Caravans by Tow
Ball Weight
Ball weight sits on your car, not in the van, so it eats your car's payload.
Every checked range that publishes one, in brackets.
As of July 2026, the ball weights here run from 70kg on the Avan Campers Caravans & Motorhomes Aliner up to 420kg on the Kedron Caravans TE7 Triple Axle Topender.
Where a range does not state a ball weight we leave it off rather than estimate one, because on a page about what your car can legally carry a shorter, honest list beats a guessed number.
The 10 percent rule and what the specs actually say
Across the vans here that list both a ball weight and an ATM, published ball weight runs from 3.7 percent of ATM up to 10.0 percent, median 6.4 percent.
That sits below the familiar 10 percent rule of thumb for a simple reason: makers measure the van empty. Load the front boot and the real figure climbs. Use the published number to compare vans, and a weighbridge to work out yours.
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Ball weight under 100kg
One range, at 70kg on the ball. Camper and small hybrid territory. A full-sized caravan almost never lands here, because ball weight tracks the size of the van.
Ball weight 100kg to 149kg
16 ranges, from 105kg to 146kg. The lightest full caravans, pop-tops and compact tourers. Comfortable for a mid-sized wagon or a ute with passengers and gear aboard.
Odyssey
Odyssey Signature
Manta Ray
SRP Pop Top Range
Adventure Seeker
Ray Pop Top
Soul Seeker
Sprinter
Fraser
SRC Touring Range
Conifer Series
Single Axle Caravan Series
Thrill Seeker
Classic Tourer
Sierra
XCountry
Ball weight 150kg to 199kg
48 ranges, from 150kg to 198kg. The mainstream. Most family and couples tourers sit in this band, and most 4WDs handle it with room left in the car's payload.
Wollemi
Ascot
Innovation
Innovation Oz Pack
Camper
Warrior
Road Owl
Road Owl S.O
Revivor
Excalibur
Rapid
Buckland
Starcraft
Tandem Axle Caravan Series
Boab Series
Innovation RS Off Road
Beach Wave 20.6
OZ Classic
Big Red
Big Red S.O
Peregrine
Long Beach Off Road 19.6
Wild Camper
The Family Getaway
Quantum Plus
H16
Lifechanger
Quantum
1500 Remote Series
Trooper
Spirit
Family Extreme
Terra Sportz
F14
1760 Series
Matrix
Sojourn
Hepburn
Indigo
Genesis
Wild
Matrix Pop Top
Orana
Mini Cruzer
Family Cruzer
S3
Discovery Outback
Monterey
Ball weight 200kg and over
61 ranges, from 200kg to 420kg. Larger off-road and touring vans. This is where the tow ball rating on your towbar and the payload left in your car both need checking before anything else.
XC Range
XG Range
RTX Edge
Tuscany
Barossa
Silverline
Newell Plus
SRT Multi Terrain Range
Navigator
Yarra
Scorpion Sting
Nabula
C16
Silverline Outback
Ironbark Series
H16LE
GT Sport
Family Flair
Little Rippa
Hunter
Chariot
Cross Country
Manta Ray S.O
Safari Tamer
Sirius
Tanami
The Little Terra
Kimberley Plus
Dirt Road Xtreme
Raptor Series
Adventurer 48V
Kimberley
C18
Eclipse Weekender
Gator X
SRH Hybrid Range
Piazza Series
Trooper TRX
Expedition
Gator Hybrid
Bravo
Dirt Roader
Territory X
Summit
Illawarra Series
Off Grid
OZ Classic S.O
Designer Series
Waratah Series
Eden
Macquarie
Pride Platinum
Aussie Mate
Manta Ray Expedition
Road Owl Expedition
Desert Rose
Trooper Platinum
SRL Luxury Range
ERV
Base Camp X
TE7 Triple Axle Topender
How to check the ball weight on your own setup
Six steps, in the order that stops you finding a problem at the weighbridge instead of in the driveway.
- 1
Find your car's tow ball download limit
It is in the owner's manual and usually stamped on the towbar itself, and the two can differ. The lower of the two is your limit. It is a separate number from the braked towing capacity, and a car rated to tow 3,500kg does not automatically accept 350kg on the ball.
- 2
Take the ball weight out of your car's payload, not the van's
The weight pressing on the tow ball is carried by the car. Start from the car's GVM, subtract its kerb weight, and what is left has to cover passengers, everything in the boot, a full tank, any accessories bolted on, and the ball weight. This is the step almost everyone skips.
- 3
Treat the brochure figure as the empty-van figure
A published ball weight is normally measured on an unladen van. Load the front boot with two gas bottles, a generator and a toolbox and the real figure climbs, because weight forward of the axles presses down harder on the ball.
- 4
Weigh the real thing before you rely on a number
A public weighbridge, or a ball weight scale under the jockey wheel, gives you the figure for your van packed the way you actually pack it. Do it loaded for a trip, not empty in the driveway.
- 5
Move weight backwards before you fight the number
Ball weight is a distribution problem, not a fixed property. Shifting heavy gear from the front boot to behind the axles brings it down. Going too far the other way makes the van sway, which is worse than a high ball weight, so this is about balance rather than minimising.
- 6
Check the compliance plate, not the brochure
The plate on the van carries the legal figures for that specific van. Where the plate and the brochure disagree, the plate is the one that counts, and dealer-fitted extras added after the brochure was printed are not in the brochure figure.
Published figures are for comparison, the plate is the law
Every ball weight on this page is the manufacturer's published figure for the range, normally measured on an unladen van. Your van, packed your way, will read differently. Confirm against the compliance plate and a weighbridge before you rely on any of it.
Common Questions
Which caravans have a tow ball weight under 100kg?
One van here comes in under 100kg on the ball: the Avan Campers Caravans & Motorhomes Aliner, at 70kg. Under 100kg is camper and small hybrid territory rather than full caravan territory, because ball weight scales with the size and weight of the van. If you need to stay under 100kg on the ball, the search is really a search for a much lighter van overall, so start from ATM and work back. The ball weights on this page run from 70kg to 420kg.
What is tow ball weight and why does it matter?
Tow ball weight, or ball download, is how much of the caravan's weight presses down on your car's tow ball when the van is hitched and level. It matters for two separate reasons that are easy to confuse. First, your towbar and your car each have a maximum ball download rating, and exceeding either is illegal and unsafe. Second, and this is the one people miss, that weight is carried by the CAR, so it comes out of your car's payload along with the passengers, the fuel and everything in the boot. A perfectly legal caravan can put your loaded car over its GVM through ball weight alone.
How much ball weight should a caravan have?
The rule of thumb quoted everywhere is around 10 percent of the loaded weight of the van. Across the vans here that list both a ball weight and an ATM, published ball weight runs from 3.7 percent of ATM up to 10.0 percent, with a median of 6.4 percent. Those are manufacturer figures measured on an unladen van, so the real share climbs once you load the front boot, which is exactly why the 10 percent rule of thumb and the brochure figure do not match. Too little ball weight is its own problem: a van that is tail-heavy sways, and sway is far more dangerous than a ball weight at the top of its range.
Does tow ball weight count against my car's payload?
Yes, and it is the most expensive thing to get wrong. The ball weight sits on the car, so it comes out of the difference between your car's GVM and its kerb weight, alongside every passenger, every bag, the fuel, the bull bar, the drawers and the roof rack. A 250kg ball weight can be most of a dual-cab ute's remaining payload once four people are aboard. Weight distribution hitches move some load back onto the front axle, they do not remove the weight from the car. Our tow calculator does this arithmetic for a specific car and a specific van.
What if a van I like does not show a ball weight?
Where a ball weight is not stated, we leave it off rather than estimate one, because on a page about what your car can legally carry a guessed figure is worse than none. Ask the dealer for the figure in writing, and confirm it against the compliance plate and a weighbridge.
Can I reduce the ball weight on a caravan I already own?
Within limits, yes, because ball weight is about where the weight sits rather than how much there is. Moving heavy items from the front boot to behind the axle line brings the ball weight down, and moving them forward pushes it up. There is a floor on how far you should take it, though: strip too much weight off the ball and the van becomes tail-heavy and prone to sway. Weigh it loaded the way you actually travel, adjust, and weigh it again. A weight distribution hitch changes how the load is shared between your car's axles, it does not reduce the ball weight itself.