14/04/2020
Here also is an article we sent out to our customers - will be useful to anyone though.
It’s a funny time we are living in at the moment. All the toys are parked up and we’re twiddling our thumbs! Well some of us are. Most are at home steaming through all those jobs that we have been putting off for months, whilst others are working as normal.
For those of us stuck at home, what can you be doing on your caravan that might be more interesting than painting or gardening?
Realistically the caravan probably won’t be coming out again until spring, so now would be a good time to give it the once over and bed it down for the winter.
Here on our website we have a useful article re winterising: https://www.christchurchcaravans.co.nz/winterizing-your-caravan/
Cleaning. As a minimum, it’s good to give it a good wash, including the roof, followed by a good polish – you don’t really need anything fancy just wash and polish it like a car.
Cover. Should you cover it? This is optional. Caravans are a waterproof box so they don’t need covering. However, if you do cover it, it will keep it nice and clean. It’s also a good security feature as people can’t see what you have. Do however, make sure the cover is tight so it doesn’t flap around in the wind. We sell a range of covers for $275 https://www.christchurchcaravans.co.nz/product-category/awning-spares/covers-tow-covers/
Water. One little tip I would pass on. I had a caravan with a flat roof and there was one section down the front where a small lake formed. It never did any harm, but the water sat over 2 seams, with the potential to leak through. To avoid this, you should stow you van so its nose or back down to help the run off, or lift one side of the van slightly.
Damp. It is also a good time to have a thorough look through your van to see if anything looks out of the ordinary. You are looking for any sign of damp. Damp is something that will just creep up on you and often you won’t know it’s there until it becomes visible (or you smell it). We do repairs for people when the 1st indication they had of it was when a window blind fell off! It’s not too late to do anything about it then, but it has got to the point where you must do something about it. If your van is going to leak it’s usually from a seam/awning rail, or where something is fastened to the skin like a window bar.
A simple check for soundness is to tap the walls. Don’t forget inside the cupboards. If you get a nice drum like noise they are probably ok. If there is damp in the wall then you will get a bit of a dull sound, like tapping on a phone directory. You might also feel that the wall is slightly soft. The front window blinds are an area where damp is difficult to find. You have to try to get your fingers in around behind the blinds and see if the wall board feels solid.
The other way to check is to buy a damp meter. You can get buy these for under $20 off Trade Me. Readings under 10% are ok; 10-15% keep an eye on it; and, over 15% probably needs investigating further.
Security. It always amazes me how many people have an expensive caravan with NO SECURITY! It’s parked on the drive with maybe the legs down. Yes they DO GET STOLEN off the drive! We often see these cheap wheel locks people buy. These take about 20 secs to get off with a battery grinder.
We sell a proper UK insurance rated hitch lock for $160 https://www.christchurchcaravans.co.nz/product-category/security/ . I know these are good because I once lost the keys to a hitch – it took us a good 20mins or so to get it off with a serious 240v grinder. Well worth the investment!
We will be posting regularly to provide ideas to keep your caravan in good shape, and keep you busy…
Usually after your last trip away for the yr the caravan will sit for a number of months till spring so it is a good thing to follow some of the advice in this article. Depending on which part of the country you live in frozen water may not be a problem, but even so water can become stale overtime s...
