I own an Olympus 504 and a car with a 75 kgs noseweight ( mondeo 06 tdci ghia ) which I cant come close to.
I am not going to fill water containers and flushes etc right at the back and risk stability , or move gass bottles about in the van or car, so its change the van or car.
100 kgs noseweight needed if its the car and I dont want to spend a fortune on tax insurance and running costs buying a luxury car or 4x4.
I am also still paying loans on both so I dont want to spend a fortune
Why not move the gas bottles? They are ok in the van over the axle as long as they are upright and secure. It's your only option without changing the car. Maybe you didn't quite do your homework before spending, but it's done now so you've got to get round the prob. Maybe the spare wheel could be moved into the van if it's on a carrier forward of the axle....Mick
The gas bottles are designed to fit in the gas box,as they have fittings to hold them securely. A gas bottle or two bouncing around could really trash the inside of the van.Better to move stuff like awnings over the axle!
Spare wheel carriers are usually behind the axle as far as I know. Never seen one forward.
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Bilbo - first of all you have my sympathies over your predicament. I'll bet when you bought the van no-one mentioned the ludicrous noseweights of these new Baileys. There are more and more articles popping up all over the internet complaining of these unacceptable weights. I was looking at changing our van to an Olympus until the noseweight of 100kg + kept popping up.
Points to consider: If you change your car - you'll have all the extra expenses of a bigger / heavier car to live with all year round, fuel, tax, insurance spares etc. By changing the van, all your worries will be over. Of course, changing the van will bring all the hassle of finding another one to suit you.
I notice Discoveries have been mentioned cos they're cheap. In my experience, I find them they're unreliable and expensive. Most SUVs now have 100kg noseweights, the RAV4 and CRV are now up to 100kg .
How about one of these Click_here , mine has a 100kg towball limit and a 1600kg tow limit , fairly good on fuel and road tax £165 , only slight down side is i might be towing at about 92% due to the car kerb weight , but the caravan is never fully loaded so probably a bit less .
Nowt Wrong with the Discovery can tow 3 and a half tonns Like any car if it's looked after it will last. as for parts stay away from main dealers for servicing
I have the TD5 Been very reliable.
Never checked nose weight as the caravan I have is light weight.
You can have a lightweight caravan but you still need to check the nose weight as well for safety reasons. I used to have a small caravan of 870 kgs. but the noseweight still exceeded the 75kg. allowance due to the spare wheel being located in the front locker. I had to change to calorlite gas cylinders to lighten the noseweight which did work as I didn't want to keep transferring the spare in and out of the van.
I am going to move as much as I can to see if its possible to safely load and get the noseweight down to 75 kgs,we are taking the van out over the next few days after waiting for the wind to drop and ill let you know. If not it looks like a mk4 mondeo or a rover 75.
Quote: Originally posted by PeteDeFeet on 13/9/2011
I'll bet when you bought the van no-one mentioned the ludicrous noseweights of these new Baileys. There are more and more articles popping up all over the internet complaining of these unacceptable weights. I was looking at changing our van to an Olympus until the noseweight of 100kg + kept popping up.
A caravan of that weight needs a noseweight of around 100kg. There is nothing wrong with the caravan design. The fault is with dealers selling these caravans to customers with unsuitable cars & also with Bailey for failing to make this clear in their advertising.
Agreed. It is folly to try to reduce the noseweight in these circumstances. You just need a bigger car. It's as simple as that.
The caravan is designed for a certain noseweight, and this is part of the car matching process. Many people ignore it and end up with problems. You need a large 4 x 4 to tow this caravan. Anything less will lead to instability.
Jim
Quote: Originally posted by landy1uk on 13/9/2011
Nowt Wrong with the Discovery can tow 3 and a half tonns Like any car if it's looked after it will last. as for parts stay away from main dealers for servicing
I have the TD5 Been very reliable.
Never checked nose weight as the caravan I have is light weight.
I agree entirely. This is our second Disco and I really like the car. This one is better than our last. It is expensive to fuel up, but still like the car.
Before my Pegasus I had an Olympus 546 that I towed with a BMW320d ('06). I had no problems at all, the outfit was a nice match. You may already do this, but it's worth remembering to empty the hot water before you leave site. If left full that can account for another 10Kg's or so not far from the drawbar. I've also switched to the lightweight Calor Propane cylinder which also reduces the weight up front.
I changed cars because I was fed up of getting stuck in the snow and now have a Mitsubishi Outlander. If thinking of changing cars I would recommend looking at them. I use mine for work and average around 40mpg. It has plenty of power, 2 tonne tow capacity and 100Kgs nose weight limit. Don't get me wrong, it aint no Discovery but it's as close to a compromise I could get.
I personally would move the gas bottles - why get rid of a good van and/or car.?
There is a gadget out - not sure where I saw it but it's a telescopic pole that you put between the sofa's which stops your stuff going down the caravan as you are driving - perfect if you have a rear dinette. You could just get a telescopic shower rail it would do the same trick and probably a fraction of the price.
Also if you have an awning - put this at the rear of the van too. If you have a front locker - you might want to look at how much you have loaded in there, if it doesn't necessitate being in there - find it a new home.
Hope this helps - a little :)
------------- Degsy Rowlands is my love, my life and a lunatic!!!!!!!! Louise x
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Topic: Car or Caravan
