Hi all, two years ago we traded in our Eriba Feeling for a shiny new Troll 535. We love the fixed bed and the layout suits us perfectly as we always travel 2 up (no pesky kids or grandkids)! The only problem we have encountered is that the storage space under the bed is huge,great,and at first we overloaded it weight wise and struggled to achieve a target noseweight of 65 to 70 kg
We have now cut down on the weight we carry and have achieved the correct nose weight by loading around the front dinette.
We have a spare wheel and carrier under the van as normal for Eribas unlike the Feeling which had the wheel in the front locker giving easy access and good balancing as it had a rear kitchen.
My question is do we need this? Does anybody tow without a spare and rely on a puncture repair kit as supplied with most cars now. I do not fancy the idea of crawling under the van to remove the wheel, place a jack under the axle and change a wheel on a wet B road in October, always the pessimist !
Losing the wheel would mean easier balancing of the van and reduced loading time.
Is a spare wheel a legal requirement ?
My other thought is to by a wheel cover bag and carry the wheel in the car, any comments!
David

Hi Colin,
thanks for your comments especially regarding the IKEA bag.We do load the bathroom and the front dinette area, but up to now we have removed items from the under bed storage to balance.
I will try removing the wheel from the carrier, bagging it and putting it up front while towing. We always tow with an empty water tank but never drain down the Truma unless storing the van.Awning travels in the car.
The 535 is a great layout for us, but we have a large fridge, which we love, to the rear of the axle and added to that the tempting bed storage and wardrobe, does make for a tail heavy back end.
When loaded correctly it tows like a dream!
Any 535 owners out there.?
David

I detest the idea of being without a spare wheel on any vehicle, though as Colin says it's a job for the recovery guy not me.

It's one of the problems of the fixed bed models that people see a big empty space and it triggers a response that it has to be filled. Never having had one on any caravan I've never had the temptation and after a few early sillinesses with over loading I always pack the bare minimum and buy the bare minimum of stuff. That way you save money and save all the things that stay in the garage or loft after just one use.

I always empty the water storage tank before traveling which is under the bed at the rear of the van, I leave the toilet flush tank almost full and carry the awning at the front of the van which maintains the 65-70 kg we need ,when on site we either erect the awning or throw it in the back of the car as there are just the two of us. Our spare wheel is in a bag under the bed also as when in its carrier under the van it scraped the ground when pulling onto our drive.

I really can't get my head around this thing about adding pink and blue colouring stuff to the toilet tanks.

Can't you tell the difference just by the taste?

Quote: JohnE wrote in post #8

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I really can't get my head around this thing about adding pink and blue colouring stuff to the toilet tanks.
Can't you tell the difference just by the taste?

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Quote: JohnE wrote in post #8

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I really can't get my head around this thing about adding pink and blue colouring stuff to the toilet tanks.

Can't you tell the difference just by the taste?

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