A NOTE ABOUT GCWR: GROSS COMBINED WEIGHT RATING

Donna's comment on my prior post about weights brought up a couple more weight ratings that I didn't mention, trying to keep it simple - which it isn't! When you are SHOPPING for a rig, the CCC that I described is very important to know. Once you have made your purchase, you also will want to know:

GCWR is the Gross Combined Weight Rating, the total allowable weight of the motorhome plus tow car (and dolly or trailer, if you choose to use one). It is based on the manufacturer's specifications, and we found ours on the Spartan Chassis website.

Scoopy is built on a Spartan Mountain Master Chassis and has a 350 HP engine. While our GVWR is 31,000, our GCWR is 10,000 pounds more than that - which means we can tow up to 10,000 pounds of car, trailer, boat, whatever. Once you determine what you CAN tow, you need to match your tow hitch to the weight of your towed vehicle - in other words, make sure the hitch is rated to tow the desired vehicle.

Besides the GVWR, there are limits for each axle. On Scoopy, the front axle weight limit is 12,000 pounds; the back axle weight limit is 19,000 pounds (two tires per side, there). A label specifying these weights, along with the size and air pressure requirements for the tires, is posted in Scoopy just back of the driver's seat.

Donna also wondered how we avoid the surprise of an insubstantial bridge on some little back road.

When we are in unfamiliar territory, we often stay on designated truck routes, where a sign like this one is much more common than the "5 Ton Weight Limit" sign I included in my prior post. Trucks deliver goods everywhere, and most towns have designated routes that bypass problem areas, including small bridges, narrow lanes, residential areas, low overpasses, overhanging trees, etc.

Which brings up another consideration: Once you find and buy your rig, be sure you know its height! Write it down on a piece of tape and post it where it can be clearly seen by the driver. Overpasses under 15 feet or so (maybe 16?) have to be posted with the exact height. The first time you encounter an overpass that says 13', you are really going to wish you remembered exactly how much space you need to safely pass under!

Scoopy needs 13 feet, 1 inch to escape a low overpass unscathed. Even when the height is clearly posted at 13'6", we find ourselves scrunched down in our seats, eyes squeezed almost shut. It is particularly scary when you notice the scrapes and gouges on the leading edge of an overpass, made by those unlucky vehicles that either didn't know their height or didn't realize it mattered.

We have never had to turn around due to a bridge weight rating or a low overpass BECAUSE WE KEEP AN EYE OUT for warning signs. We HAVE taken a different route when a sign warned of an upcoming 12'6" overpass. Be sure you know your height!

BUYING AN RV: GVWR AND ITS COUSINS... GRRRRRR!

GVWR, UVW, SCWR, CCC… UGH and GRRR. Taking our self-imposed cram course in Buying an RV in 2002, these acronyms made my head spin.

Don’t overlook them. These numbers are important, both for your safety and for your maintenance and repair budget. Ignore them at your peril - no kidding!

Every motorhome, new or used, will have a sticker similar to this one somewhere in the rig. Ours is on the inside of a cabinet door in the bedroom. If you can’t find it, make the salesperson show it to you (or ask the current owner if you are buying from a private party). Don't take the salesperson's word for it, and don't trust what is printed in a glossy brochure. Find and study this sticker.
The two most important numbers here are the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and the Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC).

Start with the GVWR. You know the signs posted on bridges showing the bridge weight limit? The signs you blithely ignore cruising in your car? You can’t ignore them in your RV! You will be in a vehicle that might weigh 10 TONS, or MORE.

The GVWR is the maximum allowable weight of the fully loaded rig. This means EVERYTHING! Fuel (diesel or gas, and propane). A full tank of fresh water and anything in the gray and black water tanks. You. All your food, and personal belonging, and clothes. Books. Tools. The weight of the hitch on the back. Your pets. EVERYTHING!

You CAN go over this weight - you will have the space, and no one will stop you. If you do, every part of your rig will be stressed: axles, wheels, tires. Brakes. Suspension. The engine. This will cost you, perhaps in repair and maintenance, perhaps in safety - likely, both. You really don’t want to go there, so know the GVWR and pay attention.

The next number you want to understand is the CCC, the Cargo Carrying Capacity. This is how much “stuff” you will be able to haul around with you.

To figure out the CCC, subtract these things from the GVWR:

The UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) - the weight of the unit as built at the factory, with full fuel tanks, engine oil and coolants. This is the weight of a “stock” rig - no options have been added by the dealer, and it includes only the fluids required to power/move the rig.

The weight rating sticker will show the size of your fresh water tank in gallons. (In the photo, you can see that I wrote 100 in black marker - our rig was modified to hold 100 gallons of fresh water rather than 85, so we adjust accordingly.) That number, multiplied by 8.3 pounds (the weight of a gallon of water), is subtracted from the GVWR.

The sticker also shows the size of your propane tank, and the weight of a full tank. Again, subtracted from the GVWR

The SCWR (Sleeping Capacity Weight Rating) is the manufacturer–designated number of sleeping positions (in our case, 2) multiplied by 154 lbs. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!! Do you weight 154 pounds or less? I don't, and neither does Odel. Two individuals weighing 154 pounds or less… hmmm. That could be my 5' 2" mother and my skinny teenaged nephew. We’ve seen travelers with DOGS that weight more than 154 pounds.

So, the GVWR minus the weight of the “stock” rig, the fresh water, the propane, the small/slender/fit individuals that will be sleeping in the rig…

That leaves the official CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity). The weight of everything you add to or carry in the rig needs to be stay within this number.

Have a chest-style refrigerator/freezer in your basement? That’s about 90 pounds. How about a stacking washer and dryer? Pushing 250 pounds. Does your rig have sliding trays in the bay? Add the weight of those.

Your books. Lawn chairs and outdoor tables. BBQ grill. Golf clubs. Computer and printer. Your pots and pans, crockery, all the canned goods you have in the pantry, and the beer in the refrigerator. Your clothes and shoes. Your files, and magazines. Maybe you're planning on solar power... what will your solar panels weigh? What are your hobbies, and how much does all that stuff weigh? Do you have a heavy, multi-drawer tool chest? And… do you weigh more than 154 pounds?

This is how Scoopy stacks up:
GVWR: 31,000 lbs.
Less UVW: 25,000 lbs.
Less 100 Gallons Fresh Water x 8.3 lbs/gallon: 830 lbs.
Less 18.8 Gallons Propane x 4.5 lbs/gallon: 85 lbs.
Less SCWR (2 x 154 lbs.): 308.Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC) - 4,777 lbs.

That seems like a lot, doesn’t it? And it is. A large CCC was high on our priority list.

We have weighed our rig three times, twice on truck scales and once to weigh the actual weight on each wheel/axle position. We weigh in around 1000 pounds under our GVWR when we are fully loaded - and by that, I mean we are on our way to a boondocking rally and have just fueled up. We'll have the full fuel tank and all our usual “stuff”, plus 100 gallons of fresh water in the tank (we normally travel with it about 1/3 full) and 4 or 5 gallons in bottles, two refrigerators (yes, we have a large chest refrigerator in the basement) packed with food and beverages, the freezer crammed with goodies. Extra wine is stashed under the bed, along with canned goods and grains. Our gray and black water tanks are empty (which could add another 800 pounds if they were full).

We have the chest refrigerator, the stacking washer and dryer and the sliding trays in the basement that I mentioned. Those are all options, not included in the UVW. They add up to around 500 pounds. That means that all our stuff, all Luna’s stuff (and 13 pounds of cat), and our excess “personal” weight adds over 3,000 pounds - and we don’t have any hobbies that require heavy equipment.

The take-away message here: Before you fall in love with a rig, take a peek at the Motorhome Weight Information sticker. It can be a shocking eye-opener.

A NORMAL SLICE OF LIFE IN SACRAMENTO

Nope, this isn't our current site - this is Salt Creek County Park on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington in September of 2004. It was deserted, and lovely, and captures so well what makes fulltiming great.

We're still in Sacramento, living the normal lives of temporarily anchored nomads. We are halfway through our stay, which means that most of the "chores" are done and we have filled the calendar with fun... too busy to blog!

On Saturday, we did one last big chore: visited the Verizon store for our "Free Every Two Years" upgrade to new phones and a new aircard. Of course, they aren't REALLY free - we had to pay taxes on the "full amount" of the phones, which is an absurdly high list price that no one EVER pays. And then, we had to send in rebate forms, a process guaranteed to make you tear your hair out.

At Costco, if you get a rebate on a product, Costco simply deducts it from the price of the item. At Verizon, you walk out with a 3 1/2 foot long cash register tape - one for EACH item - that includes 2 feet of small type detailing the requirements for requesting the rebate. Pay attention, because you have to be 100% correct to have a crack at actually receiving the rebate.

Each rebate request has to be sent in a separate envelope. Each rebate request needs to be accompanied by the the original UPC code from the box. Each rebate request has to be signed in blood (that matches your blood type).

You've seen the Verizon commercials, where each Verizon customer has a crowd of Verizon support personnel following them around, 24/7? How come one of those people can't FILL OUT THE REBATE FORMS???

So, a lot of our time recently has been spent learning our new phones. We also upgraded our aircard to the USB 760, which has the Verizon Access Manager software built in... nice! Our internet speeds are WAY faster than with our old card. Eventually my satisfaction with the new aircard will overcome Rebate Angst, but that wound is still fresh.

Here is another great photo from our early travels - Crater Lake in Oregon. Can you tell my thoughts are turning to the Pacific Northwest?