If you are new to caravanning, here are some basic tips from the experts to help get you started

For an ideal towing balance, your caravan's MTPLM (maximum technically permissible laden mass) should ideally equate to 85% of your towcar's car's kerbweight, as in the simple example below. Experienced caravanners may be able to exceed these guidelines slightly, especially if they load their caravan well short of the maximum (MTPLM) figure. However, for safe towing, the loaded caravan should never be heavier than the towcar.

How much is 85%?

Here's how you can work out 85% of your car's kerbweight

* Car's kerbweight ÷ 100 = 1% of the car's kerbweight

* 1% of car's kerbweight x 85 = 85% of car's kerbweight

For example, if your car weighs 1300kg: 1% of the kerbweight is 13kg which, when multiplied by 85, gives an 85% kerb-weight of 1105kg. So your loaded caravan should ideally weigh 1105kg or less.

- Some manufacturers will state a maximum towing figure less than 85% of the car's kerbweight, so always check in the handbook.

- In some cases manufacturers will zero rate their cars for towing, meaning that you can't tow a caravan of any weight. Again, check your handbook.

1:/ Once the corner steadies are wound up, raise the caravan's coupling head, using the winder above the (locked) jockey wheel, so it's higher than your car's towball.

2:/ Reverse your car towards the caravan's coupling head. Apply the handbrake, select neutral, and switch off the engine.

3:/ Next, lift the lever above the coupling head to its highest position and keep it raised while at the same time turning the jockey wheels handle to lower the coupling head on to the towball.

When the coupling head is seated on the towball, release the lever (you may hear a click and on recent AL-KO coupling heads a green button pops up to confirm the correct union).

4:/ To reassure yourself of a correct union, you can turn the jockey wheel handle to see if the rear of the towing vehicle starts to lift, then lower.

5:/ If the union is fine, withdraw the jockey wheel upwards using the winding handle. When you can't turn it any more, release the clamp and pull the whole wheel up to its high-level towing position.

Remember to release the caravan's handbrake before towing away.

6:/ The next step is to attach the break-away cable. This cable is designed to pull tight and snap at its connecting clip if the caravan becomes detached from the car.

It's connected to the caravan's braking system and will apply the brakes when the van becomes detached.

Ideally, this cable should be looped via a special eyelet on the towing bracket and then clipped back on to itself.

Problems arise if you have a swan-neck towbar with no eyelet - some people wrap the cable around the towball, before hooking it back on to itself, but the cable could easily slip over the towball and won't then lock the caravan's brakes.

Most caravans will be fitted with two plug connectors, a 12N and a 12S plug (these have different internals so you cannot connect them incorrectly). The 12N plug (usually black) connects all your car's warning systems including indicator and braking systems to the caravan and you should always check that the caravan's lights work once this cable has been connected. The 12S plug (usually white or grey) allows power from your car's battery to power the caravan's fridge while towing and also recharge your caravan's leisure battery. Make sure these cables are not too tight, or so loose that they drag on the road. Try twisting them a little before plugging them in, so that they resemble a coiled telephone handset cable.

Noseweight This is the weight at the front of the van which is applied to the towball of your car. Typical noseweight limits are between 50kg and 75kg, meaning that a much greater (or lesser) weight than this acting on the towball could start to make the outfit unstable. You can buy a special gauge to test the noseweight of your loaded caravan and your car's handbook should tell you the correct towing noseweight for your car.

Weight distribution

The diagram on the right shows the correct way to load your caravan, with the heaviest loads (marked in red) over the axle and close to the floor. The next area to load (with lighter possessions) is the front of the van, and any loads here can help you to achieve the correct noseweight. Roof lockers should only be loaded with fairly light items such as items of clothing, and not packed with heavy food tins or books.