Preparing for Your First Towing Venture: Essential Information You Should Be Aware Of
Preparing for Your First Caravan Towing Adventure
Towing a caravan can be an exciting endeavour, but it's essential to approach it with the right knowledge and precautions to ensure safety, comfort, and confidence on the road. Here are some key tips and guidelines to help you prepare for your first caravan towing experience.
Choosing the Right Caravan-to-Car Match
The first step is to match your car with the appropriate caravan. Follow the "85% rule," where the caravan's weight (including load) should not exceed 85% of the car's kerbweight. This helps maintain stability when towing at speed. For example, if your car weighs 1600kg, your caravan should weigh no more than about 1360kg. Always verify your car’s official towing capacity, but the 85% guideline is a better benchmark for safe motorway towing.
Getting Towing Tuition
Taking a practical towing course can be beneficial to learn vehicle control, reversing, and safety techniques before heading out on your own.
Fitting Towing Mirrors
Fit towing mirrors to improve your rear and side visibility, which is critical for safe lane changes, reversing, and monitoring the caravan’s behavior on the road.
Performing a Wind-back Check
Before moving off, gently reverse a short distance and check the caravan’s response to steering inputs and braking. This helps ensure hitching is secure and stable.
Loading the Caravan Carefully
Distribute weight evenly, keeping heavy items low and near the axle. Avoid overloading, and secure all items inside to prevent shifting which can destabilize towing.
Understanding Speed Limits
Towing a caravan often means lower speed limits than usual (e.g., 60 mph on motorways in the UK). Drive within these limits for safety and compliance with the law.
Being Prepared for Caravan Sway
In windy conditions or when overtaken by large vehicles, the caravan may sway. Practice gentle steering corrections and consider adding a stabilizer or electronic sway control device, if available.
Using a Motor Mover
For maneuvering the caravan in tight spots without the car, a motor mover can be a useful accessory.
Pre-departure Safety Checks
Ensure the towball and hitch are clean and properly connected. Apply the handbrake on the caravan when hitching, attach the breakaway cable, confirm the stabiliser is locked, raise the jockey wheel, connect the electrical plug, and check all lights (brake, indicator, and rear lights) are functioning before setting off.
Checking Legal and Licence Requirements
Make sure your driving licence covers the weight of the trailer and caravan combination. For heavier loads, special licences may be needed. Also, verify your insurance and breakdown cover includes the caravan or trailer.
By carefully preparing with correct weight matching, practicing towing skills, performing thorough checks before travel, and driving cautiously within speed limits, first-time caravanners can tow safely and confidently.
Remember, the wind-back check is an important step when hitching up a caravan, as winding the jockey wheel back down slightly and observing if the car lifts up indicates a correct attachment.
Both The Caravan & Motorhome Club and The Camping and Caravanning Club run towing courses teaching the basics of hitching up, unhitching, and reversing safely. The 85% guideline recommends that a caravan's weight should not exceed 85% of the kerbweight of the tow car for a stable and safe towing experience.
Future Publishing Limited provides this information on caravan towing in good faith, but individuals should exercise independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances and skill level.
[1] Future Publishing Limited. (n.d.). How to tow a caravan: 10 essential tips for beginners. Retrieved from https://www.practicalcaravan.com/how-to/towing/how-to-tow-a-caravan-10-essential-tips-for-beginners/
[2] The Camping and Caravanning Club. (n.d.). Towing courses. Retrieved from https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/towing-courses
[3] The Caravan and Motorhome Club. (n.d.). Towing courses. Retrieved from https://www.camc.com/how-to-tow-a-caravan/towing-courses/
- For an immersive lifestyle blend of home-and-garden tranquility coupled with challenging travel experiences, consider embarking on a caravan towing adventure, beginning with our 10 essential tips for first-time caravan towers.
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