Car Parts and Accessories

Safety aspects to do with roadworthiness are well taken care of in the modern caravan. When you hire a van, you should notify the company with whom you insure your car but they will not normally require an additional premium. The insurance for the caravan will be part of the hire charge so you need only discuss with the hire firm what exactly is covered.

Your main contribution to safety — and unavoidable expense — will be to have a properly designed towing bracket fixed to your car. On no account should you try to construct the bar yourself. Towing brackets are designed in close liaison with car manufacturers, who know exactly what stresses their vehicles can accept — and where. The fitting of the bracket is a job you can carry out yourself but this too is probably best left to an experienced mechanic who has the right tools and can usually complete the work in less than two hours.

If the cost is irksome, bear in mind that it is a onceand-for-all expense and that in order to save money you can spare yourself the cost of special bedding for your caravan holiday. A family hiring a frame tent for the first time has to buy a complete set of sleeping bags whereas you can, at a pinch, take along ordinary sheets, quilts and blankets.

How the Tow Bar works

The projecting bracket that has been attached to your car is actually the simpler half of the coupling arrangement that enables you to tow the caravan safely. It carries just two “working parts”: a ball- shaped protrusion 5o mm (2 in) in diameter and a covered seven-pin electric socket that is wired up to your car’s indicators and rear lights. There may also be a second seven-pin socket for supplying services in the caravan.

Extending from the front of the caravan is the other half of the arrangement: a cable (or cables) with a matching plug which fastens into the seven-pin socket; and a tow bar with an inverted cup at its tip that slips over the so mm (2 in) ball and locks into place to form a secure, flexible joint. The tow bar also carries a jockey-wheel that can be raised and lowered by turning a handle: when the wheel is down it supports the front end of the van which is slightly nose-heavy; when it is wound up, it allows the job of supporting the caravan’s front end to be gently taken over by the tow car.

Projecting from the top of the tow bar there is also a long handbrake lever: this must be applied to hold the van in position whenever it is not hitched to the car. The final and most important item incorporated in the bar is the overrun brake mechanism. This is a spring plunger covered by a concertina-shaped sleeve which applies the brakes on the caravan’s wheels whenever the van presses towards the rear of the car (i.e. whenever the car slows down, the van tends to catch up with it slightly and its brakes are automatically applied). The result is that in spite of the extra weight, the braking system of the car-andcaravan combination is almost as safe and efficient as that of the car by itself.

A locking device on the ball coupling makes it impossible, under normal circumstances, for the caravan to break free from the tow car accidentally but just in case it should do so, there is a safety chain that can be attached to the towing bracket. This chain is not intended to be strong enough to pull the van. In an emergency its links will part, but before they do so the tension on the chain will have applied the caravan’s brakes to prevent it from careering off the road or into the path of other traffic.

Balancing and Hitching up the Van

The process of hitching the van to the car is shown in the accompanying illustrations. On firm ground it can usually be managed by one person, but it should always be preceded by a check of the van’s noseweight which affects the smoothness of the towing. The manufacturers will have specified the best noseweight for your particular caravan and it is important to adjust the balance of goods stowed on board until you are very near to this and certainly never short of it.

Otherwise the van may ride in an unstable manner during towing and even snake disconcertingly from side to side.

Generally, the recommended weight is around 10% of the caravan’s all-up weight and it can be checked either with a special noseweight balance or by placing the jockeywheel on your bathroom scales. The weight also happens to be very close to that of an average-sized woman, so if the distribution of items on board is correct a couple may be able to devise their own day-to-day checking system: the wife only needs to place her weight on the back end while the husband sees how much the tow bar rises.

Once on the site, of course, you will be lowering the four adjustable legs that are set at the corners of the caravan in order to level it and act as stabilisers. These legs should never be used for jacking up the van, for instance when a wheel is removed.

Well before you set off on holiday it is also advisable to check your car’s suspension. If you intend to carry a full load of passengers and to have a fully loaded boot in addition to what you stow in the caravan, you will usually find it sensible to fit a new pair of dampers (shock absorbers). At the same time you may also need to strengthen the springs by fitting spring assisters and then it will only be a matter of weight distribution to ensure that the car rides reasonably well and level.

Looking forward to Reversing

A friendly hire company may allow you to hitch up to your chosen caravan for an hour or two before the actual day on which you start your holiday. If not, allow yourself plenty of time on the day of collection. You will need to complete the paperwork, check the inventory, see that the lights work when they are connected up and that a numberplate corresponding to your car’s is attached. You should then practise for a while to get the feel of the van. Most good hirers will at least give you a short “crash” course to familiarise you with their vehicle.

Towing a caravan in a forward direction is not difficult. It just requires more time to accelerate through the gears and more attention to obstacles and other road users. Cyclists and horseriders should be given a wide berth and if there are several vehicles behind you waiting to overtake, be prepared to pull in to the side of the road at a safe spot and let them go past. By doing this you may save someone from becoming impatient and taking an unnecessary risk. You are not likely to do too much overtaking of your own but remember that you need extra time and roadwidth for the operation and that except to avoid an accident you are not permitted to cross into the outside lane of a three-lane motorway.

The thought of having to reverse often sends shivers down the spine of first-time caravanners. In fact if you practise first in an unhurried situation it is quite fun to master the trick of doing so. In the first place, ask a companion to help with directing the rear of the van and pushing back the release lever on the caravan’s overrun brake mechanism. On many modern vans the overrun system is released automatically when the wheels turn backwards but on some models when you reverse you will naturally cause the brakes to clamp on unless they are specially held off. The release mechanism on the tow bar is designed to cancel itself as soon as you move forward again, so in a to and fro manoeuvre someone may have to pull back the lever by hand several times.

Apart from this slight complication with the braking system, there is really only one point to remember: that is to start each reverse turn by swinging the rear of the car a fraction in the opposite direction to the one in which you want to go. The accompanying illustrations show how this works.

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