Heavy stuff over the axle and light stuff in the cupboards.
Just watch what you put forward of the axle as you make the caravans nose weight heavy.A good idea is to buy a nose weight gauge.
Make sure you use a decent nose weight guage or use the bathroom scales method.
I have a pecie of wood made to the same height as the tow ball on the car that I then place on some scales. You can then move things around to tget the correct nose weight for your setup.
Also be aware of what maximum load is for your van. It's amazing on how it all adds up and you soon run out of your available weight for personal items
------------- Nick
2017
April - New Forest(9)
May - Dorset (9)
August - Camping Le Pin Parasol, Vendee (18)
October - East Mersea (8)
and five nights in the one man tent!
any weight to the rear of the axle is bad from a stability point of view but its all pretty much governed by the tow bar limits.. keep everything as far forward as to you can without exceeding the tow bar limits which in most cases is lower than ideal..
heavy large awnings need to go over the axle first and keep as much weight on the tow bar as the weight limit permits..
Nose weight should be between 5% & 7% of the van weight, so if you have a monster car, you don't want to be putting 150kg on the nose weight if you have an average weight van.
------------- Nick
2017
April - New Forest(9)
May - Dorset (9)
August - Camping Le Pin Parasol, Vendee (18)
October - East Mersea (8)
and five nights in the one man tent!
As a newbie, just going by what the Caravan Club recommend - minimum 4%, Recommended 5%-7% of caravans loaded weight
------------- Nick
2017
April - New Forest(9)
May - Dorset (9)
August - Camping Le Pin Parasol, Vendee (18)
October - East Mersea (8)
and five nights in the one man tent!
Quote: Originally posted by trog100 on 21/5/2015
any weight to the rear of the axle is bad from a stability point of view but its all pretty much governed by the tow bar limits.. keep everything as far forward as to you can without exceeding the tow bar limits which in most cases is lower than ideal..
heavy large awnings need to go over the axle first and keep as much weight on the tow bar as the weight limit permits..
trog
Excellent advice trog, that's how I used to load my caravan.
i have a SWB shogun pajero.. they will carry any likely load and can tow 3.5 tons.. chuck as much in the back of the truck as you can.. i do..
weight in the tow vehicle dosnt count as van loading..
i am a naughty wild camper and carry a spare battery 75 litres of water plus a small generator in the back of my truck.. my small porch awning and other light weight stuff stays in the van but heavy stuff goes in the tow truck..
my two gas cylinders and spare wheel in the front locker plus a few other bits and bobs gobble up most of my vans 100 kg nose weight.. i could more bung stuff to the rear of the van to balance it out but its not a good idea if it can be avoided.. basically bung as much stuff in the tow vehicle as its rear axle loading limits permits.. which if you dont have a full complement of passengers is quite a bit..
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Topic: loading caravan
