My daughter wants to buy a caravan and travel australia, i am so nervous about pulling a van,do other newbies feel this way, We have a Dodge Nitro she want a 24 foot van but i want smaller, any suggestions would be appeciated.
As a first time tower I would suggest a van with a tare weight not exceeding 1700 kg if you have the later model Nitro with a maximum towing weight of 2270 kg. By the time you fill your gas bottles and water tanks and then add your loading to the van you will be still sufficiently below your maximum towing weight for beginners.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Get a copy of Dodge capacity's.
Then EVERY van you look at with or without her.
Both take a copy with you. and compare.
Also telling her NOT to go to maximums as they starting to check weights nowadays.
and there are heavy fines. PLUS.
MAX tow weight is NOT very safety inclined,
IE. IT can control you
If any figures nor corresponding or safe.
You can be put to side of road till figures Either match.
or you can get a legal tow away.If they checking you.
Car needs to be a min of say 12% heavier than van to be safe.
Van plate states..
Tare.= empty.
GTM equals weight of van on it's tyres. Loaded.
but not counting towbar weight.
and ATM = combined.
The everything weight that sits on your towbar its tyres on weighbridge.
(Van. Load. and drawbar)
(Plus also, Normally the Drawbar weight. Wheels sizes and tyres.)
With that veh you'll be looking around 18ft, MAX, inside.
to stay within safety and legal limits.
And as Pete says around 1.7\1.8ish ton max weight.
I run a D-Max ute, rated 3 ton, tow. carry 980 kg.
My 1.85ish ton van with 1\2 ton in tray.
I consider max for my veh for safety.
I'd be doing a Towing Course before you go.
We did the Tow Ed Course and found it really great.
However there are many available.
They give you the confidence you need.
Happy travels
Unfortunately Bill, sometimes people come back without signing in, see the answers and either don't like them, or get what they need.
There is no accounting for it, but that is the way of the world sometimes. I do agree though that it would be nice to at least get some acknowledgement of trying to help.
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Regards Ian
Chaos, mayhem, confusion. Good my job here is done
welcome to the gang gypsyming, enjoy here and out in the playground.
Maybe a quick reply to the answers you to your questions would be the polite thing to do HOWEVER, you might have a good reason why you haven't replied yet and that would change everything. That said, I hope everything is OK in your world.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
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Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
I'm fairly new here and I might be wrong but I see at the bottom of this post as I am writing there is a box "Email me whenever there is a new post to this topic". Perhaps gypsyming isn't real computer savvy and didn't tick the box and so didn't get an email and doesn't quite know how to navigate back to his question.
Would it be a good idea to make that tick a default for new members. I know I would like it to be a default to mine when I reply to a post and I don't know where or if I can select that.
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To err is human but to really mess things up, you need a computer.
