Load warning

The dandy six has a nice gap between the folded beds to carry things,to me it was the obvious place to put the awning poles which i have done since getting it.The last time we opened it there was damage to the wardrobe door and the only thing i can trace it to is the window catch so the weight of the awning poles and possibly a pot hole in the road has caused this to scratch the door,now i have a towel laid there for protection.

mike

I don't know if this applies to the 6 but the Destiny has access when folded down, through the half door, to that lovely open space, both between the beds and in front of the cupboards. Ideal for turning on the fridge or slipping a few extra items in for the journey but please don't do what I stupidly did and load up this space with too much weight, without giving thought to the nose weight. It only happened the once but the result was a sudden and unexpected 'snake' which dragged the trailer and car to and fro across two lanes of the motorway, plus the hard shoulder. The violent swinging about moved some of the things I'd stowed and did cause scratches to the furniture. When we stopped to check things out I found that the nose weight was almost non-existent. By this time I was suffering from a dead arm because SWMBO had punched me and told me to stop fooling about. A frightening experience, not to be repeated. I'm so glad that it happened with a Dandy in tow as I feel that a caravan, with it's extra height, would have turned over!
Steve

Owd lad, that sounds very scary. It's also worth mentioning not to overload the front box and make that too heavy for the vehicles recommended nose weight limit.

Some cars have a very low nose weight limit, or like ours, there is no mention of it.

Owd Lad wrote:I don't know if this applies to the 6 but the Destiny has access when folded down, through the half door, to that lovely open space, both between the beds and in front of the cupboards. Ideal for turning on the fridge or slipping a few extra items in for the journey but please don't do what I stupidly did and load up this space with too much weight, without giving thought to the nose weight. It only happened the once but the result was a sudden and unexpected 'snake' which dragged the trailer and car to and fro across two lanes of the motorway, plus the hard shoulder. The violent swinging about moved some of the things I'd stowed and did cause scratches to the furniture. When we stopped to check things out I found that the nose weight was almost non-existent. By this time I was suffering from a dead arm because SWMBO had punched me and told me to stop fooling about. A frightening experience, not to be repeated. I'm so glad that it happened with a Dandy in tow as I feel that a caravan, with it's extra height, would have turned over!
Steve

Nothing like a snake for focusing the mind you cant open the bottom of the dandy door on any of the low sided ones without a little work,not done it myself but must put a post on how to,thanks for reminding me Steve

wow, so far i've been lucky and not overloaded the dandy and hearing this, I'm really glad that I haven't

my dandy tows like a dream but i'll be very careful in future to make sure i keep the heavy stuff in the car

Cazz, I think you're right to mention nose weights. They vary so much across different cars. The Nissan Bluebird we had (for the snake) was 50kgs, our Berlingo is 70kgs but our old Nissan Patro was 150kgs.
I must admit that I was surprised when I checked the Designer, with a modest habitation load but a full gas box and found it to be 85kgs, well above the Berlingo's maximum. It towed beautifully but we have amended the loading since.
Weights and loading can be tricky with any trailer. It's not necessarily what you carry in the trailer but how you carry it and it's well worth the occasional check. I hope that anyone who isn't sure will ask. There's bound to be another member who can give advice.
Steve

I have heard of some cars having a nose weight of only 25kg, not sure which one though.

A sentance I read when researching trailers, 'A trailer is like a see saw, but that doesn't mean you can have a heavy back load to compensate for a heavy nose weight. Heavy stuff is best placed over the axle, or in the car, but don't overload the car!!'

It all sounds scary, to someone new to it, but common sense and bit of knowledge gets it sorted.