Lack of Space in Front Locker
Hi, I have a bailey pageant series 6. In the front locker I can fit my waste master and 2 aqua rolls. Recently we have been looking at buying a new van, but the ones we have seen have very little space in the front locker. Which means transporting the above item in a nice clean new caravan. This seems to me to be a backward step!! Any thoughts?
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In the 12 years we have been caravanning have always carried them in the van. They travel at the front wedged so they cannot move. I always give them a good wipe off first and we have never had any problems. The current van even has a cream carpet and seating. I believe you can get bags to put them in, although have never really seen the point. It takes but a few minutes to wipe them off. The lack of front locker space seems to be the thing on newer vans. Ours is a Bailey U2 Cadiz. I think it is a result of problems getting nose weights below 100 kg, on some models with front lockers.
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not just a caravan issue Steve, poor external storage is a trait of many MH. especially UK ones, im afraid.
one of my pet hates, a large(ish) space covered by a small door preventing decent access....again, a common 'design feature'.
the noseweight thing sounds right.....is this to do with the search for ever lighter, more economical tow cars?
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Alko & BPW chassis nose weights are 100kgs max as far as i'm aware so once you fit two gas bottles there's not much more margin left to load it up anyway. I'd love to put more in mine but it is on the limit with 2 Calorlite's and a few odds & ends
I do try to balance it out with the awning etc inside the van but even then its close on the limit.0 -
I am sure it was a consideration BB. That and the limit on the chassis is 100 kg. I remember when we were in the market for a new van, talking to several U1 owners and being told how difficult they found it to get them to 100kg, with two gas bottles. Then when the U2 was launched, the front locker was gone and the gas bottles moved to the middle. I agree about the size of locker doors. Those either side at the front on our U2 are stupidly small.
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My pervious Avondale had a very swallow front locker while my present Swift has a huge (in comparison locker). I think it varies from one manufacturer to another so it pays to look in the locker before you buy.
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.....is this to do with the search for ever lighter, more economical tow cars?
no the noseweight should and must always be there but has nothing to do with the car's weight at all. Firstly your towcar should be heavier than your caravan, so a lighter car means an even lighter caravan and you may have seen the '85%' guideline for the weight of the caravan, ie 85% of the kerbweight of the car.
Noseweight comes from the fact that the weight of the caravan does not 'act' through the wheels. It acts through one point called the centre of mass which is in front of the wheels. Just like a see saw, if you sit in the centre the see saw remains level, move towards one end that end goes down. The same for your caravan. Some noseweight is needed so that the caravan doesn’t become detached from the car and and helps stability. But there are limits, too much causes problems too. So a noseweight of 70 – 100kg is about right.
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I have covers for my Aquaroll and Wastemaster. When travelling they go into the boot of my car; there are only 2 of us so I put the awning in the car on the rear seats in the lowered position. Even using covers the Aquaroll and Wastemaster have become stained over the 14 years I have had them so the covers keep the boot clean. With 2 gas bottles in the front locker I am usually close to the 100kgs nose weight and get a stable tow. Not sure I could get 2 Aquarolls in the boot of my Tig! Irritatingly I lost one of the caps for the Wastemaster down the grey water disposal point in Italy a few weeks ago (my fault) so a replacement cap is on my shopping list when I next visit the dealers! On the subject of nose weights; met a caravanner who had one of those 'teardrop' style caravans on our last holiday. he was complaining how unstable it was. We measured his nose weight and it was 35kgs - the nose weight for his car was only 50 kgs. He had the awning as far forward as possible in the caravan so he put some water (about 30 ltrs I think) in the on board tank which was at the front (I did express my concern about this water slopping around) and he managed to achieve 45kgs. I wished him luck as he set off
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Hi always carry ours in van in bags no problems.
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I have bags for the wastemaster and my two aquarolls. they go in the van between the two front seats, a nice snug fit and they have never moved when traveling.
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Must be design from one manufacturer to another, our 2014 Lunar has a full size front locker. It originally came with bases for two gas bottles but I now use one 10kg gaslight, my wastemaster goes in with the two electric leads, two boxes with one containing levelling wood blocks, the other hose fittings etc and ground pegs, then the MM/wheel wrench and CS winder.
I can still lift the front up by the hitch, so know it has a noseweight of 70/85kg. Thankfully unlike some a heavy noseweight was not inbuilt from manufacture.
The aquaroll is carried in a large charity bag and lives in the shower cubicle when towing.
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.....is this to do with the search for ever lighter, more economical tow cars?
I took this to mean non 4x4 type cars CS. If you struggle to get the hook load to 100 kg you are more or less restricted to this type of vehicle. Even when weights are not much different non 4x4's are generally more economical.
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yes but isn't nose weight a function of the van and how it has been designed? My swift says there should be noseweight of around 75kg and my car's max noseweight is 100kg. Yes if a caravan said it should have a heavier noseweight then you have to choose your car accordingly?
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We've a Pageant Series 7 and I agree the front locker box is huge compared with new ones.
We travel as a retired couple and nothing travels on the floor of the van - except the step. Clothes put away, food in cupboards/fridge etc etc. Everything else has its place. When we want to stop en-route its a case of lift out the step and walk in to a totally free area.
Bring back the massive locker box!
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We just put the aqua rolls in some large plastic bags and they travel wedged in the van. Don't think any of the lockers in our vans were big enough to store an aqua roll.
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My 2007 Abbey doesn't have a capacious front locker. Two gas bottles and the odds and sods and that's about it. I could possibly get an aqua roll in one side but I'd have to lift the gas bottle out first to be able to get it in. It lives in the boot en route and the waste master goes in the locker under the fixed bed and just about goes through the hatch.
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We had a cover for our aquaroll and it always went in the car boot as it was the first thing needed on arrival. We had a Fiamma waste container which is compact enough to go in the front locker. I'm not a fan of Wastemasters and would never have one as they seem too unwieldy and I can imagine the storage problems. The seem to be unique to this country; never see them outside of the UK.
As for two aquarolls, it seems unreasonable for caravans to be designed to carry two when one is perfectly adequate for most people. Caravans are big enough already; where do you stop?
The centre mounted gas bottles adopted by Bailey are nothing new but nose weight has been a significant problem for some of their models so it makes sense. It is a problem when the nose weight can vary significantly depending on whether you have one or two bottles, empty or full etc.
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I have an Adria Adiva and my front locker holds spare wheel - 2 x Calor 6kg propane - aquaroll- Cadac BBQ- 5 ltrs Aquacem - parasol and base plus odds and s**s and still cant get 100 kg noseweight.
Wastemaster sits in shower in plazzy bag.
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My Sterling Eccles front locker seems very spacious. I have a 30l & a 40l aquaroll and they fit nicely one in each side. Two 3.9kg gas bottles in the middle with space for my hook up cable, waste pipe and hose for when I'm on a service pitch and other bits and pieces.
Awning sits over the wheels inside the van but the wastemaster travels in a bag in the shower.
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Wastemaster AND two aquarolsl in a front locker??? WOW, that's some front locker!! My wastemaster travels in the shower well padded and the 2 x 50lt water hogs travel under the bed. As has been said, cleaning or bags stops any dirt but the really important thing as you will know is to stop those items becoming missiles on the journey. In my bailet I can get my Safefills and a few 'bits'.
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