How to tow a caravan safely

Sometimes it’s ignorance; sometimes it’s apathy; other times it’s just plain dumb, but there are many ways to get into trouble caravanning...

After all, what could possibly go wrong towing two or three tonnes of aluminium, steel and composites from a simple point of contact behind a 4WD at highway speeds on unfamiliar, undulating roads in close company with other road users –  many less confident of their task and abilities than you?

Plenty. Where do I start? Here are a few tips on how to avoid some basic errors that can lead to potentially catastrophic results when caravanning...

For a start, you need to be ‘caravan-ready’, not all that easy when the rest of your driving year is spent on familiar roads driving something with far less mental energy required and far fewer risks attached.

Imagine it as flicking a ‘towing’ switch in your brain. This means that you brake earlier, leave more space to the vehicle ahead, expect a severe drop-off performance on hills, and remember that the rig is more than double its usual length when overtaking or turning.

Don’t assume that everything will be in the same working order as when you last used it. Moisture can corrode electrical terminals, brake pads can glaze, tyres deteriorate, and brake fluid can absorb water and hence overheat quicker.

If you're planning a long trip, we'd recommend servicing both your tow vehicle and caravan. You can do some things yourself like using a Silicon spray to lubricate all moving parts, such as couplings and corner stays.

Check your lights, particular indicators. Sometimes lack of use allows corrosion to form on contact points in your RV and tow vehicle plugs, or globes can fail with the power surge of connection after a long lay-off.  If following traffic has no idea what you're going to do, expect the worst.

It’s amazing how many caravanners have no idea of the rules of physics. If you load all the heavy stuff at the back of your 'van, you encouraging swaying.

Manufacturers aim for a towball load that an average tow vehicle can take without sagging its tail, while keeping sufficient load on its front wheels to allow it to brake and steer properly.

Apart from encouraging accidents, having an overweight caravan or underweight tow car could wind up expensive for you in other ways, with many State transport authorities now stopping and weighing caravans at highway truck weighbridges.

A mobile weighing service can ensure you get off to the right start by measuring not only your towball loading, but also evaluating your tow car’s capability for the task ahead.

As a basic principle, load your caravan evenly, with heavier items stored over the axle or between the wheels on a single axle caravan, or between the axles on a tandem, with the heaviest items located as low as possible.

If you’re towing with a ute, remember that heavy tray loads may reduce the weight of caravan you are legally able to tow.

Make sure you're properly hitched

Then look at your coupling, ensuring first it’s firmly bolted to your RV’s A-frame. One small tip here ­– let your jockey wheel take the full A-frame weight before removing it to avoid getting a ‘false engagement’ and the coupling popping off on the first big bump.

To prepare for this possibility, always cross the chains under the coupling – while ensuring you leave enough slack for tight turns.

Also test your rig’s turning circle before you leave on your trip to ensure your A-frame or stone-guard doesn’t damage the rear of your tow vehicle on tight turns. Nothing worse than discovering this problem during a U-turn on a busy highway, or when jack-knife reversing a caravan into a tight camp spot.

Use towing mirrors

Many people don't like towing mirrors. They create wind noise and are easily knocked – but they're essential unless your tow vehicle is as wide -­ or wider - than the camper or caravan you're towing, which is rare. Get them right before you set off, rather than trying to adjust them ‘on the fly’.

If you have a rear view camera on your caravan it may be possible to play its vision through your tow car’s display screen, so that you can check if someone is planning to overtake you before you pull out.

Test your brakes

You’d be amazed how many caravan accidents occur within metres of starting off.

Basic errors like taking out a gatepost after not allowing for the full trajectory of the 'van behind, or nudging an overhanging structure because the driver is too focussed on side, rather than overhead clearance.

Grabbing, cold brakes are also a problem first thing in the morning. It's a good idea to back off the Electronic Brake Controller until the trailer brakes have been used several times to warm them up, then increase the EBC’s intervention once you reach highway speeds.

Don't overtake when towing

Don’t attempt overtaking at speed until your brain and your rig are both warmed up!

This is particularly important if you're unfamiliar as to how your 'van has been loaded, or if the round surface is slippery, or there's a strong side wind.

Overtaking a truck on a heavily treed road can be hazardous if the combination of road surface and gusty side winds destabilises your rig just as oncoming traffic looms ahead.

Panic in such situations can lead you to lose control and if you dip your offside trailer wheels into gravel or soft sand in the process you accelerate your problems.

Electronic Stability Control technology, like Al-Ko’s ‘ESC’ or Dexter’s ‘DSC’, certainly helps straighten your trailer’s trajectory. But relying on technology to keep you out of trouble, such as when your trailer is effectively ‘pushing’ you down a slippery slope, is still governed by the laws of physics, so don’t rely on these systems alone to save you.

The stability of your camper or caravan can change if drawers, or heavy items, open or move about on corrugated roads, so you should always check cupboard locks and the location of heavy items at every opportunity.

Prepare for punctures

If you read the road ahead you can avoid many punctures, but you need to be prepared if you get one, particularly if you're in the middle of no-where...

Lager rocks and other type-puncturing obstacles, tend to be pushed to the outside of the road, so (within reason) stay on the crown when you can on an unsealed road.

It’s also not surprising that most punctures occur to the rear wheels of a tow car. The fact is your rear tyres are doing most of the heavy lifting, whether it’s the load you have in the back of your 4WD, or simply shouldering the weight of your A-frame.

Every bump in the road is magnified, grinding your tyres deeper into the stony road surface and driving flinty stones between your tyres’ grooves as the vehicle bobs up and down.

This is the best reason to put your meatiest tyres on the rear of your tow vehicle in order to keep the vulnerable tyre carcase as far out of harm’s way as possible.

Because of this possibility, you should ensure that you carry the right equipment to change a tyre if you have to and that the tools and your spare (inflated) tyre can easily be accessed. An air pump and a tyre gauge should also be carried.

If you haven’t run out of fuel on a trip, you haven’t travelled… well, you’ve simply planned well!

We thought we could cover more than 800km of mostly lonely corrugations on the Tanami Track one year on two tanks of fuel and two jerry cans towing a 2400kg caravan, but fell a jerry short. A six-pack of Coopers Sparkling Ale was the priceless trade for a slurp of diesel from a 4WD heading the other way.

So, check your route in advance and buy fuel at every opportunity to ensure your tank never drops lower than half/quarter full.

Everyone knows not to camp under red gums because branches drop out of the sky, but all big trees are suspect, particularly after rain.

You love them dearly, but your partner or someone you’ve just met in the neighbouring campsite isn’t the best judge on the space behind your rig, the proximity of the branches above it, or the toys that neighbouring kids have left in your path. And you’ll usually get contradictory advice.

Walk your site first with your caravan around the corner to ensure you spot any traps. If it looks a bit tight for your abilities, don't be afraid to ask for help from the vastly experienced caravan park operator who has a vested interest in you leaving his taps, power boxes and landscaping intact and doesn’t give a stuff how hopeless you are. He might even hop in and do it for you.

Gas leaks can be fatal, but lowering the glass cover on a still red-hot cooktop inside your caravan can be spectacular. Exploding safety glass is not something you want to deal with inside your caravan.

Read the instructions when all else fails, and don’t lower the glass until the cooktop is off and cold.

The popularity of sliding lounge or bedroom-wall caravans has caught many older parks by surprise, as their narrow sites were never intended to house a behemoth than can pump itself up like a bullfrog at the touch of an electric switch.

More important, the advent of ‘sliders’ necessitates a whole new chapter in the caravanners’ etiquette book. For example, make sure your neighbours are out of range before deploying your slide, or else risk either pinning them, their Weber or their clothes line, to the side of their van.

If you’re like me, you always believe your ‘Low fuel’ warning light is inaccurate and you’ve really got a lot more kilometres in your tank than the gauge needle hammering the empty pin indicates. This rule doesn’t necessarily apply to cassette toilets in caravans, where ‘Full’ can really mean ‘Full’!

I’ve found out the hard way and it’s fairly soul destroying to be half inside the shute mopping up the mess while your neighbors look on smugly with that ‘better you than me’ look. 

The key to successful toilet cassette emptying is to do it first thing in the morning or after dark when either there are few people around. And use the Dump Point rather than your neighbor’s grey-water trough... 

Towing a caravan is serious stuff, but sometimes you just have to have a laugh about all the unwritten 'rules'...