Camper's GVWR?

[Beachside]

Buddy and I were talking and now I'm kinda second guessing myself. Lets say your camper has a GVWR of 15,000lbs. You load all your stuff and fill the fresh water tank and now it weighs 15,500k. I say you are over your GVWR and you need to loose some weight. He said that once you hook it to the TV, your hitch weight comes off the trailer, say, 3100lbs. So now your camper is only carrying 12,400lbs, so you are under your GVWR. I say he is only considering the axle ratings and not the weight that is still on the entire structure and frame. He says that the weight is not on the frame because the tow vehicle is supporting that weight. Please tell me I'm right.