Seven Berth Self Converted Camper | Final Weight

Is this self-converter camper overweight? From Budget Travel Family, thanks for joining us this week. We're here to try and debunk some of the myths that we've had on the social media over the last few weeks regarding the weight of our van for seven people that we've been around Europe in. So we're going to go now to our local weighbridge and get it weighed. Follow us. Let's go. So we've arrived at the weighbridge. They've told us we have to drive around to the back where there's a big massive metal plate. So if you haven't been to a weighbridge before, it's a huge metal plate on the floor and you have to drive the vehicle onto it. And then it reads, it's basically reads your weight. It's a huge scale that we get to drive on. So Kim's looking a little bit nervous to be fair. So at the weighbridge, this van is obviously, we're going to put it on the weigh scales over there. But we basically pay £10. You could bring your camper van, your van down here. Not many people know about them. They don't advertise it. So ultimately you're going to drive onto this big metal plate and then they'll read the weight of you, whatever's in the vehicle, and then give you a printout, which basically tells you the weight of the whole vehicle. So hopefully it's under three and a half tonnes. Otherwise we've been driving around with it, not, you know, uh, in the correct manner. We did have it weighed, um, when, before we'd put it all together, we'd put everything in the back. And when the seats were fitted, we had it all weighed with the seven kids and we were under, but obviously we've had stuff in the boot now, um, there's stuff everywhere in the back of it. So, you know, the water tank's full. We've got the diesel in there full. So if you follow us on other social media platforms, you will be aware that before we went round Europe, we had this van weighed in, fully loaded with all of us in, and obviously with everything we needed for our five week trip round Europe. We came in underweight as we knew we would. This video is just to show the negative Nigels that all jumped on it saying it wasn't true. That this is correct. And obviously to let people know it can be done. You're a large family underweight. Sorry. 3-1-2-0. Go around the front and see if that works. That's perfect. Thank you so much. 3-1-2-0. We're under. 3-1-2-0. We're under. So we've just been on the weight scales. It was 3-1-2-0, um, which, you know, is, is, is good. Um, obviously we haven't got the kids in with us today. We're going to add that on to the final score, but we will be under the three and a half ton. So, uh, all the negative comments up there in your face. We were 3-1-2-0 kilograms. So basically we need to go home. The kids aren't with us today. So we're going to weigh all the kids. That's with full tank. That's with our water in and all our worldly possessions. We do travel light. We have been so conscientious through the build to have all the materials really lightweight. All our plywood on the side has been three mil, which everyone's like, don't use three mil, but we needed to keep the weight down so much. We've had the weight conscious, conscientious of this so much that we just, it was a bit of an obsession at the time because everyone was saying, you will not get that van under three and a half ton with seven people, a dog, your water. We only carry 50 liters of water. We don't carry a hundred liter tank. We were aware that with a full tank of fuel, obviously a full tank of fuel, I think is between 80 and 90 kilograms. So we have to factor that in and we have kept it as light as possible. Hence where we are. We do. Yep. So we also have a kayak and a paddle board in our garage. So it's, you know, we, we, we, uh, we are fully loaded in our with clothing. We don't take loads of clothes. We don't have to, you know, a massive amount of stuff we take with us. We take the essentials. We just take a lot of children. Yeah. A lot of children and a dog. So that's the difference there. So as what we'll do is we'll add it all up and we'll give you the final total, but I will be damned. It will be under three and a half tons. So all the haters out there, you know, who you are in your face. This is for you. So as you've seen, we've just done the final weighing of all the kids, the van weighed three, one, two, zero. So all the kids together combined weight, I'm just going to check my paper. They came to 198 kilograms. So we'll just go for argument's sake, 200 kilos, add that onto three, one, two, zero. You're coming out with three, three, two, zero. So obviously there's still wiggle room there under the 3.5 ton. I just like to say that it is possible to have one of these extra long wheelbase, extra high roof camper conversions to keep them under weight. A lot of people will talk about, you can't do it. It's about doing your research, using the right materials on the build. Cause obviously if you're using a really thick wood or heavy material, you're going to be overweight. We didn't have that luxury because we had five children and a dog. So obviously we've got to fit in the extra seats that obviously come at the weight. So we had to cut our way back in other areas. Hence why do your homework. It is possible. There's a lot of people that tell you it isn't, we've proved it wrong. So obviously if you stuck around the whole of the end of this video, give us a comment and you know, and let us know that you've stayed to the end. Give us a thumbs up. We appreciate you watching us and we'll have another video for you next week.