Hello Dolly

One of the old caravan towing dolly setups seen at Lake Goldsmith. see www.flickr.com/photos/46046969@N03/5703266998/in/photostream
Seems to be well designed but would be a bitch to back

I recall them from my caravanning days in the 1960s.
Most caravanners, including my father, didn't need one.
My memory of the few vans which were equipped is that the dolly would be jacknifed in the first move of backing in, then backing would be normal. I don't recall any sort of lock. Perhaps people were supposed to uncouple the dolly first, but everybody was too lazy?
I learned to drive by backing the caravan in. After some disastrous attempts in which my parents almost came to blows (mother: 'left'; father goes right), we pushed the van in as a family until I was sufficiently old to control the clutch (about 14).

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Pardon my ignorance, but what was the advantage of it?
Was it in place for normal road operation?
Thanks. Rod.

never seen ome ..im guessing it helps the weight distribution over the towbar .. could also help from the car or van "bottoming out" on steep driveways etc

Yes, it was to reduce the vertical load on the towbar during highway towing.
In my youth, a long caravan was 5.5 m. Very few were longer.
Perhaps a long caravan couldn't be balanced just by judicious placement of water and the folded awning?
My boat is balanced beautifully, even on a single axle.
I may not have many photos of dollies in use, but I should be able to find an advertisement in a Keith Winser caravan book (my mother's collection, not mine, so some delay).

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Hi Atkipete I have seen the odd dolly setup in the early 60s i always thought the little wheels woud not stand up to a long trip. I have a murumba star fiber glass caravan its got 10in 8ply wheels only weights 880lbs it seems ok it has done a few long trips. This is how i found it a few years ago

All

I believe they were called a Hendrickson Dolly - may be made by the truck suspension mob. However - at that time there was a spring maker in Brisbane of the same name - so it may be of their design.

It works on exactly the same principle as a low loader dolly. Carrys most of the van weight - which isn't a great deal anyway - but enough to bottom out the likes of the towing car picture here.

Despite the little wheels - they ran along OK on roads way worse than we have today. However - remember the road speeds werent any thing like today either.

Early caravans were very heavy (1.5T for a single axle version) in those times - before weight saving designs/material appeared on the market.

Because of the short goose neck (dolly to car) it was impossible to reverse - so it was designed to be removed before any real reversing was done.

Oldfulla :'(

A caravan of trailer like this is meant to have 5 to 10% of its weight on the towing vehicle to ensure it follows it at all times. The dolly seems set up to take about 2/3 of it on the axle and 1/3 onto the car so you end up with only 1 or 2 % on the ball. Not sure how stable it would be .

Here's a link to a bit of further reading on the subject. It's a forum on Vintage Caravans. Includes some nice old adverts and some pictures for those who don't like reading that much.

vintagecaravans.proboards.com/index.cgi?...=display&thread=2892

I have never seen or even heard of these caravan dollies .. but they look like a dodgy idea. Even more so, when you consider that they're an answer to a problem that shouldn't happen .. exceptionally front heavy caravans .. and towing vehicles unsuited to, or poorly set up for, towing.

Caravans are really the most dangerous things in the world to tow .. and caravan owners in general, have little idea of how to set caravans up for proper balance and weight distribution.
In addition, there's only a modest % of caravanners who have reasonable caravan-handling skills. Just watching in a caravan park, and seeing how many people can't even back a 'van, is frightening.
Many caravan park owners keep little tractors or tugs on hand, and get incompetent people to unhook, and let the park owner park the van for them, with the tractor or tug.

The biggest single problem with caravans is that they have substantial overhang which can rapidly act as a lever to whip the van into a tailwag that is terrifying and difficult to control.
This problem is exacerbated when people have no clue on how to distribute weight inside a van, and end up placing weight at the rear of a 'van, to "ease the load on the towbar".

The bulk of the weight in a caravan should be centred around the axle and just forward of the axle.
The caravan drawbar should have no less than 50kgs, and no more than about 120kgs, weight on it.
Many towbars now have towbar weight limits clearly listed on a decal on the towbar.

The towing vehicle must never have its gross towing capacity exceeded. It amazes me when I see people towing large 'vans with 4 cyl cars.

Helper springs or air-assisted shock absorbers are excellent additions to ordinary sedans used for towing. Commercial vehicles such as utes and light trucks make the best tow vehicles.

I have lost count of the number of times I have come across caravanners with destroyed 'vans .. usually caused by poor load placement in the van, coupled with inadequate driving skills of the driver.
Across the long paddock, caravan destruction was frequently the result of the air blast from a passing semi. I have seen dozens of vans wrecked in this manner. In one year alone, on a stretch of road about 80 kms North of Norseman, I saw 12 vans wrecked in 7 mths .. with 90% of them caused by the air blast from East-Westers setting up a speed wobble in the caravan, with resultant overturning of either just the caravan, or both caravan and car.
IMO, caravan towing needs to have a licence class of its own .. and people need to be substantially trained up to tow 'vans.

I spent over 30 yrs as a bulldozing contractor and have owned dozens of 'vans, and towed them hundreds of thousands of kms.
It gave me substantial experience in caravan loading and towing, and I never lost a 'van in those 30 yrs, due to being taught by older and more experienced blokes, the rights and wrongs of caravan towing.