Jerry Cans On Caravan

Opps that should read "two full" loops

Be similar to fishing rod holders on the bullbar, or spare wheels on the front of the car. Illegal, but probably not worth the effort/paperwork to pull one over for.
Leave all that to the insurance company if needed.

Not sure what state you’re in or which state you are referring to mate.
Obviously not here in the Wild West where rod holders on the bull bar are illegal but petrol containers on the rear bumper are not.

After adding the rear bar with the attached genset and Jerrys, plus underslinging the axles – I advised my insurance company of the modifications and had them noted on my insurance contract.
Maybe you should change your insurance company.

My genset is permanently fixed to the rear bar – it operates there in an all weather enclosure.
If you engineer it correctly and have your towball weight to specification it doesn’t affect the stability of the van.

I disagree Dennis.
There has been some very informative discussion on the caravanners forum regarding how weight should be distributed around a caravan and your setup would be adding considerable weight at exactly the worst point.
Collyn Rivers is widely respected in this area and his explanations of how added weight acts as a pendulum is very logical. adding weight to a rig has the potential to make that rig more unstable especially when added at the rear of a van like you have done.
In my case with the modifications I am doing to my van I am looking at mounting a dual AGM battery system but I'll locate the batteries centrally around the axle to minimise the potential pendulum effect.
Any Jerry cans I fit will be either in the front boot or on the A frame just as Motherhen suggests.
Regards Andrew.

Thanks for your concern Andrew, and yes the pendulum effect is real.
Truckies call caravans “Wobblies” because of the pendulum effect – more pronounced with large vans and centrally located wheels – more pronounce with single axels – more pronounce without load levellers etc etc.
If you wanted to eliminate this effect you would use a caravan constructed similar to a dog trailer with the wheels at each end.
I have seen many comparable vans fitted with factory bars and greater weights than mine.
If you do it correctly it doesn’t become a problem.
You have to look at the complete setup rather than a blanket “you can’t do this”.
I’ve seen very unstable vans wobbling down the highway without a rear bar at all.
Regards Dennis