Towing caravan / snaking
 

I have been doing some research on this. I always thought that if the caravan starts to snake you accelerate out of it? I don't mean drag race style but a steady pull out of the snake?
I've towed heavy trailers with tons of stones etc but I'm new to towing caravans which will be affected by side winds etc.
What's your thoughts / opinions?

There was lots of chat about this on Caravan Talk a while back.
It appears that there are two schools of thought.
Accelerate out, or slow to remove the energy from the system.

I think the concensus was that few cars had the power to pull the rig straight. You really would need to accelerate drag style to pull it straight (like the weight at the front of an arrow).
Gentle slowing was the best bet for normal outfits, but neither option is guaranteed.

The best bet is to avoid the snake and careful weight distribution is the way to do this.

Ok cool thanks. kinda hoped the d5 had enough grunt to pull it out like, it's the hgv's that make me nervous

The anti snake bars are a good idea?

Don't worry about the HGVs.
Load your van correctly and you shouldn't have an unrecoverable situation.
I've even had to do an emergency swerve and brake on the motorway and caravan stayed stable. (I became quite unstable and wanted to kill the pillock who cut me up!).

They help with stability when being passed by a coach etc, but from what I've heard, don't help with a proper wobble.

The anti snake devices are recommended ?

http://www.caravantimes.co.uk/video/insurance/insurance-firms/towergate/video-top-tips-on-avoiding-caravan-snaking-accidents-$21382586.htm

http://www.caravantimes.co.uk/video/insurance/insurance-firms/towergate/video-top-tips-on-avoiding-caravan-snaking-accidents-$21382586.htm

I think best way to get out of it is to avoid it in the first place,

Only ever towed one caravan 40 miles and it was on mainly A roads and it was empty but it had an alko hitch on,

More used to towing my car trailer with cars on, fetched a transit connect back from darlington to leeds in gail force cross winds on A1 and could barly tell it was on back of my xc90

Don't overload the car in max weight terms or tow too fast in strong winds.
Self adjusting rear shocks (Many newer Volvo cars have them as standard) help slightly but are expensive to replace.

I tow a horse box that is max weight with one horse and have never had stability issues, although the German speed limit for any trailer on the autobahn is 100 kmph and I avoid strong winds.

I think the idea of accelerating out of a snake is a complete misconception put about by the likes of Clarkson as part of his anti-caravan show. As previously stated, you need to get energy out of the system to stop the snake, not add to it. Best idea is to prevent it in the first place. Stick to the 85% rule, get your nose weight right, all tyre pressures correct, any heavy items on the caravan floor over the axle.