MORE than half the caravans weighed by a Queensland business were
overweight, shocking new figures
have revealed.
Weightcheck Mobile Caravan Weighing founder Dave Lewis told Caravanning
News that owners seemed to be "turning a blind eye" to the problem.
During the last 14 months his Brisbane company has
completed over 350 weigh-ins.
And some frightening statistics have
emerged off the back of the weighings, with 62 percent of caravans and 31
percent of tow vehicles being over their weight compliance limit.
"Bear in mind we are only weighing caravans and vehicles of owners who are
concerned enough to have their weights checked," Mr Lewis
pointed out.
"There is probably twice that number turning a blind eye to the fact."
He stressed that the towball mass (TBM) of a caravan was a very serious
issue and the measurement needed to be taken in the correct way.
"With many caravaners having their own towball scales these days, I have
found that the readings the owners are doing themselves are not always
correct when they are compared with the measurements we are taking during
our caravan ATM reports," Mr Lewis said.
"I recently put a post on our
Facebook
page about the correct way to do it, by taking the measurement
with the tow hitch at the same height as that
when the caravan is attached to the car.
"It is most important that the TBM is measured at this height,
and I have a lot of data to reflect what the variations are when it is not
done this way."
