Van gvw class, question

[Zil]

Greetings old friends and new. I was away for a spell.  "The dream ain't broken, but it's walking with a limp."  My question is about a GMC Safari.  The GVW is 5950 pounds, with the payload rated as 1389 pounds.  Will a payload of less than 3/4 ton be ok for building out a van-dwelling?  Can anyone help with my question?  What was your experience?

 

[Weight]

Hey! I know you. You turned me on to this forum. The best answer I have is my tricked out Dodge B250 weighs 6100 pounds at the scrap yard scale. Batteries, solar, furniture, and box of tools. The door tag lists GVW 6400 pounds. Did you get those numbers from the door tag? Individual vehicle builds can have different ratings than the factory standard.

 

[DannyB1954]

Some people can travel the world with just a backpack, so it all depends what you want to take. Everything adds weight, so if you add say 4 lead acid batteries that would be about 244 lbs right there. Water is 8 lb per gallon so 10 gallons would be 80 lbs. A sheet of 1/2" plywood is about 40lb, https://parr.com/PDFs/PG_plywoodthickness.pdf, . I have never built anything with just one sheet. I probably have around 250lb between flooring paneling, ceiling, wood frame members, plywood, etc. Food can be heavy if you want to stock up, (especially canned goods).

After all your clothing, bedding, camping gear, personal items like computers, it is easy to reach your maximum. So yes it is doable, but you almost have to weigh everything before deciding if you want to take it or not.

 

[nlclemmensen]

Wow Danny, your post was great-- really put things into perspective.

Sent from my LG-LS777 using Tapatalk

 

[ratfink56]

Can't remember where the guy with the Astro was posting, maybe facebook. He'd been in the van for years and the pics looked like it. That thing was stuffed full! I think he hauled a motorcycle too. Never mentioned any problems with weight although I think he did use add a leaf springs in the rear. Those vans are tough and will take almost anything you throw at them.

 

[Exexpeditor]

That all depends on what you want to put in. Batteries are heavy, wood is heavy, don’t forget about how much a full tank and yourself weight as well. Personally I would want something with a much higher gvwr so I could deck it out as much as I wanted. But if you’re trying to live minimally I’m sure you’d be fine. Something else, if you already have the vehicle you could add some heavy hauling type leaf springs for added stability and go higher weight.

 

[MrNoodly]

i have a 3/4-ton Express. Judging by what I see most full time vandwellers carry with them, my load is way light. That means the suspension is a lot stiffer than I need, which makes the ride a lot harsher, particularly on unpaved roads. When it comes time to replace my van I'll go with a half-ton.

Meanwhile there are people with half-tons that are carrying a 1-ton worth of load. That's dangerous. So for the sake of safety, I guess it's better to have "too much van" than too little.

 

[Zil]

Thanks for all the information.

 

[Zil]

Update. health issues got in the way and while recovering my thought process ruled out another well used van. Despite the weight issues. I hope to hold out for a 1 ton. The old Dodge b250 has done what it can for me.

 

[Weight]

What are you doing with Dodge? How about all the equipment?