Parksy
Moderator
Dave Motton has continued in his role as towcar editor of Practical Caravan Magazine but what may be so widely known is that he was once the magazine editor before Nigel Donnelly took over.
In the real world I'd say that very few caravanners adhere strictly to the 85% ratio.
From what I see every time that we are on sites, there are not all that many caravanners who stay within their legal weight limits with the amounts of gear that they carry, never mind following the 85% advice 🙄
The term 85% Rule is a colloquialism, the recommendation is called a Rule because its a rule of thumb, a rough and ready guideline.
I have continued to reinforce the 85% figure on this thread because it's existing advice.
I'm not bothered about the name of the person who first advised the 85% figure, it's given to this day by every reputable source that a novice would be likely to follow.
If the advice, rule, recommendation or whatever is still considered by both main clubs to be good enough for their members then it's good enough for me to reinforce on this forum.
In the real world I'd say that very few caravanners adhere strictly to the 85% ratio.
From what I see every time that we are on sites, there are not all that many caravanners who stay within their legal weight limits with the amounts of gear that they carry, never mind following the 85% advice 🙄
Most of us have seen the video of the model car and trailer with adjustable loads. There is an almost identical demonstration from America. I don't know which was first.
The Abstract posted on the UoB's research portal includes this important statement;
"It is interesting to see that the trailer mass alone does not dramatically affect the high-speed stability, as this runs contrary to current guidelines relating to limits on the relative mass of the car and trailer."
I made that exact same point in a previous thread, but if it serves to make caravanners think more carefully about loading, its no bad thing.One should note, however, that the adjustable loads on the model trailer were extremely heavy relative to the unladen weight of the model. It would be roughly the equivalent of moving the entire payload of the caravan fore and aft from one far end to the other, so the video only serves to illustrate an extreme situation which would hardly be encountered to that extent in reality.