Lots of ideas for making your journey as smooth as can be!
KNOWING YOUR TOWING – One of the best places to start or refresh your memory about towing is to take a look at the ‘Are you fit to tow?’ checklist issued by the Highways Agency. It will give you a comprehensive way to work through all the nuts and bolts that will get you on the road safely and legally.
As well as ensuring you have the correct license, insurance and recovery provisions in place, there is a lot to learn about coupling and weight loading too. But you’ll quickly get the hang of it and if it’s been a while, it will all come flooding back. Download the checklist below:
MOVING AND MANOEUVRING – If you’re new to touring or it’s been a while since you did so, why not consider booking yourself onto a manoeuvring course? It’s a great way to learn to tow a caravan with confidence and know how to troubleshoot any challenges you may meet along the way. Of course it’s not just towing you need to get to grips with, dealing with driving, weather conditions and reversing can also be ‘fun’! You can attend courses for as little half a day with the UK Caravan Club and they run them all over the country. As long as you have a suitable towing vehicle fitted with a towing bracket, two outside mirrors wide enough to see either side of the caravan, and the right insurance and driving license, you’re away! Find out more here:
LOADING ON THE ROAD – Caravans come in so many shapes and sizes these days, so how do you go about ensuring your car and caravan are a compatible match? As you can imagine there’s a bit of maths involved in making sure your coupling is a good one as there are nose-weights, payloads and weight distributions to be considered. Happily there are some helpful guidelines available from the UK government website to help you ensure yours is a happy marriage that will last. You can download all you need to know here:
WAKING UP FROM WINTER – The days are getting lighter and brighter at last! If you have stored your caravan over the winter months and are getting ready to get it out of hibernation, how do you make sure you’ve checked it all over and spruced it up so it’s safe and ready for action? Starting from the ground up is a good way to go and if you follow that as a rule of thumb you should cover it. Wheels, tyres, and brakes all need checking through, then you can move onto lights and electrical connections. Gas and water supplies need checking too and if you want tick all the jobs off step by step, the UK Caravan Club has the run down. Here it is:
KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR VAN – Needless to say with all the preparations needed before you leave, it’s great to finally get on the road! The sun is out and all you want to do is get there and get on with enjoying your well-earned time away. Sometimes the last thing on your mind at that point is security. Unfortunately the reality is that it is important to secure your caravan even if the site assures you that it has security personnel on hand to keep an eye on things. So what do you need to do? Well, when you’re on site you can keep the van hitched to the car with a hitch lock. But when you want to go out and about it will certainly set your mind at rest if your caravan is fitted with a wheel clamp. Door and window locks are vital too, and these days you can even get alarm and tracking systems. But you don’t need to spend a fortune either. Simple strategies such as marking your postcode inside the van onto fittings and onto the roof can help deter a thief.
Once again for more in depth information, take a look at the Caravan Club Guidelines:
We hope these simple guides will help with some of the planning needed to ensure a safe and secure trip every time you couple up!
By: Rachel Redwood