Nose weight question for newbie
Hi, We just lost our caravanning virginity with a lovely weekend very close to where we picked up the van ( 2015 lunar clubman ) It’s now safely in store so I feel good after my first ever towing, hitching and set up. Only a few minor incidents....(trying to move the van with the motor mover with the handbrake on and corner steadies down was the most memorable) anyhow on to my question. On leaving the site I tried to check the nose weight with my shiny new milenco calibrated gauge. We had virtually nothing in the van apart from a full 6kg gas cylinder in the locker. When I checked the nose weight it read 115kg which is over the car and tow bars 100kg limit. As I had nothing in the van to reposition to balance the van I thought I may have been measuring it incorrectly or ( as I saw in some reviews ) the nose weight gauges are not always accurate.
I pressed on as not sure what to do and only had a few miles to go into store. So my question is with a van almost empty with just the gas cylinder should it not be naturally balanced at a more reasonable nose weight?
maybe it was because I was worried about the nose weight I noticed a little bouncing of the car on occasion but I guess this is normal when towing (pulling with a fully loaded Hyundai Santa Fe ) so I reckon I was towing < 70% of the car weight.
Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.
Andrew
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(trying to move the van with the motor mover with the handbrake on and corner steadies down was the most memorable)
You can tell the mover is still engaged when you start to tow as it makes a LOUD racket ..... apparently
Don't rush .... take your time .... it's a learning curve
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Some vans, including some of the Baileys particularly, start off with a very high nose weight. Yours may also well be one where you will have to stow everything behind the axle to get a sensible figure.
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Our Bailey has a noseweight of 80 / 90 loaded normally or empty. The gas cylinders are positioned close to the axle. So I can well imagine we would also have difficulties if they were at the front and have to offset it with weight towards the rear.
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yes done the motor mover thing, (tip don't leave the remote on the A frame)
I assume you drained down your water tank? Was the front locker empty apart from gas? for example was the aquaroll and wastemaster? in the front locker?
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Thanks for all comments so far, very helpful. I have the 2015 clubman SB.
In response to cornersteady, don’t think I have an onboard water tank? Toilet cassette and flush tank emptied and just a light pipes and the corner steady winder in the front locker.
cheers
Andrew
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I think CS is referring to your hot water tank. Ours is located under the front seat, so forward of the axle. They hold between 8 and 10 litres of water, so 8 / 10kg. There is a small yellow flip tap close to the tank that requires putting in the vertical position. Then with the taps open the tank will drain out onto the pitch. If it's grass make sure you run all the hot off first.
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I had no idea about a hot water tank! The chap who did the van handover did not mention it. I’ll check this out at the weekend as we are off to Ambelside for a long weekend. I mistakenly left the handbook in the van at the storage site so can’t check in there. Thanks for the info on this.
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Been there done it; add to list trying to drive off with mover still attached to wheels! So to your nose weight. I too have a Milenco weight gauge and they are really only a guide but very useful; you may wish to check the nose weight using bathroom scales - get a piece of wood (even a hammer) and put one end into ball connection of caravan and other on scales caravan as level as possible. If this reading is same as the Milenco one you can be reasonably sure it is right; if different just use split the difference! When towing you should try to be as near the max as possible - 100kgs; I am assuming he car's max is 100kgs also. When going on trips you will be able to adjust the nose weight by where put the stuff in the caravan but remember, heavy stuff over the axle and light stuff high heavy low - you WILL get the hang of it soon. We put the awning in the car.
Suggest you prepare a check list to use before departure, there is one in the CMC Handbook and don't forget all skylights - yes we have missed that as well!!!
Don't worry you will soon master the hobby and have loads (excuse the pun) of pleasurable holidays. Finally, don't be afraid to ask for advice anywhere, even on a site. One thing caravanners like doing is helping people - we were all novices once.
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As Cyber says, Baileys are notorious for the nose weight being on the heavy side. If your 6kg Cylinders are of the steel type, that won’t help. I went to a Safefill refillable and that was a massive improvement. So much lighter. When I purchased a second, I put them behind the axle under the bed and that was a breeze. No problem with nose weight now.
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Hi guys, i have been caravaning for three years and now i seem to have the same problem. I have a chance to have a compass Casita 560 twin axle at a very good deal as i already have a compass rally but with optional extras damp two years on the trot and lost all trust in the van.
My question is i am running at 84% with the awning in the car (ssangyoung karando 2.2) which is a good weight however towsure and one other say good match with a 90kg nose weight, but the car is only 80kg so loading the van on the rear slightly would do it but would it affect my stability.
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I have a Clubman CK and even that comes in loaded at about 87Kgs with as much rear end weight bias as I can manage, well within our cars noseweight but a lot of the caravans seem to be nose heavy now so your weight is probably right. The caravan was level when you took the weight? Its can be quite difficult to reduce the noseweight without getting into the overloading scenario.
Not particularily relevant to you question but many of the continental Hobby`s etc seem to have their axles more inclined to the mid point rather than ours which tend aft of the mid point. Some continentals seem to manage to fit gas weighing around 23Kgs or have heavy dutch bikes on the tow bar even if you place weight at the rear that takes some balancing to keep to around 80/90Kgs.
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I have to load my Lunar up with all the heavy items way back behind the axle to get the nose weight right. Then the total weight of the van is too heavy. I wonder if anyone at Lunar ever goes caravanning. It does help to empty the hot water tank and leave the fluid in the toilet.
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I have to load my Lunar up with all the heavy items way back behind the axle to get the nose weight right. Then the total weight of the van is too heavy. I wonder if anyone at Lunar ever goes caravanning. It does help to empty the hot water tank and leave the fluid in the toilet.
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yes what he said
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Hello, if you have hot water in your van then there will be a 'immersion heater' type tank that where it fills up with cold water from your aquaroll or what you have, and then it heats the water in it by gas or electricity. As you use the hot water more will be drawn in from the aqauroll.
Have a look under your front left hand seats and you will see a big black tank like structure, usually next to the water inlet and battery box. Now these tanks usually hold about 10 litres and hence 10 Kg and for some strange reason this water heater (and combined space heater) is always at the front left hand side right next to your front outside locker and right where they will play a large part on nose weight. As Steve says you can drain the contents by a lever usually yellow or blue,simply pull it up to drain the water, and some people then leave it open but don't forget to close before trying to fill up your tank next time And yes I've tried to do that as well. That should take off a few Kg of noseweight
Hope this helps.
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Thanks for all your help, great to know such great advice is just a click away. I’m going to do a few things....
1) double check my milenco gauge v bathroom scales
2) locate and drain the water tank and empty it
3) try the awning (20 kg) in the rear of the van rather than the car
i need to rebalance by c.15kg so I’m hoping this may do the trick.
I will also start to use a checklist to avoid any other rookie mishaps!
other than that we are off to ambleside next week, snowdonia the week after then off to Northumberland a couple of weeks after that.... I expect I will have learned much more by then but I suspect this is a hobby where you never stop learning... which will be part of the fun.
thanks all
Andrew
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I have a 2012 Lunar Clubman SB and carry one calor lite gas bottle. When towing I empty the hot water tank and reduce the water in the toilet flush tank as instructed. Two Aqua rolls and a Wastemaster go in the van at the front while the tv and hook-up cable go under the nearside front seat. The only things that go in the back, laying on the beds are our two folding chairs. With that configuration I get about 70kg nose weight, which suits our tow-bar limit of 75kg.
We also empty the cupboards of of heavy items and carry these in the car.
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Plus two and I managed to drive quite a distance too - I was on a hill start and thought the car being lazy! Flagged down by a concerned kind French driver telling me the caravan was smoking!
Someone had one of those Acronym things for remembering brakeaway cable electrics jockey wheel brakes and mover - but I can't remember what it was exactly. A check list?
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Pippah, sounds like im amongst good company with the motor mover!
DMiller, im a little more puzzled now as you have very similar caravan and much lower nose weight than me (yes you have a lighter gas cylinder, have emptied the water but added two aqua rolls, wastemaster and TV to the front (versus my set up that was empty apart from the water tank) but im getting 45kg heavier on the nose.... just makes me think I may not have been level when I tested it or the gauge is wrong. but as I said I will calibrate against bathroom scales (although these always show me as being heavier than I should be :-) ) thanks again for comments. Andrew
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Just another thought.....do caravan manufacturers not publish what the empty nose weight is for all their models..... this would be a really great place to start so you could get a better feel for what you are adding. but i guess it will come with experience anyhow.....
Im guessing once you are satisfied with your nose weight you don't need to measure every time as long as you pack the same way
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Lutz is the expert on this and I hope he answers your question, but I think he said previously that manufactures do not publish a nose weight but do publish a maximum nose weight, not quite the same. Could be wrong though.
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Andrew. Care about putting your awning at the rear of the caravan. It is probably the heaviest item you will take with you. If you put it too far to the rear it will induce a pendulum effect; by all means place it near the axle but care. All the stuff you listed above should not be loaded in front of the axle as it will just worsen your problem. If you must take so much you must be warry where you load it for towing. dmiller has given you some good guidance above. If you have space in your car put the awing in it as I advised earlier. Think you may be at risk of overloading your caravan
. I manage to get a nose weight of 90kgs easily in my Ranger GT60 520/4. I don't think manufacturers publish the empty nose weight of their caravans because they could vary so much by Dealer specials, battery in or out, spare wheel etc etc etc.1 -
Im guessing once you are satisfied with your nose weight you don't need to measure every time as long as you pack the same way
And yes to this. We all started out like you and thinking back with what I know now I wouldn't let myself go out like I did
We just bought a caravan after hiring one, loaded it up and off we went. It was only after reading articles and books (there was very little on line in 1999) did I learn about things like nose weight and I hate to think what it would have been!
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