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How Much Weight Safety Margin Should I Allow?
There is some debate (and legislation in Germany) on the ideal weight safety margin between tow vehicle and caravan:
• The conventional wisdom is that the tow vehicle must be at least as heavy as the caravan being towed (i.e. a 1-to-1 ratio between tow vehicle and van weight);
• In the UK there is the “85% rule”. This is not legislated, but is a recommendation of the Camping and Caravanning Club of the UK and other UK bodies. This recommendation states that the weight of the loaded caravan should be no more than 85% of the car’s kerb weight. However, according to the Camping and Caravanning Club of the UK, ‘those who are experienced at towing may go up to 100 per cent of the car’s kerbweight, but no-one should tow a caravan that is heavier than the towing limit of the vehicle it’s behind’;
• In Germany, caravans with brakes and hydraulic shock absorbers may not (by legislation) exceed 0.8 times the empty weight of the tow vehicle unless the tow vehicle does not exceed 80 kmph;
• In Australia, there is no legislation on weight safety margins, but the Caravan Council of Australia suggests that ‘for added safety and peace of mind, the laden tow-vehicle should weigh 30% more than the laden caravan/trailer’ (for the non mathematically minded, this is the same as saying that caravan should not exceed about 77% of the laden weight of the tow vehicle);
Note that the above relates to the weight relationship between tow vehicle and caravan. There is always legislation in each country on the maximum weights of tow vehicles, caravans and towing combinations.
From the above you might think that the Caravan Council of Australia is being the most conservative of all these countries in applying a 77% safety margin. But in fact, because the CCA’s recommendations are based on laden weights of the tow vehicle and not the unladen (or kerb) weights, they are in fact the least conservative.
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