Towbar for Warwick XL

Have a Marquis Warwick XL Auto on order which regrettably only has a payload of 328kg. I wish to take bikes and unless the payload loss is too great would much prefer the towbar route rather than bike rack. I am having great difficulty in finding how much the net weight gain would be. For a 6m van the removed bumper I am told weighs about 15kg. How this relates to the XL 6,3m van I don’t know. I believe you have to have extra strengthening tubes added to a towbar because of  the extra length of the van. So when looking on line it is difficult to find the weight of a towbar incuding fittings and how much does the extra pipe work weigh? Has anyone else been through this and do they have any advice.
I know I have more research to do but worth asking the question here.

This doesn’t read right, maybe it’s me. You can get a tow bar for the 6.4mtr van mine is a witter. However you might wish to consider having the van gross weight updated, as I suspect the tow bar, bikes and other holiday essentials plus humans will take you over 3500kgs. Uprating is a simple process that usually involves nothing more than a change to the vehicle documents. For a fee. Have a look at the web site for a company called SV TECH who can assist with this, or ask the supplying dealer if they can arrange this for you.

Thanks for your reply, But unfortunately being over 70 and having relinquished that part of our driving licence it really isn’t an option. We have to keep to under 3500kg. Basically was advised by someone with an Ellis CV20 that very little net increase in weight after taking off existing bumper. However then realised that we will have an XL van which no doubt means there will be more metal work to support the towbar and therefore more loss of payload.

A rear door mounted bike rack will weigh less than the tow bar , is that an option for you, the Towbar will weigh about 32kg

Thanks for your input Chris. Yes a door mounted rack is an option and one we currently have on the order. However the towbar option is so much more desirable for many reasons. More thought and investigation required.

I have fitted quite a few Tow Bars on Ducato's and Boxers, the rear metal section behind the plastic bumper is the same weight on the 6.0m and the XL. The Westfalia Tow Bar on my Kingham is a lot lot heavier than the removed section. Tow bars are the same for both lengths of van apart from 2 spacers used on the XL

OK Tim thanks for that. Are the spacers heavy? Presumably about 0.3m long

Hi Jouster, 328 kg still sounds more than enough unless you are adding things like awnings & travelling with full water tanks, we have 2 raleigh e stowaway e-bikes on a towbar mounted thule rack, the bikes are rated as 20 kg each, with autosleepers being so well spec'ed I would have thought you would still be under 328kg (p.s we store batteries inside van).

Jouster wrote:Have a Marquis Warwick XL Auto on order which regrettably only has a payload of 328kg. 

Hi Jouster 

Where did you get that number from? 

If that's a number from a brochure or a dealers mouth, I'd sit tight and not buy anything for it until it's arrived and you've taken it to a weigh bridge to get the real weight.

Thanks Mike for your input and Rogerthat you make a good point and does seem a good idea to take to a weighbridge to confirm or otherwise the advised   Weight. Surely the plate should give an accurate figure. Does each van have to go on a weighbridge before being sold? Just a thought.

The plated weights are maxima. Sadly manufacturers don't tell us how much our van weighs when it leaves the factory. I suspect that the brochure mass in running order is a number that they measured on a single van when they started building that model. Since that time the chassis or the fittings may well have changed. Also MIRO used to include an allowance for water, gas and driver. Now the figure quoted is without those and the quoted payload includes the weight of those items so you need to knock them off to see how much is left for what you want to carry (including your passenger(s)!

Thanks for your input Ron. I thought it was just fuel and Driver included

This is from the AS technical specifications brochure...

"The MRO is is the mass of the unladen vehicle, including an allowance for the driver (assumed 75 kg) and a 90% full fuel tank. The MRO is calculated with the fresh water tank empty. If you travel with water in the freshwater tank then the User Payload will reduce accordingly. The optional automatic gearbox on the Fiat chassis will increase the MRO by 50 kg and therefore reducing the user payload by the same amount. All masses and weights are subject to a tolerance of +/-5% complying with the European Directive 1230/2012. All motorhomes in this brochure conform to the European Standards for Motorhomes: EN1646 -1, EN 721, EN1949 and EN 1648-2. They have also been granted European Whole Vehicle Type Approval to EC Directive 2007/46. We would strongly advise against modifying vehicles in any way that could affect the validity of these Standards or directives"
"The Maximum User Payload includes: • Conventional load, is the allowance for passengers • Essential habitation equipment includes items and/or fluids required for safe and proper functioning of the habitation equipment.Optional equipment is items available from the manufacturer over and above the standard specification. • Personal effects, items not effected by the above."

The Tow Bar spacers for the XL chassis are 2 small tubes to stop the rear chassis rails being crushed when tightening the bolts, they weigh very little. It seams that not all bar manufactures supply them, Westfalia with the removable swan neck list them for the XL only.

Thankyou Paul for making that clear. Also thankyou to Tim for the information on the spacers useful information.