If 75 kg is transferred from caravan to vehicle then if the caravan has a MTPLM of 1000 you cannot legally add 75 to that as it would make it overloaded when weighed on its own
Cannot load the vehicle to max GVW because the transfer weight would make that 75 over when combination weighed together
Its a loss of 75 kg payload overall because any way you mix it something becomes overloaded
------------- EX Advanced driving observer (IAM)
EX LGV & B+E instructor
Quote: Originally posted by Big Roy on 26/8/2014While I'm on the subject of nose weight and just to complicate things even further, the caravan nose weight is transferred to your car which is counted as part of the cars payload
Thanks Big Roy and apologies for the further question but just so I get it right in my head:
Does this mean that if a Caravan weighs 75kg at the nose then that 75kg should be deducted from the MTPLM figure of the van so if your Caravan van has a MTPLM of say 1500kg the max net weight would be 1425kg the difference between that 1425kg and the MIRO is the payload for the caravan. The payload for the car is whatever it is less the 75kg noseweight.
So to get to a safe 85% towing limit I would need a car kerbweight of 1,676kg (1425/85%) or would I still need a kerbweight of 1,764kg (being 1,500/85%) assuming of course that all other specs are OK.
Thanks
What you are saying is right and this is something that has been discussed many times on all caravan forums and no one has yet come up with a definitive answer or been able to come up with a link to the legislation covering this.
When VOSA weigh your outfit they do not uncouple it so therefore go by the axle weights, so yes in theory you could subtract the nose weight from the MTPLM of the caravan. If they wanted to weigh the caravan on it's own, then yes it would register as overweight but there are two key words here "in use" the van is not "in use" when not hitched to the car.
But you are right, by not subtracting the nose weight from the MTPLM you are counting the nose weight twice.
I owned a 60 plate 2.0d tourer for 3 yrs. fantastic car. It towed my van Avante 540 upgraded MTLPM to 1500kg. Never missed a beat. Could labour a bit on very steep hills but using the box correctly no problem. Went to Cornwall and back from cheshire never any problems. Only negative I could say is the 75kg on the tow ball but I just kept the front locker empty apart from one small gas bottle and loaded the van correctly, we got the nose weight to 75kg checking with the gauge. And the rear suspension can be soft , but used the spring doughnuts and had no problem.
Easiest is just to stick with caravan Mtplm of about 85% of car kerbweight provided max tow weight of car is not exceeded. Just take figures from car & caravan handbooks, avoids all this confusion & saves the need for deep knowledge of rules/regs & also trips to weighbridge.
The object is a safe tow with plenty of weight margin & the 85% 'rule' allows this. What one must not do is get hung up on exact weights because provided you are well under limit for car, a few kg either don't really matter.
75kg is the maximum load that the tow ball will take, you can go under that to any downward figure you like
So if you get the scales and it weighs only 60 KG that's ok
I used a 2006 Avensis estate 2.0 diesel, which was only about 115 bhp to tow a 1400kg tourer and found that I had to work the engine very hard through the gears to maintain satisfactory progress. I later discovered that max towing weight was 1100kg and ditched it quick. The 2.2 diesel makes all the difference for towing.
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Topic: Avensis Tow car - really confusing
