First time out with 552 not towed before. Overtook lorry on motorway, gust of wind, it started snaking! We managed to somehow keep contol and get to hard shoulder and off the next juntion. It was terrifying.

We ve realised that the tyre pressure was wrong (too low) and weight not distrubted correctly.

We have scales now to check the nose weight.

Any other tips appreciated. Thanks.

Are you doing up the hitch stabiliser correctly.

It is very frightening and with big lorries can happen very easily.

As a general rule I would only overtake a large lorry on the motorway if their speed dropped to aound 50 for some distance.

I've been caught out overtaking when the lorry starts to accelerate and you're stuck alongside them going too fast.


The other thing to consider is the weight of your van to that of the towing vehicle. As I recall it should never be more than 85%.

Take care

Ian

Very glad you're all ok Lily.

You can take all the precautions best thing is to never stop using your own driving senses, it can happen to others who think they have it all covered with years of towing behind them.

Just glad you're ok.

Phillip.

Hope you're OK Lily and sorted things that were wrong

In defence of Lily and other newbies to the site, it sometimes takes a few weeks to get used to this site. Lily joined on 7 Sept but maybe as a new user of which she says in a further reply on 23 Nov did not realise how to get back into a post she has done. I note she has not 'liked' any reply until the last few days, so maybe has not seen them??

Another tip is don't overtake going down a hill, if you have to brake the van starts to push the car and can induce snaking or worst case scenario a jack knife.

Here is a link to help if you're new to towing

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co....onfidenttowing/

Hi, it's good you lived to tell the tale. You, and others, might consider taking a Caravan Club towing course. I did even before I got my van. It gave me tons of information on many many aspects of towing and practical hands on practice of manoeuvring, including reversing. The course also covered tyre pressures, towing weights, and speed limits for caravan towing (50mph on single carriageway and 60 on dual carriageways and motorways). It also warned us of the difficulties to be wary of when overtaking lorries. A suction develops between a lorry and towing unit which releases when either of the vehicles clears the other so it becomes a potentially tricky situation. The course gave me a good basis on which to further develop my towing skills. I'd venture to suggest that the price of the course is a really very minor cost when put against the safety of your unit, passengers, value of your van and lessens the chance of a ruined holiday.

I've thought about snaking scenario a bit more. The individual details are never too clear, for example did the event happen going down hill, was the van correctly loaded and so on. There are many variables in the equation. But in essence I'd venture to suggest that towing a van requires a totally different 'head space' it's not like driving a car. What you might do in a car cannot in many instances be attempted with a van in tow. I rather think that caravan towing 'errors' are exacerbated in a disproportionate relationship to driver skill. In other words you might get away with some things in a car but not with a van in tow. And another thought. Many modern cars give, IMHO, a false sense of security, safety features like airbags, seat belts crush zones whilst very welcome help change the driver's psychological perception of risk. There might be a subliminal belief that 'even if I cock up ' I'll be saved by my safety features. Which in many cases is likely to be true, but then you've had your accident. Compare my contemporary motor to my cars of yesteryear. My Suby is like travelling on my living room sofa with the central heating on all very comfortable when compared to my early non towing years in Renault 4 and Morris Minor. Those motors really let you know when you were increasing your speed and/or the roads had poor surfaces or it was -1deg outside. Good luck chums. I'm looking forward to an early new year trip with the Troll.