Don't
trust the loading of your caravan to luck. A badly loaded van is dangerous for yourself
and other road users. The diagram above highlights the areas where you should be storing
items in order to balance the van correctly. The darker shaded area is directly above the
wheels and is where the heaviest of your luggage must go. Less heavy items can be stored
towards the front and rear whilst remembering that the caravan should be slightly front
heavy.Avoid storing anything above waist height as this will cause the van to be top
heavy.This means waiting until you reach your destination to pack the cupboards with food.
The recommended nose weight is 7% of the laden weight of the caravan but you must not
exceed the maximum weight for your particular towbar. Some of these limits can be as low
as 45kg. Most caravan dealers will sell nose weight gauges
but you can improvise by placing a flat piece of wood across as set of bathroom scales and
resting your jockey wheel on top. By winding up the front legs you will get an indication
of the nose weight.
The above is only a
guideline however. There is no substitute for actually experimenting with weight
distribution in your particular van. A stabiliser can improve handling but should never
be used to substitute good loading practice. |
Caravan Security
