Ever since I weighed my F150 (I got tired of saying "Oh, it weighs about...") and discovered that, with the Casita's hitch
weight, I was over my GVW of 6250 I have been working at shaving pounds and ounces off her payload.
Some of the things I have done...
Replace a full size shovel and ax with a folding entrenching tool and a much smaller Hudson's Bay ax. Savings= about 6 pounds.
Lighten the toolkit. Savings= about 6 pounds.
Take less bottled water. Savings= about 24 pounds.
Remove roof rack inserts that I don't use when towing. Savings= 14 pounds.
Replace 28 pound folding table with 6 pound folder. Savings= 22 pounds.
Remove bed/shelf from front of truck-bed. Savings= 22 pounds.
I also decided to leave my bullet-proof jerry can behind and simply siphon fuel for my Coleman stove and Honda
generator from the rear tank. (I've started not using the rear tank since I discovered I get an just about an extra 1 mpg for keeping it nearly empty. I'll compromise a little, since I need about 5gal in it to be able to reach petrol with the siphon.) Savings= about 12 pounds.
And so it goes.
One
weight savings for my next trip I'm not so happy about. Since I'm going to be working in some pretty hot places, I've decided not to take my pal Murphy on this next trip. I'm too worried about him in really hot conditions, which he doesn't do well in. Considering him, his beds, food, toys, etc, that's a savings of about 155 pounds. But I sure will miss him and he is going to go ballistic when he learns he is not going.
At this point I've got the truck down to where when I hitch up the
Casita she'll be comfortably under her GVW, and the combined truck+trailer
weight will be something like 2500 pounds under the allowance.
I even considered changing out the engine for a squirrel-mill, but then I have to carry all those peanuts so the weight saved wouldn't amount to anything. And squirrels don't like hills, I hear.
Anybody got any other brilliant tips for lightening the load?