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Have a great week, I think the weather is going to be better.

Have a look HERE for info on noseweight, a lot is trial and error

Cheers

Paul

I'm no expert, but beware of loading too much stuff into your boot or it might pull the nose of the van down (according to my dad anyway)

General rule is common sense really, load bigger stuff evenly, over the axle in the middle of the van, preferably on the floor.

I'm sure you'll have a great time, its always great having a new van to play with, finding places to store things, buying stuff to put in it.

Our road is normally fairly quiet but every time I've reversed the van up the drive (takes a while) it turns into Marble Arch.

Strange that.

Be careful putting everything in the car - you need the noseweight of the 'van to be right to make it 'behave' properly when towing.  Check your 'van handbook for the maximum noseweight, and check your tow-bar for the maximum down-weight on the towball (there should be a label on it somewhere).  Make the noseweight of the 'van as close to the LOWEST of these two limits as you can, without going over.  To measure the noseweight, cut a piece of wood (2x2, or an old broomhandle will do) so that, when placed under the hitch it supports the hitch at the height of your towball.  Then put a set of bathroom scales under the wood and wind up the jockey wheel - weight shown on scales is your noseweight.

MIRO is Mass In Running Order, and it's the weight of the 'van with no extras in it (so none of your belongings, equipment, etc).

MTPLW is Maximum Technical Permitted Laiden Weight, and is the absolute maximum weight you can load your van up to. 

Congratulations!

I don't like to rain on your parade, but if you don't yet know about weights & stuff, how did you establish that your tow car and caravan are well matched before you bought the van?

Hopefully, you have at the very least established the kerbweight of your towcar, it's maximum noseweight allowance on the towball and the MIRO/MTPLM of the caravan.  If not, then I would have to express surprise as this is a big 'no-no'

Also, towing the van empty obviously helps avoid going over the MTPLM (maximum technically permissible laden mass) - but it doesn't necessarily help with the noseweight issue, which is a question of 'balance' which ultimately has a major effect on stability.

No doubt all the friendly folk on here will soon have you up to speed on all the tech specs.

Happy Vanning!

Congratulations on buying such an excellent van - welcome to a very select club!!

We love our Deffy, and it tows superbly.  One of the things that helps with this is the extra width, which means of course you have a wider axle.  You'll soon get the feel of it, and we love the extra space inside the van, and the masses of storage space.

Have fun!

Quote: Originally posted by Ginaherd on 21/6/2007

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I don't like to rain on your parade, but if you don't yet know about weights & stuff, how did you establish that your tow car and caravan are well matched before you bought the van?

We got the friendly man at Campbells to check before we bought it and also checked it on a website putting in weights from car handbook and caravan broucher.

Thanks for all info on nose weights DH has been reading madly about packing and seems to have more idea than me so I'll leave it in his capable hands.

We are off to Ulswater hope weather cheers up though.

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Phew - that's good!  I didn't like to think that you hadn't had any help with the matching.  I know it can all be a bit baffling and dealers have been known to persuade folk that they'll be 'okay' when the outfit is really far from ideal.  A wobbly van would certainly do nothing for your caravanning confidence (not to mention the people behind you).

But I think you're very optimistic about the weather - doesn't it rain all the time in the Lake District??

Have fun - we're off for a weekend in the rain too!