Towball limit - thick question alert
Discussion
On the path for looking for a caravan with hopefully a purchase next year. I’m used to motorhomes but never had a wobble box so a lot of this is new to me.
According to the manual of my car it has a towball limit of 68kg. I’ll be looking to get an aftermarket towball fitted and they rate their towball at 90kg.
Do I take the higher figure of the aftermarket towball or is the vehicle manual gospel?
I really don’t want to be changing cars as I’ve only bought this one a year ago and intend to keep it for a while and the 68kg is towards to lower end (although I’d prefer a lighter caravan as my car only has a MRO of 1500kg so am limited a bit). Want to get all my ducks in a row before I start looking properly.
More daft questions to come no doubt!
According to the manual of my car it has a towball limit of 68kg. I’ll be looking to get an aftermarket towball fitted and they rate their towball at 90kg.
Do I take the higher figure of the aftermarket towball or is the vehicle manual gospel?
I really don’t want to be changing cars as I’ve only bought this one a year ago and intend to keep it for a while and the 68kg is towards to lower end (although I’d prefer a lighter caravan as my car only has a MRO of 1500kg so am limited a bit). Want to get all my ducks in a row before I start looking properly.
More daft questions to come no doubt!
Right, that’s clarified that. Thanks chaps.
Next weight question.
I’ll be looking for a 4 berth caravan with fixed rear bed and a washroom along the back. We’ve seen a Discovery d4-4 which is a light weight van that seems ideal but it’s a little on the basic side and I would like a microwave. Go a bit heavier and the choice is far far greater.
Now,
Kerbweight according to manual is around 1430kg (completely empty with no consideration for a driver or fluids). MRO according to V5 is just over 1500kg. I take it the MRO is the figure to work from? That gives me just under 1300kg (using the 85% guide) which does limit me in my choice of ‘van. If the weight of the car is carrying a heavier load than the MRO as wife and all our crap will be inside the car does this mean I can safely buy a slightly heavier van (say around 1400kg) as long as I don’t exceed the gross weight of car and van combined and would this be advisable?
Sorry for dumb questions guys, I’m so used to just chucking stuff in the van without much consideration and just driving off. New world for me!
Next weight question.
I’ll be looking for a 4 berth caravan with fixed rear bed and a washroom along the back. We’ve seen a Discovery d4-4 which is a light weight van that seems ideal but it’s a little on the basic side and I would like a microwave. Go a bit heavier and the choice is far far greater.
Now,
Kerbweight according to manual is around 1430kg (completely empty with no consideration for a driver or fluids). MRO according to V5 is just over 1500kg. I take it the MRO is the figure to work from? That gives me just under 1300kg (using the 85% guide) which does limit me in my choice of ‘van. If the weight of the car is carrying a heavier load than the MRO as wife and all our crap will be inside the car does this mean I can safely buy a slightly heavier van (say around 1400kg) as long as I don’t exceed the gross weight of car and van combined and would this be advisable?
Sorry for dumb questions guys, I’m so used to just chucking stuff in the van without much consideration and just driving off. New world for me!
OP, I have found this site and it's towcar and caravan matching outfit very useful:
https://towcar.info/GB/index.php
It might give you a rough guide as to the compatibility of various vehicles and caravans.
https://towcar.info/GB/index.php
It might give you a rough guide as to the compatibility of various vehicles and caravans.
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