OFFROAD
TRIP PREP
COMMON SENSE ADVICE ON HOW TO
PREPARE YOUR VAN FOR TACKLING
OFFROAD CONDITIONS…
WORDS: MARTY LEDWICH, WWW.RVEETHEREYET.COM
Even if you own the best offroad caravan,
you simply cannot expect it to survive a long
offroad jaunt without performing some pre-
trip preparation. Here are four tips that will
improve your caravan’s survivability when
travelling long distances on dirt roads…
1
Reduce tyre pressures. I cannot stress
enough just how important this is and,
unfortunately, many will end up realising
this the hard way. If you run your car and
van along dirt roads with on-road tyre
pressures, you’ll destroy your tyres and
the interior of your van.
Reduced tyre pressures provide an
additional cushioning effect on rough
roads so the constant vibrations of
corrugations are not fully transmitted
to the interior of the van.
Low tyre pressures also mean the tyres
are less prone to
punctures caused by
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sharp rocks or other debris. This is where
the extra sidewall strength of good all-
terrain tyres pays dividends.
Our caravan weights 3.5 tonnes
fully loaded and we run our tyre
pressures at 20psi offroad and we’ve
not experienced a puncture yet.
Correct pressures for your rig will
depend on a number of variables,
however, so experiment to find what
works best for you.
2
Additional protection to plumbing and
wiring. Before you attempt any offroad
travel, get underneath your caravan and
have a good look at the exposed plumbing
and wiring underneath. We cover all our
drainage pipes with agi-pipe and all our
hoses and wiring in electrical conduit or
vinyl wrap. As a result, we’ve never had
any damage to these vital
components.