How Many Pounds of Stuff do You Carry?

[Mike and Carol]

1 hour ago, SeaDawg said:

Actually,  it would be interesting to start a new thread,  like "how many pounds of stuff do you carry."

We'd be lower than some, higher than others, I'm sure. (Though we like to consider ourselves minimalists. 🤣) pretty sure the mobile garage guys with 2500s would be waaaay higher .

The longer we camp, the less we take. Winnow out the excess at the end of season each year.

Sherry, good idea.  It would be interesting to see what folks pack and why they carry what they do.  We’ve been paring down what we take.  Some of it depends on how we’re going to camp, hook ups or no hook ups, will we need the generator or not?  We’ve increased our tow vehicle from a Tacoma to a half ton to a 3/4 ton, but haven’t really increased our cargo… in fact we’ve probably decreased what we bring.  Mike

[SeaDawg]

Tomorrow,  if we get time, I'm going to try to add up wrights of items we carry. I'm doubting we're over 700 pounds in the bed, unless we haul the atv. We'll see.

Can't promise on tomorrow . Its likely a busy day,  but, I'll try. 

And, thanks for starting an interesting thread 

[Mike and Carol]

11 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Tomorrow,  if we get time, I'm going to try to add up wrights of items we carry. I'm doubting we're over 700 pounds in the bed, unless we haul the atv. We'll see.

Can't promise on tomorrow . Its likely a busy day,  but, I'll try. 

And, thanks for starting an interesting thread 

I may do the same since we just got back from our trip and all our stuff is in the middle of the garage floor after cleaning.

Thanks to you - it was a great idea!

[Galway Girl]

We are constantly changing what we carry depending upon the trip.

Since we're preparing for a 9 month road trip,  I thought I would take a moment to categorize the items we have to carry and put it into an XLS and share that with the forum.

Here's the OVERVIEW total weight of what is in the truck bed.
If you want to see what makes up that weight...the XLS is attached listing details like Bikes, Generator, Camp Chairs, etc.

The full xls is attached which lists all the items and their individual weights.

We plan on  scrubbing the contents before we start our 9 month road trip.

truck manifest.xlsx

[topgun2]

GG - 

Interesting list of items - thanks for posting it and for the spredsheet.  Both the list of items and their weights should come in handy for a number of people.

Bill

[BackofBeyond]

WOW - you are going make this hurt. Will round up and estimate high :

Truck:

Bikes -1                       26 

Tools -                         40

Clam and mats          50

Miscellaneous           70

Chairs/tables             35

Gen set / fuel             56

Full ARB                      70

Webber                       10

Kayak and gear          60

Water bottled             20

Water bulk                 100

Cap                            250

Bed mat/box            100

People                       320

Dog                              85

#   1616 payload - including fuel and DEF  ( 350  = full tank and DEF)  Not including the trailer hitch weight ~ 600 =/- so you could say ~ 2200 for payload total in truck 

Trailer      ~5800 last Cat scale  Probably closer to 6300 with full H2O and  2 month trip load. Full 2 - 30 lbs.  propane, 2 bikes,  rear rack. food/clothes/kitchen sink

Truck was approx  7200 half tank, empty bed, 

So Payload =1616, trailer =  6300, truck  = 7000

 After a big breakfast just round up max 15,000 pounds at start. (note - water is not full, bulk water not full until AZ)  

This represents our most likely heaviest total load -  I would guess the week or less trips one could subtract 1K.

RB

 

 

 

[rideandfly]

I have not weighted items transported in Ollie, but interested in keeping Ollie's total weight low.  We are minimalist taking only what's needed for each trip.

Weighed our LE2 Ollie May 20 on the way home from a camping trip. Ready to camp weight is 4940 pounds with empty water tanks except for full 6 gallon hot water heater, this keeps Ollie under TV recommended WDH weight. We do not have factory installed solar panels. One thing done increasing overall weight was installation of 11" memory foam mattresses.  For weight reductions installed one 100AH BattleBorn lithium battery, only use two 1 gallon LP gas tanks (last 2 years), and moved Ollie's spare tire to the pickup truck bed.  Load refrigerator & closet to keep Ollie's tongue weight at 10% for trailer stability. Just installed new Cooper LT Discoverer HT3 commercial tires that weigh 37 pounds each, believe most new Ollies have this type of tire. When camping without shore-power, keep a gen-set & suitcase solar panel in the TV not affecting Ollie's weight. One 1 gallon LP bottle will run the refrigerator and lightly used cook top for 4 days, can lift a full 1 gallon LP bottle with 3 fingers. Use the gen-set for power to water heater when without shore-power.

[SeaDawg]

6 minutes ago, rideandfly said:

Ready to camp weight is 4940 pounds with empty water tanks except for full 6 gallon hot water heater

You really put your Ollie on a diet. That's approaching weight of a bloated Elite I.

[rideandfly]

3 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

You really put your Ollie on a diet. That's approaching weight of a bloated Elite I.

Guess two 5200 pound axles and Commercial tires might be a little overkill on a 4940 pound trailer! 🙂

[John E Davies]

3 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Guess two 5200 pound axles and Commercial tires might be a little overkill on a 4940 pound trailer! 🙂

? Unless he upgraded them to install disks, the LE2 has always had 3500 pound axles, to the best of my knowledge. I don't know the actual bare axle weights, but the brake parts and hubs alone are 44 pounds heavier (all four) for the big axles. I am sure the bigger axles are quite a bit heavier, maybe add another 20 pounds for two of those. Overkill indeed.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[rideandfly]

3 hours ago, John E Davies said:

? Unless he upgraded them to install disks, the LE2 has always had 3500 pound axles, to the best of my knowledge. I don't know the actual bare axle weights, but the brake parts and hubs alone are 44 pounds heavier (all four) for the big axles. I am sure the bigger axles are quite a bit heavier, maybe add another 20 pounds for two of those. Overkill indeed.

John Davies

Spokane WA

John,

Oliver ran out of 3500 pound axles during construction of our LE2. They installed LE1 5200 pound axles on our LE2 and very few others.

Been reading your thread about brakes.

 

[John E Davies]

39 minutes ago, rideandfly said:

John,

Oliver ran out of 3500 pound axles during construction of our LE2. They installed LE1 5200 pound axles on our LE2 and very few others.

Been reading your thread about brakes.

 

LOL, that is interesting information, thanks. I updated this thread with some weight numbers.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5542-has-anyone-considered-down-sizing-the-le2-wheels-and-tires-to-15”-with-5-on-45”-lug-bolt-pattern/?tab=comments#comment-58171

I don't think I would get rid of a perfectly good pair of big axles, since putting disks onto them would be plug and play with the factory wheels, but they are definitely heavier.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SeaDawg]

I keep posting our weight from 2009ish. But, we've also done a bit of "dieting", when I think about it .

Compressor fridge shaved probably 90 pounds, perhaps more, over the heavy three way. Took out the microwave, but added a drawer and a cabinet door, so probably net 25 loss there .

New ac is at least 50 pounds lighter than the old.

Girard instantaneous water heater probably a bit lighter than old standard heater, but no longer carry 48 pounds of water in the heater tank. 

New pv panels are bigger, but close to the same weight as the old ones, when I've lifted them. A few pounds more for second controller for the portable pv system. Probably  net equal there.

One of these days, I should weigh it again. We should be down by  over 200 pounds. Maybe more, since I  purged a lot of excess "stuff" that we were carrying in the trailer. 

I'm really interested in the results of ridenfly's experience with one 100 ah lithium battery . Since we could actually access most of that 100 ah with lithium,  and faster charging, as opposed to my conservative limits on our two 105 ah agms, I think we might be quite happy with one lithium battery. 

We've camped 23 or 24  days so far this spring, no hookups, and ran the genset once, when we got below 70 per cent capacity available. 

As far as payload, still trying to figure out our weights. It varies so much.

2 light chairs. One aluminum table. Us. 9 pound dog, 20 pounds of stuff for the dog.. 

Drinking water is our biggest weight hog.  Each five gallon jug is 40 pounds, and we carry two or three most trips. 

 

 

[rideandfly]

8 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

I keep posting our weight from 2009ish. But, we've also done a bit of "dieting", when I think about it .

Compressor fridge shaved probably 90 pounds, perhaps more, over the heavy three way. Took out the microwave, but added a drawer and a cabinet door, so probably net 25 loss there .

New ac is at least 50 pounds lighter than the old.

Girard instantaneous water heater probably a bit lighter than old standard heater, but no longer carry 48 pounds of water in the heater tank. 

New pv panels are bigger, but close to the same weight as the old ones, when I've lifted them. A few pounds more for second controller for the portable pv system. Probably  net equal there.

One of these days, I should weigh it again. We should be down by  over 200 pounds. Maybe more, since I  purged a lot of excess "stuff" that we were carrying in the trailer. 

I'm really interested in the results of ridenfly's experience with one 100 ah lithium battery . Since we could actually access most of that 100 ah with lithium,  and faster charging, as opposed to my conservative limits on our two 105 ah agms, I think we might be quite happy with one lithium battery.

Wow, that's impressive weight savings by replacing refrigerator, ac, and water heater.

Thought we would be testing the single BattleBorn 100AH lithium later this week at Mt. Pisgah on the Blue Ridges Parkway, but looks like it will be June before camping somewhere without shore-power.

[John E Davies]

4 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Thought we would be testing the single BattleBorn 100AH lithium later this week at Mt. Pisgah on the Blue Ridges Parkway, but looks like it will be June before camping somewhere without shore-power.

There is no reason you can’t test it, just don’t plug in. You don’t need shore power as long as you don’t require the AC. I never plug in unless I am forced to by excessive heat or low batteries.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SeaDawg]

4 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Wow, that's impressive weight savings by replacing refrigerator, ac, and water heater.

It was a bonus. I wouldn't have done it just to shave weight,  though. Both the original fridge and water heater were inoperable and required replacement.  The ac was on its last legs, and was in the way when we wanted to adjust our new larger solar panels. 

It is probably something to keep in mind, though, when we replace items. That, and power consumption. 

[Mike and Carol]

4 hours ago, rideandfly said:

Thought we would be testing the single BattleBorn 100AH lithium later this week at Mt. Pisgah on the Blue Ridges Parkway, but looks like it will be June before camping somewhere without shore-power.

I replaced my four old AGM’s with two BattleBorns in January.  We just returned from our second long trip with them and I’m pretty happy with their performance.  Even running the furnace at night, using lights, water pump, charging our devices, etc we never got below 80% by morning.  Our solar generally had them back up near 100% by noon.  I think you’ll be happy with yours.  Mike

[rideandfly]

5 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

It is probably something to keep in mind, though, when we replace items. That, and power consumption. 

Yep, was wondering about power consumption with appliance changes! 👍

[rideandfly]

4 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

I replaced my four old AGM’s with two BattleBorns in January.  We just returned from our second long trip with them and I’m pretty happy with their performance.  Even running the furnace at night, using lights, water pump, charging our devices, etc we never got below 80% by morning.  Our solar generally had them back up near 100% by noon.  I think you’ll be happy with yours.  Mike

Looking forward to camping and testing one Lithium battery!

[Trainman]

We are what I would call minimalist campers, that is we carry only what we are going to use where we are going camping. Things like a Clam, bicycles, extra chairs, small extra heater, fans, are all items that are either taken with us, or not depending where we camp.  We have other camping friends that take everything every time and much of it is never unloaded and used. It's just like spare parts, you can get carried away on this, I personally just take tools to handle most repairs and if something goes bad I just go to town and purchase what is needed to make temporary repairs, or a complete repair. We do not Boondock, so for those who do I can see you might carry more stuff, but it's not for us.

 

trainman 

[Boudicca908]

On 5/19/2021 at 10:18 AM, Galway Girl said:

The full xls is attached which lists all the items and their individual weights.

Greatly appreciated and very useful for this novice -- thank you for sharing the file. 

[Trainman]

Wow, some take everything they own with them, wouldn't it be easier just to stay home. We are minimalist when we camp, so for the time being we have not really missed much and it we just need it the second, or third time we go the Walmart. If it takes us longer them 30 mins. to setup and take down a campsite we got too much stuff.

trainman

[Steph and Dud B]

Interesting thread. Back when we got our fifth wheel, I weighed every single thing we put in it and it came to about 700 pounds, not including clothes and food. The truck bed was mostly empty except for the hitch and generator when we dry-camped. Now we're considering what we will trim down in the Ollie and what will have to go in the truck. Galway Girl's spreadsheet is very helpful.