Rapido 7090 or similar - feedback wanted

[Brian Kirby]

Rather late now, but Mel B made all the right points earlier. 

You have a 2.3 litre, so my guess is that it will be on the 3,500, possibly 3,700Kg, chassis.  The quoted unladen weight is 3080Kg +/- 5%.  Being a pessimist, I'd work on the +5% basis, until I knew better (weighbridge!).

That would give a maximum ULW of 3,234Kg so, if the chassis is 3,500Kg (and I sincerely hope it is not!), you have only, 260Kg payload.  Even at 3,700Kg you would only have 460Kg - and this makes no allowance for the weights of any options, such as awnings, if fitted.

Do please, if you have not already done this, check the plated MAM and, unless it is on the 4,250Kg chassis, imperatively, get it weighed pronto.

[penny56]

Hello Again,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my thread.

Hi JudgeMental; we did try the reversing when we test drove 'Mavis' (Mavis-the-Motorhome!!!) and it seemed fine, so fingers crossed she'll be okay if we are ever in the nightmare situation you describe. We took her to Snowdonia and some of the roads there were VERY scary and definately not designed for motorhomes - still it was a huge learning curve!

Hi Brian; yes thanks we had picked up on the weight issue and took it to a weighbridge on the test drive, it was a surprising 3320kg with 1/4 tank diesel, no water in the tank & both Hubby & I sitting in it. The chassis had been partly up-rated to 3700kg by the previous owners but the process had not been completed and so was not legal. We took advice from SVTech (as advised through this forum) and they were excellent, we have now up-rated Mavis (legally) to 3850kg which should give us adequate payload (?) When she's next fully laden we will take another trip to the weighbridge.

Thanks very much once again xxx

[Brian Kirby]

Penny

Did SV Tech actually change, or add, anything in the process of uprating to 3,850Kg, or have they merely plated the vehicle to the maximum permissible loads for front, and rear, axles?  If they have made useful modifications, then the loads now permitted on the front, and rear, axles will total more than 3,850Kg.  I await your response, but I have a nasty feeling you may just have discovered why the van was sold so quickly by its original owner! 

Your van has a substantial rear overhang, so it would be in the rear axle loading that I would expect any problem to emerge, so check this especially carefully in the fully laden condition.  When you weigh it fully laden, do not scale back on items such as fresh water to keep the load down, it should be laden as you will use it in reality, with all food, equipment, and possible passengers, on board.

May I add that, from what you say above about the failure of the original owner to complete his uprating process properly, the van, as you bought it, will have had a legal MAM of only 3,500Kg, and an unladen weight somewhere over 3320Kg.  This gives a working payload of only 180Kg without, say, 100Kg of water, 23Kg for gas (assuming one 13Kg cylinder) and another 50Kg of fuel to fill the fuel tank.  To this must be added food, drink, clothing, toiletries, towels etc etc!

I don't know where you may now stand after the re-plating exercise, but I think you may, immediately after purchase, have had grounds to return the van to the dealer, and demand your money back, as what he had sold you clearly cannot be used as a motorhome.  Ours is only 6 metres long, but we manage to add 500Kg of contents, and I reckon we are pretty conservative in what we take.  For a van the size of yours, I would think around 700Kg would be a realistic payload.