I last weighed the Sprinter in June of 2008. I thought I better do it again and since it is all loaded, fuel, oil, water, propane (yes, I topped it off), fire wood etc. for this weekend today was the day. I even had Presley, the dog, loaded for a accurate weight.

I suspected I would have “weight creep” where little by little you add things to the must carry list and eventually you pick up a couple of hundred poounds. I went to the same scale that weighed me last time with the same person still working there. I was surprised at the outcome.

I did not have much of a change which is great. I have 910 pounds to play with for driver/navigator, more stuff in the fridge, extra water, extra fuel, chains, etc. Need to carry more? Another great reason for me to loose some weight!

Tire pressure is usually a subject that everyone agrees to disagree on but I confused on this one. I have posted this in the SMB forum and in the Sprinter-source forum. Since the #1 cause of tire failure is low air pressure we can’t take this lightly.

This is the manufacturer’s label . . .

and I don’t know whose label (Sportsmobile?) this is but the difference is major.

The tires maximum capacity is 3049 pounds at pressure 80psi.

The GVWR in 8550 pounds with the GAWR Front 3970 and the GAWR Rear 5360. I am not over these but I am within about 200 pounds.

Higher pressure will help my mileage but a stiffer ride on these trashed freeways in California will be bone crunching. (I have hit some holes that the rear axle comes entirely off the road.)

BTW, if the rear seating capacity is 0 as it reads on the second photo, why do I have 4 seatbelts in the rear?

After loading almost all of our gear and full of water and propane, I decided to see how much room for weight (which means “stuff”) we had.

I remember The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. For anyone into RVs and especially for those who are thinking a getting a travel trailer, this movie is a must see. In the movie Lucy collects rocks. Not pebbles or stones but the size of bowling balls and larger. Desi asks her to throw them away before they have to go over the steep mountain and of course, she doesn’t.

I don’t want us to end up like Desi and Lucy – I think they went down the mountain backwards for a ways – so weight considerations were always part of the design. It is also a popular opinion shared by many RVers that most RVs are over-loaded. This is because some never do the math or don’t want to as they know, deep down in the gray water system, they are over loaded.

I filled up with diesel (for the first time) and headed for the scales. The GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) on the 2008 Sprinter 2500 is 8,550 pounds. The bus weighed in at 7,100 pounds. Front and rear axles also came in well below gross weight. So, “hmmmm, carry the one, times refrigerator’s weight squared, minus temperature compensation . . . “  We have room for 1450 pounds of rocks, food, clothes and ourselves.

Looks like we’ll make it over that steep mountain pass.