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MTPLM Upgrade

B

Barking

I have recently been in touch with the people at Swift to obtain an MTPLM Upgrade, something I read about on this forum. The people at Swift were very helpful and I am able to upgrade the MTPLM on my Abbey Spectrum by 85kg which is great.

But why do the manafacturers just not put the correct MTPLM on in the beginning, surely additional load capacity is a great selling point.

Barking
 
The answer is easy. As long as many UK owners attach so much importance to the 85% weight ratio recommendation (some even treating it as if it were written in stone), it is not in the interests of the caravan manufacturers to specify actual technical limits. For marketing reasons, the manufacturers therefore tend to deliberately restrict the MTPLM to be within the 85% weight ratio for the typical towcar that they expect the respective caravan to be towed with.

Continental caravan manufacturers are not burdened with a 85% recommendation in their markets, so they can afford to specify actual technical weight limits
 
Further to Lutz' point,

For new drivers (tested after 1997) they are limited to a caravan with an MTPLM not exceeding the towcars kerbweight, and and gross train weight of 3500Kg.

The lower MTPLM may make a particular caravan attractive to such restricted drivers.
 
In the case of the Abbey Spectrum in question, John's explanation is rather unlikely although it could very well apply to smaller caravans. The Spectrum is already a fairly heavy 'van and the likelihood of towing that with a suitable car and still remain under the 3500kg gross train weight limit is pretty remote.
 
Lutz - the 85% recomendation is for newcomers. Given the short A-frame fitted to UK-built caravans it's a reasonable recommendation.

Experienced caravanners are recommended not to exceed 100% - but not REQUIRED to, unlike Tempo 100.
 
Whether it is a recommendation for newcomers only it does appear to weigh heavily in the decision matrix even for many not-so-new-to-caravanning owners.
 
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