GVWR, GCWR, GAWR, UVW….

[ronf303]

Hi. I’m researching Class Cs right now and looking to buy next spring when I retire.

i keep seeing acronyms like GCWR, UVW, GVWR, etc. I can Google the terms to learn about them but my questions are, Which ones are more important than others? Are higher lbs. always an indication of higher quality RVs?

thanks.

[Darryl&Rita]

They're all important, each in their own way. Taken together, they will give a general overview of build quality, but no one value will outshine the others.

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums!

Gross combined weight rating and gross vehicle weight rating are of equal importance if you plan to tow anything. Unladen weight means little or nothing in the scheme of things unless you plan to travel with an empty RV.  To get a weight that will tell you something useful, take the RV to a scale before you begin to load it and use that weight to compare to your GVWR and so get an idea of how much you can carry. 

You also need to pay attention to the axle weight ratings as your extra weight capacity must be spread to proper distribution so that neither axel is overloaded. The most useful weight is to get individual wheel weights so that you know that your load is properly distributed. 

6 hours ago, ronf303 said:

Are higher lbs. always an indication of higher quality RVs?

Absolutely not. The design weight ratings of any chassis are a factor of the chassis builder's design and can't be changed by the company that builds an RV on it. The RV builder can buy a chassis with higher weight limits but that also means a higher cost to build and so also to the customer. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by Kirk W

[sandsys]

Unladen Vehicle Weight, when subtracted from the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating will tell you how much you can safely pack into the vehicle including people, water, fuel. etc. If you plan to tow a trailer you also need to consider the hitch weight of that trailer in the UVW as well as the weight of the trailer and its contents in the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating. Combined it all gives you a picture of how useful that rig would be to you. We once owned a Class B that had only 800 pounds difference between UVW (which at that time did not include people and fuel which had already been subtracted using incorrect numbers) and GVWR which meant we could only pack very few, very lightweight items. Those are things it is helpful to understand before you buy. All are important if you plan to tow anything. When we had our Class C we didn't tow a car so we only needed to consider GVWR when packing and we drove the rig over a CAT scale before buying it and after packing it to be sure we stayed within safe limits.

Linda Sand

[justRich]

I'd start with GVWR - which is meaningless by itself.
You also have to know what the vehicle weighs. . .which is the UVW.
(The first sentence in sandsys's post says it all.)

"Unladen" weight means no people, fresh water or fuels in the tanks when it's weighed.
GVWR is the maximum weight the vehicle should ever weigh.
Typically, that includes people, fuels, water, food, gear, additional batteries, solar panels ---any stuff that you can put on it or in it.

Subtract UVW from GVWR and that is - weight you can put in or on the vehicle.

When RV shopping I found that I could not put as weight in a Class C as I could in a Class A
As a rule, the Class A's had a higher GVWR and lower UVW than the Class C's - thus allowing me to collect more stuff (weight).
So. . .good question asked.  
 

 

[ronf303]

Thanks! You’re making me smarter.🙂

[Chad Heiser]

A caveat to UVW.  Do not use the UVW given by the manufacturer.  You need to take the RV to a scale and weigh it to get an actual UVW for the vehicle before you put anything in it (like during a test drive before you buy).

Often the UVW number given by the manufacturer is an estimate or average number based on a base model RV.  Options added to the RV during production can eat into that number and lower the overall carrying capacity of the RV.  A few higher end manufacturers will actually weigh each RV after it is complete to give an exact UVW, but this is rare.

[sandsys]

3 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

Do not use the UVW given by the manufacturer.  You need to take the RV to a scale and weigh it to get an actual UVW for the vehicle before you put anything in it (like during a test drive before you buy).

That's why...

10 hours ago, sandsys said:

we drove the rig over a CAT scale before buying it and after packing it to be sure we stayed within safe limits.

We make getting a rig weighed a condition of sale although we are both in it at the time of weighing so it's not a true UVW but we only had to figure our own weights to get there. We have used mostly CAT scales but we once used a scale at a gravel sales yard because it was easily accessible from where we were test driving a vehicle.

Linda Sand

[etcetera]

I am looking at this F550 Super Duty shuttle bus, 32 - passenger.  It's  GWVR is 19,500 lbs but what is its curb weight, meaning how much cargo can I carry?

I can't find the data anywhere. I can't attach the pic due to size limitations.

 

It's not in my possession therefore I can't weight it to determine the above.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by etcetera

[TXiceman]

I doubt if you will find a dry weight on the vehicle.  About the only thing I know is to get the seller to get you a weight ticket on it.

Ken