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STAR TIP
PROFESSIONAL LEG-PULLING Over the past couple of years I have collected a variety of steel and plastic awning pegs. Pulling out the pegs to dismantle my awning has often resulted in them getting bent, damaged or broken, not to mention colourful language on my part. I grew tired of this and decided to make myself a 'peg-puller'. It is 4cm long, metal and fashioned from a discarded rubber-headed mallet with the head hacksawed off. The peg-puller can be used from two ends. One end is ideal for dealing with plastic or thin steel pegs. This has a plain slot, which is the hole previously occupied by the top of the mallet. The other end is for thicker, more robust steel pegs. This end is made from a piece of Dexion angle-iron (pre-drilled and pre-slotted iron lengths, not unlike Meccano), which has a right-angle bend, slotted to fit under the plastic end of the pegs (as pictured above). The plain slotted end and the Dexion angle-iron end are joined together with a 4mm nut, bolt and washer. Trevor Bonham East Hansbury, Northampton An extremely useful invention, Trevor, which earns you and your family a seven-night break at one of the 20 Haven and British Holidays parks.

STAR TIP

PROFESSIONAL LEG-PULLING
Over the past couple of years I have collected a variety of steel and plastic awning pegs. Pulling out the pegs to dismantle my awning has often resulted in them getting bent, damaged or broken, not to mention colourful language on my part. I grew tired of this and decided to make myself a 'peg-puller'. It is 4cm long, metal and fashioned from a discarded rubber-headed mallet with the head hacksawed off.
The peg-puller can be used from two ends. One end is ideal for dealing with plastic or thin steel pegs. This has a plain slot, which is the hole previously occupied by the top of the mallet. The other end is for thicker, more robust steel pegs. This end is made from a piece of Dexion angle-iron (pre-drilled and pre-slotted iron lengths, not unlike Meccano), which has a right-angle bend, slotted to fit under the plastic end of the pegs (as pictured above). The plain slotted end and the Dexion angle-iron end are joined together with a 4mm nut, bolt and washer.
Trevor Bonham
East Hansbury, Northampton
An extremely useful invention, Trevor, which earns you and your family a seven-night break at one of the 20 Haven and British Holidays parks.

SAVED BY THE BALL
We have an enthusiastic five-year-old caravanner in our family, but we're always worried that he will trip up on a guy rope, or worse still, fall over and catch his eye on an awning peg. But when we saw a broken tennis ball lying next to our pitch over the summer, we had an idea. Next day, we took a trip to the nearest discount store and spent £1 on a pack of four bright-yellow tennis balls. We took them back to site, punctured each one with a corkscrew, and then pushed them over the top of the pegs securing the guy ropes to the front of our awning. The bright colours make them easy to see, and if our five-year-old were to fall over any guy ropes now, he would get a far less painful reminder to look where he is going next time.
Jay Lewis
Nottinghamshire

STEPS TO STOP SLIPPING
When my metal caravan steps are on grass or hardstanding surfaces, I always worry about them slipping when I stand on them. So I tie the remains of an old mountain bike tyre to the step rails on the ground, to give them extra grip.
Andrew Dunscombe
Pencoed, Mid Glamorgan

THE CHIPS ARE DOWN
Fit a pair of mudflaps to the back of your towcar. This will prevent your rear wheels spraying grit and dirt everywhere and keep the front of your caravan nice, clean and free of stone chips. You can get them from any motor accessory superstore. Halfords sell them at about £5-£15 for your average-sized tug.
A M Davy
Boston, Lincolnshire

EXTRA SHELF SPACE
The only thing we found wanting in our new BÃ¼rstner Ventana was a convenient workspace close to the sink. We used a pair of 'fold-flat' spring-latched hinges (available from any decent caravan accessory stockist) and an old spare locker door to make the folding shelf shown in the picture. This allows us an alternative place for our kettle and many other things, without interfering with the dinette arrangements. You can use any suitably shaped piece of wood to make your folding shelf, and if your caravan has thin sidewalls by the kitchen unit, you can secure the flap to the other side of the surface, thus making use of the extra space.
William Billing
Ely, Cambridgeshire

BLUE IS THE COLOUR
After we purchased our caravan a couple of years ago, we spent the first year suffering from algae in the freshwater stem of our Thetford toilet system. We had been using Thetford's pink bowl cleaner, but last year we decided to change to Bloo Loos and now the algae blocking our stem have completely disappeared. We take each one, remove the outer coating, divide it into quarters and drop a quarter at a time into our freshwater system. Each quarter lasts around one week with constant use, and our toilet water is now a nice deep-blue colour instead of a washed-out pink. Better still, Bloo Loos are also a fraction of the cost of Thetford bowl cleaner and are widely available from any supermarket or discount store for as little as 40p.
Ken Featherstone
Eston, Cleveland

BEAT THE SLOPES
If you have to pitch on sloping ground, try choosing a pitch that is uphill next to the access road, and set up with the hitchgear pointing downhill. You will find it much easier to tow off, particularly if your pitch is soft or wet.
Donald Brown
Hertfordshire

LEVELLING THE LAND
To help level my table on uneven ground, I place pieces of pipe insulation onto the feet (as shown below). Not only does this keep my table straight but if I use them on all the legs, the metal feet don't rust.
David J Kirkland
Hinckley, Leicestershire

FREE YOUR AWNING
As someone new to caravanning I have found myself struggling with putting up a stuck awning. The answer is in Free 'N' Easy silicon lubricant (£3.95 from Lakeland). Squirt a small amount through the channel and your awning will run smoothly. It's good for curtains, too.
Patricia Thripp
East Sussex

WHEELY SECURE
It isn't unusual for determined thieves to carry around a set of wheels in order to remove a caravan they really want. So, if you lay your caravan up for the winter by setting it on axle stands and removing the wheels, as an additional deterrent it's worth investing in a set of locking wheel nuts and inserting them back into the hubs.
Vic Wildish
Knebworth, Herts

BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY
For details of all UK Haven and British Holidays parks, all the latest offers, and to order the 2003 brochure,
visit www.haven-holidays.co.uk and www.british-holidays.co.uk,
or call 08705 033 033.