On The Road; Motor Home Loading; Carrying Capacity - Fleetwood Coronado Owner's Manual

MOTOR HOME LOADING
Your motor home chassis is designed to carry a certain
maximum load. This load includes everything: the weight
of the empty motor home itself, all occupants and their
belongings, fuel, fresh water, waste water and anything
else that may be in or attached to the motor home.
The maximum load for which the motor home is de-
signed is called the GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT RAT-
ING (GVWR). Modifications to your motor home, i.e.,
changing tires or spring load capacities, will not in any
way increase the GVWR.
Another critical weight factor is the GROSS AXLE
WEIGHT RATING (GAWR). This is the maximum weight
a specific axle is designed to carry. Each axle has its own
GAWR. The GAWR's do not necessarily add up to the
GVWR.
The GVWR and the GAWR for your motor home are
shown on the certification tag posted on the driver's door
or in the driver's compartment.
WARNING
DO NOT EXCEED THE RATED LOAD OF
>';
THE MOTOR HOME, OR THE RATED LOAD
OF ANY AXLE. EXCEEDING THE GVWR OR
GAWR OF YOUR MOTOR HOME WILL RE-
DUCE YOUR WARRANTY PROTECTION,
CAN CAUSE UNDESIRABLE HANDLING
CHARACTERISTICS AND MAY CREATE A
SAFETY HAZARD.
In addition to knowing the overall weight that can be
safely loaded in or attached to the motor home, you must
know how to distribute the weight so that correct amounts
of weight are placed on the axles. The allowable carrying
capacity of the motor home is found by weighing the
motor home empty, and subtracting this weight from the
GVWR.
7
ON THE ROAD
Carrying Capacity
During the design and development of Fleetwood motor
homes, the number and size of storage compartments,
the liquid tank capacities and number of belted seating
positions are maximized for value and convenience. If
you fill all liquid tanks to capacity, fill all storage compart-
ments and cupboards to maximum volume and fill all
available seating positions with passengers, the motor
home will be overloaded. According to National High-
way Traffic Safety Administration figures, a vehicle
occupant weighs 150 pounds. Additionally, each gallon
of gasoline weighs six pounds (6.0 Ibs.) and each gallon
of water weighs over eight pounds (8.3 Ibs.).
You are responsible for analyzing the conditions under
which the motor home will be used for each trip. The
number of passengers and placement of cargo will
affect the amount of water and cargo that you can carry
(See "Loading Tips"). For convenience, the passen-
ger capacity for camping use and the passenger capac-
ity for day use are shown on a permanent label in the
driver's area or adjacent to the main entry door. The
passenger capacity for camping provides reasonable
cargo capacity for trips taking more than one day. The
passenger capacity for day use provides less cargo
capacity for trips or activities not involving overnight
stays. For example, it may be necessary to reduce the
amount of water carried and unload some cargo items
normally carried for camping in order to provide carrying
capacity for. the additional day use passengers.
The number of seat belt locations may be greater than
the number of passengers permitted by the label. These
extra locations, if provided, are to permit a choice of
seats while travelling. It is not safe to exceed the labeled
passenger capacity unless the axle loadings and total
weight are checked against their ratings on a public
scale. (See "Determining And Distributing Your
Load").