So, what is with a weight reduction program on a brand new motor home? Well, one of the common misconceptions out there is that these Mercedes Sprinter based Class C motor homes have an excess of load carrying capacity. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Regardless of what a sales person will tell you, these Sprinter based Class Cs are not all that capable as soon as you add a passenger or two. In fact, even with just the two of you up front, your load capacity very quickly drops to zero as soon as you put on water and “load’r up” with what you thought were the essentials. Unlike a Class B, which very quickly runs out of space to store things long before you get close to being overweight, a Sprinter based Class C runs out of weight capability long before you have got it filled up.

Using our View 24J as an example with weight measured in pounds, here is what I mean:

Item Weight (lbs) Comment
Factory UVM - Unloaded Vehicle Mass - The weight as it gets delivered to you 9835 This is the weight out of the factory - No water, full vehicle gas and oil, empty propane, none of your personal belongings on board, and you and your friends not on board.
Full fresh water 308 37 US gallons of water on the 24J
Full Propane 42 This is 80% of the tank volume, per regulations
4 Crew - 154 lbs each 612 154 lbs each - Winnebago might be a bit conservative here…
Total 10,797 This does not yet include any gear. Or groceries, or clothes…
     
GVWR - Max weight allowed for a Sprinter 11,030 Yes, that’s right. This is the absolute maximum weight that the Sprinter (our View) is allowed to weigh in at, EVER
Cargo Carrying Capacity? (11,030 minus 10,797) 233 This is the magic “stuff” number you have to stay under to not exceed the Sprinter’s maximum weight. Remember you don’t have any gear, groceries, or clothing on board yet. (What does your tool bag weigh? A case of beer?)

Two hundred and thirty three pounds? Yes, I’m serious. This is one of the reasons some Sprinter based Class C manufacturers don’t put any passenger seat belts on board, or provide a spare tire! As soon as you add passengers the numbers get pretty dismal, don’t they? If we go out to another part of the continent to meet up with our kids, we’d each get to go touring with a backpack and a brown bag lunch. No fun.

What happens if you leave the campsite with your black and grey tanks nearly full, with plans to dump when you get to your next destination? These numbers above do not take into account this scenario - you’ve got nearly 600 lbs of waste water not factored into the equation! (We’ve taken to touring with the freshwater tank maximum 1/3 full, to get us through the day on the road, to help us compensate for residual grey and black water on board when we don’t feel like dumping everyday.) Here is a scary number - with fresh, black, and grey tanks close to full, you’ve got nearly 900 lbs on the rear end of your motorhome!

We’ve had some salespeople actually tell us that the View has over 4,000 pounds of cargo carrying capacity. In doing so, they were hoping that we didn’t know the difference between the Gross Combination Weight Rating and the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. That second rating, the GVWR, is that maximum Sprinter number up above – 11,030 pounds. That first rating, the GCWR, is that maximum weight of the Sprinter (11,030 pounds) and the weight of something you are towing behind. Your maximum loaded Sprinter and whatever you are towing behind cannot go over the GCWR. For our 24J, that number is about 15,250 pounds. But, you still can’t go over 11030 pounds on the View portion of that combination, including the tongue weight of whatever you are towing. Again, the GCWR is a very big number, but is starts with a maximum weight of the View itself of 11,030 pounds.

James from the FitRV has a great writeup on this topic about Class Cs built on the Sprinter chassis and their weight limitations:

The FitRV weights explanation

So, back to a weight reduction program. Is there anything on the View that we don’t need, something that we would be carrying around with no use? It turns out that there might be:

  1. Lithium Battery Upgrade – Replace the Lead Acid batteries with Lithium and save about 50 lbs?
  2. Rear Stabilizer Removal – We have never used these
  3. Remove the two TVs? – Well, maybe one TV…
  4. Remove the ladder to the front bunk?
  5. Remove the Sprinter cab booster seats? – Not required
  6. How about those Ottomans? – They look good, but will we use them?
  7. Remove the Onan Genset? Do we dare? That would save 172 pounds!

So far, here is where we have saved a bit of weight:

Lithium batteries - saved 53 lbs

Cab cushions, ottoman removal, bedroom TV, and ladder - saved 36 lbs

Rear stabilizers - saved 40 lbs

All of that adds up to 129 pounds… so that’s a big child, huge dog, or small adult…

I’m getting closer to my 200 pounds weight savings goal, but not there yet. More to come, hopefully…


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