Weight distribution

Trailers tow best with high hitch weights, 7% is often described as optimum. However your car tow hitch will quite possibly have a lower maximum, typically 75Kg.

That means that for many of us, towing with less than the trailer’s best nose weight is one of life’s compromises.

Areed but the nose weight must not exceed that permitted on either the hitch or the car.  Both mine are 100kgs and I tow at about 90kgs.  However, if my car was limited to 80kgs on the hitch that would be the max nose weight I could have.  It is in the club handbook as is advice on loading the caravan and max weights etc.

As mentioned above you must not exceed the cars or caravans max hitch load/nose weight.

Whilst this for many will mean a figure lower than the often advised 7% this may not be a bad thing. As the weight on the hitch increases the front end of your car will become lighter and as most vehicles are front wheel drive this is not a good thing.

I'd start off at a figure close to the max with the caravans loading centred around the axle. Heavy items such as awning are usually best in the car.

With this set-up you should have a good starting point to work from and soon find the best set-up for you.

I know our lightweight (1200kg) Eriba tows best at about 60kg, but we do have a proportionally longer drawbar than a "normal" van.

Colin

... and as most vehicles are front wheel drive this is not a good thing.

I've seen those FWD cars, wheel spinning, struggling to set off when they've had to stop on the approach to Burrs  .... (there's a hill). 

And that's why I don't do FWD 🙄

Don't worry about percentage as said above whatever the lowest limit is of the hitch or car towball this is what you should work to, mine is 100kg so I aim for 95-100 but whatever you do to achive the nose weight do not put heavy stuff to the rear of the van or you will create a seesaw action in certain driving conditons you must load the van correctly to avoid the dreaded snaking.

Apart from keeping the noseweight within specified limits it's worth remembering that heavy loads should be kept as low as possible inside the caravan. That means avoiding having heavy items in overhead lockers.

Also, if you have the means to check, one should try to keep loads on the left and right more or less equal. Differences in side-to-side loading of much over 75kg can lead to susceptibility to a certain degree of instability.

Agreed. I would also try to load as much as possible near or over the axle.  It is possible to have a “correct” nose weight but have the weight distributed at the extreme front and rear, which is not a great situation.

I think the answer to your original question is "yes", but as already mentioned, be sure you're within the car's and tow-bar's limits. After a few trips you'll get the "feel" when all is well with your particular outfit. I've always followed the rule of keeping all the heavy stuff in the car and keeping the van as light as possible One little tip, keep one "heavy-ish" item (I use the spare wheel) in the van. You can then bring the nose weight up by moving the wheel forward, or down by moving it back towards the caravan's axle. Hope this helps.

Who dreams up these "recommended/ guideline" towball weights? And the car/van weight ratio for that matter. The law is clear on these weight parameters and neither the club nor anyone else should  be misleading people, particularly newbies to towing, by giving "recommendations" that are not legally enforceable. In my case, anything over 5.5% being illegal.

I've almost finished loading for a 3 week trip to France - just my wife's clothes to go in

(I know, I know, that will shift the weight distribution backwards, but will be adjusted ).

Now, my van has MTPLM of 1800KG / Alko towbar limit of 100kg

My towcar has a towball limit of 140kg.

Having just measured the towball load, it stands at 90kg at the moment. I will probably run it at 95KG when fully loaded.

At 7% (126kg) the alko limit is exceeded, so it is a useless guideline. 

The maximum load on my caravan's Alko hitch is 100kg and 7% of the MTPLM is 94.5kg. The maximum load on my towbar is 90kg and I load the caravan to achieve about 87 / 88kg. I'm assuming that the maximum loads of both the car and caravan are static loads and there will be a safety margin to allow for the dynamic loads caused by pitching of the caravan (not pitching on site) on Britain's super smooth roads . After 7 years of both our current car and caravan this seems to be right as I sometimes almost (but not quite) forget that I have a caravan in tow behind me.