We have a Jayco Silverline 24.75 (ft) (8.8 meters overall length), which tows beautifully, but we are over weight, by doing some weight cutting mods, we may (I do mean may and maybe not) be able to get down to a combined mass of 6000kg. The other alternative is to down size, and I would be looking at a Jayco Journey 19-2 (ft) (7.6 meters overall length). But since we went from a Jayco Swan to the Silverline, I don't know if towing a smaller van 4 ft shorter would be any easier. I have heard that the longer they are, the easier to reverse.
So should we stay with our van that's all 'running sweet, or down size to a shorter van. We were in the van full time, and would now probably after buying a house, just do shorter trips. With the Journey there is no slide out so a weight saving there, but we would lose our existing comfort.
So overall i.e. towing through peak hour traffic in the city etc., is the smaller van easier ?
Or if we can find a smaller van still that suits ?
Eaglemax said
08:30 PM May 29, 2021
Being overweight there isn't much alternative but to downsize or a tug that will legally tow.
The thing that stands out is that you won't be living in the caravan anymore, holidays only. A shorter, lighter caravan can be just as comfortable depending on the layout/awning size etc.
My cousin tows a 28x8ft van. We tow our 16x7ft home made. We caravanned together on a trip and we had more open plan that felt spacious whereas theirs had 3 rooms, big fridge etc and claustrophobic.
Imo towing a smaller van isn't much different except economy will be better and more power response from your engine with less wear.
Tony
oldbloke said
09:36 PM May 29, 2021
There could be a significant cost to down size. Im convinced weight is an ongoing issue for most vanners. Your not on your own.
If your over by just a small amount I'd say just keep working on reducing.
If you over in a major way look at 18' to 20'. And make sure you have at least 500kg payload.
iana said
10:14 PM May 29, 2021
Its a point that's over looked, the bigger the van, the more storage space it has. We are in the discussion at the moment, I want to weigh the tug van combination empty, with fuel, water and gas, she wants to weigh the van as it will be going away. The problem as I see it is, if we are over weight when fully loaded, then what. If we weigh empty, and if we are under, but don't have the 500kg as you say, then we can address it, get that right, then we can load it. I have in mind, getting rid of the tray on the back of the ute., and mounting the canopy direct on the rails, lithium battery (s), and other minor things, but until its weighed we won't know if its doable.
A new replacement van in the smaller Journey will cost us (new) more than we paid for the Silverline, and then there's the big wait. Second hand vans may come available when (if) the virus dies down.
But I'm not actually talking about weight here, but whether there is a towing difference between a bigger van, and a mid sized van.
Radar said
07:16 AM May 30, 2021
We have a dual axle 19 foot 6 inch long, gross weigh 2750 kg caravan with a tare weight of 2250 kq, one thing for sure is I know the caravan is on behind our car when hooked up and travelling down along the road, so maybe longer caravans are far better being easier to tow and reverse.
We hear it a lot when a group of caravaners get together, "don't even know it there".
My prime reason for that size caravan is limited parking in the front yard, a 21 footer would be a nice size with a longer bed.
Our 19 foot 6 inch caravan with mid door, axles a bit further back travels down the road comfortable, probably the worst part is that you could place to much gear in the forward area rasing the tow ball to excess which we did initially but have learnt to load the caravan better.
We do not use a weight distribution hitch.
Our touring trips are regularly about 2 months at A time, 4 trips a year between appointments.
KJB said
09:09 AM May 30, 2021
Weigh it twice - Loaded and Empty - weigh your car and van axles and "Tow Ball " individually etc. both times - then you have some figures ( might be a real "eye opener" too) to work with, otherwise just guesses .
Possum3 said
10:08 AM May 30, 2021
Old bloke said it all there is no need for a touring caravan to be over 6 to 6.5 meters.
bgt said
10:17 AM May 30, 2021
We have had 3 motorhomes. 35ft and two 40ft. We now travel in a campervan. You know we enjoy it more. Sure we aren't fulltime but neither were the previous motorhomes. We are now considering jumping to a 19-20 van. We figured how much time we spent in the RV v touring around looking at stuff. With our new 'little' campervan we are seeing more. Moving more often. Doing U turns when it suits us.
And we haven't missed any of the 'stuff' we had in our larger motorhomes. (Well maybe the big black tanks. Emptying a cassette every couple of days gets a bit boring). If you are fulltime then big is OK. But for touring I suggest going as small as you can.
Whenarewethere said
10:26 AM May 30, 2021
I weighed every last item including mobile phone electrical cables to car floor mats. Put all the data on a spreadsheet. It took my about 2 days.
It is an eye opener at where pointless payload is being wasted.
vince56 said
04:39 PM May 30, 2021
We have found that you don't need a lot of stuff, our cupboards are quite lightly loaded, nowadays you are usually within an easy drive to supermarkets etc, cut down on food, and take half of the clothes you normally take.
But seriously, I can't believe that people get out on the road with an overloaded caravan and or car. I think some people are playing with fire when it comes to overweight, I know plenty that tow knowing they are overweight, this is all good UNTIL you have an issue such as an accident.
A lot of "good law abiding" drivers are shocked when they get charged with a serious offence because their rig is overweight, if that happens to be a charge that you have seriously injured or, heaven forbid, killed someone, you stand alone!
Something like the above can be life changing, very heavy penalties, Jail, getting sued by the victim or their family for huge payouts. It can be very serious.........
Mike Harding said
05:00 PM May 30, 2021
vince56 wrote:
But seriously, I can't believe that people get out on the road with an overloaded caravan and or car. I think some people are playing with fire when it comes to overweight, I know plenty that tow knowing they are overweight, this is all good UNTIL you have an issue such as an accident.
A lot of "good law abiding" drivers are shocked when they get charged with a serious offence because their rig is overweight, if that happens to be a charge that you have seriously injured or, heaven forbid, killed someone, you stand alone!
Something like the above can be life changing, very heavy penalties, Jail, getting sued by the victim or their family for huge payouts. It can be very serious.........
You worry too much.
Mike Harding said
05:04 PM May 30, 2021
Next post:
A couple of reports of overweight caravan crashes.
vince56 said
05:47 PM May 30, 2021
Thanks for your support Mike!
You may dismiss it but are you saying what I have said is incorrect? Am I wrong in my assumptions?
It really pi....s me off when people make a "contribution" that is solely to have a go at someone, usually from the same old people.....
gdayjr said
06:27 AM May 31, 2021
-- Edited by gdayjr on Monday 31st of May 2021 06:38:57 AM
iana said
10:44 AM May 31, 2021
I've gone and posted the question on another forum, hopping to get an answer. Pity everyone on here wants to wave their own flag, and not read the OP's question. By the way the last three questions I have posted on the GN went the same way.
-- Edited by iana on Monday 31st of May 2021 01:43:59 PM
vince56 said
12:54 PM May 31, 2021
HI Iana
I made my contribution as an answer to you, ie, reduce payload by less food and clothes etc.
As you were also considering keeping your van I made the comments re the personal risks of travelling overweight. (I am ex-Vicpol)
My post was ridiculed and I thought that was unnecessary and condescending.
All the best with your decision making, I would think in your circumstances the smaller lighter van option would be preferable.
Cheers
Warren-Pat_01 said
11:00 PM May 31, 2021
G'day Ian,
We upsized slightly, we went from an Outback Eagle to the Outback Discovery but our load did go up from 300 to 375kg - due to having an ensuite.
For our first trip - to Inkerman (just down the road) I filled everything - the hws, the toilet flush tank & both water tanks. As we were going away only for a long weekend in October, our clothing & food requirements were minimal.
I weighed both the car (Nissan Patrol, at the time) & the van. Both were 100kg over weight! So we ensured that we dropped water in the van & had a GVM upgrade certified on the car.
Now mostly if we are travelling, I tow with no water in the tanks (2x95L) unless we are going camping out west - we rarely free camp. The van (17'6", single axle) tows well, even in traffic & I try to prepare myself by changing lanes well before I have to, keeping up with the traffic.
I find it amazing what we can live with. With the Eagle, we spent 3 months on the road to/from WA, including some cross country travel in SA. People told us they couldn't possibly do that trip without a big van, "Oh it's so much of an effort," etc!
Now I try to rationalize our clothing (I hate the cold) so it's a matter of "layers" & smalls can be rinsed out each night in the shower, basin. My wife is very aware of my issues with "Mr Weight". At one stage she looked at our 17'x8' "box" as something that we can fill with lots of stuff & while there are numerous cupboards & drawers, some are empty or have very light things in them such as our pills.
You know what the biggest menace is with the extra stuff is Caravan magazines having "Lots of nice goodies that we can buy!!"
I don't know what it is like to tow a larger van but I'm certain what we have is a perfect size for our situation.
All the best in your research - hopefully you'll get something that will serve you well.
Wanda said
09:06 AM Jun 1, 2021
vince56 wrote:
Thanks for your support Mike!
You may dismiss it but are you saying what I have said is incorrect? Am I wrong in my assumptions?
It really pi....s me off when people make a "contribution" that is solely to have a go at someone, usually from the same old people.....
Yep, happens on "this" forum all the time, the same names all the time. Gets very frustrating hey.
Hang in there and just try and ignore them, hard at times!
Ian
iana said
09:53 AM Jun 1, 2021
Yes Wanda it is frustrating, you can see what happens, members respond to the last comment made rather than to the initial question. Anyway I did get some answers from a forum on Facebook and it would seem towing a larger van is not much different from towing a medium sized van. Backing is easier, but one has to watch the back swing (my first drive out of a park sight, I nearly took a cabin with me). Now to look at weights, and it doesn't look good, and looking like I have to sell. Somebody with a Land Cruiser is going to end up with a bloody good van.
Eaglemax said
10:32 AM Jun 1, 2021
Our 16ft van home made is 1000kg atm, 730kg tare. Only 90 litres water. Means if tanks full we have 180kg for stuff. We do it! Everything is lightweight. Rubber bucket, one jacket each, shop every 2-4 days (30 litre draw fridge), ecospin plastic clothes washer, one battery, light mattresses, and so on.
Yes we aren't the norm and we can't relate to most caravanners that need 400+ kg of load.
Horses for courses.
I owned a 20ft Franklin once. The biggest difference in towing that compared to our 16ft is the latter is 7ft wide, the former 8ft wide. The 8ft wide vans are much more bulkier to tow. Tony
-- Edited by Eaglemax on Tuesday 1st of June 2021 10:35:47 AM
Radar said
01:32 PM Jun 1, 2021
iana wrote:
We have a Jayco Silverline 24.75 (ft) (8.8 meters overall length), which tows beautifully, but we are over weight, by doing some weight cutting mods, we may (I do mean may and maybe not) be able to get down to a combined mass of 6000kg. The other alternative is to down size, and I would be looking at a Jayco Journey 19-2 (ft) (7.6 meters overall length). But since we went from a Jayco Swan to the Silverline, I don't know if towing a smaller van 4 ft shorter would be any easier. I have heard that the longer they are, the easier to reverse.
So should we stay with our van that's all 'running sweet, or down size to a shorter van. We were in the van full time, and would now probably after buying a house, just do shorter trips. With the Journey there is no slide out so a weight saving there, but we would lose our existing comfort.
So overall i.e. towing through peak hour traffic in the city etc., is the smaller van easier ?
Or if we can find a smaller van still that suits ?
Hi Iana.
I started driving large semis in 1970 the general carrying trailers were a max of 36 feet by the time I retired 49 feet. For some unknown reason the 45 footers to me were best to deal when moving around the city after 46 years of road transport. I started delivering sheet glass in 1964 with a Peugeot 403 tray back and just grew with what ever was at hand that needed moving.
I believe you will adapt with what ever your trailer is, whether short or long.
Saying that a long time transport friend has just recently down size from a 22'6" to a 19'6" caravan, he thinks its the best move ever, his words were "like a sports car, life is so much easier". Thats coming from a broken down sometimes road train driver.
You are the only one that knows your wants, needs comfort wise along with financial accounts to move forward on this matter.
Myself, I would like a more car like tow vehicle and a shorter caravan as we only do tours but that a dream.
Gundog said
04:07 PM Jun 1, 2021
If I decide to replace our 25 footer, then I would go with a 30 footer, as long as it was my layout.
Sarge9 said
04:19 PM Jun 3, 2021
iana, your question was about towing longer vehicles and yes the longer they are the easier they can be to reverse. Ever tried to back a box trailer. Absolute pig. Mind of its own....etc....
However I am sure you have already found places where you wish your current van was a bit shorter while you parked it. A lot of new vans come with an extended/longer draw bar just to make it easier to manouver. Pivot point (towball) to axle center is where it counts.
That said, I think any tandem van range 19 to say 23 feet will perform in very similar way reversing and towing.
Keep what ya got. Play with the weights.
Sarge.
Aus-Kiwi said
05:23 PM Jun 3, 2021
As said . The longer the draw bar is from axles makes it easier ! Essentially longer is easier . You can see it move also ! Way before it really turns . So have time to adjust ! But get WHATEVER suites you !
iana said
07:40 PM Jun 3, 2021
I think now it all depends on the weighbridge result, however don't hold your breath until I do that, these things take time. But thanks for the replies.
Brodie Allen said
09:13 AM Jun 7, 2021
For my two bob's worth - I'm virtually off the air since for 3 months now and for another 3 we are "WAY off the beaten track so might be too late with my comment.
But what price peace of mind? The whole concept of travel and 'vanning is refreshment of the mind and peace and renewal of the spirit.
I had a "friend" that was an insurance assessor, and he once told me this matter - (1) the Company denied a claim at least half a dozen times a year due to police reports and basically overweight or unroadworthy vehicles - both tug and/or vans. (2) The Company actively reviewed claims (particularly larger ones) with a view to avoiding paying. And it is no small organisation purporting to be the "motorist's friend" in a certain State . . .
Can you imagine the horror and heartache - you are tootling down the highway and say, a semi going the other way air blasts you, you put a foot in the gravel and in an instant you are all over the road - an expensive vehicle coming the other way collides with you.
You are overweight, (but tows like a dream". Police report is damning.
No insurance, fines, sued by the other parties Insurance Co. for goodness' knows how much, lose your house
and other assets to pay Court costs, Barristers, damages (other party has personal injuries) and on, and on, . . .
How much worse if there is death involved!
If you are going to play the danger game - at least save your insurance costs and cancel your insurance.
If you can't fit into a 21 footer with a slide-out, then you sure do need an upgrade in your tug to a Yank Tank or other serious remedy.
Do it right and R E L A X.
-- Edited by Brodie Allen on Monday 7th of June 2021 09:14:19 AM
-- Edited by Brodie Allen on Monday 7th of June 2021 09:18:26 AM
Whenarewethere said
09:22 AM Jun 7, 2021
iana wrote:
I think now it all depends on the weighbridge result, however don't hold your breath until I do that, these things take time. But thanks for the replies.
Why bother getting the car serviced, these thing take time!
bomurra said
04:43 PM Jun 9, 2021
Hello Ian,
Responding to your question regarding towing a 19ft van as opposed to a 24.5ft.
My first van was 23ft long, followed by a couple at 20.5ft, then 22.6Ft, followed by 21Ft and now 22.5Ft. all have basically towed about the same on the open road, maneuvering in the city and caravan parks is maybe a little easier with a shorter van, but not that much.
The hardest thing I have had to reverse was a 13ft van with a short A frame, towed behind a long wheelbase ute.
Form the towing aspect I would not downsize expecting this to be easier, but being of legal weight is extremely important. Perhaps look at a GVM/GCM upgrade on the Tug or Van etc., sometimes these can be achieved quite cheaply.
As you say comfort is important, so shedding some of those extra Kg's may be worth it.
We have a Jayco Silverline 24.75 (ft) (8.8 meters overall length), which tows beautifully, but we are over weight, by doing some weight cutting mods, we may (I do mean may and maybe not) be able to get down to a combined mass of 6000kg. The other alternative is to down size, and I would be looking at a Jayco Journey 19-2 (ft) (7.6 meters overall length). But since we went from a Jayco Swan to the Silverline, I don't know if towing a smaller van 4 ft shorter would be any easier. I have heard that the longer they are, the easier to reverse.
So should we stay with our van that's all 'running sweet, or down size to a shorter van. We were in the van full time, and would now probably after buying a house, just do shorter trips. With the Journey there is no slide out so a weight saving there, but we would lose our existing comfort.
So overall i.e. towing through peak hour traffic in the city etc., is the smaller van easier ?
Or if we can find a smaller van still that suits ?
The thing that stands out is that you won't be living in the caravan anymore, holidays only. A shorter, lighter caravan can be just as comfortable depending on the layout/awning size etc.
My cousin tows a 28x8ft van. We tow our 16x7ft home made. We caravanned together on a trip and we had more open plan that felt spacious whereas theirs had 3 rooms, big fridge etc and claustrophobic.
Imo towing a smaller van isn't much different except economy will be better and more power response from your engine with less wear.
Tony
If your over by just a small amount I'd say just keep working on reducing.
If you over in a major way look at 18' to 20'. And make sure you have at least 500kg payload.
A new replacement van in the smaller Journey will cost us (new) more than we paid for the Silverline, and then there's the big wait. Second hand vans may come available when (if) the virus dies down.
But I'm not actually talking about weight here, but whether there is a towing difference between a bigger van, and a mid sized van.
We have a dual axle 19 foot 6 inch long, gross weigh 2750 kg caravan with a tare weight of 2250 kq, one thing for sure is I know the caravan is on behind our car when hooked up and travelling down along the road, so maybe longer caravans are far better being easier to tow and reverse.
We hear it a lot when a group of caravaners get together, "don't even know it there".
My prime reason for that size caravan is limited parking in the front yard, a 21 footer would be a nice size with a longer bed.
Our 19 foot 6 inch caravan with mid door, axles a bit further back travels down the road comfortable, probably the worst part is that you could place to much gear in the forward area rasing the tow ball to excess which we did initially but have learnt to load the caravan better.
We do not use a weight distribution hitch.
Our touring trips are regularly about 2 months at A time, 4 trips a year between appointments.
Weigh it twice - Loaded and Empty - weigh your car and van axles and "Tow Ball " individually etc. both times - then you have some figures ( might be a real "eye opener" too) to work with, otherwise just guesses .
And we haven't missed any of the 'stuff' we had in our larger motorhomes. (Well maybe the big black tanks. Emptying a cassette every couple of days gets a bit boring). If you are fulltime then big is OK. But for touring I suggest going as small as you can.
I weighed every last item including mobile phone electrical cables to car floor mats. Put all the data on a spreadsheet. It took my about 2 days.
It is an eye opener at where pointless payload is being wasted.
But seriously, I can't believe that people get out on the road with an overloaded caravan and or car. I think some people are playing with fire when it comes to overweight, I know plenty that tow knowing they are overweight, this is all good UNTIL you have an issue such as an accident.
A lot of "good law abiding" drivers are shocked when they get charged with a serious offence because their rig is overweight, if that happens to be a charge that you have seriously injured or, heaven forbid, killed someone, you stand alone!
Something like the above can be life changing, very heavy penalties, Jail, getting sued by the victim or their family for huge payouts. It can be very serious.........
You worry too much.
Next post:
A couple of reports of overweight caravan crashes.
You may dismiss it but are you saying what I have said is incorrect? Am I wrong in my assumptions?
It really pi....s me off when people make a "contribution" that is solely to have a go at someone, usually from the same old people.....
-- Edited by gdayjr on Monday 31st of May 2021 06:38:57 AM
I've gone and posted the question on another forum, hopping to get an answer. Pity everyone on here wants to wave their own flag, and not read the OP's question. By the way the last three questions I have posted on the GN went the same way.
-- Edited by iana on Monday 31st of May 2021 01:43:59 PM
I made my contribution as an answer to you, ie, reduce payload by less food and clothes etc.
As you were also considering keeping your van I made the comments re the personal risks of travelling overweight. (I am ex-Vicpol)
My post was ridiculed and I thought that was unnecessary and condescending.
All the best with your decision making, I would think in your circumstances the smaller lighter van option would be preferable.
Cheers
We upsized slightly, we went from an Outback Eagle to the Outback Discovery but our load did go up from 300 to 375kg - due to having an ensuite.
For our first trip - to Inkerman (just down the road) I filled everything - the hws, the toilet flush tank & both water tanks. As we were going away only for a long weekend in October, our clothing & food requirements were minimal.
I weighed both the car (Nissan Patrol, at the time) & the van. Both were 100kg over weight! So we ensured that we dropped water in the van & had a GVM upgrade certified on the car.
Now mostly if we are travelling, I tow with no water in the tanks (2x95L) unless we are going camping out west - we rarely free camp. The van (17'6", single axle) tows well, even in traffic & I try to prepare myself by changing lanes well before I have to, keeping up with the traffic.
I find it amazing what we can live with. With the Eagle, we spent 3 months on the road to/from WA, including some cross country travel in SA. People told us they couldn't possibly do that trip without a big van, "Oh it's so much of an effort," etc!
Now I try to rationalize our clothing (I hate the cold) so it's a matter of "layers" & smalls can be rinsed out each night in the shower, basin. My wife is very aware of my issues with "Mr Weight". At one stage she looked at our 17'x8' "box" as something that we can fill with lots of stuff & while there are numerous cupboards & drawers, some are empty or have very light things in them such as our pills.
You know what the biggest menace is with the extra stuff is Caravan magazines having "Lots of nice goodies that we can buy!!"
I don't know what it is like to tow a larger van but I'm certain what we have is a perfect size for our situation.
All the best in your research - hopefully you'll get something that will serve you well.
Yep, happens on "this" forum all the time, the same names all the time. Gets very frustrating hey.
Hang in there and just try and ignore them, hard at times!
Ian
Our 16ft van home made is 1000kg atm, 730kg tare. Only 90 litres water. Means if tanks full we have 180kg for stuff. We do it!
Everything is lightweight. Rubber bucket, one jacket each, shop every 2-4 days (30 litre draw fridge), ecospin plastic clothes washer, one battery, light mattresses, and so on.
Yes we aren't the norm and we can't relate to most caravanners that need 400+ kg of load.
Horses for courses.
I owned a 20ft Franklin once. The biggest difference in towing that compared to our 16ft is the latter is 7ft wide, the former 8ft wide. The 8ft wide vans are much more bulkier to tow.
Tony
-- Edited by Eaglemax on Tuesday 1st of June 2021 10:35:47 AM
Hi Iana.
I started driving large semis in 1970 the general carrying trailers were a max of 36 feet by the time I retired 49 feet. For some unknown reason the 45 footers to me were best to deal when moving around the city after 46 years of road transport. I started delivering sheet glass in 1964 with a Peugeot 403 tray back and just grew with what ever was at hand that needed moving.
I believe you will adapt with what ever your trailer is, whether short or long.
Saying that a long time transport friend has just recently down size from a 22'6" to a 19'6" caravan, he thinks its the best move ever, his words were "like a sports car, life is so much easier". Thats coming from a broken down sometimes road train driver.
You are the only one that knows your wants, needs comfort wise along with financial accounts to move forward on this matter.
Myself, I would like a more car like tow vehicle and a shorter caravan as we only do tours but that a dream.
If I decide to replace our 25 footer, then I would go with a 30 footer, as long as it was my layout.
However I am sure you have already found places where you wish your current van was a bit shorter while you parked it. A lot of new vans come with an extended/longer draw bar just to make it easier to manouver. Pivot point (towball) to axle center is where it counts.
That said, I think any tandem van range 19 to say 23 feet will perform in very similar way reversing and towing.
Keep what ya got. Play with the weights.
Sarge.
For my two bob's worth - I'm virtually off the air since for 3 months now and for another 3 we are "WAY
off the beaten track so might be too late with my comment.
But what price peace of mind? The whole concept of travel and 'vanning is refreshment of the mind and
peace and renewal of the spirit.
I had a "friend" that was an insurance assessor, and he once told me this matter - (1) the Company denied
a claim at least half a dozen times a year due to police reports and basically overweight or unroadworthy
vehicles - both tug and/or vans. (2) The Company actively reviewed claims (particularly larger ones) with a
view to avoiding paying. And it is no small organisation purporting to be the "motorist's friend" in a certain
State . . .
Can you imagine the horror and heartache - you are tootling down the highway and say, a semi going the
other way air blasts you, you put a foot in the gravel and in an instant you are all over the road - an expensive
vehicle coming the other way collides with you.
You are overweight, (but tows like a dream". Police report is damning.
No insurance, fines, sued by the other parties Insurance Co. for goodness' knows how much, lose your house
and other assets to pay Court costs, Barristers, damages (other party has personal injuries) and on, and on, . . .
How much worse if there is death involved!
If you are going to play the danger game - at least save your insurance costs and cancel your insurance.
If you can't fit into a 21 footer with a slide-out, then you sure do need an upgrade in your tug to a Yank Tank
or other serious remedy.
Do it right and R E L A X.
-- Edited by Brodie Allen on Monday 7th of June 2021 09:14:19 AM
-- Edited by Brodie Allen on Monday 7th of June 2021 09:18:26 AM
Why bother getting the car serviced, these thing take time!
Hello Ian,
Responding to your question regarding towing a 19ft van as opposed to a 24.5ft.
My first van was 23ft long, followed by a couple at 20.5ft, then 22.6Ft, followed by 21Ft and now 22.5Ft. all have basically towed about the same on the open road, maneuvering in the city and caravan parks is maybe a little easier with a shorter van, but not that much.
The hardest thing I have had to reverse was a 13ft van with a short A frame, towed behind a long wheelbase ute.
Form the towing aspect I would not downsize expecting this to be easier, but being of legal weight is extremely important. Perhaps look at a GVM/GCM upgrade on the Tug or Van etc., sometimes these can be achieved quite cheaply.
As you say comfort is important, so shedding some of those extra Kg's may be worth it.
Regards,
Bob.