Caravan Tips
Towing
N.B. Tighten/check the wheel nuts (those that do tighten!!) every few hours driving or 100 miles. Check the lights are working, attached wider mirrors and tie the hitch before take off. Go wider around corners and use your mirrors, don’t pull in too close alongside anything as the back may swing towards it if you move away turning sharply in the other direction. Remove jockey wheel fully & put in boot of car.
Place as much of the weight as possible in the car, the caravan should at a max be 80% of the weight of the car, and the less the better (less chance of push by caravan). If heavy objects have to be left in the caravan keep them as low as possible and either over or slightly in front of the axle. Nose weight on the hitch should be about 80kg (so don’t have all the gear in the back making the nose want to stick up in the air).
If the caravan starts to rock the car then don’t brake just come off the accelerator and let the speed and the rock burn off itself (it will do fairly quickly). If overtaking & the person you’ve overtaken flashes the lights (particularly a trick driver) it’s probably to tell you you’ve gone far enough in front and can pull in. Being overtaken by a truck is nerve-racking so better to be catching and overtaking then even if it means going a bit faster than you’d like (packing the car/caravan properly makes higher speeds more stable).
Electricity
The capacity of the unit on a campsites is fairly low so don’t run too many things at one time or you’ll trip the fuse. E.g. if boiling an electric kettle then turn off as many things as possible, particularly the water heater and the fan heater. Use electrical equipment one after the other, rather than all at once. The panel up high near the door doesn’t tell you anything useful, ignore it other than choosing whether you are working off mains (“0”), car or battery, & the 3 switches are on. If the power goes check the trip switches in the base of the wardrobe opposite the shower/toilet, push them back up, and/or check where the external lead is connected to see if a trip switch on that needs to be pushed back up.
Water
If it doesn’t flow then the pump probably needs reconnection (you can tell by listening if the pump is working). Also make sure the “Pump” switch up high near the door is switched on. Detatch and re-connect the pump, shunt it up and down a bit until it works. Water heater takes about 10/15 mins for sink and maybe 20mins for a quick shower (again the shower blocks are often better, especially if free!).
Gas
Detatch the regulator (thing on top of the tank) when driving. If you get only a bare seep of gas into the rings then either a) you’re out of gas or b) the line is kinked in the front compartment near the cylinder. Generally use electric heat as you’re paying for the power anyway!! To light the gas heater, make sure the rod (which has the button to turn) is connected to the metal slot on the fire (there should be some small resistance when it turn). If it feels loose then pull out the bottom of the cover and remove the cover. Reconnect the rod, turn it to left and press down “click” until you see the blue flame in the little “window” on the bottom right of the heater. Reattach the cover.
Fridge
The gas works but again usually use the electricity. To light the gas turn the gas knob, and press the ignition button – you have to look it at about a 30˚ angle to the floor to see the blue flame. Don’t have more that one power source on at a time (there are 3).
Toilet
Press down on the circular handle to “flush” (i.e. rinse of water), turn anti-clockwise to release the water into the cassette toilet, and back clockwise to close it. The guage in front of the toilet tells you how full the cassette is, don’t wait until its full as a) it gets fairly heavy when full & b) increased chance of spillages !! The water for the flusher is filled from outside, the same place where the cassette toilet is taken out for emptying. For #2 best to “prime” the toilet with water from the tap (save the flusher water). Use the “caddy” wheels for moving it to the chemical toilet disposal point (usually one of the toilets in the block which has a hole in the floor as opposed to a toilet seat, and usually a hose for rinsing afterwards).