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Hi, I have an Abbey 417 (rear bathroom) and i tow it with a Discovery. (Works out at about 65% so well matched) The problem is getting the nose weight right. The car max is 150kg and the van 100kg so i know i need to work to the van weight of 100kg. The extra allowed weight for the van works out at just over 200kg which is quite a weight!!

On my first trip i weighed everything and i mean everything so that i was sure i wasn't going to put too much weight in the van. I put my awning and all the poles on the floor in the middle of the van,above the axle and then in the front on the floor i put a couple of plastic boxes full of food, the aqua roll, wastemaster, fold up chairs, plastic table and then on the front seats the clothes,sleeping bags,etc. In the front locker is one gas bottle,hitch lock,levelling blocks and the wheelclamp.

The problem is i am only getting about 65kg on the nose when i weigh it on my scales?!! Do i need to push my awning further forward off the axle? Is it because i have a rear bathroom and that is quite a weight which is counter-acting the front?

I want to get the outfit as stable as possible and I'm not sure that it is at 65kg noseweight it's just that the Discovery is so heavy it's just muscling the van along.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Timus

  damn,,  nose light ..shift stuff to forward berths on floor level ..aim for 80-95kg on your towball .. it will tip with a disco towing nose light.. i seen enuff of them.. arse end goes off to the right and cannot be corrected quickly snake ensues if overtaken by a high sided panel van in 3 rd lane  ...omg

Thanks for the replies guys.

One other thing though. When i weigh my noseweight i take all the steadies up and then with my piece of wood in the hitch wind down the jockey until the weight is off the wheel and the wood is pushing down on the scales. I presume that is the right way to do it?

Timus

Hi

That's right Timus, with the caravan level

Tyreman