 lbs CCC). I think yours was in the 4100lbs range, which should leave you with about 2000 lbs for additional "stuff". That would be in addition to all your fuel, and holding tanks full, with 4 averaged sized adults.

[msturtz]

Originally Posted by vincee

OP, remember most RV'ers don't drive around with a full water tank, only a few gallons at 8# per to have on hand for road stops. Of course this changes if you are heading out to dry camp. Also your holding tanks should start out empty too. You can also empty your hot water tank if you so desire to save weight. My guess is with a combined weight of 26K# you should be ok if the rig weight is around 14-15K#.

It depends on the way the person RVs. In our case we go on vacations where we don't stay at RV parks. We are on the road for up to a week traveling. We pull into rest areas to fill up water and dump tanks. This means we are traveling with full water, propane and fuel. We frequently travel in areas without many services. If we are just traveling directly to a destination RV park with full hook ups then we don't worry about full tanks so much. Our first motorhome only had a 31 gallon water tank, the gray and black tanks were "reasonable" but still small for the 5 of us. Our new rig has 109 gallons of fresh water capacity. This will help a lot! I asked the dealer to weigh the coach with all tanks filled to capacity including the grey, black and fresh. I wanted to know what my CCC would be with full tanks. The unit we have has sufficient CCC even with full tanks. If I am towing the Tahoe we will have to reduce the amount of water we carry to stay under the GCWR.