Dangerous and careless
Comments
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I check wheel nuts with a torque wrench before leaving home, along with tyre pressures. Lights and all doors/hatches are checked each time we hookup.
I do not see the need to check wheel bolts,TP and noseweight every time. We always load the caravan the same way so nosewieght should be pretty constant.
Both our cars are checked weekly,oil fluids and TP etc by myself.
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Hubby is a gadget man so if there's one to be used he does. Nose weight, tyres, overall weight etc etc. All done before we set off from home. Loading is the same when we're away so that doesn't need rechecking for the small difference food might make as
most of that is stowed in the car before travelling. He has tyrepal fitted, so that's constantly monitoring tyre pressures and temps both on car and the van. The van is stored at home and gets moved around for cleaning of driveway at times or for other reasons
so not likely to get flat spots as mentioned. We're out and about most of the year so it's not stood for that long anyway.0 -
To the OP. Please don't pitch near me - you will make me nervous and spoil my holliday.
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Yesterday I had my caravan at the dealers for some work done, when hitching up, as soon as it droped on the ball their fitter pulled the jockey wheel right up, I said it needs winding back up to make sure it has hiched properly, their fitter said you dont
need to do that, so I told him that a truck driver always puts it into 1st and trys to pull out of the 5th wheel.if caravan dealers are giving that bad advise, new commers to caravaning will take notice to them
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Yesterday I had my caravan at the dealers for some work done, when hitching up, as soon as it droped on the ball their fitter pulled the jockey wheel right up, I said it needs winding back up to make sure it has hiched properly, their fitter said you dont
need to do that, so I told him that a truck driver always puts it into 1st and trys to pull out of the 5th wheel.if caravan dealers are giving that bad advise, new commers to caravaning will take notice to them
But surely you can tell whether it's hitched properly when you lower the caravan onto the ball? I know what you mean about HGV drivers & 5th wheels ..... I've seen trailers resting on the floor
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Every year I witness the same events, non more than this year. I cannot believe how irresponsible/stupid/negligent/lazy the vast majority of caravan owners are. This year I watched 10 caravans hitch up at New England Bay site, this is what I noted:
0/10 checked nose weight, 2 of these ended badly "nose up"
0/10 checked car or caravan tyre pressures before leaving
0/10 performed a lights check on the van, I know modern cars have canbus systems that inform of faults, but still a good safety precaution,required if you have an older vehicle.
0/10 did a site clear check to ensure no rubbish was left behind
I also noted no one letting the tyres down on the towing car whilst the van was on site at the begining of thier holiday.
These are all basic things which are not being done, all vital to succesful and safe motoring and enjoyable caravanning.
Several outfits were clearly overloaded, the husband was in the company car ( underpowered) a vast selection of bikes on the roof, a boot laden with every thing that the 2.2 children can play with, and as stated the van heavily laden, I would like to invite
the police to do a lot of weight checking of vans. The latest craze is also to have a small inflatable boat and outboard, but that is another shocking subject.There is a program coming up on CH5 called carry on caravaning people with older or restored caravans. Do people have thier caravans serviced each year, vital on older caravans, with aging gas appliances and systems.
I dont believe it as someone once said.
Write your comments here...this can't be a serious post
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Every year I witness the same events, non more than this year. I cannot believe how irresponsible/stupid/negligent/lazy the vast majority of caravan owners are. ....
I dont believe it as someone once said.
Write your comments here...this can't be a serious post
You'd hope not .... but I'd not bet on it
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I don't know if anyone noticed yet, but the OP hasn't posted anything since their OP. This could be because our collective outrage has scared them off or they just like winding us all up and then leaving us to rant!
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I don't know if anyone noticed yet, but the OP hasn't posted anything since their OP. This could be because our collective outrage has scared them off or they just like winding us all up and then leaving us to rant!
As if anyone would be fiendish enough to try that on CT!
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memo to self, remember to pack clipboard for next trip!
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Yesterday I had my caravan at the dealers for some work done, when hitching up, as soon as it droped on the ball their fitter pulled the jockey wheel right up, I said it needs winding back up to make sure it has hiched properly, their fitter said you dont
need to do that, so I told him that a truck driver always puts it into 1st and trys to pull out of the 5th wheel.if caravan dealers are giving that bad advise, new commers to caravaning will take notice to them
My dealers service manager often hitches me up and always checks
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memo to self, remember to pack clipboard for next trip!
as an aid memoir or to take note of others' transgressions?
Of course not. Carrying a clipboard enables you to avoid any real work.
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memo to self, remember to pack clipboard for next trip!
as an aid memoir or to take note of others' transgressions?
Of course not. Carrying a clipboard enables you to avoid any real work.
They'd be in their element at my place of work ...... loads of cliup boards (though they've gone modern now & carry a laptop)
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What happens if you get your tyres filled with nitrogen? That acts different to air and doesn't heat up the same!
And you shouldnt keep checking the wheel nuts to ensure they are tight, by OVER checking them you can work harden the nut and it can cause damage. (But you should check them from time to time). And each time you check them you can still tighten them a tiny
bit.0 -
You shouldnt keep checking the wheel nuts to ensure they are tight, by OVER checking them you can work harden the nut and it can cause damage. (But you should check them from time to time). And each time you
check them you can still tighten them a tiny bit.When you check wheel nuts a torque wrench they should not turn as they should not have actually loosened.
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For all you dangerous "know it all" people read this....
https://tyres.theaa.com/tyre-advice/tyre-pressure/over-inflation/
When you see a caravan on its side motorway shut holiday ruined, think, I should have checked my tyres and nosewight ( which does vary over a season as the gas bottle empties.... derr)
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Make your point by all means but keep it civil.
No one is impressed by insults on this forum.
I agree totally, there are an awful lot of "smart" replies by people admitting their ignorance by their comments, thinking they are being clever .Everyone should just read and "do " (as per Caravan club guidelines I may add)
I have been safely carvanning from 6 months old (with my very responsible parents) until I got my outfit 30 years ago, not wishing to tempt fate but without a single incident.
If this has encouraged just one person to be responsible I have acheived an objective.
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The thing is XR, when it becomes personal, people tend to focus on that alone and any points and opinions just get lost.
It can be hard sometimes when you have a strong opinion about something to hear an alternative point of view but that gives you the opportunity to engage in debate, and that is what the forum is all about.
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Have you got a clipboard, XR770?
. . and a white coat, a magnifying glass, and a stopwatch.
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nosewight ( which does vary over a season as the gas bottle empties..
. . . and as the toilet casette fills!
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For all you dangerous "know it all" people read this....
https://tyres.theaa.com/tyre-advice/tyre-pressure/over-inflation/
When you see a caravan on its side motorway shut holiday ruined, think, I should have checked my tyres and nosewight ( which does vary over a season as the gas bottle
Our gas bottles are in a locker over the axle so no effect on nose weight
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To go back to the original post:
0/10 checked nose weight, 2 of these ended badly "nose up"
0/10 checked car or caravan tyre pressures before leaving
0/10 performed a lights check on the van, I know modern cars have canbus systems that inform of faults, but still a good safety precaution,required if you have an older vehicle.
0/10 did a site clear check to ensure no rubbish was left behind
I also noted no one letting the tyres down on the towing car whilst the van was on site at the begining of thier holiday.
We do all those things, before setting off except the nose weight, which is checked BEFORE we set off to a site - not before we leave again. This includes pumping up the car tyres again, and checking caravan tyre pressures. However, we don't do them all fifteen minutes before we leave (except the lights check and glance around the pitch, obviously). We mght do them at any time during the last 24 hours on site, once we have no intention of moving the car again, and therefore it's unlikely that if the OP was watching us he would mark us down as anything other than 0/10.
I'm sure none of us regard ourselves as careless and dangerous, not quite so obsessive about details as the OP!
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I think it's going down the pan .....
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Every year I witness the same events, non more than this year. I cannot believe how irresponsible/stupid/negligent/lazy the vast majority of caravan owners are. This year I watched 10 caravans hitch up at New England Bay site, this is what I noted:
0/10 checked nose weight, 2 of these ended badly "nose up"
0/10 checked car or caravan tyre pressures before leaving
0/10 performed a lights check on the van, I know modern cars have canbus systems that inform of faults, but still a good safety precaution,required if you have an older vehicle.
0/10 did a site clear check to ensure no rubbish was left behind
I also noted no one letting the tyres down on the towing car whilst the van was on site at the begining of thier holiday.
These are all basic things which are not being done, all vital to succesful and safe motoring and enjoyable caravanning.
Several outfits were clearly overloaded, the husband was in the company car ( underpowered) a vast selection of bikes on the roof, a boot laden with every thing that the 2.2 children can play with, and as stated the van heavily laden, I would like to invite
the police to do a lot of weight checking of vans. The latest craze is also to have a small inflatable boat and outboard, but that is another shocking subject.There is a program coming up on CH5 called carry on caravaning people with older or restored caravans. Do people have thier caravans serviced each year, vital on older caravans, with aging gas appliances and systems.
I dont believe it as someone once said.
Write your comments here...
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