RV FEATURE
So the big question is, how should you load your caravan? Taking into account what we already know, that the manufacturer has designed the van in such a way that the heaviest items are over the axles with everything else located in a way that will impose sufficient weight on the towball, it makes sense to follow this approach. We are searching for the right amount of ball weight for your particular setup. The sweet spot.
Start by loading your heaviest items at ground level over the axle line to the extent that you can. Large containers of water, slabs of beer, and perhaps even things like portable lithium batteries. Your lighter items should be reserved for the overhead lockers.
Then, begin loading gradually towards the front of the van, again placing the heavier items closer to the axles.
I realise this all sounds good in theory. After all, there are only so many storage compartments inside a van positioned over or near the axles. However, I have on more than one occasion had to simply place some items on the floor of the van roughly over the axles. Not ideal, but doing this has helped me to achieve a balanced towing setup when one didn’ t exist previously.
WATER WEIGHT
The location of your van’ s water tanks plays a role in all of this. One litre of water weighs 1kg. That being the case, your caravan’ s twin 100L water tanks when full add 200kg of payload to your setup when they’ re full. No worries. The manufacturer should have accounted for that both in terms of the van’ s payload capacity and how those full tanks will affect the van’ s ball weight. And in theory, that’ s true. In theory.
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