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November 2018
 

 


Weighbridge at Gundagai Tourist Park

Initiative helps travellers stay within the law

Park weighs in to ensure caravan safety on road

By Dennis Amor
Have your say

CARAVANNERS using a NSW caravan park have had a great weight lifted off their minds.

Gundagai Tourist Park, just off the Hume Highway midway between Sydney and Melbourne, has installed a caravan weighbridge to help them check their rigs are not overweight.

And the new facility has been welcomed by travellers who have taken to Facebook to praise the initiative, dubbing it "innovative" and "a great idea".

."You have broken the ice ... maybe other parks might follow your idea," wrote Paul Apps.

And Kevin Smith cmmented: "Well done Gundagai Tourist Park! Setting this up wouldn't be cheap. This is such a big safety issue."

The park's Duncan Grady told Caravanning News: "We see a lot of large 'vans come through our park every day, and more often than not they are kitted out with post delivery extras that all add to their weight.

"People are retro fitting extra gas bottles, increased water storage, bike racks, solar panels and awnings just to name a few."

Mr Duncan said the idea of installing a fully functional weighbridge was sparked by one of the park's directors who noticed an increase in compliance and policing of caravans on the road, including roadside weight checks.

"Following some discussion and research we thought it would be a great safety offer to our guests," he explained.


'It needs to be affordable, accurate, self-serve and relatively quick'


"After nearly a year of researching various scales and weighbridges we came up the final installation plan. It needed to be affordable, accurate, self-serve and relatively quick to operate."

Mr Duncan said another consideration was to ensure caravans could be easily navigated on to the weighbridge.

"We didn’t want it to involve any reversing or difficult manoeuvres to access the scales," he pointed out.

The weighbridge is located on the park's exit driveway so that rigs can be weighed on the way out, thus ensuring owners get a true idea of their actual travelling weight.

Mr Duncan said the ideal time to weigh a caravan was when it was on the road.

"There is not much point in weighing when your 'van is not loaded with all your usual travelling gear," he explained.

"It is also important to note there are several weight factors to consider when towing a 'van.

"These can include your vehicle's overall towing capacity, your tow bar's rating and your caravan's rating

"The scales are designed to enable our customers to measure their car's weight, towball down weight and the total weight of their caravan."

The weighbridge is for exclusive use of park guests and costs $28 which includes a full spec list.

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