Cool. I should be able to find a 4 berth for that weight, shouldn't I?
Does it matter if it goes slightly over, so say 1300kg or is it pretty important to keep it to the 1258kg figure?
I will probably have to log off shortly, but will have a quick nosy at caravans and weights to see what is about...
If your handbook says max braked trailer weight 1800kg then you have your answer.
85% is a guideline not an absolute.
7% is the nosewieght limit and this does matter because if you have a higher noseweight than 7% or the car manufacturer's specified figure, whichever is the lower then you are breaking the law and insurance becomes invalid so you are in the deep brown aromatic stuff.
------------- Best Regards
David
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And thank you so much for all your help and advice. I am really buzzing with excitement and will be picking up a few bits here and there ready for our new van :-)
Well not too much as I will be hoping to bag a bargain with bits included but I'm sure most won't include cutlery/pots/pans etc... So I will be getting bits like that..
Silly question.... Do most people use plastic or just normal crockery/glass etc in caravans??
I don't really understand what you mean by noseweight limit?
I will come back and work that out tomorrow. I want to have a quick nosy at caravans before I have to send myself to bed. I wish I could have late weekends but the small kids get me up at stupid-o-clock no matter what day of the week it is!!
Ah, I have read a thread on noseweight and understand now
I'm not entirely sure how I would use bathroom scales to check this so I will need to read up on that, but I will also look around for a noseweight gauge.
I also need to break the news to the brother and sister that I have gone off the idea of co-ownership.... I don't think they are overly keen anyway as I haven't heard back from them. My brother wants a motorhome as opposed to a caravan and my sister just said she would speak to her husband.
A noseweight guage is less of a faff than bathroom scales.
You need a pice of wood about 18 inches long something like 3x3. You put the scales on the ground under the hitch and put the pice of wood in the hitch so it rests on the scales and then wind the jockey wheen until all the weight of the caravan is on the scales via the wood and read off the weight from the scales.
automaticallynoseweight gauge
You should get a 4 birth for that weight easily if you look around. We just got a 4/5 birth which is really lightweight though admittedly not that big as we are only 4, the kids are small and ours is quite old just it start us off. Depends if you are going to let the teens in at all ;-) Though seriously teenagers seem to like being out in their own space. And you would probably eat etc in the awning depending upon what time of year your go. Temperature might dictate how much you all want to be inside. Anyway good luck. We are totally new to this and got loads of helpful advice here. We brought ours home 10 days ago, have had 2 trips away already. So much fun!
------------- Early June- France TBC
July 2nd- Deer Shed Festival
More to come....