Essential tech tips Expert advice for pitching up

Caravanning is all about learning by doing, but here are four essential tips to get you pitch perfect on your first tour!

How to…

Obtain fresh water

These days, most caravanners use a portable water-carrier to bring fresh water to their van. The term ‘Aquaroll’ is to caravanning what Hoover is to vacuum cleaners: a catch-all term to describe the brilliantly simple, but quite indispensable, rolling water-barrel.

Few people would be able to carry 50 litres of water (that’s 50kg!) from tap to tourer, so rolling carriers are ideal in their simplicity, usability and storability.

Simply fill up the barrel, wheel it back to the caravan and drop in the Truma or Whale submersible pump (depending on your caravan’s spec).

The impeller inside the pump is lubricated by the water, so don’t let it run for extended periods when the barrel is empty. New pumps are easy to find, but cost in excess of £50, so you want them to last.

How to… Empty a chemical toilet

Unlock the cassette locker and open the hatch. You usually need to nip the yellow or orange handles together with the grey grip to release the cassette. The orange grip doubles as an extending handle, so you can trundle the cassette along on its wheels.

At the disposal point, twist the fill/empty nozzle and remove the cap. Put this cap well away from the disposal hole – you don’t want to have to fish it out. Now press the orange vacuum-release button on the cassette and pour the contents into the disposal point. The button also lets in air, minimising the risk of any splashing.

Rinse the empty cassette several times with clean water. Before replacing it, add the correct dilution of blue or green cassette chemical. Remember, always empty it at a dedicated disposal point – nowhere else.

How to…

Change a gas bottle

Caravan gas bottles should always be securely strapped into their locker, and the regulator pigtail fitted and tightened with a 30mm spanner. It should also be noted that gas fittings have a reversed thread, so you actually undo the connections by turning the nut clockwise, which might at first seem a bit counterintuitive.

Ensure that the gas bottle is turned off at the top tap before removing it. When the pigtail pipe is separated from the bottle, you will smell a small amount of gas, but as long as the bottle is turned off, this is normal.

Finally, screw the plastic stopper into the bottle’s brass thread, to protect it and help prevent any minor amount of leakage.

When retightening the pigtail nut on the gas cylinder, ensure that it is hand-tight, but do not overtighten it, because this might damage the threads and make removal more difficult next time.

How to… Put up an awning

Many caravanners consider their awning a touring essential, the easy way to add living and storage space. But awnings are not known as ‘divorce in a bag’ for nothing – putting one up can be tricky until you get the hang of it. It’s definitely worth the effort, though.

Although putting up an awning can look complicated at first, it really is a case of following a logical sequence. We have plenty of expert advice about how to set one up on our website, so head there for step-by-step guides to erecting both full and porch awnings – you’ll find them at www.practicalcaravan.com/advice/how-to

‘We have plenty of expert advice about how to set up an awning, all on our website, so head there for our step-by-step guides’