Are we legal for weight and length ?

[Jem1]

Hello !_ hope you can help

My husband is an experienced driver/tow'er , does alot of towing at work plus we have been carravanning for 2 years with no problems.
We have a Abbey Aventura 340 6 berth Twin axle 2005 - MTPLM 1614 kg
Towing with a VW Passat Estate - 2.5 V6 24v TDi

Are we legal for weight and length ? Is there a certain length that you can tow ??

 

[RogerL]

The limit is 7 metres body length for the caravan - your Abbey will be under that - some roads have length restrictions, eg 10 metres (33') and they don't just apply to goods vehicles, they also apply to towed outfits- you'll need to add the caravan's shipping length to the car's overall length to find out.
Can't comment on the weights issue as I don't know the kerbweight or towing limit of your Passat

 

[Surfer]

The limit is 7 metres body length for the caravan - your Abbey will be under that - some roads have length restrictions, eg 10 metres (33') and they don't just apply to goods vehicles, they also apply to towed outfits- you'll need to add the caravan's shipping length to the car's overall length to find out.
Can't comment on the weights issue as I don't know the kerbweight or towing limit of your Passat

Does the lawful body length include the front locker as in the old days the bottles were on the outside? Our shipping length is 7.9m, but internal length is only 6.34m a difference of 1.6 metres.

 

[RogerL]

Does the lawful body length include the front locker as in the old days the bottles were on the outside? Our shipping length is 7.9m, but internal length is only 6.34m a difference of 1.6 metres.

The shipping length and internal length are irrelevant in this respect.
The highway limit of 7m body length excludes the external locker - quite a bit in the old days with separate gas lockers bolted to the A-frame but with modern caravans the distance from the outside of the front window ledge to the front of the body is minimal.

 

[Phillipcharnwoodforest]

The total overall length is the figure required to give the length limit on a road, otherwise you can be over length. The body length can be a lot different to the overall length.
For example a trailer with a body length of 6.5 meters plus a towing vehicle length of 5 meters quite obvoiusly measures in at11.5 meters, now say the road length limit is 12.0 meters then you would be within the limit BUT the overall length of the complete outfit is OVER 12 meters as the draw bar has NOT been added to the equation. So if the draw bar measures 1 meter then :- 6.5 + 5 + 1 = 12.5 so you are over length.
Regulary I towed a trailer with a draw bar length of around 1.2 meteres , so that if I had just used the body length of the trailer I could have been 1.2 meters over length. if using the body length as RogerL sugested. I think that theres a bit of confusion here.

 

[Lutz]

The 12m limit applies to the total length of the trailer including drawbar, not the complete outfit, regardless of the type of vehicle you are towing with. The limit for a complete outfit is 18.75m. The body length limit of 7m applies only if you are towing with a vehicle of less than 3.5 tonnes GVW, such as the Passat.
To my knowledge, the towload limit for the Passat 2.5 tdi is 1800kg unless it's a 4Motion in which case the limit is 2000kg so, as far as technical legality is concerned, weight is not a problem.

 

[RogerL]

The body length limit of 7m applies only if you are towing with a vehicle of less than 3.5 tonnes GVW, such as the Passat.

So the 7m limit applies to 99% of UK caravanners, including the OP with a Passat.

 

[hgv dave]

ARGGGHHH my head hurts

hgv dave