Your holiday is fast approaching, and you’ve spent some time excitedly thinking about what you want to take with you to make sure your year’s big event is not spoilt by having forgotten something. Full camping equipment? Obviously! Summer clothes, swimming gear, bikes and supplies? But of course! Plus you absolutely mustn’t forget your kayaks. And why not? There’s plenty of room for them after all. Well, plenty room, yes, but how does it impact the maximum allowed mass permitted for your motorhome?

It’s handy to know that

German Road Traffic Licensing Regulations classify “unladen weight” as the mass of the vehicle in running order. What this means in real terms is the weight of the vehicle with a 90% full fuel tank, 100% full gas and fresh water supplies plus 75 kg for the weight of the driver. “Load” is the equivalent to the motorhome’s payload. Norm DIN EN 1646-2 provides for a minimum payload of 75 kg with 10 kg luggage per seat and passenger. It also permits an additional 10 kg of luggage per metre of vehicle.

But make sure you distribute the weight of your luggage properly. The more weight in the rear of the vehicle or in the garage, the stronger the “lever effect” on the axles. The mass in running order, payloads and the number of passengers may change depending on different engines or variations in equipment and by adding optional extras. There may be permissible deviations as part of engineering tolerances.

You’ve got to be strict – do you really need to take everything with you? If you can, leave the really heavy stuff at home, or at least opt for a lightweight alternative. For example, aluminium cookware weighs less than the usual equipment, and replacing tinned goods with bagged foodstuffs works very well. While keeping everything organised is easy with handy Carado original accessories, such as the fold-away Meori boxes or multi-functional Baldacci rails. 

But what about gas? You can now use aluminium cylinders to fill up on gas, so why lug the heavy steel bottles with you? There are even more possibilities to be lightweight when it comes to fresh water. Relax, there’s loads of places to get fresh water at your destination, so don’t start your journey with a full tank. Think about whether you could replace the 35 kg spare tyre with a much lighter repair kit. Last but not least, we recommend checking your tyre pressure regularly, which you can do very simply with the E-Pressure device from MyCarado Systems, helping you to reduce your fuel consumption in the long term. 

Incidentally, the practical Carado Original accessories keep things tidy. For example, the extendable and foldable boxes for the kitchen or the side bench seat.

Start with the heavy items, which are best stored low down between the axles. This lowers the centre of gravity of the motorhome, improving driving stability. Anti-slip mats also help keep everything in place while the vehicle is in motion. 

It’s better to put drinks bottles in the underfloor storage rather than the wall cupboards. Bulky items can be easily stored in the shower or wardrobes, while the rear garage provides ample room for bikes, barbecue and camping furniture. Everything can be secured nice and tight with the lashing straps and eyes. You should also make sure that shelves and open compartments are empty before setting off, so you don’t spend the trip worrying about flying projectiles when the vehicle brakes. 

So far so good? Then all that’s left to say is have a great trip!

Here you can easily download our checklist, print it out and tick it off.