Caravan payload
ATM minus tare, and everything you load counts.
Tare is the empty weight as the van left the factory. ATM, Aggregate Trailer Mass, is the legal loaded maximum.
Water, gas, food, tools and the annexe all come out of the gap, and both figures are on the compliance plate.
Updated . 8 min read • Technical Guide
Payload is ATM minus tare: everything a caravan can legally carry, water, gas and gear included, once it leaves the factory.
Both figures are on the compliance plate, so the subtraction takes seconds standing at the drawbar.
- The sum - ATM minus tare, both on the compliance plate (tare is the empty weight, ATM the legal loaded maximum)
- Typical payload - around 650kg (across checked ranges publishing both figures)
- Water - one kilogram per litre, out of the same allowance (full tanks can spend a big share before packing starts)
One subtraction, two plated numbers
Payload is ATM minus tare. Tare is the van's weight as it left the factory, with empty tanks and nothing packed. ATM, Aggregate Trailer Mass, is the maximum the loaded van may legally weigh, set by the manufacturer. The difference between them is your entire allowance for everything you add.
Everything means everything. Water in the tanks, gas in the bottles, food, bedding, tools, chairs, the bikes on the rack and the annexe in the boot all come out of the one figure. Brochures lead with tare because it is the smallest number available, so the size of the allowance behind it is the part buyers most often discover late.
Both figures are stamped on the van's compliance plate, which means the subtraction takes seconds standing at the drawbar. It is worth doing on every van you inspect, because the plated figures on that exact van govern, options and all, not the brochure's base-spec numbers.
New to the weight terms?
ATM, tare, ball weight, GVM and GCM each have a precise meaning, and the sums between them are short.Caravan weights explained walks through all of them with real numbers from real vans.
What payload looks like across the catalogue
Across checked ranges publishing both figures, the typical payload sits around 650kg. The middle half of those allowances runs from about 545kg to about 760kg, so most vans cluster there, with lighter and much heavier allowances either side.
Figures like 300kg and 400kg get quoted around the industry as working benchmarks: roughly 300kg as a floor for a travelling couple, and 400kg or more once family gear, full water or off-grid kit is aboard. They are rules of thumb, not rules, and your own packing list is the real test.
Held against those benchmarks, about 7% of checked ranges publishing both figures carry less than 400kg of payload, and about 3% carry less than 300kg. A shortfall is not a fault in the van, but it is a fact worth knowing before the water goes in.
How payload differs by van type
Payload follows the build. Heavier chassis and suspension usually come with a bigger ATM, and how much of that extra headroom survives the heavier structure varies type by type.
These are the typical figures per type on checked ranges publishing both weights, computed live from the catalogue, so they move as the catalogue moves. What the type labels themselves mean is covered in off-road vs semi off-road caravans.
| Van type | Typical payload |
|---|---|
| Semi Off-Road | 740kg |
| Full Off-Road | 700kg |
| Pop-Top | 625kg |
| Hybrid | 620kg |
| Camper Trailer | 610kg |
| On-Road | 600kg |
Each figure is the median for that type, so half the type's ranges sit above it and half below. A median is a feel for the group, never a substitute for the plate on the van in front of you.
Where the allowance actually goes
The allowance disappears in bigger bites than most people expect, and water leads by a distance.
- Water - one kilogram per litre, so a pair of full 95L tanks is 190kg gone before a bag is packed.
- Gas - two full bottles and their hardware are a solid double-digit deduction.
- Batteries - a second or third battery adds real capacity and real kilograms in the same move.
- The annexe - walls, poles, mats and pegs travel in the boot and count like everything else.
- Tools and recovery gear - the off-road kit list grows quietly until it weighs as much as the water.
- Food, clothes and bedding - the everyday load adds up faster than any single item suggests.
- Dealer-fitted accessories - anything added after the factory comes out of the payload, not the tare.
Factory options work from the other direction: they raise the van's real tare above the base-spec brochure figure, which shrinks the payload before delivery day. The plate on the van you take home carries the figures that govern, so read it rather than the brochure.
What a van typically brings along before you add anything, solar, water tanks and battery included, is covered in what Australian caravans come with.
Run the sum on a real van
The payload calculator comes prefilled with published ATM and tare figures for any checked range, and a public weighbridge turns the estimate into a ticket once the van is loaded the way you really travel.
Payload questions, answered
What is a caravan's payload?
Payload is ATM minus tare: the gap between the van's empty weight as it left the factory and the maximum it may legally weigh loaded. It is the total allowance for everything you add, and everything means everything: water in the tanks, gas in the bottles, food, bedding, tools, chairs, bikes and the annexe all come out of the same figure. Both numbers are on the van's compliance plate, so the subtraction takes seconds standing at the drawbar.
How much payload does a caravan need?
That depends on how you travel, so work from your own packing list rather than a slogan. As a general industry rule of thumb, around 300kg is often quoted as a working floor for a travelling couple, and 400kg or more once family gear, full water or off-grid kit is aboard. Water is usually the deciding line: every litre weighs one kilogram, so a van you plan to run with full tanks needs meaningfully more allowance than one that fills up near camp.
Does water count toward the payload?
Yes, all of it. Every litre of fresh water weighs one kilogram, so filling a pair of 95L tanks spends 190kg of the allowance before a single bag goes in. Gas bottles, the second battery and the toolbox come out of the same figure. This is why two vans with similar payloads can feel very different to pack: the one with bigger tanks has already committed more of its allowance the moment you fill them.
Do dealer-fitted accessories and options count toward payload?
Yes. Tare describes the van as it left the factory, so anything added after that point, a second battery, a bike rack, an awning wall kit, tow assist gear, comes out of the payload. Factory options work the other way: they raise the real tare above the base-spec brochure figure, which shrinks the payload before the van is even delivered. Either way, the plated figures on the van you actually take home are the ones that govern.
Can a caravan's payload be increased?
Sometimes. Some manufacturers offer an ATM upgrade on particular ranges, and specialist engineering firms can assess and re-rate some vans. Whether an upgrade is available, what it involves and how it is certified varies by manufacturer and by state, so the manufacturer is the first call. Until the plate is formally changed, the stamped figures are the legal ones, no matter what the chassis might handle in theory.
Check the allowance on any van
Run ATM minus tare on any checked range with the figures prefilled, or read the weight terms end to end first.