Monday, July 11, 2011

Our first test run.

We moved our house! It was a very strange feeling to be driving down the road in what is essentially our home. Exciting too.

Steve is working out the payload of each of our trailers so it was necessary to actually run the Prowler (the kids house) over the weigh scale in Parksville. We weighed the tongue also. And the motorhome for good measure while we were there.

It turns out that the motorhome was a bit back axle heavy probably due to the weight from the trailer on the hitch.

The bad news was that after all the weighing and figuring were done it turns out that the cargo capacity for the Prowler is only 150 lbs. That's not much! Even if we strip out cupboards and appliances and all the tanks are empty we can likely only gain another 800 lbs max. So we'd be pulling a 5000 lb trailer that actually only had 950 lbs of belongings in it. Hmmmm.

The little trailer currently used as the office is a single axle and we'd prefer to pull a double but given the fact we already own it and it's lighter, being about 700lbs, maybe we'll take that. We don't know the weight ratingof it's axle and it's not marked. But trailer tires can usually support weights of around 1600 lbs each depending on size, then theoretically that should mean we can support 3000lbs give or take minus the 700 lb trailer weight for a payload of 2300 lbs. I'll check with Steve once he wakes up, but I'm pretty sure that's what it means. Even if we add some sleeping space above the trailer, or a roof cargo carrier and an extensionon the back for the animal carriers, we'll still have 2000lbs of space. Now that's not as much as it sounds but it's surely better than pulling a great big trailer and only having 900 lbs of stuff in it.

Maybe we'll be making another last minute decision to sell the Prowler and possible just pull the work trailer. Or maybe we'll build another small trailer and pull it behind the van. I think the van is rated for 1000lbs so it would need to be a very small trailer or tent trailer but might give some usable space without adversely affecting the gas mileage. Another thing to think about. We'll have to decide today because as of tomorrow the boys and Steve are gone to young men's camp for 4 days.

I did manage to get a couple of pictures of Steve driving and the motorhome at the scale. Post them later.

One bad thing, Jordan's new netbook somehow got a smashed screen so he's very sad and without any computer now. He's accepting responsibility for it though, he didn't pack it away properly. Poor guy. Unfortunately I'll have to let him suffer so he learns his lesson. But I'm hoping we'll be able to figure something out for him.

Off now to cook some bacon that needs using up. Best Wishes! Elizabeth

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