Does Layout affect Loading?

[Dustydog]

An interesting take by our David Motton. An Expert Q& A in this months mag. Leaves me thinking have I missed something? Poor Wi-Fi here. I have to ask why a rear end kitchen may not be …..,, read it for yourselves. David favours mid kitchens because of a potential dumbbell affect at the rear. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

 

[otherclive]

I had rear end kitchens in an Eldiss and ABI, but never had any concerns wrt towing stability. They were two berths and not particularly long caravans. The tow car was Saab 9000 using a Bulkdog lever spring stabiliser.

 

[RogerL]

Fridges may be heavily laden, often with liquids which might give an issue in a rear end kitchen - but equally a mid-located kitchen will have the heavy fridge on one side, giving an imbalance - there are too many other variables to be precise about one item.

 

[otherclive]

Fridges may be heavily laden, often with liquids which might give an issue in a rear end kitchen - but equally a mid-located kitchen will have the heavy fridge on one side, giving an imbalance - there are too many other variables to be precise about one item.

My last van a Sprite Musketeer TD had a significant difference in installed weights along the sides. On the offside was the spare wheel in the locker, water heater and pump etc, battery, power supply unit, fridge, larder and sink, cooker, wardrobe with heavy table, bathroom. The nearside had the Truma heater, a rear bunk set. It was according to Swift Talk a 56/44 split. But after loading it towed with no issues.

 

[ProfJohnL]

There is good scientific reasoning to minimise the mass distributed to the ends of a caravan. The convers often known as end loading, can dramatically deteriorate the the caravans towing characteristics to the point it can easily be destabilised as speed increases.

Like others have already said, I have towed many different types of caravan, many with end kitchens, and probably an equal number with side kitchens and in the greater context of loading a caravan, I couldn't declare that end kitchens are worse than side. It really depend on how you load the rest of the kit yor taking.

 

[Mel]

Bit of a fan of end kitchens but in my humble experience they do tend to make the van nose light compared to other layouts ( stands to reason, Rodney). Nothing that couldn‘t be overcome by sensible loading.
mel

 

[Raywood]

End kitchens normally turn up on short 2 berths where the problem is going to be less than with far longer models. Using this with a corner bathroom helps makers get the shortest possible model and the overhang from the back axle is so small I doubt the heavier weight you could get is a problem.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Bit of a fan of end kitchens but in my humble experience they do tend to make the van nose light compared to other layouts ( stands to reason, Rodney). Nothing that couldn‘t be overcome by sensible loading.
mel

It might be an issue if the caravan is empty, but once its loaded with the typical parfinailia of caravanning, as you say it's unlikely to be an issue.

 

[otherclive]

It might be an issue if the caravan is empty, but once its loaded with the typical parfinailia of caravanning, as you say it's unlikely to be an issue.

We have had two end kitchen two berths and both towed absolutely fine, even at UK and French motorway speeds. By the time the rest of the payload is stowed away for travel the end kitchen effect is very much moderated. Must say the layouts really suited the caravans, and one an Elddis even had walk in shower, and bathroom mid way along the offside. Never had a walk in shower since. it served as a useful repository for wet weather clothing.

 

[Dustydog]

I had a rear end kitchen years ago. Never had a problem . Must admit NL was checked before each trip because of the weight of food and drinks loaded into the fridge. My question regarding the PCv article is there any intrinsic value mentioning it in the first place? Taken out of context some may believe such layouts are unsafe which of course they are not

 

[Buckman]

One of our first caravans many years ago, a 2004 Lunar was single axle. On the offside was the fridge, oven and battery and at the rear the double bed. There was nothing under the bed as I was aware of the tail wagging the dog syndrome.

We collected it and set off on our first journey to a campsite with hardly anything in the caravan except a full awning over the axle. The drive felt extremely twitchy, but being reasonable new to caravans thought it was to be expected.

On our next trip out just before Jn 13 on the M5 we overtook an HGV. As we passed the HGV the caravan started to snake. and took us across the 3 lanes. Luckily we were driving a Volvo S80 which had ample weight and power.

Although it was tram lines in the road that probably set off the snake, it probably would not have happened if the appliances inside the caravan had been more evenly distributed. Shortly afterwards even though it was only 6 months old we traded it in for a twin axle as OH felt very apprehensive going out with that caravan.

 

[Dustydog]

One of our first caravans many years ago, a 2004 Lunar was single axle. On the offside was the fridge, oven and battery and at the rear the double bed. There was nothing under the bed as I was aware of the tail wagging the dog syndrome.

We collected it and set off on our first journey to a campsite with hardly anything in the caravan except a full awning over the axle. The drive felt extremely twitchy, but being reasonable new to caravans thought it was to be expected.

On our next trip out just before Jn 13 on the M5 we overtook an HGV. As we passed the HGV the caravan started to snake. and took us across the 3 lanes. Luckily we were driving a Volvo S80 which had ample weight and power.

Although it was tram lines in the road that probably set off the snake, it probably would not have happened if the appliances inside the caravan had been more evenly distributed. Shortly afterwards even though it was only 6 months old we traded it in for a twin axle as OH felt very apprehensive going out with that caravan.

Yikes🙀Not good for your trousers😉

 

[Buckman]

Yikes🙀Not good for your trousers😉

Definitely. At the time we could not understand why we snaked all over the place. As the site was about 40 mile from dealership, they came and collected the caravan for the tow to their workshop using a commercial pickup. The could not find anything wrong and it was only later I found out about the tram lines on the M5. They were still there years later although the road had been resurfaced. Not so bad now.

 

[Raywood]

With a transverse bed behind the axle we do keep that loaded to balance out the things further forward. I would be wary of loading the bed to that level though if we had the bed at the very rear rather than the toilet compartment.

 

[Beachball]

We own a 2002 Compass Omega 432 end kitchen some years ago never had any problems towing we very careful what we put in most heavy stuff went into the car