When I moved a few years ago I put 32 milk crates full of vinyl
records plus a few boxes in my '85 Westy "Weekender".  It
lowered the vehicle significantly, to say the least.

Last year in May I drove to from Asheville to Mt. Mitchell with
some friends of mine and our children, again, in the '85 Westy:

Me - 180 lbs.
Ed - 265 lbs.
Gina - 235 lbs.
Child 1 - 165 lbs.
Child 2 - 95 lbs.
Child 3 - 40 lbs.
Child 4 - 40 lbs.
TOTAL - 1020 lbs of humans, plus gear.

I had to be rather careful taking left-hand curves since Gina
and Ed were both sitting on the right side of the vehicle.  :-)

=====
Chris S.

'84 Westy -> http://www.knology.net/~vwghost/hershey/
'01 NB TDI -> http://www.knology.net/~vw/Beetle.jpg