Have just been reading through my Eriba Triton 430 handbook - as one does on a boring Sunday morning - along with the vans registration document and compared the printed and legal word to the information I have gathered over the short time of caravan ownership.

1. On checking load limits I've come to accept what I've read that a figure of 5% of the caravans actual weight should be the minimum weight to be used as noseweight and 7% as the maximum. Applying some figures to this statement implies that if our van is loaded to the max permitted of 1200kg then the minimum noseweight should be 60kg and the maximum 84kg.

In the Hymer documentation Page 34 under Noseweight it is stated that 'only when the noseweight is adapted optimal to the towing vehicle and caravan combination, the towing vehicle and caravan achieves it's maximum stability and safety in highway traffic. The optimal noseweight is simultaneously the maximum possible noseweight.

But then it goes on to say that 'if different values are specified in the vehicle documentation and in the description of the caravan coupling: please select the lowest value. This value is the maximum possible noseweight for the towing vehicle and caravan.

In the case of our Triton 430 the registration document along with the vans handbook give a figure of 100kg for the maximum permissible noseweight. However, our towing vehicle has a towbar limit of 88kg so if I am reading this correctly this would be the maximum permissible noseweight for our combination but is this somewhat less that optimal as is suggested two paragraphs earlier? Previously we've always been running with a noseweight (as measured on a calibrated scale) of 55kg which is below the minimum 5% and way below the 7% figure of 84kg. Needless to say, these figures get even worse should we run the van at 1100kg as that would return noseweight figures of 55kg for 5% and 77kg for 7%. Even though the van has always pulled nicely with no see-sawing etc should we now be thinking of placing the second gas bottle back in the front locker that we've long done without?

2. Although the subject of breakaway cable was posted separately, I only realised this morning that in the Hymer Eriba handbook on Page 28 - Connecting: that it very clearly states in bold letters that the breakaway cable should not be attached to the tow ball. The full sentence reads 'Connect the breakaway brake cable with a loop to a suitable anchorage point on the vehicle, do not attach to the tow ball.

What makes this interesting is that although people have their own views regarding this matter, and even the Caravan Club have issued guidance that wrapping the breakaway cable around the tow ball is acceptable practise, Hymer themselves specifically state that this method should not be used. Um, I wonder what the legal consequences of ignoring this instruction would be in the event of an unfortunate event happening.