Caravan

CHOOSING 24 BUYING YOUR FIRST CARAVAN outandaboutlive.co.uk When loading the caravan, the heaviest items – awning, etc – should be loaded low down over the axle. The medium-weight items – bags, etc – should also be loaded low down, possibly under the seats, but keep heavier items as close to the axle as possible. Light items – clothing, etc – can be loaded higher up in the lockers or wardrobe; just be aware that the higher the weight, the more it affects your caravan’s centre of gravity. Also, avoid putting too much weight at either end of the caravan as it can act like a pendulum. Keeping things in position when on the floor can seem like mission impossible, but Milenco makes a Cargo Bar which is great for keeping floor-mounted kit safe and secure. NOSE WHAT? Your caravan’s noseweight is simply the weight, or downward force, of the caravan’s hitch on your tow vehicle’s towbar. Checking this weight is an important thing to do and, thankfully, it’s relatively simple. To do so, you'll need the tow vehicle’s noseweight limit (found in the handbook), the towbar’s limit (on accompanying documentation or plate attached to towbar), and the caravan chassis limit (the ‘S’ number stamped on the Al-Ko hitch). For example, my Vito has the following limits: car – 100kg, towbar – 150kg, caravan chassis – 150kg. The caravan’s noseweight cannot exceed the lowest of these three figures, which is 100kg. Now we move to the caravan’s MTPLM (its maximum, fully loaded weight), which can be found on a sticker on the side of the caravan, or in the handbook. The ideal noseweight is between 5% and 7% of this figure, so mine would be between 70kg and 98kg. Personally, I like my noseweight to be at the heavier end of the scale, so I tend to set mine around 90kg to 95kg, which is within my tow vehicle’s 100kg limit. With your caravan loaded, you can just simply place a noseweight gauge under the hitch and raise the jockey wheel until the noseweight gauge is taking all the downward weight of the hitch. If you haven’t got a noseweight gauge, then bathroom scales and a piece of wood cut to length make an ideal substitute. If the noseweight is too heavy, move any floor- mounted luggage to the rear and check again. Do the reverse if the noseweight is too light. Due to a possible pendulum effect, avoid moving heavy items more than 2ft (60cm) either side of the axle. Time spent rearranging heavier items is time well spent and will make for an enjoyable and safer tow. HITCHING UP To hitch up, start by making sure the caravan’s Camping & Caravanning Club ABOVE Camping and Caravanning Club staff are on hand to help ABOVE RIGHT The hitch indicator BELOW The data sticker tells you everything you need to know about your caravan ROUNDEL Stabiliser indicator