I agree with a lot of PopBeavers comments. Your total TM weight will obviously depend on your style of camping and in PopBeavers example this is an extreme case at one end of the scale. In our case, which I believe is more typical of TM owners, we choose to mix stays at well equipped RV sites with stays of two or three days at fairly primative state and national park sites. We would never drink any of the site water without boiling either for hot beverages or for making iced tee etc. We therfore only need to carry a few gallons of water for emergencies and we fill our tank when we stop.When touring we find it quite easy to purchase food on a regular basis and do not need to carry supplies and fresh milk for more than two or three days. Also, we do not fill our TV with passengers, on most trips it is just my wife and myself and as I mentioned previously plus our son for part of the Alaska adventure.
If you are happy with the 80% rule then that is your decision but as an engineer I can assure you that you are simply adding to the very adequate safety margions that have already been calculated into the design of your vehicle.
The WDH is a great invention and I have yet to see a vehicle chassis that would not cope with or benefit from its use and the improved distribution of loads.
Incidently, I do not know about California but on the Alaska Highway we found gas usually available every 100 miles with a few gaps of approx. 200 miles.
Geoff Card
