Nose weight and spare tyre Adria 542dk

[Newtonian]

I'm a season into caravanning and still can't figure out the spare tyre situation.

I have an Adria 542dk which has a specific holder for the spare tyre in the front locker.

However if I have that in the nose the nose weight is about 110kg. Without any clever balancing of other items.


I can have a maximum of 100kg on nose.

So far I have stuck it in the caravan which works but marked the cupboard as it moved a little.

I have also stuck it under the bunk beds which is a perfect spot but it moved a little too much for my liking and ended up close to the boiler and conscious about damage.

What is everyone else doing with the spare..
I'd like to avoid having to keep moving it around and be a set and forget....or do people take spares nowadays with the availability of tyres and tyre companies

 

[otherclive]

Why do you have to move it. It should be possible to reduce from 110kg to 100kg by either moving somethings rearward towards or after the axle. At times I would just put my tool bag at the back or add some fluid to flush tank. Tins of dog food etc.

My last van had spare wheel in the locker and ones before that had underslung spares. In both cases I carried the spare in the door portal. It was safer when travelling abroad, moved weight rearwards and I never had a problem with it moving about.

 

[borderbilly]

My spare is under the fixed 🛌.

 

[Newtonian]

Why do you have to move it. It should be possible to reduce from 110kg to 100kg by either moving somethings rearward towards or after the axle. At times I would just put my tool bag at the back or add some fluid to flush tank. Tins of dog food etc.

My last van had spare wheel in the locker and ones before that had underslung spares. In both cases I carried the spare in the door portal. It was safer when travelling abroad, moved weight rearwards and I never had a problem with it moving about.

I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough despite reading loads about how much weight I can add at the back of the van.

All I see is don't add too much at the back to avoid snaking, so I'm too worried to put stuff in the back lockers apart from duvets and pillows

 

[Newtonian]

My spare is under the fixed 🛌.

How far back is the bed? I could stick mine under the bunk bed which is just slightly back of axl but nothing to fix it down

 

[otherclive]

I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough despite reading loads about how much weight I can add at the back of the van.

All I see is don't add too much at the back to avoid snaking, so I'm too worried to put stuff in the back lockers apart from duvets and pillows

My last van had most of its load behind the axle because Swift had kindly placed spare wheel, hot water tank, battery compartment, kitchen unit,fridge and lounge heater all in front of the axle to varying degrees. Most if it on the off side too except for the lounge heater. So I had little alternative but to load some stuff at the rear then at times to use water and tool bag etc.

It towed very well as a had a good weight ratio between the car and caravan. Two early 2 berths had rear kitchens and washrooms rear of the axle.

Some extra water in the flush tank if it’s a rear toilet would balance out your difference. And don’t let anyone say the free surface effect will be a problem. That’s baloney.

Try your van with some extra load just behind the axle to get your 100kg and see how it feels. But practically speaking unless your van and outfit is on the limits of stability 10kg is not going to affect it.

 

[Newtonian]

My last van had most of its load behind the axle because Swift had kindly placed spare wheel, hot water tank, battery compartment, kitchen unit,fridge and lounge heater all in front of the axle to varying degrees. Most if it on the off side too except for the lounge heater. So I had little alternative but to load some stuff at the rear then at times to use water and tool bag etc.

It towed very well as a had a good weight ratio between the car and caravan. Two early 2 berths had rear kitchens and washrooms rear of the axle.

Some extra water in the flush tank if it’s a rear toilet would balance out your difference. And don’t let anyone say the free surface effect will be a problem. That’s baloney.

Try your van with some extra load just behind the axle to get your 100kg and see how it feels. But practically speaking unless your van and outfit is on the limits of stability 10kg is not going to affect it.

The van is very stable it's an Adria which I believe has longer A frame and alko chassis as well as alko hitch stabiliser so no concerns maybe I'll experiment with it

 

[otherclive]

The van is very stable it's an Adria which I believe has longer A frame and alko chassis as well as alko hitch stabiliser so no concerns maybe I'll experiment with it

Now you are used to towing the caravan you will have gained a feel for how your outfit behaves. There are so many other things that affect stability that if you’ve got those right giving some extra kilos at the rear will allow you to judge its effect. I doubt you will notice any difference.
Welcome your feedback on how it goes.

 

[borderbilly]

How far back is the bed? I could stick mine under the bunk bed which is just slightly back of axl but nothing to fix it down

Just behind axle,rear wash room.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I would be mightily surprised if you actually need 100Kg of nose load. You only need enough nose load to keep the trailer stable when towing. The best method of creating or adjusting nose load is to keep the heaviest load items as close to the caravans axle, and if you need to reduce the NL, move some of the items from in front of the axle to behind the axle until the desired nose load is achieved.

For reasons that are too complicated to explain here, one has to question if it's been necessary to utilise the entire nose load capacity, and there is still concern about stability, that implies there could be some issue with the way the caravan has been loaded, and perhaps the owner needs to rethink what they are carrying?

It's common to find that a driver needs to adjust the nose load to bring it within the permitted range, and that would normally be achieved by rearranging the loading of the caravan. If the NL needs to be reduced, that is achieved by moving some items from in front of the axle to behind the axle. and vice versa to increase nose load.

It is rare that its necessary to add extra items to the rear of a caravan, normally it would be achieved by redistribution of the existing load, or even the removal of some unnecessary items.

Only "add" ( i.e. introducing some new weight) weight to the rear if you cannot move any items from the front of the van. And of course it can only allowed provided the new weight of the caravan is still under the caravans stated MTPLM limit.

There is a frequently misquoted adage "the tail wagging the dog" used to imply that rear end loading is going to make towing unstable often posted as a black and white statement. If it is taken to an extreme then yes it will tend take an outfit towards instability, but as always if its adjusted carefully most caravans can take some rear end loading without ill effects. As ever with such things make small changes not big ones.

If by chance the movement or addition of 20Kg to the rear is enough to destabilise towing, then I would suspect the caravan was already loaded poorly and on the verge of instability even before the loading change was made.

Review your packing list and see if you need to take everything you have on the list. If you do need everything, and you have no latitude to change the way you load the caravan, then sadly you've got the wrong caravan!

 

[Hutch]

I would be mightily surprised if you actually need 100Kg of nose load. You only need enough nose load to keep the trailer stable when towing. The best method of creating or adjusting nose load is to keep the heaviest load items as close to the caravans axle, and if you need to reduce the NL, move some of the items from in front of the axle to behind the axle until the desired nose load is achieved.

For reasons that are too complicated to explain here, one has to question if it's been necessary to utilise the entire nose load capacity, and there is still concern about stability, that implies there could be some issue with the way the caravan has been loaded, and perhaps the owner needs to rethink what they are carrying?

It's common to find that a driver needs to adjust the nose load to bring it within the permitted range, and that would normally be achieved by rearranging the loading of the caravan. If the NL needs to be reduced, that is achieved by moving some items from in front of the axle to behind the axle. and vice versa to increase nose load.

It is rare that its necessary to add extra items to the rear of a caravan, normally it would be achieved by redistribution of the existing load, or even the removal of some unnecessary items.

Only "add" ( i.e. introducing some new weight) weight to the rear if you cannot move any items from the front of the van. And of course it can only allowed provided the new weight of the caravan is still under the caravans stated MTPLM limit.

There is a frequently misquoted adage "the tail wagging the dog" used to imply that rear end loading is going to make towing unstable often posted as a black and white statement. If it is taken to an extreme then yes it will tend take an outfit towards instability, but as always if its adjusted carefully most caravans can take some rear end loading without ill effects. As ever with such things make small changes not big ones.

If by chance the movement or addition of 20Kg to the rear is enough to destabilise towing, then I would suspect the caravan was already loaded poorly and on the verge of instability even before the loading change was made.

Review your packing list and see if you need to take everything you have on the list. If you do need everything, and you have no latitude to change the way you load the caravan, then sadly you've got the wrong caravan!

Prof, you have the wrong end of the stick.
Newtonian the OP has the problem of getting the nose weight down from 110kg to100 kg.

 

[otherclive]

I would be mightily surprised if you actually need 100Kg of nose load. You only need enough nose load to keep the trailer stable when towing. The best method of creating or adjusting nose load is to keep the heaviest load items as close to the caravans axle, and if you need to reduce the NL, move some of the items from in front of the axle to behind the axle until the desired nose load is achieved.

For reasons that are too complicated to explain here, one has to question if it's been necessary to utilise the entire nose load capacity, and there is still concern about stability, that implies there could be some issue with the way the caravan has been loaded, and perhaps the owner needs to rethink what they are carrying?

It's common to find that a driver needs to adjust the nose load to bring it within the permitted range, and that would normally be achieved by rearranging the loading of the caravan. If the NL needs to be reduced, that is achieved by moving some items from in front of the axle to behind the axle. and vice versa to increase nose load.

It is rare that its necessary to add extra items to the rear of a caravan, normally it would be achieved by redistribution of the existing load, or even the removal of some unnecessary items.

Only "add" ( i.e. introducing some new weight) weight to the rear if you cannot move any items from the front of the van. And of course it can only allowed provided the new weight of the caravan is still under the caravans stated MTPLM limit.

There is a frequently misquoted adage "the tail wagging the dog" used to imply that rear end loading is going to make towing unstable often posted as a black and white statement. If it is taken to an extreme then yes it will tend take an outfit towards instability, but as always if its adjusted carefully most caravans can take some rear end loading without ill effects. As ever with such things make small changes not big ones.

If by chance the movement or addition of 20Kg to the rear is enough to destabilise towing, then I would suspect the caravan was already loaded poorly and on the verge of instability even before the loading change was made.

Review your packing list and see if you need to take everything you have on the list. If you do need everything, and you have no latitude to change the way you load the caravan, then sadly you've got the wrong caravan!

Prof
On my last caravan I had to get down from 115 kg to the cars 75kg max nose load on the towbar. I put the spare wheel from the front locker into the door portal but of course that was still in front of the axle. The awning was in the car and locating stuff on or close to the rear of the axle was very difficult I so far as it wasn’t that easy to restrain. So heavy items like drinks tin dog dried food and tins plus items like potatoes, food tins, etc went into a locker just behind the axle. Most clothes were put in hold-alls which would lay on the floor and could be moved as required. Aquaroll and waste container in the rear toilet. But even so there were times I had to add weight right at the rear to get noseweight down to 75kg. My situation wasn’t improved by the fact that I had removed a rear high level bunk to give more payload. But after a bit of a trial to keep within MTPLM and achieving noseweight it all came together. Must say my approach of weighing every item, weight discipline and a good spreadsheet made it a relatively straight forward task, and the caravan never gave me any concerns when being towed.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Prof, you have the wrong end of the stick.
Newtonian the OP has the problem of getting the nose weight down from 110kg to100 kg.

I was fully aware of Newtonians specific issue.