Is Your Slide-On Camper Legal?
If you fancy a little more freedom and want to spend a night or two under the stars without towing around a caravan, then you may be thinking about getting a slide-on unit for your ute. These camper units are relatively straightforward and can typically fit quite easily onto a chassis like yours, but you will need to be careful, even if you are being simplistic. Are you sure that your new setup will be legal, especially when it comes to its maximum permissible weight?
Real-World Calculations
If you were to do a simple paper calculation, then you may be able to take the weight of your ute (as provided in the manufacturer documentation) and add this to the weight of the slide-on camper. In most cases, this would appear to be considerably below the maximum GVM (or gross vehicle mass), and you should be ready to go.
However, manufacturer calculations typically refer to an empty truck with no optional extras, no bodywork modifications and a tiny amount of fuel. This is unlikely to be the case in your real-world situation as you will probably add some additional weight.
Adding up
For example, you may have fitted an alloy tray body to your ute, with some toolboxes and other storage facilities underneath. With safety in mind, you may have fitted a bar to the front with a winch and have added a second battery to make sure that you always have power. You never know whether you're going to get a puncture in the outback, so you've added a second spare wheel with tyre and have modified the standard fuel tank so that it is now long-range. You may also have added some extras to the camper, including a bigger fridge and food storage box.
When you pile your kids into the back and adults into the front, the total weight of your rig may well be over the GVM limit.
Looking Further
You also need to be careful to ensure that you have not overloaded either the front or the rear axle inadvertently with all these modifications. It's remarkably easy to do this, but if you do, you could face issues with handling. If you are unfortunate enough to get into an accident, then your insurance company may question whether the vehicle was overweight or not.
Taking Action
Don't risk this situation and turn your new hobby into a nightmare. Take your vehicle into a business that provides GVM upgrades instead, and ask for suspension upgrades to make your vehicle appropriate outfitted.