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Top Tips
Thursday 4 March, 2010
Top Tips Page 1
| Caravan-Forum. Share news and views with like-minded people. Find a solution to that niggling problem. |  |
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Towing without tears? Awkward awnings? Want to pitch your tourer rock steady? Whatever your caravanning problem, there's someone out there with a useful tip. Send us your Top Tip
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Towing twist Anti-personnel line. Nowadays, with caravan theft becoming increasingly common, I decided to make up my own anti-theft device to supplement the hitchlock and wheelclamp I already use - after all, they do say that the more security devices a would-be thief can see, the more likely he is to leave your van alone! So, I bought myself a small personal alarm from Woolworths for about £10 and fitted it to the underside of my caravan. I then attached one end of some 40lb breaking-strain fishing wire to the pin which activates the alarm, and the other end to a drain cover on my drive. Now, if any would-be thief attempts to move the caravan more than a few feet, the pin is pulled out and the alarm goes off - it's so piercing it'll waken the dead! T Chambers, (via email) |
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| Fix for an age-old problem Having trouble pulling your awning around its rail (like almost everybody else on site)? I've discovered this neat little trick which works for me every season. After cleaning your awning rail, take some thick pipe cleaners and daub them in furniture wax, then run the pipe cleaners through the rail. It lubricates the canvas without damaging it and makes the whole operation of fixing up your awning much easier. Ian Wilson, Leicester |
| Towing with a twist Asked my dealer to modify my normal, straight 12S and 12N leads to 'curlies' – that is, the curly type used on many commercial trailers. These have a plug on either end and a socket fixed to the frame of the caravan. A curly lead serves two purposes. First, when hitching up it saves you having to twist the cables so that they don't trail on the ground while you are towing. Second, curly leads can also act as a bit of a security feature. When you park up, they leads can be removed and taken with you into the house. So, any thief trying to steal your caravan will have no road lights or indicators readily available. The conversion cost me only £80 and it was money well spent. Alan Worthington Auchinleck, Ayrshire |
| Hair of the dog Here's an efficient way of cleaning your caravan's carpet when you're on a site such as a CL where there are no electrics. First of all, lightly brush up surface dirt using a dustpan and brush – but make sure you brush across the pile. Then, using the rubber part of a car windscreen ice-scraper, 'scrape' the carpet towards you. We have discovered that it works especially well for picking up dog hairs on the floor. John Robertson, Nottingham |
| A clean set of pins Avoid having poor contacts on your 12N and 12S sockets: while your van is on site, or standing idle at home or at a storage site, wrap the sockets in small polythene bags; that way water can't get in and tarnish the brass contacts. If they do get dirty and corroded, clean them with a piece of rolled up emery paper, about an inch long. Have the grit facing outwards to clean the inside of the female pins and the grit inwards to clean the male pins. Alan McInally, Aberdeen |
| Tame those wires I don't know about other readers but if, like me, you hate loose or untidy wires inside your caravan, I've hit on an idea to tame them. Use plant 'climpets', obtained from your local garden centre, to tie them together. They're just the same as ordinary electrician's ties except they have a small 'cup' in the centre with an epoxy resin blob so fixing (and unfixing if necessary) is easy, and it'll only cost you about £1.85 for six. Bill Hutchinson, Whitby |
| Non-stick shower fix Don't you hate it when the shower curtain in your caravan sticks to your body while you're washing? We've overcome this problem in our Bailey Ranger 500/4 at very little cost and next to no effort. Cut a short length of small plastic trunking and put a rubber suction cup into each end. The whole thing should be half an inch longer than the width of your washroom. Slide the curtain around in its track and slightly bend the flexible rod which will tend to push the curtain back over the toilet and out of the way of your showering body. It's as easy as that. And, when not in use, the rod can be stored against the back wall of the caravan. Ron Derrick, Bristol |
| Get cooler, quicker I used to find it really frustrating when I first arrived on site to have to wait what seemed like ages and ages before the van's refrigerator got cold enough to be of any use. So, I have now found that the best way to get the fridge cool quickly is to run it on gas for the first 12 hours or so, and then switch to mains electricity. I'm not sure why it works but my husband reckons it might have something to do with the flame making the heat exchanger work more quickly. All I know is that it works! Kate Pendleton, Castle Bromwich |
| Making good contacts If after all that rubbing with emery paper you think you're still not getting a good contact with your 12N or 12 S plugs, use a penknife to widen the gap between the pins. (Take care not to use a blunter implement such as a screwdriver, though, as you'll risk breaking the brass pins). If you don't know what I mean, take a look at your own plugs; you'll see that each pin is split in four. If you slightly prise open the gap that separates each segment of the pin, it makes the pin slightly wider as a whole. Then, when you insert the plug and its pins back into the socket, you should have a good, tight contact. Damon Huntingdon Ropley, Hampshire |
| Dealing with drapes Not a lot of people know this, but in many instances you can wash your caravan's curtains. Velour ones, especially, can take a wash quite well, but you'd be well-advised to test a hidden area first – especially if they're cotton-based chenille. Try a 30° wash first, though, just to be safe. Jane Kennedy, Perth |
| Smooth running If your caravan's drawer runners are getting sticky, don't worry, just take a little wax, such as Simoniz car or furniture polish, or some neutral-coloured shoe polish, and smear it along the runners. It makes the drawers run smoother without staining the wood or damaging the plastic. Robert Hunter, Perth |
| Route planning made easy I have come across a super website for planning a holiday route. It's a French website, www.mappy.com, also available in English. It gives you step-by-step route instructions and estimates journey times and fuel costs – even with a caravan on tow. I used it last year on a trip to Spain and now swear by it. Craig Bryers, Oswestry |
