In need of some advice

[Maelmond]

Hi there,

Im completely new to caravaning so I thought I would post here first to get some advice before I make too many mistakes. So basically I used to tour with my parents when I was a kid and as I have just had a little boy I hought it would be a good time to get a van and hope my son enjoys it as much as I did. So my plan is to fit a tow bar to my current car (which I also need to tow my trials bike) and hire a van for a couple of weeks to see how we all get on with touring.

So my question is, can anyone see any flaws in my plan or has any else had any experience with hiring a van??

Any advice/ critism welcome

Thank you in advance

Mart

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Mart,

Welcome back,

Your idea seems like a plan, just acouple of points,

Do remember to tell your insurers about fitting the towbar as most class it as a modification, but don't worry most dont up the premiums.

And secondly if you passed your driving test after 1st Jan 1997, then you must check the weights of your car and the hire caravan very carefully, as amongst other things, the caravans Maximum Authorsed Mass must not exceed the cars unladen weight. and the combined MAM of car and caravan must not exceed 3500Kg.

Trying before buying is a great idea, saves you spending a lot of money only to find it may not be for you.

Best of luck and I hope we end up with another young convert.

 

[Steve L]

Hi Mart.
John has covered the legal bits that you need to consider before towing a treat.

As for hiring a van that can be quite costly and could well cost upto £600 for a week. There are people hiring vans on flebay quite a lot cheaper than those in glossy magazines but you are open to them not being reputable.

I have caravanned for 30 years and until I bought a tourer to live in, I never spent more than £1500 on a van and sold them on for profit or a small loss. Now I might just been lucky to of done that. My latest van cost just £600 which is probably what a week's hire would cost.It is ready to use now as everything but the fridge works. I've bought a secondhand fridge for £80 and have fitted it. I'm going to invest in a mobile caravan engineer for a service for £95 which then gives me mechanical, electrical and gas safetyinspections with the relevant certificates. With that done I am confident that my van is now worth a bag of sand (grand) to the open market.

My point is, spending £600 to dip your toe in the pond, could actually pay for a tidy secondhand caravan that can be used for a week to see if you like it and then if you don't you could sell it on for the same capital cost.

There is a risky way of doing this too. In our local paper there are several auctioneer's who sell off household affects ie furniture etc and often a caravan pops up too. If you can tell the good from the bad or have a mate who is savvy, you could nab a bargain. I did say it is risky, because quite often the caravans can be basket cases that dealers want rid of, but they do give you an insight into the real damp van sceene. But chucked in the auction you might just find great uncle bert's pride and joy.

We borrowed a 10ft Glass windowed sprite tourer complete with still working gas mantle lamp to dip our toes 30 years ago and loved the freedom of choice of when and where we go.

Even a twenty two year old van comes with hot & cold water, double glazing, a decent cassette loo and a shower, so you have the mod cons. Our kids loved the caravan as it ment big adventures and the beach.
Good luck with your adventure and be sure to let us know how you get on and what the result is.

ATB Steve L

 

[Maelmond]

Thank you for you reply's, defiantly given me something to think about. I think the first thing I need to think about is getting a tow bar fitted and how much I can tow. I started looking into this today and was a bit dissappointed.

I have a jaguar x-type 2.0 petrol which has a kerb weight of 1455kg, using the 85% rule this means I can only tow a van wieghing 1236kg. Does this sound normal?? I had a look at a few vans today and I don't remember many of them wieghing as little as that? Also the jag handbook also says it has a max nose weight of 60kg, seems a bit on the light side. Will this cause any problems aswell?

I didn't think my jag was a small car but it seems I can't even tow some of the medium vans I was looking at with the wife today. Tbh I feel a bit dis hearterned about it. As we had decided to keep the car instead of buying a smaller more ecomical car and buying a van instead.

 

[Parksy]

Hi Mart
First of all, before someone else jumps in, let me explain that the 85% 'rule' is in fact a recommendation and not a hard and fast rule. It has no legal standing although it is a good recommendation.
It is considered by authoritative sources to be a safe maximum figure for those who are new to towing however, so if we work on the assumption that the 85% recommendation applies to you there are quite a few caravans that will be within your 85% figure.
Look at used entry level models such as the Bailey Ranger which has a fixed double bed and a surprising level of equipment for an entry level model.
Lunar caravans are also reknowned for saving weight and if you start your search with your weight limit in mind you will see that there are quite a few 4 berth models that your vehicle will be able to tow.
The 60kg noseweight might be slightly trickier, to achieve this you would have to take great care how your caravan is loaded but it is do-able so don't be too downhearted, just ask for advice on this forum and you'll be ok.

Click Here for some data about weights, layouts, dimensions etc.

Click Here for some tips about how to buy a used caravan and what to watch out for,

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello again Mart

The figures you give broadly concur with the data set I have so based on the 85% guidance (not rule) your caravans MTPLM should not exceed 1237kg. this is well within the car stated towing limit of 1500Kg

Under no circumstances can you tow a trailer that exceeds the cars maximum towed weight limit that is a legal limit, but otherwise the caravan industry suggests that novice towers should not exceed 85% of unladen weight, and more experienced towers might consider up to but not exceeding 100%

The industry guidance is only guidance and has no legal authority, but caravans are big trailers and are more susceptible to side winds and instability so it is sensible to de-rate a cars towing capacity for caravans.

Most saloons have a nose weight limit of 75Kg, but 60Kg is the legal limit for your car. Whether it is too low, depends on the individual dynamics of the car and caravan and cannot be easily predicted.

As far as nose weight is concerned you only need enough to keep the outfit stable, which may not use the whole 60Kg capacity, but it is generally accepted it is best to use a nose weight that's towards the top of the available limit - but you must not exceed it.

There is no way of increasing the cars specification without changing it, so if you cant find a suitable caravan, then your only option is to look for a heavier car.

Towing law is logical but it is quite involved.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi mart,
a quick one here on noseweight as Parksy and the Prof have covered the van issue "by the way I agree with" exept to say a 1250kg van is still substantial ammount many vans of 5mtrs or so are around this weight range if you look for them.
a nosewieght of 60kg need not be a problem, if a bit of effort is put into the loading of the van, my car has a max of just 50kg but is easily achieved on a van that has a noseweight of 85kg empty, just keep the front box as light as possible and most of the weight on the van floor over and just behind the axel, it is supprising how much "counter balance" weight There is in a 35kg awning or spare wheel upside down with the EHU cable rolled up in it,
all this is acedemic untill you actually get a van to play around with but a what I am saying is a vehicle with a low hitchweight need not put you off,

 

[Maelmond]

Cheers guys

We've been back out again window shopping and made a few phone calls, found a 4 Berth van at just under 1300kg at a reasonable hire price. It's all looking good
We have also been getting quotes for tow bars, twin electrics with the new style 13 pin plug (is that correct??) any recommendations for fitters in the Hertfordshire area??

While I'm on the subject of recommendations, I also need to book into a site. We would like to go down Devon/Cornwall way, somewhere thats easy to get to considering it will be my first towing. Any ideas??

Thank you for your help

Mart

 

[SteveW77]

I always use Wilmond Engineering in Hitchin, look them up on Google.

Steve W

 

[whitetop]

Cheers guys

We've been back out again window shopping and made a few phone calls, found a 4 Berth van at just under 1300kg at a reasonable hire price. It's all looking good
We have also been getting quotes for tow bars, twin electrics with the new style 13 pin plug (is that correct??) any recommendations for fitters in the Hertfordshire area??

While I'm on the subject of recommendations, I also need to book into a site. We would like to go down Devon/Cornwall way, somewhere thats easy to get to considering it will be my first towing. Any ideas??

Thank you for your help

Mart

Try Ross Park or Dornafield, both near Totnes, Devon. Had visited both, but Dornafield is perhaps better with kids.