My car weighs 1666kg. My 85% limit is therefore 1416kg. If I increase the car weight with luggage and a passenger can I increase the 85% figure accordingly provided I stay within the car towing limit and the caravan MTPLM?
While I agree it's not a rule, it's just an advisory figure - it wasn't just "plucked out of the air" - it's the combined experience over many decades by the Caravan Club who have published an advisory figue since just after WW2 - the % has varied mainly to reflect the different ways of measuring a car's weight.Damian-Moderator said:First of all the 85% Rule is NOT a Rule, it is an advisory figure plucked out of the air over 20 years ago. It has NO legal standing.
Weight distribution is regulated by the car axle weights, and overall weight limit, plus the caravan weight limit and the overall rig weight limit , which depending on when you passed your car test can be 3500Kg overall.
I am sure that the topic must have been covered at length somewhere on the forum, use the search facility and see .
Other than that I am sure you will be inundated with very technical replies.
Dustydog said:John
I have no wish to be pedantic but the correct phrase is University of Bath.
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Even Angela Merkel now publicly accepts that the EU needs reform.Dustydog said:That's an eye opener Roger.
So when Angela Merkel takes over Europe we may well get sucked into these regs.
Clearly a lot of research must have been done somewhere in Germany to make such specific regs?
It covers some of the legalities but none of the practicalities - quite a number of towcars have towing limit way in excess of 100% of kerbweight, quite useful for experienced tuggers and low CoG trailers - but useless for caravanners, experienced or newbies.colin-yorkshire said:how that!!.
what about them 85% is no guarantee the outfit would be under the 3500kg limit for a cat B licence.WoodlandsCamper said:colin-yorkshire said:how that!!.
What about licence conditions?
colin-yorkshire said:the assumption that newbies are somehow stupid and cannot handle anything but the simplist of calculations or advice in my view is wrong, .......
RogerL said:It covers some of the legalities but none of the practicalities - quite a number of towcars have towing limit way in excess of 100% of kerbweight, quite useful for experienced tuggers and low CoG trailers - but useless for caravanners, experienced or newbies.colin-yorkshire said:how that!!.
who said he was a newbie could have been doing this for years :woohoo:WoodlandsCamper said:colin-yorkshire said:the assumption that newbies are somehow stupid and cannot handle anything but the simplist of calculations or advice in my view is wrong, .......
There is another thread running about someone lifting their van on the steadies rather than lifting the wheel. What was that about newbies not being stupid??
Thank you for explaining that more eloquently than I was suggesting.Mel said:When I was new to caravanning there seemed to be such a lot to understand that I didn't care what was backed up by science and what wasn't. What I wanted was some straightforward, easy to act on, advice. I was glad that there was a 85% rule/guideline/myth as it mean't that I had somewhere to start. Some years in I was in a far better position to weigh up the debate around it.
Newbies are not necessarily stupid (although some may be more stupid than others; to misquote Orwell) but are often overwhelmed by information. This may be to the extent that they give up on the idea of Caravanning. This would be BAD.
mel