Toolkit
Hi All,
As a newbie and collecting our van in a few weeks I am just starting to get some things together, I will be getting a toolkit to carry in the van as a just in case and handy to have but was wondering if there was any essentials? I understand that we will add as we go but was just wondering if anyone recommends anything specific?
Thanks, Greig.
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Hello and welcome. I hope you can collect your van even if your 1st stay is on your drive 😯. Do use it soon after collection to check everything works and you know how to use it.
Don't know what to suggest for toolkit, there will be others who will be along soon. But check your payload and weight of things you're putting in as it's easy to exceed the former!
Don't go buying lots of 'looks useful' stuff, we all have shelves/sheds and garages of it cos it wasn't 😂😂😂. Learn as you go along, lists are great! Then you can equip the van so just clothes and fridge stuff go in as you head off into the blue yonder. Although I fear the later maybe a while yet!
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My 'essentials' take up half of the car boot, most of the front box, and odd corners of the caravan bathroom; but, there again, my mother should have christened me 'Justin Case' ...
1. Footpump for car & caravan tyres and a decent pressure gauge
2. Jack of your choice in case of caravan puncture
3.7mm socket and short extension bar in case of Motor Mover seizure
4. Car and caravan wheelbrace
5. Basic socket set and and equivalent spanners [combination ring/open ended]. 7mm through to 10mm useful, especially with cheap1/4 inch drive for those odd bits of fixing that lurk beneath beds and in corners of the front box etc
6. Selection of Philips and flat bladed screwdrivers
7. Stanley knife or cablestripper
8. Spare fuses for both car and caravan. Electrical spade connectors, male and female, 'just in case' ...
9. Electrical tape, couple of block connectors and a couple of rawlplugs [emergency screw retainers if you have to change a rear light bulb on the van and manage to dislodge the captive rubber sleeve!]
10. Decent claw hammer for awning pegs
11. Warning triangle for the car and caravan [useful if you breakdown around a bend ...]
12. Torch and rechargeable batteries for when the EHU trips because the power supply always seems to be in the darkest corner of the pitch ...
Add or subtract items to suit your preferences. There will always be that tool that has hibernated in the Front Box for the n years you have owned the caravan; and there will always be the screwdriver/spanner etc that you left on your workbench at home but which you need now ...
Steve
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I used to carry a comprehensive tool kit, but found that I never used the majority of the tools. Apart from changing a wheel I can't think of a job that I've not been able to tackle with my trusty Leatherman Wave multitool. A bit expensive but compact and well made.
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Does no one else carry an electrical test meter? It's proved its usefuness time and time again.
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I tend to just take a small toolbox with miscellaneous screwdrivers, spanners, Allen keys, Stanley knife and a tiny hacksaw. If it doesn't fit in the box, it stays at home! I often take the line that, if I don't know how to fix it, it ain't worth taking the tools!
I don't even worry about car / caravan jacks these days. I'm sure, they are hidden away somewhere, but I'm not going to be changing a wheel, and MayDay/ GreenFlag always have their own equipment.
I always take a small lump hammer and claw hammer for the awning pegs, although we don't often use an awning these days.
I am rather good at keeping spare fuses and lightbulbs, though. I reckon I have enough to re-fuse and re-bulb a caravan site!!
David
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I'm the same as 'DSB', a small toolbox with various tools, meter, electrical tape, small nuts and bolts, wire crimp lugs, bikes puncture outfit.
Sits on the car floor behind my seat, and gets used for the bikes, caravan, canopy and car if minor repairs are needed.
Puncture repair kit came in handy 2 years back when a tear started to develop at edge of the canopy material, lasted till a proper repair was done by awning repair firm when back home.
Did away with my standard claw hammer for a 'stubby' one like this.
Not so much swing but better than the plastic/rubber type mallet.
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There thing about toolkits is that you never have the one tool that you need.
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I have 2 or 3 of the small plastic multicompartment boxes [that are usually supplied inside larger toolboxes] and these sit within the car spare wheel. They contain all those spare wiper blades fixings, sundry tyre dust caps, odd washers and small springs etc. These have come in useful occasionally ...
As far as 'If I can't fix it, why carry the tools/' is concerned, whilst I may not be able to, someone on site may have the expertise ...
18 months ago, i was able to lend my socket set to a Dutch Caravan Engineer at Amboise when his motor mover bolts caused problems. He kindly bought me a bottle of Rosé and a corkscrew, because I had forgotten the latter, and had to borrow his a day earlier!
Steve
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I find a decent toolkit essential, but from experience would also say that if you are useless at fixing things, owning a caravan can become very expensive!
As well as all the stuff already mentioned by others, I take a small gas powered soldering iron and have lost count of how many times it has proved useful.
If travelling abroad, or in more remote areas of U.K., you need not just the toolkit but also a range of spares. Not just because some items in U.K. vans may not be available abroad, but because locating a dealer who has what you need can be very difficult.
Spares or emergency parts we have found essential over the last 22 years include......spare bulbs for car and van......spare water pump.....spare Internal water hose and connectors.........spare toilet flush pump and various seals for the toilet.......a decent battery charger..........electric extension cable ......a second EHU cable......spare gas regulator...possibly a spare hose........wheel bolts....batteries for various remotes......spare Alde fluid if you have wet heating, and, VERY important........an alternative means of heating such as a small fan heater.
We also now have a spare kitchen tap, having had to buy one in Austria as spares for our UK one were not available over there.
Our worst emergency was probably having to repair our Alde heating system, in Germany, when pipes had been rubbing together for years, poor installation at manufacture, and had eventually made 2 holes which allowed a lot of the fluid to escape.
No local dealer had parts, but once I had identified what I needed to make the repair, Red Pennant organised parts to be couriered from the main Alde distribution centre some 300 miles away.
At 1000metres up in the Black Forest, where the night time temperature was well below zero, we were very glad we had an alternative means of heating the van!
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