I have recently purchased a Challanger 480 with a nose weight of 97Kg. I tow with an Audi Avant 2.o Tdi whos nose weight according to the hand book is only 80Kg, she tows like a dream. But am I safe?
Nose Weight
- Thread starter Graham_374481522
- Start date
You should not exceed the manufactureers specified limit. In the event of an accident your insurance could be invalidated. Assuming of course that the assesor can find anything remaining!
Surely it isn't that difficult to move 17kg off of the nose. A 4kg propane weighs in at 10kg when full so could a bottle be moved into the van and sited over the axle? What are you carrying in the front locker, or inside towards the front of the van? Is you Truma water haeter at the front if so travel with it empty.
Surely it isn't that difficult to move 17kg off of the nose. A 4kg propane weighs in at 10kg when full so could a bottle be moved into the van and sited over the axle? What are you carrying in the front locker, or inside towards the front of the van? Is you Truma water haeter at the front if so travel with it empty.
Thanks, I only carry 2 camping gaz containers in the front locker and empty the hot water tank, but I have been advised not to load the gas bottles in the van.
Yes I can understand the gas bottle issue. Well you should make sure that everything that goes in the van is weighed. Then start to experiment with were you place it but remembering to keep heavy items low and as near to the axle as possible. I hada van once that was difficult to get right and I obtained a number of 5 litre containers and filled them with water and then moved them around inside the van to give me an idea of how sensitive the noseweight was to where these 5kg weights were positioned.
I should say that the water containers were used only to give me an idea of how the noseweight varied as 'typical' weighst were moved around inside the van. Then to prove the results I loaded up the van with the normal 2 week touring kit and only had to move a few items around into new 'homes'
Check this thread out its got a lot of info on nose weight
6th Oct
modern vans all appear nose down when towing
6th Oct
modern vans all appear nose down when towing
hello Graham
The nose weight of any caravan is highly variable because it depends on where you put the items inside the caravan.
As Other Clive says, you must not exceed the cars nose limit, and you have to move things around inside the caravan to bring the nose weight down.
You are absolutely correct about the gas bottles. they must be carried in their proper locker for a variety of safety reasons. but why take two? Camping gaz is widely available across the UK and Europe.
The nose weight of any caravan is highly variable because it depends on where you put the items inside the caravan.
As Other Clive says, you must not exceed the cars nose limit, and you have to move things around inside the caravan to bring the nose weight down.
You are absolutely correct about the gas bottles. they must be carried in their proper locker for a variety of safety reasons. but why take two? Camping gaz is widely available across the UK and Europe.
I am towing with a Sorento XT with a nose weight of over 100Kg, and this is the max for my caravan chassis. In the new year I am thinking of buying the new Sorento 2010 model which only has an 80Kg nose weight. As suggested by Clive I can also adjust my loading to bring the nose weight down to 80Kg. But is this safe, as the total permissable caravan mass is 1600kg with an 80KG nose weight is only 5% of this figure. Should we not be aiming for 7% as advised by the caravan club?
Graham you do not say what the weight of your caravan is so that you can calculate the 7% nose weight.
Graham you do not say what the weight of your caravan is so that you can calculate the 7% nose weight.
The 7% formula has never been substantiated. It probably originated in the days when caravans were, on the whole, a lot lighter and neither car nor caravan manufacturers specified limits and the Caravan Club recommendation was never revised to reflect current conditions. It is therefore perfectly in order to use the lower of the two noseweight limits for car and caravan, respectively.
I too tow with an Audi Avant. The nose weight limit of 80kg is a bit low these days in my opinion but fairly typical of your average (non-4x4) family size vehicle.
When we had our new van in April this year (Coastline 470 which I think is Swift 535 basis)so a reasonable size van but not exactly huge, I decided to check nose weight as it came ex-factory, my gauge went well above 90kg.
I therefore load very carefully and put as much as I can in the car (not too much of a problem with just two of us)
I posted forum recently on rear tyre wear, uneven and becoming noisy, anyone else experienced this?
Bill D.
When we had our new van in April this year (Coastline 470 which I think is Swift 535 basis)so a reasonable size van but not exactly huge, I decided to check nose weight as it came ex-factory, my gauge went well above 90kg.
I therefore load very carefully and put as much as I can in the car (not too much of a problem with just two of us)
I posted forum recently on rear tyre wear, uneven and becoming noisy, anyone else experienced this?
Bill D.
you shold not exceed the manufacturers specified limit ,in the event of an accident you insurance could be invalidated ,
assuming of course that the assesor can find anything remaining
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in the event of an accident ,everything would be all over the place ,and if nothing is remaining how can an assesor check you nose weight , just slamming on your brakes hard would send anything from over the axle staight down to the front of the van ,
assuming of course that the assesor can find anything remaining
----------------------------------------------------
in the event of an accident ,everything would be all over the place ,and if nothing is remaining how can an assesor check you nose weight , just slamming on your brakes hard would send anything from over the axle staight down to the front of the van ,
Surely you don't put heavy stuff inside the caravan without securing it properly? Nothing should fly around inside the caravan (or the car for that matter) when braking, even in an emergency.
my car has cargo hooks and a net , i have not noticed any caravans with this feature , and the furniture and seats are not strong enough to fix any thing to , myself i have a cargo bar in the van ,but you can only tighten it so far without damaging the furniture ,
The max technical permissible laden weight is 1384 for my caravan giving a maximum noseweight of 96.8 Kg. although I weigh everything that I put in the van and go nowhere near that figure
Why does your caravan have a maximum noseweight of 96.8kg? It would be very unusual for one to have such an oddball limit. Most caravans that I am aware of have a 100kg limit.
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