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I've got a Pegeot 306 1.9 turbo diesel, kerb weight of 1120kg, braked towing weight of 1000kg, noseweight of 50kg (and that's causing the problem...) I've never towed before (I'm booked on a C&CC towing course later this year).

I'm eyeing up a Fleurette Tamaris 38 pop-top caravan on Ebay which finishes tomorrow (eek!) and I can't get hold of the Camping & Caravan club technical chappy until Monday.

Unladen weight of the Fleurette = 680kg, max loaded = 850kg.

I think the towing weight will be fine, but it's the noseweight that's worrying me; the C&CC technical chap said the Rapido Club 31 I was originally tempted by was pushing it and I'd have to be careful loading it and carry more in the car.

I checked the match with the Fleurette out on Towsafe and it come's out ok on everything except the noseweight; says it's 120%, whatever that means, and 'caution', but not 'danger'. Does that mean it would be ok provided I was sensible and loaded it carefully?

Help?!

I towed a 10ft long 3 berth caravan with a Peugeot 205 diesel many years ago. I don't know the weight or even the make of the caravan, but I am guessing it would have been under 700kg. The 205 was a terrible towcar, despite having enough power, it would get pulled and tugged all over the road whenever I was overtaken. Your 306 is not much bigger and has the same engine (albeit turbocharged) and your caravan is probably  a bit heavier than mine was.

To be honest, the experience put me off towing for quite a while. I later bought a trailer tent after changing my car and upgraded that 5 years ago to a light caravan as my confidence recovered. I now have a 4x4 which towed better again and have just changed my caravan for one a  lot heavier than the last one. I was surprised to find the new caravan tows at least as well as the old one, despite the weight difference. 

Anyway, I have digressed. The gist of my post is that on paper, your outfit looks ok, but due to the relatively small footprint your car has, in practice, it might be a bit of a handfull. 

The towed weight is fine and the nodeweight is a movable feast you set it to what you need it to be by the way you load the caravan. So in principle you should be perfectly fine with the Fleurette.

Setting the noseweight is a system of trial and error. First of all load the caravan as you want ir, with everything in it's specified place ( clothes in the wardrobe, food in the fridge, bedding in the bed lockers gas in the gas locker and battery in the battery box and so on).  Now put the caravan on the level and check the noseweight, if it is higher than the 50kg limit then have a look at the load and either remove something from the front of the van and put it in the car, or put it into the caravan just behind the axle. Then check again, repat the process until you have the required noseweight. If it is too light then move something forward in the caravan or put something extra in the front locker and then check again. Once you have it right remember where you put everything and always load it theat way.