Tail Heavy
New to me Bailey Phoenix keeps sitting down on me! Any ideas what to weigh down the nose with without upsetting the nose weight. I have the water and waste containers in the back bathroom but I doubt that will redress the balance if I bring them forrard? Gas bottle must be part of the trouble near the back. It sat down when trying to hitch to leave home yesterday so today lowered corner steady to prevent it going too far. Its towed very nicely so far on the motor way though. Tia
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Are we to assume that you are getting a negative noseweight when hitching the caravan to the car? Rather that way round than opposite because it's fairly easy to add weight at the front without exceeding the noseweight limit rather than reducing it. Don't move the gas bottle to any other location though, as you will most probably not have the opportunity to safely store it there. Try moving as much payload forward as you can until get somewhere near the noseweight limit. If all else fails, you could even put some water in the water container and secure it somewhere at the front to ballast things out.
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It must be negative if it tips up when hitching mustn't it? I mean really tips too. My neighbour was surprised I was strong enough to get it back down. It wasn't easy. I don't like the thought of the tail wagging if that's too heavy.
I wouldn't dream of moving the gas to an unsecured position. I will find something to move forward.
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If your caravan tips up while trying to hitch up it has far too little noseweight and there is a very real risk of the tail wagging the dog. If you haven't got one already, a noseweight gauge might be a good investment although a short length of wood and bathroom scales will suffice. Try to get it just below the limit for your car's towball or 95Kg whichever is lower.
As a very rough guide, if you can lift the nose by hand it's much too light. My Bailey Genoa usually needs the wastemaster, aquaroll and sometimes my toolbox right at the front to achieve 80Kg of noseweight.
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I can't imagine how it might actually tow with obviously a rear end that heavy.
I assume it bounces quite a lot also when towed , please change the way you load your caravan before physics & gravity take control before something dreadful happens.
Your best friend is the forum membership & YouTube.
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thank you both. I will test the nose weight. It surprised me by towing remarkably well On first journey. I had tipped it by getting in it without corner steadies. Next day it tipped when trying to hitch it. Today day 3 I put some heavy stuff in the front and it didn't tip although I had the steadies half down in case. It didn't seem to tow as well but it was filthy weather day. Wind and sheetIng rain. There wasn't any serious movement which was a relief. I got into a tailwag years ago when one horse untied itself and attacked the other. That was as near disaster as you can get. Never want to be there again!
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