Do I need extra off-road caravan protection?

Once when we returned from an inland trip during which I travelled on many unsurfaced roads, a knowledgeable friend inspected the front of my caravan, looked at the stone chips and declared: ”Too fast!”

I had an A-Frame mounted stone shield and had been travelling at around 70km/h on the well-maintained sections of the Tanami Track, but he convinced me that the damage would have been far less at a lower speed. “55-60km/h,” he suggested.

I thought my speed had been fine as it was at a cadence that smoothed out the never-ending corrugations, but it also threw up many sharp stones that cleared the top of my stone-shield to pock-mark the front of my caravan. What to do?

The truth is that the slower cruising speed would have made little difference to our total trip time, but it got me thinking about stone protection.

When we stopped for the night I discovered that there was further damage underneath, as the relentless barrage of the stones had also blasted away much of the PVC drainage pipe.

Apart from travelling slower, experienced caravanners later gave me some valuable tips.

One was to fit a full width additional mud flap to my tow bar, but I soon discovered when I tried one that it needs to be located close to the tow vehicle’s body, otherwise stones deflected by the tow vehicle’s mud flaps could find their way over the top of this secondary barrier and still do paint damage to the caravan’s unprotected front or before it, the naked-A-frame.

Some off-road caravan makers fit separate checker plate or other shielding panels to stone affected areas and these can often be easily and inexpensively replaced at the end of an off-road trip.

This still leaves gas bottles fully exposed on many caravans and the best solution here is a slip-on vinyl cover.

Carpet squares or offcuts held in place by zip-lock cables also make excellent lagging for stone-exposed under-van PVC pipes.

The best stone protection I have seen on any caravan is the full padded zip-off front cover offered optionally by British and one time Australian caravan manufacturer, Bailey. Once you arrived on site, you simply removed the cover to enjoy the view through the panoramic front window.

Related: How to drive in the dust

The other really exposed area for stone damage is the rear window of many 4WD tow cars. This is easy to solve with a wrap of heavy duty Perspex or even a folded PVC car cover that is held in place by the tow vehicles rear door, or doors when they are shut.

Another option is cardboard from empty beer cartons taped over the window glass. There are also some neat after-market options available now but they'll cost you more.

Not all stones come from the rear wheels of the tow car though and this is why experienced caravanners usually slow and give oncoming traffic a wide berth.

Unfortunately if you travel regularly on unsealed roads, some stone chip damage to your painted suspension and the flanks of your caravan is largely unavoidable. You just have to suck it up and regard it as an unfortunate by-product of being able to explore this vast land.

Just how high your checkerplate should protect the side of or your van is a debatable point, but anything above shoulder height is likely to be for optical rather than protective purposes.

Windscreen damage from stones is another fact of life for outback travellers and keeping out of the stone range of overtaking or oncoming traffic is the only realistic solution.

Keeping dust out of your caravan is another challenge for Outback travellers and some van makers use a small rooftop hatch to pressurise the air inside the van and push out dusty air when travelling.

A more recent solution is a Dust Suppression System which is roof mounted and incorporates a filter element, but going through your caravan pre-trip with a silicon gun and plugging all cupboard holes that could allow dust in is a good start.

While you are in this area, make sure that your interior furniture is properly screwed down and that your hinges will support the weight of their doors over many kilometres of corrugations.

Your interior fridge should also vent to the outside.

If your van was built around gas appliances there will also be vents in the entry door and upper walls that can be plugged if you decide to go gas-free.

Stones will also play havoc with the paintwork on the mudguard extensions of your tow car and here the best solution is to have transparent protective film applied professionally to vulnerable areas. Once stone-pitted it can be quickly and easily replaced in between trips.

Underbody damage from rocks and creek crossings is another area worth thinking about and aluminium shielding or tough rubberised coatings are often fitted to off-road vans. Keep in mind that many on-road vans have only painted chassis members, not even galvanised protection.

Raptor and other powder-coatings can also protect chassis rails and A-frames, so if it is an option on your next van, don’t hesitate to specify it. You won’t notice the extra weight.

The other thing when storing your caravan outdoors in between trips is hail damage and one of the best solutions I have seen is outdoor furniture mattresses.

So, you may ask, is there a company that you can simply take your new caravan or camper to and say ‘off-road protect it’?

Many caravan repairers will do some of the work, but the best starting point is the caravan manufacturer.

Do your research, look at the owners’ group pages, ask questions and get quotes. If it’s a properly conceived off-road van or camper, then incorporating some of these things during its construction should be relatively straightforward.