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 Topic: Nose weight advice wanted
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24/9/2018 at 8:06pm
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what is the max loaded weight of your caravan? trying to achieve 70kgs seems very low is that more for your cars benefit or the caravan perhaps only having a max of 75kgs? perhaps perhaps giving a little more info would help but trying to place items at the very back of the caravan to "balance" things out is not a good idea, also could your secondhand nose weight gauge be faulty? try using the bathroom scales and a lump of wood way of measuring it just to be sure
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24/9/2018 at 8:59pm
Location: West country
Outfit: Mondeo
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Unfortunately, nose weight is something manufacturers dont pay enough attention to. They seem to be preoccupied with MIRO and MTPLM because that is what buyers look at.
Nose weight is a tricky thing for them to get right. The van wheels must be placed in exactly the right place. They design the van layout around the wheel position usually with something like the cooker or fridge over the wheel arches, then need a certain distance for a bed in front or behind and that must be on both sides of the van.
Only when they've built a couple of prototypes do they discover the nose weight is wrong. Changing at this stage is going to set them back a long way.
I'm not sure there is much you can do. I guess you have a chest of drawers in the front with flip over table. This was often an optional extra but seems to have a big impact on nose weight. Maybe you could remove it.
The spare wheel is heavy. That can go in a carrier underneath behind the door but they are awkward to get the wheel in and out of.
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24/9/2018 at 10:07pm
Location: essex
Outfit: Swift Challenger 570
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The nose weight should be between 5% and 7% of the van so if your van is about 1400kg the 5% is 70kg so about right, navver is correct a wheel is heavy so is usually better in a carrier under the van.
What noseweight gauge did you buy if its the spring type one with a scale sometimes they are not very accurate, a piece of wood on bathroom scales can be used but the height will need to be the same as your towball height. I invested in a digital one from Reich this fits onto the tow ball then you lower the caravan onto it, items can then be moved around as required to achieve the correct weight best £40 ive ever spent on a caravan accessary
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its our imperfections that makes us perfect
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24/9/2018 at 10:28pm
Location: Powys Wales
Outfit: Abbey 2 berth. Astra sports tourer .
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We had an Abbey Dorset 2 berth 1998 a while ago. Empty, the nose weight was 120kg!! Experimenting with loading I got it down to 90kg but never did get it any lower.
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Rob
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25/9/2018 at 11:24am
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from the info I have found out since my first post, I gather that the caravan is only 1075kgs fully loaded!
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30/9/2018 at 9:06pm
Location: East Midlands
Outfit: Coachman VIP 575.Santa Fe
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I agree with never. My Bailey had a noseweight of 103kg on collection from nes. The max for that chassis was 100kg. Add 2 gas bottles in the space provided and it was very nose heavy.
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Mister G
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30/9/2018 at 9:26pm
Location: Lichfield
Outfit: Coachman Amara 450
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Does the Abbey Melrose have an end washroom layout?
If so then the toilet will be at the rear end of the caravan so you could try completely filling the toilet flush tank with water to counter balance the rear end slightly but don't attempt to only half fill as that can cause a bow wave in the flush tank. That's what I have to do to get my noseweight down to 75 kgs. which I can just about achieve. If I don't fill the flush tank I can add on about another 10 kgs. to the noseweight so by doing this it proves that it is achievable.
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11/10/2018 at 11:21pm
Location: North Wales
Outfit: Elddis
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Quote: Originally posted by ash1947 on 30/9/2018
hi all and thanks, for those who asked the max nose for the car is 70 to 75 kg regards Ashley
Seems odd, normally a maximum is a single figure, not between two figures, I find in general too light of a nose weight causes poor towing, and too heavy puts the hitch too close to the ground, most caravans have both the A frame max and cup max at around 150 kg, so if under that, can't really blaim caravan maker, it does not need me to tell you how to make the nose weight less. What your asking is has the manufacturer made an error, and answer has to be no.
But with that 70 to 75 kg figure I would look again, is that the maximum or the ideal? But thank you I will go and check what my car is, since the tow bar has 4 holes so it can take a pin and eye type connector instead of ball, I suspect it is rather high, before when there were less rules, to help with high tow ball weight you could buy a combined spring damper which removed weight from the ball and put a resistance to turning to stop snaking, what I don't know is the legal standing of these old devices.
They remove 60 to 80 pounds from the tow ball but as to if the inspectors will allow that I don't know, I looked at the towsure snakemaster quick release caravan stabilised but it does not say anything about tow ball weight reduction, however fact that it lifts back of car up, it clearly does reduce tow ball weight.
I think it would be one of those let the court decide jobs, and I personally don't want to be involved in a test case even if I win.
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12/10/2018 at 6:39am
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Quote: Originally posted by ericmark on 11/10/2018
Quote: Originally posted by ash1947 on 30/9/2018
hi all and thanks, for those who asked the max nose for the car is 70 to 75 kg regards Ashley
Seems odd, normally a maximum is a single figure, not between two figures, I find in general too light of a nose weight causes poor towing, and too heavy puts the hitch too close to the ground, most caravans have both the A frame max and cup max at around 150 kg, so if under that, can't really blaim caravan maker, it does not need me to tell you how to make the nose weight less. What your asking is has the manufacturer made an error, and answer has to be no.
But with that 70 to 75 kg figure I would look again, is that the maximum or the ideal? But thank you I will go and check what my car is, since the tow bar has 4 holes so it can take a pin and eye type connector instead of ball, I suspect it is rather high, before when there were less rules, to help with high tow ball weight you could buy a combined spring damper which removed weight from the ball and put a resistance to turning to stop snaking, what I don't know is the legal standing of these old devices.
They remove 60 to 80 pounds from the tow ball but as to if the inspectors will allow that I don't know, I looked at the towsure snakemaster quick release caravan stabilised but it does not say anything about tow ball weight reduction, however fact that it lifts back of car up, it clearly does reduce tow ball weight.
I think it would be one of those let the court decide jobs, and I personally don't want to be involved in a test case even if I win.
you will find that most caravans a frames i.e 99% of them have a max of 100kgs, however the cars are much lower usually around 75kgs, its the lower figure you would use,
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12/10/2018 at 11:35am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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A guideline is that the nose weight should be about 7% of the MTPLM, but the towing vehicle is another factor as in some cases the downward pressure on the towball cannot exceed the specification set up the manufacturer of the vehicle or possibly the towbar manufacturer.
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15/10/2018 at 5:34pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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50kg seems very low to me. I thought mine was low at 75kg. Is either the car or caravan new to you, as that seems quite a miss-match? All I can suggest is that you remove as much as possible from the front locker and try to relocate it over the caravan's axle(s). If you have a spare wheel, could it go underneath the caravan?
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Best Regards,
Colin
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