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hi all just purchased a second hand avondale kingfisher caravan, upgrading from the tent lol, firstly any tips from you experience towers out there about towing a caravan for the first time, bit nervous to be honest picking caravan up tomorrow from towyn near rhyl.

also has any one had this type of caravan ? i need to know the size of the awning for it please, thats gonna be our next purchase, thanks all youve been great in answering in the past,

i hopw we havent made a mistake in buying a caravan lol seeing the weathers crap , better to buy a boat i think thanks peeps, NIGEL

Firstly good luck with your new purchase.

Kingfishers were well built vans so providing no "dreaded water ingress" should give you good service.

As regards towing get yourself a good pair of rear view mirrors and give corners a nice "wide" turn, you will soon get used to the width of the van and as when driving a car judging the "gap" ahead will become second nature.

As regards the awning measure the awning rail on the side of the van from ground to ground, this will give you the size of awning required.i.e starting at ground level at one end of van measure up and around the awning rail and down to the ground at the other end.

Weather is rubbish this weekend but we were away last weekend and it was superb.

Away next weekend and the following week to the CC Sites at Chard and Woolacombe so keeping everything crossed!

Enjoy your van you have not made a mistake!

Dave

Hi Nigel

As I've said before, load everything sensibly, no heavy items high up or at the ends, get the noseweight right, make sure you don't overload the caravan or the back axle of the car.  (Everything has a maximum weight you mustn't exceed.)

Check the tyre pressures and take your time.

I assume your car is suitable for that caravan.  You haven't said what the weights are or what you will be towing it with.

We'll be at the Cil Y Bont CL at Llanrug from the 19th to the 28th June if you want to call round and have a chat.  The kettle will be on, and we're always happy to help.

Jim

I've never had a noseweight gauge.

Easy way is if you have bathroom scales, get a block of wood of the right height and put the sacles under the hitch with the wood in between.  When you do this measurement, it's fairly important to have the hitch at the right height, just as if it was on the ball.

With the jockey wheel it's easy to lower the weight onto the wood, but if the scales are good ones, you might want to put a flat piece of wood on first.  Whatever blocks you use don't forget to take the weight of them into account.

With experience, you'll know the way you pack things into the caravan, and you'll find the noseweight hardly changes.  Still a good idea to check it though.  Mine stays just about constant.  The only variable is the amount of gas in the bottle(s).  I have two gas bottle up front and as times goes on, they slowly get lighter, but probably not to the point where it would affect anything. The weight of the gas is not great when compared with the weight of the bottle itself.

Good luck with the collection.  You will not regret buying a caravan.  If anything else occurs to you, I would be glad to help.

Jim