Frustrated with OCCC

[Mondoggie]

Occupant and cargo carrying capacity is a new concept to me. In trying to learn about the weights, I’m dismayed to find that the OCCC on my 2019 Jayco Melbourne 24k is listed at only 1056.
Ok, I weigh 250 (it’s all muscle. I wish.) my wife weighs...er, uh, 140 or so. That’s 395. Add a small dog and we’re talking 420 pounds. When just my wife, dog and I are traveling we might trim our cargo to weigh in under the limit. However...
With past rv’s, (some larger, some smaller) we have made week-long trips with 4 adults, boosting our occupant weight to nearly 750. I see no way to reduce cargo weight for four adults to under 306 pounds.
So my question is, what happens if I exceed the OCCC weight? Do I risk flat tires, transmission damage, axel problems? Or does the excess weight cause difficulty in steering and braking? I ask because though I’ve never figured OCCC before (I didn’t even know there was such a thing!) I feel certain that we have exceeded that limit by at least 200 or 300 pounds and on a number of occasions with no known ill effects.
I should add that we would not be towing because the 24 foot rig moves through traffic like a sports car. But my understanding is that the 1056 OCCC has little or nothing to do with towing capacity, right?
So, other than advising me to give up bacon, donuts and cheeseburgers does anyone have any advice for reducing the OCCC to a number under the limit?
Thanks!

[norty1]

Here a statistic from another forum:
--------------------------------------------------------
June 2, 2008, the federal government has mandated that all motorhomes include an occupant and cargo carrying capacity (OCCC) label in addition to the FVSC label. Besides the VIN, the OCCC label provides the maximum combined weight of occupants and cargo that should never be exceeded; the number of safety belt-equipped seating positions; and a statement that provides information as to the weight of a full load of water in the motorhome and a reminder that the tongue weight of any towed trailer or vehicle counts as cargo. This label can be permanently affixed next to the FVSC label with a temporary copy on the inside of the entrance door referencing the permanent location, or the permanent label can be affixed at the entry door only. The addition of this label supersedes the previous RVIA label; therefore, the RVIA label is no longer required of manufacturer members.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From that statement you may be overloaded. Do you travel with full fresh water tanks?

[Grumpy]

The best way to see what you can and can't carry is to load it as you normally do for travel and use a truck stop scale to weigh it.

[curver900]

Originally Posted by Mondoggie

Occupant and cargo carrying capacity is a new concept to me. In trying to learn about the weights, I’m dismayed to find that the OCCC on my 2019 Jayco Melbourne 24k is listed at only 1056.
Ok, I weigh 250 (it’s all muscle. I wish.) my wife weighs...er, uh, 140 or so. That’s 395. Add a small dog and we’re talking 420 pounds. When just my wife, dog and I are traveling we might trim our cargo to weigh in under the limit. However...
With past rv’s, (some larger, some smaller) we have made week-long trips with 4 adults, boosting our occupant weight to nearly 750. I see no way to reduce cargo weight for four adults to under 306 pounds.
So my question is, what happens if I exceed the OCCC weight? Do I risk flat tires, transmission damage, axel problems? Or does the excess weight cause difficulty in steering and braking? I ask because though I’ve never figured OCCC before (I didn’t even know there was such a thing!) I feel certain that we have exceeded that limit by at least 200 or 300 pounds and on a number of occasions with no known ill effects.
I should add that we would not be towing because the 24 foot rig moves through traffic like a sports car. But my understanding is that the 1056 OCCC has little or nothing to do with towing capacity, right?
So, other than advising me to give up bacon, donuts and cheeseburgers does anyone have any advice for reducing the OCCC to a number under the limit?
Thanks!

That is less than my 1/2 ton pickup.. yikes... no soup for you

[Mondoggie]

Curver. I know! I can carry more weight in my Jeep wrangler than what is allowed in the RV.
What frustrates me is that I looked closely at the vehicles GCWR (15,250 pounds) before I bought and I thought I was in excellent shape for the trip I was planning. For instance, the curb weight of my RV is 9974. Add 750 for the driver and passengers, another 102 for a quarter tank of fresh water and that leaves me 10,826 before cargo (remember that I'm not towing anything.)
So the GCWR of 15,250 minus 10,826 should leave me with 4,424 for anything else. Even with a thousand pounds of gear...heck even with 4000 pounds of gear, I should have plenty of pulling power for my trip.
Yet with the very low OCCC rating of only 1056, after passengers and water, I have only enough structural strength for 204 pounds of cargo.
A quick check of similar RV's tells me this will likely be the case (with minor variations for RV curb weight) of any vehicle with the Mercedes Chassis.
I guess by posting this, I'm hoping someone can tell me that I'm wrong in my calculations and that I actually can carry more cargo that what I'm thinking.
Otherwise, it seems like something Mercedes might want to look into if they are going to continue to use this Chassis on RV's .

[Mondoggie]

Grumpy. I do have automotive scales nearby, but it seems like with OCCC the only way to tell would be to unload every piece of cargo, including dishes, blankets, tools etc. in order to determine the cargo weight. Then, of course, you'd have to add in fluids and people weight.
The Jayco 24K, btw, has seatbelts for six. At 154 pounds (which seems low to a big ol' boy from Arkansas) for each of the six passengers, that's 924 pounds of the 1056 allowable weight.

[Mondoggie]

Norty. Thanks for the information. In answer to the water question, from now on I guess I'll carry one gallon for tooth brushing and flushing.

[Grumpy]

I think your use of GVWR minus fully loaded scale weight would be correct. Those yellow stickers have been found to be incorrect at times.

Edit: GVWR NOT GCVWR.. GCVWR includes what's being towed.

[Mondoggie]

Thanks Grump. I think I’ve got a handle on it now. Just have to travel light!

[LoveLife]

That’s the downside of the Sprinter Chassis. I had a Sprinter RV and loved it but the downside was the carrying capacity.

[Mondoggie]

Right. You have to take the good with the bad. I went out today with a set of scales and totaled up my cargo weight at just over 350 pounds including a 57 pound portable a/c unit I recently installed in the bedroom. My wife and I, who will be the primary users, clock in at 385 together. That 735 lb total gives us room for more stuff than we really need for travel.
I may have to curtail our 4 person trip because with the four adults we hit a little over the 1056 limit even before their luggage.
But I’m pondering now the idea of towing my little Jeep, then storing the heavy stuff in the back seat of that. Curb weight for the little soft-top Jeep is only 3100 which works in our favor.

[RAurand]

I like my numbers. Especially since full propane is included in the trailer weight.

[Johnny Lightning]

And this ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm buying a Seneca, it's got about 6,000 of cargo capacity and another 5,000 of towing capacity when the coach is fully loaded. I'll have to give up some cargo capacity to haul my F150 with my motorcycle in the bed but I'll still have about 4,500 lbs available in the coach. I became aware of the OCCC limitations through what my wife says is too much research. Little does she know it likely saved us a few tens of thousands of dollars.


The biggest trouble I have when shopping is finding the actual UVW or unloaded vehicle weight. Does anyone know of any good sources for this information? It doesn't have to be exact just in the ball park because I know weights vary with the equipment in the coach.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Johnny Lightning

And this ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm buying a Seneca, it's got about 6,000 of cargo capacity and another 5,000 of towing capacity when the coach is fully loaded. I'll have to give up some cargo capacity to haul my F150 with my motorcycle in the bed but I'll still have about 4,500 lbs available in the coach. I became aware of the OCCC limitations through what my wife says is too much research. Little does she know it likely saved us a few tens of thousands of dollars.


The biggest trouble I have when shopping is finding the actual UVW or unloaded vehicle weight. Does anyone know of any good sources for this information? It doesn't have to be exact just in the ball park because I know weights vary with the equipment in the coach.

This is why we bought a Seneca. On the tag on my 2018.5 Seneca the tag says the weight with full fuel and propane in 23569lbs and that makes the OCCC 5431lbs so that still gives me a 10k towing capacity. We loaded for a 3 week trip packing a lot of extra stuff and at the scales I was still only at 27850lbs.

[Johnny Lightning]

You only get that 10,000 of towing capacity if the coach is nearly empty. The GVWR is 28,000 and the GVCW is 33,000 if I'm not mistaken.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by Johnny Lightning

You only get that 10,000 of towing capacity if the coach is nearly empty. The GVWR is 28,000 and the GVCW is 33,000 if I'm not mistaken.

The 2018.5 and up on the S2RV chassis is 29k GVWR and the GVCW is 39k

[WinnieView]

Originally Posted by Johnny Lightning

And this ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm buying a Seneca, [SNIP]

But half the gas mileage.

[Rustynuts]

Originally Posted by WinnieView

But half the gas mileage.

I don’t use gas . I’m pretty happy as our old 27’ Winnebago got 7-8 mpg towing with an 8.1 but I have been getting around 10.4 mpg with the Seneca towing.

[Mondoggie]

Aw, now you guys are just bragging. ;-)

[WinnieView]

Originally Posted by Rustynuts

I don’t use gas . I’m pretty happy as our old 27’ Winnebago got 7-8 mpg towing with an 8.1 but I have been getting around 10.4 mpg with the Seneca towing.

We don't like gas either especially now that it's more expensive than diesel. But can you fit into a parking space at the mall.