Nose weight
i bought a new caravan this year and when i went to pick it up i took my nose weight guage with me and tested the van.the only extra in the van was a tank 7kg of propane the reading was 95 kg my tow ball limit is 100kg. i would like some feed back on this
idont want to be specific on the make .
Comments
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You are going to have to load with care. Try not to load to the very front but at that same time not to the very rear. Basically you need to get the weight into or near the centre although I realise this is not that easy. If you stil have a problem load
more in the tow car but not so much you overload the back axle.0 -
Thanks easy T will give your suggestion a go. I don't understand why manufacturers don't state the nose weight as a guide.
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Many caravans are very 'nose heavy' when totally empty. The assumption by the manufacturers is that the 'vans will always be towed with a fair amount of content and that caravanners know that the weight will have to be balanced out with care. Even if a caravan
had, say, 75kg noseweight when empty, unless care was taken in loading and checking it it could be very easy to push this up to over the hitch limit of 100kg (Alko). For this reason, the empty nose weight is almost irrelevant.0 -
. For this reason, the empty nose weight is almost irrelevant.
It is very relevant if the empty noseweight is 100kg and you have only got a 70kg noseweight limit.
Why? All that tells you is that you've got to add 30kg at the back or an equivalent amount of ballast somewhere behind the axle.
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. For this reason, the empty nose weight is almost irrelevant.
Why? All that tells you is that you've got to add 30kg at the back or an equivalent amount of ballast somewhere behind the axle.
To me it is relevant. Based on my preferred layout with side dinette, long front seats, end bathroom I know that if empty nose weight was over 100kg (and some are) that if I stored stuff in my preferred locatuis I would be nose heavy. And yes I coukd re-distribute
the weight hen towing to correct. I would prefer not to though.0 -
I dfon't think manufacturers pay sufficient attention to the unladen noseweight of their products. Given the addition of heavy items like batteries and gas bottles, they need to give this aspect of design more thought.
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I dfon't think manufacturers pay sufficient attention to the unladen noseweight of their products. Given the addition of heavy items like batteries and gas bottles, they need to give this aspect of design more thought.
I agree totally.......…. some more thought into making them a lot more waterproof wouldn't go amiss either.
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Our caravan has a nsoeweight fo 140kg which is about the recommended 7% of the MTPLM. Luckily the Jeep can cope with the 140kg noseweight.
I don't think your hitch head will though, usually 100kg.
It is a BPW chassis so has a higher rating than an ALKO hitch.
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I dfon't think manufacturers pay sufficient attention to the unladen noseweight of their products. Given the addition of heavy items like batteries and gas bottles, they need to give this aspect of design more thought.
I think Bailey, for one, have. Our current Bailey 'van has, typically, a 90kg noseweight and lots of heavy stuff towards the front (gas bottles etc).
We have anew Bailey on order and it's interesting that the gas bottles are now almost on the axle, as is the battery.
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. For this reason, the empty nose weight is almost irrelevant.
It is very relevant if the empty noseweight is 100kg and you have only got a 70kg noseweight limit.
Why? All that tells you is that you've got to add 30kg at the back or an equivalent amount of ballast somewhere behind the axle.
Sure, it's easy to 'cure' a high noseweight. The problem is that this approach increases an oft-overlooked factor, the
Moment of Inertia.0 -
Back to the OP. You will need to do a trial and error loading to sort this out. At least you are within the 100kgs limit (hope that is same for your car). I am sure that with careful loading you will be ok; heavy stuff low centre and then play about with
rest using ,say, the position of the awning to achieve your 95 kgs; you may need to tow with the wc empty (both used and fresh water!) or very little of each. I try to tow at 90 - 95kgs noseweight.0
