Self levelling.

[Hutch]

Self levelling caravan. Well away this weekend , meet up with nice couple with a Buccaneer Clipper with self levelling system. But looked at the weights. Looked at the weight plates the could only take away about 150kg of stuff. Is it a waste . Expensive but lovely, .

 

[MichaelE]

I do see it as a costly gimmick im afraid , a bit like my electric heki in my van.
The buccaneers are too wide , the over hanging trees and bushes are bad enough with a 7,6" van.Entrances can be a pain as the extra width makes access that little bit more difficult.

For some reason all vans seem to have a 150 user payload, is it because the MIRO has had essentials taken into account?

Have you had a look at the specs on your van?
Model 560
Number of Berths 4
Interior Length 5660mm / 18' 7"
Shipping Length 7315mm / 24' 0"
Overall Width 2320mm / 7' 7"
Overall Height ( including T.V Aerial ) 2650mm / 8' 8"
Maximum Headroom 1955mm / 6' 5"
Interior Width
Wheel Rim 6.0J x 15
Tyre Size 195/70 R15 104
Tyre Pressure ( at quoted MTPLM ) 4.5 bar / 65 psi
MTPLM 1600kg / 31.5cwt
Mass in Running Order 1447kg / 28.5cwt
Personal Payload 153kg / 3cwt
Options Payload 0kg / 0cwt
Total / Maximum User Payload 153kg / 3cwt
Maximum Hitch Weight 100kg / 1.9cwt
Empty Noseweight
Awning Size 1024cm
Bed Sizes - mm Option 1 2 x Single
1515 x 715 ( 5' x 2' 4")
1 x Double
1880 x 1370 ( 6' 2" x 4' 6" )
Bed Sizes - mm Option 2 1 x Double
2025 x 1160 ( 6' 8" x 3' 10" )
1 x Double
1880 x 1370 ( 6' 2" x 4' 6" )

 

[ProfJohnL]

This comes into a similar category to caravan movers. Many can do without so for them it's a luxury, and a potential weight saving if it iscremoved. :huh: But there are a some caravanners for whom, these activities are a genuine difficulty, and thus not so much a luxury, but the key to enable them to continue with the activity.

Some may have been looking for van, and found it meets their desires in all other respects, but just happens to have SL already fitted. And finally there are some where having every gadget under the sun seems to be their reason for living. :woohoo:

 

[Hutch]

Yes MichaelE, I do know the limits of my van, take another 30 kgs off for the Motor mover . And then the wifes stuff, I can then take light weight shorts away with me. !!!
Proff. J, a question, how can caravan manufactures give you a change in MTPLM, if requested, whats the reason behind that.?
If I can get another 50 kg for a cost of £50, I think I will. Email to Coachman I think.
Hutch

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The same chassis will be used for several different models of different weights. The chassis on my Lunar is rated at 1300 kg and the original MTPLM was quoted as 1210 kg. The lower the quoted MTPLM the more cars can tow it. My van is a dealer special which has things like heavy duty steadies and other things over the base Quasar model, but still was quoted as 1210 kg MTPLM. I also had a motor mover added, but removed the spare wheel carrier myself. When silver crossed palms Lunar sent a new weight plate with 1295 kg MTPLM stated on it, still within the chassis rating. They never changed the MIRO though which I thought they should have done.

 

[Hutch]

The same chassis will be used for several different models of different weights. The chassis on my Lunar is rated at 1300 kg and the original MTPLM was quoted as 1210 kg. The lower the quoted MTPLM the more cars can tow it. My van is a dealer special which has things like heavy duty steadies and other things over the base Quasar model, but still was quoted as 1210 kg MTPLM. I also had a motor mover added, but removed the spare wheel carrier myself. When silver crossed palms Lunar sent a new weight plate with 1295 kg MTPLM stated on it, still within the chassis rating. They never changed the MIRO though which I thought they should have done.[/quote

Thank Sir WC, just sent an Email to Coachman, to see if can get The van replated, just to carry more Engineers lubricating fluid back from France, for the Woosie fest.

 

[Hutch]

Just recieved an Email back from Coachman, they have replied that they can only upgrade the weight plate to the original owner within the first 12 months of ownership. I think I might chase this up a bit more.

 

[MichaelE]

Yes MichaelE, I do know the limits of my van, take another 30 kgs off for the Motor mover . And then the wifes stuff, I can then take light weight shorts away with me. !!!
Proff. J, a question, how can caravan manufactures give you a change in MTPLM, if requested, whats the reason behind that.?
If I can get another 50 kg for a cost of £50, I think I will. Email to Coachman I think.
Hutch

I was commenting on your remark that 150kgs is it a waste?

 

[Dustydog]

https://www.bailey-parts.co.uk/product/1190168quote"EH52ARH" post=417956]
Just recieved an Email back from Coachman, they have replied that they can only upgrade the weight plate to the original

owner within the first 12 months of ownership. I think I might chase this up a bit more.[/quote]

Hutch
See above link to Bailey.
£60 buys a good upgrade.
Can't see why Coachman won't do it

 

[Raywood]

I cannot understand Coachmans position. If they can upgrade it for the first owner then I can see no reason they cannot do it for the second.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

https://www.bailey-parts.co.uk/product/1190168quote="EH52ARH" post=417956]
Just recieved an Email back from Coachman, they have replied that they can only upgrade the weight plate to the original

owner within the first 12 months of ownership. I think I might chase this up a bit more.

Hutch
See above link to Bailey.
£60 buys a good upgrade.
Can't see why Coachman won't do it[/quote]

Dustydog - are you using your phone/pad again as both the links you have given are corrupt? They include the forum quote HTML info. You need to edit those parts out.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Just recieved an Email back from Coachman, they have replied that they can only upgrade the weight plate to the original owner within the first 12 months of ownership. I think I might chase this up a bit more.

It might be worth getting some evidence from other manufacturers about what they can do and when then approaching Coachman with that evidence and asking them to explain why they cant do it. There may be a very good reason, but I can't think what it might be.

Don't forget, that not all caravans can have an increased MTPLM, as there may be other mechanical limits which are already maxed out.

 

[saint-spoon]

I do know the limits of my van, take another 30 kgs off for the Motor mover . And then the wifes stuff, I can then take light weight shorts away with me. !!!
Hutch

Lucky git, I have to wear my light weight shorts as the Wife and Kids max out all available space and weight with their items.

 

[BedfordGeorge]

On the subject of levelling I purchased the Lock 'n' Level and it worked to perfection. I was able to level the van to a finite degree accross it and then lengthways by the hitch. Have a look at the attached site for detailed information ..... http://www.locknlevel.co.uk/

It fits easily into our car and weighs a lot less than an automatic system and saves even more in cost. Even for someone who is not too mobile, but has a motor mover it does not take too much effort to use it.

 

[Mogwyth]

Just recieved an Email back from Coachman, they have replied that they can only upgrade the weight plate to the original owner within the first 12 months of ownership. I think I might chase this up a bit more.

It might be worth getting some evidence from other manufacturers about what they can do and when then approaching Coachman with that evidence and asking them to explain why they cant do it. There may be a very good reason, but I can't think what it might be.

Don't forget, that not all caravans can have an increased MTPLM, as there may be other mechanical limits which are already maxed out.

We have just had new plates for our 2009 Charisma from Swift, no problems at all, think we are the third owners. Its now Plated at 1800kg, giving a user payload of 374KG. When I say no problems two different dealers weren't very helpful but Swift themselves bent over backwards to sort us out.

 

[Buffers]

Hobby will increase 50 Kg for nothing and would have increased mine by 250 Kg if i had asked. why do they not but the max load available on in the first place

 

[Dustydog]

Hobby will increase 50 Kg for nothing and would have increased mine by 250 Kg if i had asked. why do they not but the max load available on in the first place

Because it will exclude in theory people with smaller cars from buying the product.

 

[Raywood]

Hobby will increase 50 Kg for nothing and would have increased mine by 250 Kg if i had asked. why do they not but the max load available on in the first place

Adding an extra 250 kg would take it out of the range of many tow cars so it is just a sales tactic.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Heres a serious warning.

The way the last few questions have gone suggests to me someone might assume that just because a caravan manufacture can when requested increase a caravan's MTPLM, you can only do that if you have the correct paperwork and labels and records for the caravan have been updated. To run above the caravans recorded MTPLM is illegal.

Also just because a manufacturer maybe able to raise the MTPLM on one model, it does not mean the manufacture has the capacity to do the same for all their models.

 

[Dustydog]

Heres a serious warning.

The way the last few questions have gone suggests to me someone might assume that just because a caravan manufacture can when requested increase a caravan's MTPLM, you can only do that if you have the correct paperwork and labels and records for the caravan have been updated. To run above the caravans recorded MTPLM is illegal.

Also just because a manufacturer maybe able to raise the MTPLM on one model, it does not mean the manufacture has the capacity to do the same for all their models.

Looking at the bailey £60.00 offer you get a NCC approved leaflet and a new weight plate sticker. I guess that is good enough to stick in your owners handbook wallet
Is that now the caravans "recorded" MTPLM?
I don't think there is any Law that says the caravan's paper work has to quote the MTPLM other than the affixed weight plate on the caravan itself.
If I've missed something then my apologies now Prof.
Agree last sentence. You must be model specific.
However also be aware there is no policing of the accuracy of the owners request by the manufacturers. So some unscrupulous person could potentially cheat hmy:
Bailey as far as I can see have a pretty free ranging approach to weight plate increases on all models over the last 10 years.
Others don't follow so easily. B)

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Heres a serious warning.

The way the last few questions have gone suggests to me someone might assume that just because a caravan manufacture can when requested increase a caravan's MTPLM, you can only do that if you have the correct paperwork and labels and records for the caravan have been updated. To run above the caravans recorded MTPLM is illegal.

Also just because a manufacturer maybe able to raise the MTPLM on one model, it does not mean the manufacture has the capacity to do the same for all their models.

Looking at the bailey £60.00 offer you get a NCC approved leaflet and a new weight plate sticker. I guess that is good enough to stick in your owners handbook wallet
Is that now the caravans "recorded" MTPLM?
I don't think there is any Law that says the caravan's paper work has to quote the MTPLM other than the affixed weight plate on the caravan itself.
If I've missed something then my apologies now Prof.
Agree last sentence. You must be model specific.
However also be aware there is no policing of the accuracy of the owners request by the manufacturers. So some unscrupulous person could potentially cheat hmy:

When I had my Lunar uprated I had to give the VIN number and I believe Lunar checked their records for the build weight as it was a dealer special and had extras on it at build stage (with the MTPLM still quoted as the base model) before they could approve the MTPLM increase. For the fee I had a new weight plate for the van and a sticky label for the NCC approval leaflet.

 

[RayS]

I don't want to restart the weight matching thing but when I bought my Elddis new three years ago I went for the extra payload version at no extra cost. Apart from the stamping on the plate there is absolutely no difference.
I was told that most vans were sold with the lower weight plate as this increased the number and variety of potential tow cars on the varios weight matching schemes.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I don't want to restart the weight matching thing but when I bought my Elddis new three years ago I went for the extra payload version at no extra cost. Apart from the stamping on the plate there is absolutely no difference.
I was told that most vans were sold with the lower weight plate as this increased the number and variety of potential tow cars on the varios weight matching schemes.

Just to reiterate and expand a little on what what I wrote earlier. Not all caravan can have a higher MTPLM rating. It depends on the specific items the manufacturer chooses to build the caravan with. I would venture to suggest the most critical aspect is the chassis, and axle rating. Under no circumstances will the raise the MTPLM above what those components are rated for.

The second aspect is the company's policy on the subject. They may have a corporate policy which may be driven by other factors than just the weight capacity of the chassis. There could be a marketing strategy to keep a weight differential between certain models.

As Dusty points out the chances are that the authorities would go by the weight plates on the caravan at a road side check, but if the police were making other enquiries for example about a possible theft, then they do have access to the manufacturer's databases which list vans by vin number, and the specifications against that vin number, and the type approvals for the vehicle. Awkward questions might ensue if the weight limits differ from the recorded version.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

when we got the bailey I checked over all the details out of the paperwork, from what I could gather the MIRO did not inc such things as gas bottles battery spare wheel, ect, which left the user payload at 100kg not much to start with but after adding all the essential stuff EHU water and waste containers and things this went down to around 70 kg.

we could manage at that but after fitting a mover 35kg the payload was no longer viable. I approached Bailey to have it increased and was told the charge would be £50, [2005] expecting it to be increased by at least 50kg I went ahead.

very disappointed when the new upgrade came and it was only 35kg bailey said it was to do with trim level and the chassis constraints, but I thought this was strange as it had the same chassis as the 460, [1300kg] just shortend by half a meter..

but at least it gained the weight of the mover so was something, we did manage though for nearly 10 years by carrying all the heavy stuff in the car, and leaving behind what we did not need to carry.

as it has been said, not all upgrades are the same this will vary from different manufacturers and indeed different models it is worth doing if possible, just don't be too despondant if it is not as much as you expect it to be.