Towbar strength and motorhome towing capabilities

[Jofang]

That is the most annoying part, as there were several suitable mounting points without drilling.

 

[dunnah01]

The Autotrail I had had the Alko chassis (I believe so anyway) which was like a U section of galv steel around 3mm thick and around 2" top x 3" drop x 2" bottom? The problem being the 3mis size m thickness.

The Alko chassis is much bigger than this but our towbar extension are about this size. That would give a capacity of 10t/side so 20t total so I'd worry more about the trailer coupling which would probably fail a long time before the towbar mounting.

 

[Grousemoor]

I am looking to buy a motorhome in the near future but I want to be able to use it to tow a boat that weighs around 2000kg.

How much do I want to pay? Nothing hehe! But realistically I expect to pay £15k to £20k, maybe a little more. I like value for money and things I'm not likely to lose much money on if I decide to sell in a couple of years.

I have owned coachbuilt motorhomes in the past (e.g. 1990 Autotrail 6 berth long wheel base based on the Talbot Express van) and fitted self designed towbars to them myself. But one of my concerns was/is that there's nothing really substantial to even bolt a towbar to... the rear end of the chassis on coachbuilt motorhomes seems generally to be a lot weaker than the rear end of the vans the motorhomes are based on?

Even given a strong enough towbar and chassis, obviously the engine and transmission will also need to be capable. I've been wondering if I should be looking for something with the 2.8JTD engine or Mercedes 2.7 engine....

Any advice will be appreciated.

I know I could buy a none coachbuilt camper van / conversion which would have the original van 'chassis' and therefore probably capable of towing 2500kg but I don't want a standard van that's been converted but I wonder if all coachbuilt motorhomes have weaker (than standard van) chassis. Can we make any generalisations (for example X make/model coachbuilt van has a stronger chassis/towbar than other similar models)?

Regards, Simon

I bought a Geist Phantom 2.7 rear wheel drive lasts autumn needed to do some work on it, my original budget was around 20 had to add a little, but have to say it tows my Ifor Williams 511 & big horse in it really well, and travels so much better with the weight on the back.