Weight. Where?

[Toshbins]

Looking to buy our first camper and learning lots from reading through various threads. It's clear that weight is an issue and I can see that airbag springs are pretty much a necessity and replating may also be a good idea.
We're coming across a huge variety of camper layouts. Some have some obviously heavy bits of kit like fridges right at the back near the door, whereas others move it forward. Some right to the front, but then right up high. So if we had the perfect choice, where do we put it? Right at the back: nice and low, but way behind the axle line or up the front, on top of the axle, but effectively high enough to be like strapping it on a roof rack?

[zildjian]

Well Graham, I'm bound to say Northstar tend to be tail heavy as the water tank to produce hot water is there, Hondababe also has a Northstar and I can see you've been reading about that condensation so there's that!

Chris's Tischer in Wales must be looking pretty good but if you wanted a nice 'Loge' in fibreglass you'll need to ✖ to France for one,
Skarosser's come up now and again & our very own Grant (Truedink) only recently fetched one from Northern Ireland, the one previously was Dorset and the one before that Austria,
good news is Nolan here who imports both Tischer and Skarosser new, often comes across good used examples for the UK market you might want to contact him ({censored promotion}) in Wales,
He found one only recently for Gareth and Sophie (Moon 127) and they love theirs

[zildjian]

our facebook page (Where we keep the oompa-loompa's)

[keeflester]

Top heavy(forward) is always better than arse-end heavy. The more of the weight you can get between the axles, the better.

[sabconsulting]

Top heavy(forward) is always better than arse-end heavy. The more of the weight you can get between the axles, the better.

Agreed.

Steve.

[rubberrat]

I know my EC6 is perfectly balanced 50/50 fore/aft as when jacking I can move it cornerwards with just a touch of the hand if one leg is lower than the other during the lifting process..

But as above, the more weight forward the better.

Toshbins - You have a PM BTW

[Gary W]

Looking to buy our first camper and learning lots from reading through various threads. It's clear that weight is an issue and I can see that airbag springs are pretty much a necessity and replating may also be a good idea.
We're coming across a huge variety of camper layouts. Some have some obviously heavy bits of kit like fridges right at the back near the door, whereas others move it forward. Some right to the front, but then right up high. So if we had the perfect choice, where do we put it? Right at the back: nice and low, but way behind the axle line or up the front, on top of the axle, but effectively high enough to be like strapping it on a roof rack?

The weight absolutely, positively must be carried as far forward and as low as possible. On the continent most demountables are used on singe or extra cab pickups which give you much more freedom in design and with loading. In the UK most buyers use a double cab base car which makes design and loading very much more difficult.

The problem is all in the truck marketing and our consequent expectations. A typical double cab might have a brochure carrying capacity of 1000kg but actually this assumes that around half of this will be sat in the cab and the fuel tank, leaving maybe 500kg in the 'load' bed. That's IN the load bed, not hanging out a metre over the back of it.

With an 'Extra' or Single cab the assumption is maybe 200kg in the cab, leaving 800kg for the load area, and crucially some of this is now above and in front of the axle. The real world difference is vastly greater than a casual glance suggests.

On a double cab care is always needed, even with a light weight body with good forward weight bias. Hanging an oversize, overweight, poorly designed camper on the back though is asking for trouble, and not just with the way it drives. The thread on Navara chassis breakages demonstrates this perfectly - Nissan chassis are not weak as they are intended to be used, they are breaking because they are literally being folded the wrong way. Too much weight, too far back...

Air assisted suspension is a nice way to improve the ride comfort with the camper fitted and extremely useful for levelling the rig for a good night's sleep, but it shouldn't be used to try and compensate for over or poor loading. If it's needed to keep the truck off the bump stops you have a problem!

If you are buying new may I respectfully suggest you take a look at our range of Dutch Campers. The factory go to extraordinary lengths to minimise weight and achieve the best possible weight distribution. If buying used be extremely wary, particularly if it will live on a double cab. From the thread here on weights it seems it's probably safest to ignore the manufacturers claimed weights and get the thing on a weigh bridge, preferably with the water and gas systems full. A well designed body will have a significant forward weight bias. Finally here's something you won't hear often from manufacturers or agents, in my honest opinion the smaller and lighter the cabin, the more you will use it (within reason of course!)

Good luck and best wishes

Gary

[Madmountainman]

Bit of fluffing for Gary's post… well written, informative and a shameless plug for his Lely's!

[sabconsulting]

An extremely good summary by Gary. Should be mandatory reading for anyone looking to buy a demountable.

Steve.

[zildjian]

"the smaller and lighter the cabin, the more you will use it (within reason of course!)"


amen to that

I've gotten preparation and loading down to a minimum now without rushing and forgetting something vital, and its very true the more accessible accommodation for a long weekend is, the more attractive it becomes.
So the less time removing a tailgate and such, the better