Hi Ottg and good day.

Just be very mineful of your weight and measures, caravans are NOT designed to place heavy items on them, 2 bikes equal 2 x 15 kgs plus the racking.

Caravans are built to store clothes, a bit of food, some kitchen gear, eat in and to sleep in and not much more.

Possibly mounting a bike rack on the A frame is the better choice, in my long years as a truck driver seen a few flapping in the breeze and laying on the road, just my thoughts only.

Generally with caravans they do not have much weight allowance with them to reach the caravan vin plate gross trailer mass.

I'm with Radar on this.

Weight is the enemy of caravans.

 

With a small one like yours you won't have much allowance for clothes, food, cooking & other essentials.  Not much if anything left over for toys & tools.

 

Distribution of the weight is another factor, especially if you have only one axle.   Excess weight on the rear makes you a candidate for uncontrollable sway & the inevitable roll over, particularly as your speed increases. Any extra weight should be over the axle if possible & within legal limits.

Is your tug able to take even more tow ball weight from bikes, gas bottles or tool boxes?  Same goes for the rear bumper assembly. 

 

I too have seen lots of pushbikes that have broken off rear end carriers.  But then sometimes bikes on the A frame impede the ability to do hard lock turns like when backing onto sites or even doing U turns in tight spots.  Do you really need two bikes?  A couple of light weight fold ups in your tug might be a better option.

 

We all have a tendency to fill up all the cupboards with stuff & then add more storage & fill it up too.   Then rarely use it.

 

If you must have two gas bottles then perhaps two small ones, or maybe even a reserve small one as the second bottle.  Unless you are going bush, gas is available almost everywhere & not too dear when compared to all of your traveling expenses.  

 

edit .. I suggest that you have a close look at the post a couple before this one about 'Weight of Generator .. front or rear.'   Some VERY good relevant advice in that

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 24th of September 2018 10:41:56 AM

HI
Annex pole holders front and rear .
Spare tyre on rear.
Tool boxes front A frame .
bike carriers front or rear .

This above is pretty standard thru out most different models of van .

I have a 17 ft Jayco Freedom, single axle pop top and had a similar dillema, where to mount a single bike rack and a second gas bottle. the spare tyre is stowed under the right side bed just aft of the axle and nothing on the rear bar. I have a 9 kg gas bottle on the left side of the drawbar and I fitted a 4.5 kg gas bottle on the right side of the drawbar next to the 9 kg bottle. My initial thoughts were to mount the bike rack on the rear bar but the advice I got, and visually confirmed, was that the rear bar was too light, including the mounting points, and would not support the weight, approximately 25 kg all up, particually when taking into account the movement incurred when under way. Fortunately I have a reasonably long drawbar and was able to incorporate the bike rack on the drawbar in front of the gas bottles. I still have enough room between the bike rack and and the coupling when manouvering the van. My towball weight has increased approximately 25 kg when the van is loaded and is well within vehicle and van specifications. I use a lightly loaded WDH and the van tows well. I am considering fitting a small, light stowage box, long and narrow, to the rear bar but that is still under consideration.

Regards EJP

HI
All weight in theory should be as low as axle and equally placed either side as close as possible to it.
The reality is a single axle will see saw a lot more easily than a dual axle . Any heavy loading is bad when not in the ideal position .