Tandem Cycling - Tandem touring - balancing your load

We tried out our first tandem tour this wknd (overnighter). We covered 72km on day 1 and then 120km day, holding an average of 23-24 km/hr. Seeing as how this was just an overnighter trip with "fair weather" gear (light summer sleeping bags and no rain gear) and only 1d food supply, I'm curious how I can load up my tandem for longer trips with a larger load.

Our load distribution was:
Front
- capt: 125lbs
- low-rider rack (rated to 18kg...40lbs)
- 15L panniers
- gear load: ~16 lbs total

Rear
- stoker: 160lbs
- rack rated to 55kg...120lbs
- 56L panniers
- gear load: ~30 lbs total

So to increase my load can I?
Front: Use larger panniers (40-60L)? I intend to only hold sleeping bags, thermarests and clothes in the front, so total weight would likely come close to the max rating of the rack (18kg...40lbs)

Rear: Jack up our load close to the max rating of the rack (55kg...120lbs) by filling up our 56L panniers but also stacking on top with additional gear?

Other general questions I have are:
- what's an ideal ratio for front to rear weight distribution? I arbitrarily used a 1:2 (front:rear), which was a manageable load to steer (we even had a semi-long decent that got us up in the 30mph and the load felt steady).
- is it more ideal to keep heavier items lower in the pannier? my inclination is yes to keep a lower centre of gravity, which should help with balance.
- are low-riders type front-rack better than regular, over the wheel types?

Sorry for all the questions. Tandeming's got me and wife really excited of expanding our travelling options now. Lastly, I'd post this in the touring forum but I wanted to target the tandem crowd.

Thanks in advance.

Usually the stoker weighs less than the captain so I suspect you could easily increase the % of the load on the front of your tandem to balance things out and take a little compartive stress off the rear wheel.

Have you ever considered a trailer for touring? We love our BOB and don't normally carry much more than 20 lbs on a rear rack before hooking up the BOB and pulling (instead of carrying) the load.

You had fun on your trip I see, and want to do it again, congrats, where did you go?

I would say you want to carry more weight up front, but I would try distributing heavier things to the front before I'd add pannier volume. 40 % of the weight up front is the standard recomendation on sinlges, don't think tandems would be different. How about a handlebar bag?. Also don't forget the frame, a triangle bag on the frame, if you take a stove the fuel bottle goes on the frame, a bag with tent posts and stakes can be strapped to the frame as well. Once you do all that, you can add a bit more weight to the back.

Low riders in the front must be the way to go I would think, never tried anything else though.

You did pack light with only 46 lbs of gear. 23 k/hr is very fast. I saw a fellow with 120 lbs of gear and 35,000 km in his legs, Vancouver to Ushuaia and back to Buenos Aires so far, but his racks looked quite hefty. Up front he had low riders with a rack on top which carried the tent. He had a lap-top, a GPS, solar battery charger, looked like the kitchen sink might be stuffed somewhere, he even had a foldable walking stick in a pouch on the frame to be deployed while riding for keeping dogs at bay.

All that said, I think in the end you will get yourself a trailer. The major disadvantage to a trailer seems to be getting both a trailer and a tandem into an airplane, and storing the trailer when you are home, if your tours start in your garage a single wheel trailer seems to be the way to go for a tandem.

MB1 - I love the simplicity of panniers so I'm hoping to avoid getting the BOB. I'd like to see just how much we can carry comfortably and controllably on our C'Dale.

Xanti - I'm from Ontario, Canada. We did a lake to lake tour (Lake Ontario to Lake Erie). We live close to Lake Ontario in the Niagara region and we essentially just wanted to ride to Lake Erie, which is nicer and less polluted.

Like I said, tandem touring is opening up new and exciting vacation horizons for us. We're already proficient self-supporting type travellers on water (canoe-tripping is our main pastime here) so tandem-touring is not that different.

I would support MB1's comments re the BOB. We've loaded up our tandem (recumbent) to the max on the rear wheel, but being able to put the tent, sleeping bags, Therma-rests, even pillows, extra water, the stove, etc. in the BOB has made all the difference. Unless we're climbing, we don't even know it's there.
Have managed a couple of week long trips in this fashion and we're still talking to one another!

Mike