It sounds ideal, load your camper to the brim and hop out into the wide world. But such a camper van also has limits, too heavily loaded on a trip will be fined. The Dutch Kamper Club (NKC) therefore held a camper weighing moment at De Maaspoort in Den Bosch on Saturday, so that holidaymakers can weigh their camper before they travel. About forty percent turned out to be too heavily loaded.
“You are seventy kilos overweight. If you get out it’s fine, but that’s a bit difficult because then you don’t drive anymore,” said one of the NKC volunteers to Henk van der Steen (67). He travels to the North Cape but still has to leave some things at home.
“We have to be a bit overweight and be able to travel without trammelt,” says Henk. Together with his wife Ine (69), he is going to find out what they leave at home. That will probably be a whole load of water. The couple can go as they please: “I know when I’m leaving, but I don’t know when I’m coming back.”
Driving with a motorhome that is too heavy is dangerous, because the braking distance becomes a lot longer. It is also not good for the tires, explains volunteer Henk Baars. “Overloading the vehicle is never a good thing. It’s about awareness, you have to know what such a camper weighs and what it weighs when you go out loaded.”
You also run the risk of a hefty fine and you have to leave things behind if it turns out that you are overloaded.
That will not happen to Joke Laning, she has just 300 kilos left. “We are going to Southern Norway, about five weeks. A little wandering and walking. We used to have a heavier camper, but this one is a lot lighter. Now it turns out that I can throw in a lot more, I wouldn’t know what!”
Dethmer Schuitema (67) from Den Bosch actually still has 150 kilos to lose, but he is not traveling to Norway but to Scotland. “Yes, this is disappointing. The televisions and the dish go out. There is no water in it yet, so that will be added. I am waiting for the advice of the motorhome club, because I have to arrange something.”
This also applies to Jelle Post (37). He was advised to leave his wife and children at home, because he has 210 kilos too much with him. “I would like to have them there, so I’m going to see what I can do.”
