Top caravan tips
Discussion
I bet most of you were shocked with that title, eh? 
I know I blotted my copybook when I stated here a while back I had bought a Corvette, a Swift Corvette Diamond, no less. Why do caravan manufacturers use names that hint at great speed?
Anyway, A couple of PHers came out of the woodwork and admitted they had caravans.
"Hail Fellow Pikeys!!!!"
I've resorted to reading Top Tips on Practical Caravan online. Apart from a disturbing fixation on pipe lagging, and using tennis balls over tent pegs, I was amazed to see this gem,
"Recently in your magazine there has been mention of modern shower cubicles, and how if you drop the soap there isn't enough room to pick it up. When our friends bought a caravan with the ‘beam me up Scotty' type of cubicle, I presented them with a block of soap with a hole drilled through the middle. I had threaded a length of nylon guy rope through the hole and tied it in a loop. This meant that it could be fastened round the shower hose and easily retrieved if dropped. It's a really useful idea that we have been using for years"
By Eck, he's invented Soap on a Rope.
I know I blotted my copybook when I stated here a while back I had bought a Corvette, a Swift Corvette Diamond, no less. Why do caravan manufacturers use names that hint at great speed?
Anyway, A couple of PHers came out of the woodwork and admitted they had caravans.
"Hail Fellow Pikeys!!!!"
I've resorted to reading Top Tips on Practical Caravan online. Apart from a disturbing fixation on pipe lagging, and using tennis balls over tent pegs, I was amazed to see this gem,
"Recently in your magazine there has been mention of modern shower cubicles, and how if you drop the soap there isn't enough room to pick it up. When our friends bought a caravan with the ‘beam me up Scotty' type of cubicle, I presented them with a block of soap with a hole drilled through the middle. I had threaded a length of nylon guy rope through the hole and tied it in a loop. This meant that it could be fastened round the shower hose and easily retrieved if dropped. It's a really useful idea that we have been using for years"
By Eck, he's invented Soap on a Rope.
Tunku said:
Recently in your magazine there has been mention of modern shower cubicles, and how if you drop the soap there isn't enough room to pick it up. When our friends bought a caravan with the ‘beam me up Scotty' type of cubicle, I presented them with a block of soap with a hole drilled through the middle. I had threaded a length of nylon guy rope through the hole and tied it in a loop. This meant that it could be fastened round the shower hose and easily retrieved if dropped. It's a really useful idea that we have been using for years
Ah thats why fudge-packers don't go caravaning 
Phil Mycock said:
Tunku said:
Why do caravan manufacturers use names that hint at great speed?
Even worse, why do caravette makers use names that imply some kind of intergalactic hitch-hiking? "Compass Drifter"...?! Yeah right. Like one of those ever got further than Ilfracombe. at last, somone who knows what I'm wittering on about. I have a Corvette parked on my drive, cost me £600. and will f
k up future searches on PH if they ever get round to fixing it. Tunku said:
Phil Mycock said:
Tunku said:
Why do caravan manufacturers use names that hint at great speed?
Even worse, why do caravette makers use names that imply some kind of intergalactic hitch-hiking? "Compass Drifter"...?! Yeah right. Like one of those ever got further than Ilfracombe. at last, somone who knows what I'm wittering on about. I have a Corvette parked on my drive, cost me £600. and will fk up future searches on PH if they ever get round to fixing it. tomTVR said:
Tunku said:
Phil Mycock said:
Tunku said:
Why do caravan manufacturers use names that hint at great speed?
Even worse, why do caravette makers use names that imply some kind of intergalactic hitch-hiking? "Compass Drifter"...?! Yeah right. Like one of those ever got further than Ilfracombe. at last, somone who knows what I'm wittering on about. I have a Corvette parked on my drive, cost me £600. and will fk up future searches on PH if they ever get round to fixing it. t. Or a shower. The two latter ones can only be done one at a time. And only if I let them. Which I won't. My top tip would be to get the car and caravan outfit loaded and balanced so that there is no inherent instability, i.e., the outfit is not unhappy and fidgety on the road in itself, and even if there is an outside influence on the outfit such as crosswinds, adverse camber, passing vehicles etc, the outfit still remains stable at up to the permitted speed limit, and beyond too. This is done by trial and error, with loading your luggage in the caravan over and slightly forward of the axle line, and adjusting noseweight.
Then, and only then, do you fit a stabiliser, not before. In effect you should only fit a stabiliser when you have ascertained that you do not actually need one. Then fitting one will give you a beneficial margin of safety.
Usually, folks just fit one automatically, and have never towed a caravan without one. So how do they know that there isn't a problem that the stabiliser is masking? Its stabilising capacity may already be used up almost completely.
Usual scenario: Car is hitched up to caravan, you go down the road, and at 40-60mph, the outfit is a bit unhappy, fidgety and unstable, on a straight level road without any outside influences. So, every 'expert' and his dog will tell you you need a stabiliser. You put a stabiliser on, and the problem has gone. No it hasn't, you just masked it, that's all. Epic fail. But the vast majority of caravanner's haven't even got as far as using a stabiliser to fix a problem by covering it up, stupid as that is, because they've never been out without one anyway.
Get it perfect without, then fit a stabiliser.
Then, and only then, do you fit a stabiliser, not before. In effect you should only fit a stabiliser when you have ascertained that you do not actually need one. Then fitting one will give you a beneficial margin of safety.
Usually, folks just fit one automatically, and have never towed a caravan without one. So how do they know that there isn't a problem that the stabiliser is masking? Its stabilising capacity may already be used up almost completely.
Usual scenario: Car is hitched up to caravan, you go down the road, and at 40-60mph, the outfit is a bit unhappy, fidgety and unstable, on a straight level road without any outside influences. So, every 'expert' and his dog will tell you you need a stabiliser. You put a stabiliser on, and the problem has gone. No it hasn't, you just masked it, that's all. Epic fail. But the vast majority of caravanner's haven't even got as far as using a stabiliser to fix a problem by covering it up, stupid as that is, because they've never been out without one anyway.
Get it perfect without, then fit a stabiliser.
Edited by Balmoral Green on Saturday 8th November 11:32
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