Car and Caravan. A Match, or maybe not?

[TerryIvybridge]

Hi, I would like to raise a point about our towcars and our caravans. I apologise if this has been bought up before, (many times I suspect) So we buy a caravan to suit our car, or vice versa? Like I have done many times these last few week's, I have researched my choice of car, then the caravan. This is, I've found, a bleddy minefield! All the weight's, which I feel is the most important critera, are there set out to guide us in our choices. But do they? In my case, it's just my wife and I, and our little Westie, Katie. But if myself, my wfe and an imaginary familyof 2.3 children weighed considerably more than the "average", that would obviously effected the total all-up weight of car and caravan, off for the holiday's. My question is, where is this weight calculated in when we look up to the likes of the C.C, and their "Matching" advices? More to the point, how does that effect us as a couple only? do I need to factor this in and think we have "spare" weight available, or does Mr and Mrs and two kids do that, and take less in the way of payload? As it is, the only caution I have had flagged up in my match is that the 'van is 98% MTPLM of the car's kerbweight. So with care and I'm an ex HGV1 driver, it's deemed safe for me to tow with this outfit. I hope I've set this out as I intended and some bright spark will come on and add some input. I for one, cannot recall this beng a matter of debate before. Terry.

 

[CyberCynth]

An interesting post Terry. To answer the first part, I only have a fairly small car, so when I decided to get back into caravanning I had to try to find something I could pull with my little Skoda, as I like the car very much and didn't want to have to trade it in against something bigger/more powerful. (There were budgetary considerations also; one invariably loses money if you trade your car in for another!) Hence the Gobur. I must admit I don't know the answer to the latter part of your question. However, when a friend of mine started hinting that she'd like to join me on my travels I must admit I was a bit concerned, as this lady is, shall we say politely, of rather ample proportions! Normally it's just me and my dog; a Bearded Collie, whilst weighing more than your lovely llittle Westie, doesn't push me too near my weight limit! So I'm hoping someone else will post a reply to satisfy the curiosity of us both. At the moment, according to the weight matching service I used, my outfit is in the 'green', or safe zone.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Terry you seem to have the chicken and egg situation and which came first! the car or the caravan!! Can I suggest you think about the way you use both the car and the caravan, Cars are generally only occupied for the duration of a journey. We have come to accept the limitations of space within a car, because we know we will soon be getting out and able to stretch our legs. By comparison we can spend much longer inside a caravan and do wider range of things, such as cooking, sleeping grooming the dog etc. Based on what you have told us, I suggest it may be prudent to find the caravan that's going to meet your needs, and then look for a suitable tow car. Only you can decide where the criteria balance for you. You must of course ensure the car is capable of towing your caravan by keeping the caravan within the cars towing specification. It's logical to try and keep the weight of any trailer as small as possible in relation to the tow vehicle, but the oft quoted 85 and 100% figures are purely recommendations they offer no guarantees of safety. As an HGV driver you will already know the biggest factor in driving safety is the driver, and the choices they make about loading balance and driving according to the prevailing conditions.The caravan/car matching sites cannot be trusted implicitly as we know their databases do contain incomplete or erroneous information. It's not difficult to do the sums. Loading margins are always coming up in topics, Its just like HGV's - you must not over load so you ensure teh all up weight is within the caravans MTPLM (equivelent to MAM MAW). Most caravan manufacturers have worked out what most people need in terms of baggage allowance, including things:- like crockery and other shared habitation paraphernalia adn have included an adequate if not generous margin. It just takes a little care to be prudent about what you choose to stow. For example don't take a weeks worth of food and liquids because you can usually get those items at your destination. Do you need two gas bottles? perhaps one will do. Use an E book rather than taking several kg of books etc. In terms of what you can tow, that will be determined by your licence categories, (which I'm guessing is not a problem for you) and the manufactures technical specification for the vehicle.

 

[TerryIvybridge]

This is the information that determined our "to be match" ie, car and 'van we will have. The Golf first of all. Had one for 8 years, no problems, wife is happy to drive,a good match in it's self.Car is also quite heavy at 1495kg kerb weight. The Caravan will be a Bailey, we've had 6? now and despite the fact that we feel that the build quality can be questionable, it tick's our box's. 4 berth. Because we like the extra seating when the front bed is made up. Don't like the fixed bed and tiny washroom set-ups. The Pageant Champagne Series 7 comes in at MIRO of 1207kg, MRPLM of 1410kg. When towing, I'll put a porch awning in the back of the car along with maybe couple of chairs and camping table. The 'van gets the rest, (one bottle of gas), and I'm pretty sure that this will be a managable outfit. The point is, what if i had two kids, their bikes and all their needs in terms of clothes etc? This is where , i feel, that there ought to be more information or warning's in terms of these differing senarios. God know's, it's difficult enough as it is, but, there are a lot of assumptions that can make a great deal of difference between safe and unsafe.

I'll shut up now, but as an experienced tow er ? and HGV driver, I have found it very difficult myself choosing car/caravan matches when it came to changing. There must be an awful lot of bewildered caravan owners to be out there! Terry.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

There must be an awful lot of bewildered caravan owners to be out there! Terry.

There are probably also plenty out there who are totally oblivious, or don't care, to any weights or towball limits whatsoever!!

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Terry, caravan matching can be very curcumspect in these modern times, I am afraid, but more of that later, without being too pedantic someone who has had 6 bailey's will have been round the block a few times (if you know what I mean) and will well remember the old days, when no one bothered about weights "you did not have to !!!!" ok so yes some of us old uns have a bit of fun with stories that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. but thats how it was, seat of the pants stuff"" no recommendations no weight legistlation, and above all "no idea" about what was supposed to be Ideal. you had a car fancied a caravan bought it and off you went it was that easy, and conversely quite safe, why because cars were quite heavy and vans were quite light, the average caravan "sprite 16" could be towed by the average car "cortina" without any problems. since then however cars have got lighter and vans heavier by some considerable margin. on top of that rolling legistlation started the moment we joined the EEC to bring member countries "in line" at first regarding HGV,s and then all trailers over time, around the same time elf and safety started taking an interest in our hobby, so one by one the "rules" emerged like a rolling conveyer that never stops moving. question is what does this mean to us the modern caravanner!!! well in simple terms the average van can no longer be towed by the average car!!. this ultimately poses the chicken and egg senario that the Prof spoke of, either one buys the caravan of their dreams and then forks out for a tow car that can pull it or look at the car they have with a view of towing with it and then find a van that is suitable.. either way the choice is problematic. it depends on wether one uses heart or head in making the decisions, of course some of the calculations are straight forward and a great deal of work has been done both by the car manufacturers and the van industry to guide us, for instance all vans come with a MIRO (ex works weight empty) and a MTPLM (max weight on the road) and in between is the user payload, this is set but how we use it is up to us!!! so wether it just a couple and small dog (or rabbit cat what have you) or a family with (5 kids and a pet rhino) the weight is just the same. this goes for the towcar also each one has a max gross weight and max gross train weight that must not be exeeded the value inbetween the two is usually the max trailer weight sometimes this is specific to a model but in general terms providing the MTPLM of the van is less than the max trailer weight of the car it is suitable. as a match for our purposes, there is no need to calculate the weight of each person, bike, chair, or anything else as long as the total weights are under the prescribed values it would be fine, if there is any doubt a trip to the weightbridge for a couple of mesurements should sort it out, everything else is icing on the cake and of no significance.

 

[TerryIvybridge]

Hi Colin. I think we all agree then. There's more to car/caravan matching than meets the eye. What's particularly worrying, is the amount of seller's including Trader's that appear to quote wrong weight's for whatever reason? Terry.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Absolutely because seller's want to make a sale it is upto the driver to make sure the combo is legitimate and legal to tow. not the seller. if in any doubt the best source of information is the manufacturer that goes for van and car, and actually it's not that hard.

 

[Surfer]

Hi Colin. I think we all agree then. There's more to car/caravan matching than meets the eye. What's particularly worrying, is the amount of seller's including Trader's that appear to quote wrong weight's for whatever reason? Terry.

I don't see a problem as it is your responsibility to make sure that you comply with the law.