Towing Weights and Limits Record

What this sheet is for

Get your own towing figures out of four different documents and onto one sheet, with a line for every time the outfit is actually weighed.

Who it is for

Anyone who tows — caravans, horseboxes, plant and boat trailers — and anyone working out whether a new trailer suits the car they already have.

How to use it

1. Copy each figure from its own source: the registration document, the vehicle plate and the trailer plate.
2. Write down where each figure came from, so it can be checked again later.
3. Confirm your licence entitlement with your own licensing authority and date the line.
4. Weigh the loaded outfit at a weighbridge and record what it actually came to.

What is on the sheet

The layout is fixed at a size that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the A4 and Letter files are visually identical and print at full size on either. Rows are set at a height that an adult can actually write a date and a few words into with a pen — most printable tables are built in a word processor and never tested with one.

Questions

Can I tow this trailer on my licence?

That depends on where you passed your test, when you passed it, and what the vehicle and trailer weigh — and the categories themselves differ between countries and change over time. The sheet has a line for the entitlement you hold and the date you checked it against your own licensing authority, because that is the only answer worth relying on.

Why weigh it if the plated weights are written down?

Because plated weights are limits, not what you are carrying. Loaded weight and noseweight are what you actually have to keep inside those limits, and both change with how the trailer is packed. A weighbridge ticket turns an assumption into a number.