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 Topic: Weight of Freedom Caravans
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08/3/2013 at 9:08am
Location: Yorkshire Dales
Outfit: Freedom Sunseeker & Mondeo 2.0 TDCi
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My wife and I recently purchased a Freedom Sunseeker Caravan from the UK dealership in Stafford. This was advertised with an unladen weight of 650kg and payload margin of 100kg.
When I sought clarification as to whether the unladen weight included the spare wheel, I was told that the caravan’s weight, including the spare wheel, would in fact be 620kg. This dealership obtained this information from the manufacturer.
I have since weighed the caravan at my local public weighbridge, and discovered that it actually weighs 660kg despite having no bathroom or heating systems. The caravan is plated at 750kg; hence its true payload margin is therefore 90kg.
When trying to fathom the discrepancy I noticed that the user manual says that accessory equipment must be considered as payload. It then indicates that such ‘accessories’ include the fridge, hot water system, heating system, bathroom equipment, blinds, and step. In my case it would seem that fridge is partly to blame.
This makes suspect that Jetstream models, which are based upon the same body/chassis as my caravan, but contain many more ‘accessories’ must have a very limited payload margin, and certainly not the 100kg as advertised.
I can easily imagine a buyer of a well specified model adding a 30kg leisure battery, a 10kg bottle of gas, a 5kg hook-up cable, some bedding, and a few other essentials, to find themselves unwittingly exceeding the MTPLM without realising it. Drivers limited to towing 750kg could unsuspectingly end up breaking the law in respect of endorsable licensing offences as well as weight offences.
I would be interested to hear the experiences of other caravaners and in particular other Freedom owners. Do many members know what their caravan actually weighs?
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30/7/2013 at 8:05am
Location: Yorkshire Dales
Outfit: Freedom Sunseeker & Mondeo 2.0 TDCi
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Quote: I found that with just the gas bottle, spare wheel and battery, plus the motor mover the van weighed in at 747kg so got freedom to upgrade the chassis to 850kg (£75 charge for a sticker)
I feel that Freedom Caravans are somewhat disingenuous with their advertising.
The Sunseeker continues to be advertised as weighing 650kg (although mine proved to be heavier).
The Jetstream 1st Class has the same body and chassis as mine, but contains the following additional equipment...
Gas Hot Water System, Truma Gas Room Heater, Electric Flush Cassette Toilet, Shower, Shower Tray, Tip-Up Sink, and External Water Pick-Up.
These additional items must add further weight, but Freedom Caravans advertise the better specified model as also weighing 650kg. This appears to be impossible.
The internet had cautioned me to be careful when dealing with Freedom Caravans, so before finalizing my purchase I pointed them towards what I had read and asked them to confirm the precise weight of the caravan I was buying.
They initially responded by telling me they were going to weigh the caravan, but for some reason they changed their mind and elected to give me the figure they obtained from the manufacturer instead.
This raised my suspicions so I weighed the caravan immediately after getting it home and found it weighed considerably more than Freedom had told me it would.
I immediately complained to Freedom and insisted that they issued me with a 850kg replacement plate without any cost to myself, which they did.
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