Steady as she tows

Nigel Donnelly sets out to tame a twitchy tow with a secondhand stabiliser and a little help from eBay

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FOR THE MOST PART, Penny is a pretty well-behaved van. Yes, she’s had some investment over the past couple of years to keep her in the pink, but once you’re pitched up onsite, she is comfortable, warm and dry.

One thing makes us a little concerned, however. She sways about quite a lot on the road.

To be clear, this is never dangerous swaying or snaking. We put a great deal of effort into ensuring Penny is packed sensibly. We put the heavy stuff in the middle, low down and never behind the back axle.

The water heater, fridge and cassette toilet being located behind the axle isn’t perfect for weight distribution, but by packing her close to our car’s 85kg noseweight limit, we’ve done everything we can to keep things running smoothly.

In fairness, our Volvo is not the perfect tow car. It’s soft on the back end, allowing itself to be bullied by our Bailey. Other models had load-adjusting suspension, but ours doesn’t, and this contributes to the van floating about behind the car.

Bobbing up and down is just about tolerable, but constant, small side-to-side movements in the van can be tidied up. Minimising such movements in a correctly loaded caravan is the ideal argument for fitting a hitch-head stabiliser.

No more fidgeting

These days, all new mainstream caravans have a hitch-mounted stabiliser. The typical Al-Ko hitch clamps onto your car’s towbar and the friction caused by the clamping pressure makes the van less fidgety on the road.

Penny was not equipped with one and years of towing various modern caravans, big and small, told me a stabiliser hitch was a must-have. Off to eBay I went.

The modern Al-Ko hitch stabiliser is the AKS 3004. This is a fabulous bit of kit for sure, but retailing at around £450 means it is a little out of scope for a budget caravan project like ours.