Car and caravan weight info and towing match + Noseweight
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2018
- In this clip I talk about car and caravan matching plus noseweight.
Buying a caravan is a big purchase but you also need to make sure you have the right tow car. Two years ago we had to change our car due to it not being able to tow much. In this clip I talk about car and caravan data and how to calculate the noseweight.
This clip is based on my own views and experience of caravanning over the last 6 years. It is targeted at novice caravaners and people looking to get into caravanning.
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Martin
Brilliant video helped me a lot. Me & the wife are buying our first caravan next year so been watching loads of u tube lol like you I was a class one driver so towing a caravan is not a problem. Thanks again for the video
Thanks for the feedback. As an experienced driver you will have no problem towing, I’ve found if you get all the weights right and nose weight at the sweet spot it’s a far better tow. Hope you enjoy caravanning when you eventually get your van, cheers Martin
Great video, just bought a Caravan and when I mentioned nose weight on handover I was told it didn’t matter as Caravan was empty, but I knew I needed to do my own sums. Thanks for the help.
Hi Mark, Glad the vid helped, getting the noseweight right is key to a successful tow. Enjoy caravanning! Thanks for watching, Martin 😊
Thanks for the advice. Looking at buying a 2011 Valencia and finding your videos really helpful
Glad they are of help. If you do look at one definitely check the front lockers under the plastic trays on the floor, they are prone to damp there. Cheers, Martin
Really good video which really highlights all of the things you should hama e an eye on prior to towing And buying your new caravan well done mate!!!!
Cheers for the feedback Phil. Thanks for watching 👍
Great advice for those starting out (and those already out!). Thanks!!
Thanks, it’s targeted at newbies. But it is surprising how many people are unaware of weight / towing info. 👍
Love the comment about shunters and wheel tappers great description very useful film , I never thought of that paperwork and like you say it’s a get out of jail free card if anyone stops you thanks for the info Gavin
Thanks Gavin, yes useful to keep that info with you, when we go to France we also take caravan CRIS, car V5 and all insurance docs. 👍
Very helpful thanks for taking the time to do this found it informative to a new caravan er such as myself
Hi Paul, it takes a bit of time to get your head around all the weight info when you start off 🤔 As long as you get a good match your towing experience will be great. Thanks for comments and watching, Martin 🙂
Great video with non tekky speaking. Keeping caravanning real is what it’s all about. Great honest video and a cracking channel. Even though I now have a motorhome I have a passion for all things caravanning. 👍🏻😄
Cheers Trev, I love all things caravanning but next one in hopefully 7 years will be a Motorhome. 👍
Well said Trev
One of the best no nonsense videos on nose weight , thanks
Thanks for the feedback and watching. 😊
Excellent advice. I'm new to caravan towing and this info was spot on.
Glad you found it helpful, happy caravanning 😊
Thanks pal I'm just looking for my first caravan and new car to match it this video was very helpful and explains it in simple terms great :)
Cheers
Hi Mat, Glad you found it of help. There is a whole community of caravanners on Twitter who are more than happy to help & answer any questions. Just have a look at my Twitter page and you will find others. Cheers Martin 👍
Flippin' complicated ! We never had anything complex like measuring nose-weight and maths. If the back of the car suspension looked a bit low, we simply moved stuff back in the caravan.
It’s all technical! 🤨
@@TheCaravanNut Front wheel drive cars have absolutely nothing going for them at all ! They don't even need a trailer on them to jackknife !
Maybe my next car should be a Hillman Imp !
Great video again Martin. Enjoy your time away ;))
Thanks Stew, your continued support is appreciated 👍
Dacia Duster (petrol), excellent at towing our Abbey 215. Like anything You have to have a good balance of stuff in the car and what You carry in the van. We keep the gas locker to the minimum, just the bottle and the hook up cable mainly. In the rear bathroom we keep the Aquaroll and Wastemaster, then over the axle we put the fold up chairs and awning.
We keep the car boot to a minimum with just a few tools and small bits. It's a system that works for us! Cheers....
Sounds like you’ve got it sussed. Getting everything loaded correctly and balanced is the key to a good safe tow. A lot of people overlook this and end up in trouble.
Thanks for comments and watching
Good video, very useful information. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for watching!
Another excellent informative video Martin. Thanks for sharing. ~ Rich.
Thanks for watching and support Rich 👍
Very informative video. We too tow with a Kuga and own a Bailey Olympus 530/4. Picked up some good tips, 👍
Hi Paul, thanks for the feedback & thanks for watching. How have you found towing with the Kuga?
The Caravan Nut The Kuga tows like a dream. As you say in your video, it's about getting the nose weight right. Mine likes it at 90kgs if it's less the unit doesn't feel as stable. My Kuga is the AWD 163 BHP we love it 👍 Looking forward to your next video 😀
I found 90kg N/W is just right. We have the same Kuga and it’s great, I would get another but will get an auto next time! 👍
The Caravan Nut yes would look for an auto myself next time we change.
Nice video with great explanation - Thanks
Hi, thanks for the comments and feedback. Cheers Martin 👍
Top video I'm in the process of changing my caravan to a twin axle
We looked at twins as they are getting lighter, but decided on single. What you getting?
The Caravan Nut Swift conqueror 645
Nice van, will be easier towing, nice & stable 👍
Great information, love your thumbnail! 👍
Thanks, needed a bit of humour! 👍
great info, looking to buy our first ever caravan cheers
Glad you found the vid useful, good luck with the van search. Cheers
Very useful film Martin. Handy for next week. Cheers Phil
Cheers Phil, I bet you can’t wait to pick your new van up 👍
You are so right. Juliet has booked into everywhere. I'll have clocked up some towing miles by winter.
Nice one, get your monies worth out of it 👍
Yes I agree with everyone, Very nice vid again Martin, you showed your cars plate with various weights on it but really none of them were very usefull to a caravanner? (except maybe, max gross train weight? of both vehicles) what is the MOST important is the Kerb weight of the car! you are pulling a caravan at 95% of your vehicle (and this is too much, as it shows up on the form as red as you mentioned, as you know the recomendation is 85% but you are driving a Kuga SUV which might make a difference over a car??????) and this is almost never put on a attached plate? Me, I am pulling a small van with a SUV which comes out at 62% (way to light, dificult to reverse, but i will be in athe market next year for a heavyier one next year), keeep these good vids coming Martin, look foreward to them.
Hi Bryn, all numbers on the plate are relevant, if you got stopped by VOSA they can check every Axle on tow car and on van. I agree that the Train weight is the most important one to watch. In relation to my 95% match, the van is not too heavy, the 85% is a recommendation and not law with novice towers in mind, it recommends that experienced towers (which I am) can tow up to 100% of tow Vehicle, having said that I would not tow to 100%. My car kerb weight is more than the vans MTPLM and when the car is loaded it’s obviously heavier with a max tow of 2100kg. It’s a very debatable topic! Thanks for comments and watching. Martin 👍
Great vlog but im sure you mentioned you have a 6kg gas bottle in the front locker.just a wee note to add that when full these bottles can weigh 15 to 17kg.
Hi Thomas, yes the bottles are quite heavy when full! I’m going to look at safefill eventually. Thanks for comments and watching 👍
Another good video very informative .
Thanks for watching, 👍
Nice one👍👍👍👍👍
Regards
Black Country Dave
Cheers Dave, thanks for watching 👍
Really well explained well done
Hi Andrew, Thanks for the feedback. It’s a difficult topic to cover which has so many different avenues to go down. Thanks for comments and watching, Martin 👍
Thanks once again Martin, most helpful, we do not have an alarm at present, did notice a pir behind you, can you let me know the system you have and any comments on how effective it is, thanks once again👍
Hi, the alarm is Bailey factory fit, not sure what make. The PIR links to the control unit wirelessly and the alarm has its own 12v battery. It works well but the battery needs replacing as it doesn’t hold charge. I’m still undecided if an alarm is really necessary, you can buy PIR with built in power supply and siren which would do the trick. I wouldn’t use the alarm on sites as I would be conscious of it going off and annoying other people! hope that helps, thanks for your continued support. Martin 👍
The Caravan Nut thanks
Very useful, thank you!
Thanks, I hope it will give people some idea of what to look for when considering caravanning 👍
Great informative video 👍🏻
Thanks, will hopefully help someone new to caravanning 👍
Fantastic advice Martin in an accent we can understand 😁
Ha ha, thanks for watching 👍
Thanks for the advice
Hope it was of help!
add up everything in the car including the driver, passengers, pets fuel, towbar and anything you put in it (we try to put all our holiday gear in the boot. Then add up everything in the caravan inc leisure battery (25kg) and motormover plus all the other odds n sodds. Add them together and make sure its within the plate weight on the car. I also have the Kuga, which was about 4300kg. My car and 'van with everything weighed before I put stuff in them weighs a total of 3737kg - Job done. I'll do it again in about 5 years time to account for all the junk my wife has added to the caravan over that time.
It’s surprising how much stuff you collect in the van over time. We try to have a sort out once a year and get rid of stuff we just tow around from site to site and don’t use.
Thanks for comments and watching.
Just been n looked at tow-bar....sticker says 90kgs.
Father-in-law bought a 2014 swift challenger sport....after deciding camping wasn't for him lol...guess who has to tow it...i'm bricking it so any advise would be good lol..
The van is on a seasonal site at the min, looking at changing the scenery out the windows though next year :-)
Just make sure you load the van correctly, heavy stuff low and near axle and get the nose weight right. Take your time when towing for firs time, you will know if it’s loaded right by the way it handles. Also make sure you adjust car tyre pressures for extra load, oh and take sweets! Enjoy 👍
How can I get my noseweight down got an elddis avante, got 1 gas bottle in locker, probs less than half empty, pink and blue liquids, and an empty watering fan for filling up fluids. I just picked it up so in the van it self I only got bedding which I put on the rear beds, aqua roll, waste master, hook up lead, hitchlock and wheel lock under bed. Nothing in cupboards or fridge, no awning or chairs either. All clothes and bits in boot of car But still getting a high noseweight reading. Is it because the van it self is quite light?
Getting nose weight right is a balancing act, we have to move stuff further back in the van to get it right. You just have to play around with moving stuff. Make sure it’s on level ground when checked as that will make it more accurate. Cheers, Martin
@@TheCaravanNut ok thanks, when I open back up in march I will re weigh and make sure it's good, atm caravan is empty.
Hi Martin ,just wondering what the kerb weight of your ford kuga is? As i have the same car and been looking through my car manual and it pretty confusing on we're states.seems to have all the others bar that one 😧cheers
Hi Steven, Yes it’s pretty confusing and doesn’t give a clear answer. I use this site which states that the kerb weight it 1614kg. www.gocaravanning.com/towcars/Ford-Kuga-08-onwards-2-0-TDCi-163bhp-Titanium-5d-Tow-Weights.html
Hope that helps, cheers Martin
@@TheCaravanNut hi Martin, yes thanks for the link it was very informative, why they can't make it that simple in the manual I don't know.trying to do the calculations as our M.T.P.L.M of our caravan is 1437 and just done the nose weight and she seems to be very nose heavy at the moment coming in nearly off the scale at 130 but I do only have the usual gear in the front locker and nothing inside really to balance her out .thanks again mate for your help cheers Steve 👍
Hi Martin thanks for this video it's a great help can I ask we have just purchased a 2011 Unicorn Valencia but when I done the nose weight the other day with nothing but the gas bottle in the front locker it was touching 100kg, the only difference I see to your caravan is that we still have the drawer unit fitted. I'm just a bit concerned that the nose weight is so high even before I put anything into the van.
Thanks
Jonathan.
Hi Jonathan, it’s a balancing act!
Firstly I would take the drawer pack out, it weighs about 15kg. If you haven’t got the cushions to put there try KTG caravans & campers or eBay.
Secondly, when you load the van put things under the bed near to the axle to balance the van. Make sure water is drained in tanks and that the van is on level ground. It’s surprising how the nose weight changes on slightest of slope.
We often end up moving stuff back in the van to balance it out but not as far as the washroom as you don’t want the rear and swinging whilst towing.
We get ours to 95kg and it tows fine, our cars limit is 105kg so ok. Personally I think you need a minimum of 100kg limit on your tow car with this van, a lot of cars are around 75-85kg. Recommend nose weight is between 5&7% of the van MTPLM, 5% is 78kg & 6% is 93kg, you won’t achieve that with lots of cars.
Bailey were obviously aware of the heavy front end and in the S3 moved to no front locker to try to combat this.
You just have to play around with it, it’s one of the things that bugs me about the van as we can load it the same for different trips but the nose weight always changes.
Let me know how you get on,
Cheers, Martin
@@TheCaravanNut thanks Martin I will play about with moving things about the van as you suggest 😉
One of the reasons I bought a Mitsubishi Shogun LWB was because it can tow just about anything, we wanted to be able to pull huge caravans if we wanted to. Right now we have a 4 berth Adria about 1500kg, tows that without breaking a sweat.
Yes great tow car, you won’t have any towing issues with that car!
Ain't that illegal? shoguns are like 2.6t if you're pulling 1500kg thats over 4t we are only allowed 3.5t unless you have CLASS 1
No not illegal, If you passed your car driving test from 1 January 1997, you’re now allowed to tow trailers up to 3,500kg MAM, If you got your licence before 1 January 1997
You can usually drive a vehicle and trailer with a combined weight of up to 8,250kg MAM. Thanks
@@TheCaravanNut I know if it's before 1997 people have c1 that's why I asked. Thanks for clarifying so the only thing that makes this legal is that he technically has a c1 because he passed before 1997?
@@LAFFRS I would imagine so.
Good information thankyou, but why do you have to say 'lickle' instead of little?
Hi George, Thanks. I say ‘Lickle’ because some mentioned that I said it a few years ago so I now make sure I say it that way all the time. Plus is a northern accent. Cheers
Great. Ideo
Thanks for watching 😊
Well explained :-)
Cheers, thanks for watching 👍
Nose weight baffles me, so haven’t tended to load much up front on our swift conqueror.
If you get it right it should tow better, it’s worth checking now again. Cheers 👍
The Caravan Nut we will be out on the weekend, 😁
Have a good weekend 👍
Would a bmw e46 touring tow a dual axel caravan?
If you search car + Caravan tow match on the internet you should find a site that will check for you. Cheers 😊
Hi pal
I’m struggling like mad to find out what my nose weight is and it’s all new to me
I’ve tried to find out what my nose weight is but can’t find it anywhere and wondered if you wouldn’t mind helping me
I’ve got a swift challenger 580 se 2014 with a mptlm of 1545kg
My tow car is a 2017 Mercedes glc coupe 350d
Any help would be massively appreciated
Think this is the one?
www.practicalcaravan.com/reviews/mercedes-benz-glc
It’s says car nose weight 100kg. The caravan will be Alko standard 100kg limit.
Cheers
@@TheCaravanNut your a gentleman and a scholar
Sorry to sound stupid but I’m brand new to caravans and have learnt loads from you guys on CZcams
So if I get to 100kg that’s ok for the 100kg limit on the tow bar
Thanks again
No worries we’ve all been there, I would try it at 95kg which is 6.2% of the caravan MTPLM. The recommended is between 5 & 7% of caravan MTPLM. Cheers
@@TheCaravanNut thank you
If I bump into you on a site I will buy you a pint 👍👍
Got an Audi s5.towing elddis avante 540.power
Nice outfit
Be careful what your max nose weight is for your vehicle. The weight on my Tow-Trust tow bar is 140Kg, BUT the car has a structural limit of 90Kg (See car Owners Manual!). Don't think that the car can handle what the tow bar can. Remember, the weakest link of the tow system maybe the structure of the car where the tow bar attaches!
The max nose weight for my car is 105kg as stated in the car owners manual. Thanks for watching
That thumbnail was amusing.
Cheers 😊
Swift told us the nose weight on a quattro twin axle is 100kg max.
Hi, The Alko chassis normally has a limit of 100kg. I know it doesn’t make sense that a car like mine has 105kg nose weight limit but like most caravans you can’t load it more than 100kg on the nose as recommended by Alko. Hope that make sense 🤔😂 Cheers Martin 😊
@@TheCaravanNut we tow with a nissan navara that can take a much higher nose weight but we go by the caravan and aim for 90 to 95 to be safe. To be honest we carry most stuff like chairs awning etc in the navara rather than the caravan.
Thank you for the video. During a recent tow we experienced a regular 'thumping ' noise whilst driving up a 12% hill. I calculated the nose weight would of been 4.08% and in a forum there was suggestion the noise could be 'hitch slap'. I had a dash cam that recorded the sound czcams.com/video/a3LfDBYgHxA/video.html . Any thoughts?
I’ve watched it a few times, not 100% sure. Check the hitch dampers, they may be worn or cracked. Inspect the A frame for damage, I would also check your tow bar to see if the is anything wrong with that. The van didn’t seem to move or shake at the point of the noise so would not say van tyres. Let me know how you get on. Martin
@@TheCaravanNut Will do, thanks Martin.