Do You Know Your Caravan Nose Weight?
It’s a vital thing to understand …
Caravan nose weight is the weight of your caravan at the hitch. If you’ve loaded your big white box and this exceeds the towing limits of your vehicle, you could run into problems …
Your caravan nose weight is a vital piece of safety information!
Each car’s tow hitch has a weight limit assigned to it. This is to ensure that the back end isn’t overloaded when a caravan is attached and ensures the front wheels have good traction.
“Overload your car’s hitch and you’ll have performance and handling problems!”
And, of course, you could cause irreparable damage to the rear suspension of the vehicle and wear our your tyres in a hurry. Not to mention the drivability problems with having a heavy load in tow.
So each caravan manufacturer should publish the nose weight of the empty caravan before you add your own stuff in there. This is where you need to compare that number with the maximum towing weight of the hitch on your vehicle. Your car’s manufacturer should also include the maximum towing weights in their own manuals.
“When fully loaded, we recommend you don’t exceed any of these limits!”
One final ‘rule of thumb’ thing you need to know is the 85% rule. This is where your fully loaded caravan (with all food, clothing and additional equipment you add for your travels) is less than 85% of the kerb weight of your vehicle.
You can weigh the things you put into your caravan using a set of luggage scales. Things you may need to weigh are:
-
Awnings
-
Bikes
-
TVs and other electrical equipment
-
BBQ
-
Gas bottles
-
Pots and pans
-
Bedding
-
Clothing
-
Stored food
A great tip from one of our customers to help you reduce your caravan’s nose weight is to empty your fresh and waste water tanks before you travel.
“And remember to keep the heaviest items over the caravan’s axle and as low as possible!”
It’s really important to load your caravan correctly and not to exceed any of the limits specified in the caravan and vehicle manuals. If you’re at all unsure of the nose weight of your caravan then we can help you!
We offer the Milenco Precision Calibrated Caravan Nose Weight Gauge which is the only caravan nose weight gauge approved and calibrated to British Standards. It offers calibrated precision, accuracy, reliability and technical superiority over other nose weight gauges. It has a clear large scale to ensure the precise and safe loading for this safety-critical area, to ensure caravan stability when towing.
We also have a cheaper generic nose weight gauge which is handy to use when you’re out and about to make sure those gifts and nicknacks you’ve bought don’t exceed any vehicle limits.
“Would you like to know more?”
Visit our website to find out more about these caravan nose weight gauges, call us on 01908 511551 with any questions and let’s see how we can help you.
Until next time …
BIG WHITE BOX
The caravan accessory store