Preparing a Vehicle for Towing Feedback

The main thing to remember is that the plated weight of the trailer must not exceed the plated towing capacity of the tow vehicle. Full or not.
Also the ball weight forms part of your cars load.

Nicki, My partner and I are doing a similar thing. We purchased a Goldstream Goldstar for a reasonable price. Found it was outfitted a hell of a lot better than the Jaycos of the day. We are going down the weight thing ourselves. It can be very confusing. Gross mass of vehicle and van etc. Check the vehicle manual. It should give you the weights. Then check the van compliance plate. Then get a guide from any decent caravan joint. Sit down (as we did) with a calculator and find out that including petrol and passengers, you can only pack a pair of underpants to go away with and only have bread and a wet sponge for sustenance.
Good luck in your endeavours.

Subject to all of the weight limitations (as mentioned by others) using a front wheel drive to tow can also be a problem particularly on loose of gravel roads with a slight upward incline. However, many people have successfully towed with such vehicles after seeking professional advice and installing high quality weight distribution hitch (WDH) - Hayman Reese etc. Link

Until recently used a 4cyl manual camry wagon (wide body) to tow our Finch. Towed about 15000ks over two years. Full of stuff for a family of four, including bikes at times. We used a one-bar WDH. The issues we encountered- more than once- was losing traction on gravel roads going up hills and it was pretty hairy towing on the wet on windy roads. To me this is a physics issue with towing with front wheel drive and always something that you need to keep in the front of your mind. But was economical, could sit on all speed limits, I used to tow in 5th gear (which I am not game to do in my Bravo I bought so could do Fraser etc) and reliable (traded in with 250k on clock). Did Cunningham' Gap regularly and also towed up range to Aherton Tablelands. Whilst not fast uphills I used to take it easy in 2nd gear and temp gauge never rose.
Cheers
MattD