Any caravaners on here

Youngest offspring passed his test in 1998 and not allowed to pull even a wheelbarrow trailer on his car but regularly tows 14 tonnes behind his tractor on the same licence, no further testing needed for agricultural towing.

Odd that.

and George, dont forget the cheap red diesel, and no roadfund duty to pay!! but he will be able to reverse into a building with a couple of inches to spare on either side and many other skilled tasks that would leave the vast majority of caravaners open mouthed,

On a slightly lighter note, my wife and I were on a caravan site in Norfolk watching the world go by when an XJ6 pulled up with a couple in, the man, built like a brick wall, got out and un hitched the caravan picked the hitch up and pushed the caravan into place on their pad, his partner didnt get out of the car until the caravan was set up and ready.

Martin P

Thought that on single carriageways, HGVs were restricted to 40 mph (not that you'd notice on the A47!), so a caravan at 50 should be less problem, in theory.

My gripe is when two (HGVs or caravans) travel so close together that there is no room to overtake one and slot in again.

Only had one holiday towing a caravasn. Got the weight distribution wrong on two days, and got severely frightened, despite being below the legal limit.

Luckily the car had enough grunt to pull everything back into line so that we could slow down very gently.

Last time had so much weight on the front that could hardly lift the nose onto the ball, but it towed beautifully.

Something to do with position of centre of gravity relative to centre of pressure, I think.

Even a 5 cwt baggage trailer will start to snake if you go fast enough.

Howard

Howard,

The HGV speed limit was recently increased in England and Wales to 50mph on single carriageways. It remains at 40mph in Scotland. There are various signs around to remind hgv drivers of this.

Also, as Sean says, both caravan and car have distinct and not necessarily equal towbar noseweight limits. E.G my caravan is rated at 100kg, the present car and the previous car at 75kg, hence the 75kg is the ruling limit. The car two cars ago, if that makes sense, had a limit of 65kg.

It's actually worse than that - cars nowadays have axle weight limits, towing limits and gross train weight limits as well. My car can tow 1500kg (braked), 500kg (unbraked), has a gross vehicle weight of 2000kg and a gross train weight of 3500kg. These days, it's an absolute minefield out there and the Police and other authorities are starting to take an interest in these matters.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

And don't forget, your caravan also has a maximum gross weight, and a kerb weight, the difference being the payload. Unfortunately, as I've recently discovered, older caravans do not include an allowance for a gas bottle, yet new ones do; a battery might or might not be included - I've yet to sort that one out; and if you have any water in, say, the toilet, then that counts against the payload.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

p.s. Just for the record, we are looking into replacing our present caravan, hence all the facts and figures I've mentioned.

A few years ago there was a program on the TV and it was on the M5, the police pulled a caravan into a service area because the driver was towing a caravan but because the hitch was broken he had roped it all together to get home, when the police removed the rope the caravan hitch shot up in the air with the back of the caravan rear sat on the ground. It then took four men to pull the hitch back down again.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 27/09/2017 12:55:12

Not convinced Sean, bouncing up and down on the bar and squeaking might also mean the tow bar bolts are working a bit.

Most stability issues these days are caused by poor loading, you see vans with 4 pushbikes loaded in them, twin axle vans with the nose in the air because the hitch is set too high, and so much for a legal nose weight.

I guarantee if you come across a van towed at 40 wagging it's backside it's due to the owner (the one with the white knuckles on the wheel) with all the weight of his awning behind the axle.

As to speed of the lorry you follow at 58 or so isn't breaking the law to do you a favour. He's using his Tacho and doing 50 which is accurate, just check your sat nav. However the bloke in his Toyota who thinks he's good and right on the 50 limit is in fact doing 43 so I'm not surprised caravan towers get a bad name and truckers don't

I use my SatNav a lot when driving particularly when towing my hobby in the trailer, car speedometers are made 10% fast.

Martin P

I'd be a bit wary of using a Satnav as a speedometer. GPS is excellent in a plane, boat or cruise missile because these have a clear view of the satellites and tend to not to make sharp turns. GPS speed calculations aren't so reliable on a road. Satnavs do a good job on the straight and level but not when the road bends, slopes, or goes near buildings.