nose weight

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Bazz,

I think I see your point now,

The 100Kg, is a limit - the upper limit for the caravan chassis, and yes if a caravanner were to read that, and not be aware of a lower limit for the car, a mistake could be made. Apparently Coachman do suggests a lower limit also, so it should be implicit that 100Kg is not the only acceptable weight.

Now I do not have access to a copy of the Coachman booklet, so I cant be specific, but I would hope that Coachman also advise the caravanner to check the limit of their towball before deciding what nose weight to achieve.

 

[chrisn7]

There is a further point to bear in mind regarding noseweight, as the force applied by the caravan acts on the cars rear suspension and body structure, and therefore counts as part of the boot luggage payload. Thus the specified maximum luggage load must be reduced by the noseweight value, to calculate what you can actually put in the boot.

Just because there is room in the boot doesn't mean you can adjust the noseweight by stuffing it all in the boot. To picture this, a typical 75Kg noseweight is equivalent to the weight of a modest adult-so thats how much you have to allow for

 

[RogerL]

Some cars have different maximum rear axle loads / gross weights between solo and towing.

My car has a MAW of 1735kg solo but 1760kg towing. As my car's maximum noseweight is 75kg I can load the car within 50kg of it's MAW before hitching up.

The only place I've ever seen this documented is the EC Certificate of Conformance. This document isn't provided for all cars although you can apply to the manufacturer for a copy.

 

[Bazz1]

John L, Yes it does state not to exeed the cars limit as reguards nose weight, in my case that would be 150Kg. I could of quite easily gone to the hitch limit of 100Kg but now having spoken to Coachman then it will be checked every trip. Bazz.