Thanks for the comments Greg and Mick. Firstly the document I have is huge in paper form and it will take a lot of time to reduce to an electronic version - a job for winter. It is well worthwhile doing though, as it is a very good read. This makes me appreciate even more the efforts of the team that made the copy of the documents available in the first place. Again - Thank you very much.
To answer your question Mick's, the 110 GS does a great job of towing the trailer at its maximum rated towing speed of 80 kmh. Neither likes hills very much but I don't mind this as the trailer is 1.6 Tonnes and with the land rover load of FS tables, Engel fridge, area lighting kit, water, gas, utensils cooking, pots cooking assorted, all other manner of equipment as per the CES plus dry and fresh supplies - it is a well balanced and reasonable load. Off road I take things slower than usual. The trailer is very well designed and agile, if loaded in accordance with the OPINS is very well balanced. I really appreciate one huge advantage of the GS land rover over the RFSV and 6x6as tow vehicles, is that you can actually see the trailer behind you and observe how well it is tracking. When I first obtained the trailer and had to tow it back from NSW I was towing it behind a Discovery 4. This was effortless and easy. It took a lot of time to get the balance right before I got onto the highway. (Actually got pulled over by NSW Highway patrol as no rego plates - lucky I had an unregistered vehicle permit though!) The highway patrol officer was great and had an active interest in the trailer and obviously saw that some effort had gone into securing all fittings on the trailer, the lights worked and safety fittings were in place. No worries whatsoever. I cannot overstate the importance of balance and keeping the required weight forward of the axle. When done properly this enabled the trailer to be towed at 110 kph on the Hume with the chance to relax and enjoy the drive. On that trip home, two flat tyres meant that the pre planning was worthwhile with a jack, tools, spare on the trailer (so far out of balance it was dangerous and had to be fixed immediately) and the carriage of another complete wheel and tyre enabled recovery to be far less difficult than it needed to be. When I read the Shoal water Bay Exercise report it really made sense and confirmed what I had learned. The report explained even better ways to tow and operate the trailer. Perhaps at some stage in the future I might be able to afford a turbo like Carzee and that will make things even better.
Considering the rated towing speed I would have no hesitation in towing the trailer anywhere. Reversing the trailer requires the reversing isolation latch to be used. Trailer brakes and over-ride is perfect, you could not ask for anything better. Getting all of this right took time as expected. Hope this answers your question Mick?
Cheers
Frank
