Towing a trailer- weight distribution.

Boater Sam said:
No, really do not want the trailer taking over the steering!
I used to tow cars on a heavy recovery trailer behind a long wheelbase Land Rover and it never got away from me because we had a good weight on the hitch.
But I also used to do suspended tow and with the car on the jib sticking out a couple of feet behind the tailgate that was a totally different situation. Going down hill was sometimes terrifying as the whole rig would start to snake uncontrollably, using all 3 lanes on a motorway sometimes. Never lost it but came close a few times.
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One real oddity about the real long wheelbase landrovers is the official max UK nose weight for a trailer is 150kg, but the identical vehicle in the USA has a limit of 250kg. Note, it is kg not a misquote of USA lbs. Tow ball weight

I try to keep nose weight near max, when towing a fin keel boat, to reduce the fore aft pendulum effect. Especially from my house to the SC as roads are poor and there are two hump backed bridges..

All extra weight goes in the landrover, as previously it went into my cars.

My current boat trailer is heavily rebuilt old one, with a complete new axle suspension unit. Tyres for the old one were getting difficult to get and expensive. So I put on a unit that has the same wheels as the general purpose trailer.
Currently planning a few more mods to improve ease of use.

Sadly swmbo's cars tow limit is zero.. yep towing not permitted..
 
The Q said:
Sadly swmbo's cars tow limit is zero.. yep towing not permitted..
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Plenty of small cars not allowed. You have to have a homologated hitch nowdays and they are not available for quite a few cars. I went to the scrappy to get one for our Twingo. 45 euro. Not sure if the newer Twingos are allowed.

Did laugh a while back. Two 2CVs passed in the local town, both towing the same small version of those Dutch caravans with the pop top.

Takes me back a bit.. Guy turned up to collect his new 12ft racing dinghy. He had a roughed up wooden trailer on the roof, made of two bits of 3X2 with barrow wheels. All held together by nails. No springs... Could he buy the flat bit of bar that was the simple pin hitch of the day?. He nailed that on the front of the 'spine' and loaded up and set off home. My father was horrified and asked him to call us to confirm safe arrival. He did make it.
 
The Q said:
One real oddity about the real long wheelbase landrovers is the official max UK nose weight for a trailer is 150kg, but the identical vehicle in the USA has a limit of 250kg. Note, it is kg not a misquote of USA lbs. Tow ball weight
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Our Landcruiser 80 has a much higher towing limit (7 tonnes vs 3.5 from memory) in other markets. It is lower here so it still falls under a normal driving licence - a heavier licence would lose almost the entire customer base of a (then) luxury 4wd. Perhaps there's something similar with the landie?
 
KevinV said:
Our Landcruiser 80 has a much higher towing limit (7 tonnes vs 3.5 from memory) in other markets. It is lower here so it still falls under a normal driving licence - a heavier licence would lose almost the entire customer base of a (then) luxury 4wd. Perhaps there's something similar with the landie?
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Yep you are right, just looked it up, it appears the towing capability abroad is higher..
 
Muddy32 said:
I have a legal (UK and EU ) 4 wheel trailer plated for 2,600 kgs.
My car can tow 2000kgs. Boat is 1250kgs and trailer 550kgs.
So far so good. 1800kgs.

Is it better to load car with the "insides" Outboard, Avon dinghy, food and UK fuel,etc Approx 120kgs,or........... OK in the boat. ???

Ferry Plymouth to Roscoff, then down to Arzal to launch and enjoy Brittany for 3 months
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You don't say the GTW of the car, this includes the weight of fuel in your car, plus all passengers, in fact everything in your car.There are other regs about weight on each axle, and on the trailer hitch. Boats are prime targets for the police and VOSA.
Trailer Weight Limits and Towing Capacities < Useful information
 
Took the whole set up to the local DVSA WEIGHBRIDGE, who kindly did the whole thing for me, checking individual axle weights. All for free!!
Trailer weight was 1988 kgs [plated max 2500] and car 1930 kgs [2000kgs].
He suggested spreading the extras between axles in the boat, securely and not having a full tank of fuel in the car[which was the case on weighing].
Job done.
Just need to get the trailer registration doc on line now.
Thanks to all who commented.
 
Muddy32 said:
Took the whole set up to the local DVSA WEIGHBRIDGE, who kindly did the whole thing for me, checking individual axle weights. All for free!!
Trailer weight was 1988 kgs [plated max 2500] and car 1930 kgs [2000kgs].
He suggested spreading the extras between axles in the boat, securely and not having a full tank of fuel in the car[which was the case on weighing].
Job done.
Just need to get the trailer registration doc on line now.
Thanks to all who commented.
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Great. But what are you doing about the issue of plated weight on the trailer if this is over your car’s towing limit.
It will be the plated weight that the police / gendarmes will check.
 
dunedin said:
Great. But what are you doing about the issue of plated weight on the trailer if this is over your car’s towing limit.
It will be the plated weight that the police / gendarmes will check.
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No, it will be the actual weight that counts. If the trailer is plated at 2500Kg but the car has a max towing limit of 2000kg you cannot load the trailer to it's plated weight, keep it under 2000kg and you're legal.
 
dunedin said:
So that suggests (though not an official UK.gov site) that the plated weight is not an issue “in the UK”. That sounds good.
Is that also true in France? It may be but need to be sure.
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I don't know. Maybe the caravan club or similar may have details. One thing I do remember reading is that UK trailers over a certain capacity have to be registered with DVLA, for travelling to EU.

Edit - Some info here - Register your trailer to take it abroad
 
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