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Towing Ration Calculation

Darthbarnold replied on 27/02/2017 11:13

Darthbarnold profile picture Member

Darthbarnold

Caravanner

Posted on 27/02/2017 11:13

Morning

Hope everyone enjoyed the Caravan & Motorhome Show.

I have just created a spread sheet (NERD!!!) to calculate my towing ratio and nose when for my caravan and car.

I thought that it would be useful when loading for the first time to work out how much to put in the car and caravan and then calculate my nose weight. 

I can then decide what equipment to take, what goes in the car or caravan, and calculate the correct nose weight.

My spreadsheet works fantastically (and I am now thinking about turning it into an app (I digress).

Questions:

When calculating the Towing Ratio for a laden caravan, should I calculate against a "laden car kerb-weight" (i.e car plus passengers and equipment) or an "unladen car kerb-weight"? This obviously makes a big difference to the ratio calculation.

 

6 replies

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Simon100 replied on 27/02/2017 20:24

Simon100 profile picture Member

Simon100

Caravanner

Posted on 27/02/2017 20:24

Unladen car weight but adding 75kg for the driver if this is not included in the manufacturers figures. The 85% ratio is only a guide and if you are experienced 100% is quite acceptable.

Nose weight is not necessarily a movable figure. Most people find a weight, up to the maximum allowed by caravan chassis and/or towbar, with which their combination tows well and sticks with it. 

You may be in danger of complicating matters too much!

dmiller555 replied on 28/02/2017 07:56

dmiller555 profile picture Member

dmiller555

Caravanner
Posted on 27/02/2017 20:24 by Simon100

Unladen car weight but adding 75kg for the driver if this is not included in the manufacturers figures. The 85% ratio is only a guide and if you are experienced 100% is quite acceptable.

Nose weight is not necessarily a movable figure. Most people find a weight, up to the maximum allowed by caravan chassis and/or towbar, with which their combination tows well and sticks with it. 

You may be in danger of complicating matters too much!

Posted on 28/02/2017 07:56

I can't disagree with your advice Simon for I'm a tyro tower, but I do wonder how one gets experience of emergency situations whilst towing at anything close to 100% or even 75% in my case?

Simon100 replied on 28/02/2017 20:18

Simon100 profile picture Member

Simon100

Caravanner

Posted on 28/02/2017 20:18

Sorry I don't understand your statement? Most of us never get experience of emergency situations in anything that we do, in fact we avoid emergency situations as much as possible.

Hopefully by the time an emergency situation arises we will all have had enough experience to be able to cope and make the correct decisions.

Navigateur replied on 28/02/2017 21:03

Navigateur profile picture Member

Navigateur

Caravanner

Posted on 28/02/2017 21:03

And certainly an emergency situation does not afford time to go altering values in a spreadsheet!

 

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