Pop top caravans around 1000kg tare

We bought a Coromal Cygnet 4300 (4.3m) pop top, did 4 months in it, had plenty of room - had awning, and if we stayed for a few days, had full annexe to put up, which was easy to do. We found it adequate, as we had weight limitations with our tow vehicle. Don't overload your van - independent suspension (?) saw a bloke in Mt Isa who had scrubbed out the inside of his van tyres by putting everything in the van, so the car wasn't overloaded - he took out a full heavy canvas awning, and so much other stuff, it was not funny - he then proceeded to put it all in the car, someone said he would have the same problem there as well. Why not spread the load - makes sense to me.
Anyway - love our Coromal, very comfortable and easy to tow.

Hi Janiv,
Before you start looking at caravans, make sure that your subaru will legally tow your choice of caravan. Bear in mind that towing over weight may invalidate your insurance among other things should you have an accident of any sort.

From Speci's the Suby has a max tow capacity of around 1400kg and a max drawbar load of 140kg.

Neither of those figures are particularly large so your choices are limited to light weight vans around 4.0m with little extra weight on the drawbar.

If it was me I'd be looking for a van with a tare in the 800-900kg range, this will give a bit more room for "stuff".

It's not a good idea to be driving your Subaru with max tow loads all the time, about 200kg under max would be OK.


Take note of what subaru's are towing in and around where you live and travel.

Good Luck

Disco.

Thank you for that both Julie and Disco Driver. In fact it looks more like we might have to stay with what we have which tows very well - only ups the fuel consumption by about 0.8lt per 100km. We will just have to make the modifications we have thought about to ensure putting down in rain is not so messy!!!! Input very much appreciated.

Cheers

Janiv

Have you looked at Avans. Solid roof, different bedding configurations and can come in from 700kg - 1000kg depending on the model.

hi janiv
one of the magazines did a tow test with subaru and i'm not sure which one but caravan world /or one of those
or it might have been 4x4 australia // overlander ????
it would be advisable to use a weight distribution hitch when towing to give better stability and control

do a search on google it will probably come up
cheers

Hi,
Ditto on the towing weight. We have a Windsor Rapid, which is like your Finch but the beds have a hard roof. No effort in packing them up at all AND you can do it in the rain.
Mind you travelling the north, you will not see much rain!
Walk around a Rapid while you are looking because they have all the benefits of your Finch - beds on the end (or one bed if you wish), all that living space in between, a poptop roof and the choice of independent suspension.
We only used the roll out awning over 10 months, no walls needed.
Good quality fittings and nothing has fallen off yet in 25,000 kms.
Bill

We've got a 12ft Jayco Expander for sale which we took to WA last year and it did everything we wanted and towed like a dream. It has a bigger living area than a 17ftr.
We've bought a 17ftr and no longer need the Expander although I'll be sad to see it go.
PM me if you want any more details.

Berny

Thanks to all the exploroz people who replied to my query. After a lot of research and advice we have decided to keep the Finch and make a few modifications to make things easier. At least we'll get more experience in before we make any other decisions. Thanks again.