RV MAIL

TICK IT OFF !

I have been towing caravans for over 45 years and am now onto my third van . Normally , our trips would be to a holiday destination where we would stay a week or two and then return home .

My wife and I have just returned from a Queensland outback adventure covering 4000km visiting 15 towns along the way . To make sure we would not have any problems on our trip , I compiled a very comprehensive towing checklist from online information and tips from GoRV readers , etc .

I learned the hard way that it is good to have a list but , if it ’ s not followed properly , disaster can occur .

On the third day , I became distracted and forgot to attach the safety chains – they were neatly stashed away on a small hook under the drawbar . They became dislodged when going over a grid on our way to Carnarvon Gorge . No major damage was done except gravel-grazed chains and a broken breakaway cable ( later repaired ). This made me realise that to travel safely , we needed to do the following .

1 . Have a comprehensive towing checklist with a ‘ tick box ’. Make sure all the checks are actually completed . After our near miss , we modified our list to make sure we now have all bases covered , including tick boxes .

2 . Make sure you tick off each item on the list after doing an actual visual check of each . Don ’ t just sit inside the caravan and tick off each item thinking that it has been completed .

3 . Do check in chronological order – this makes checking easier . We do inside the caravan first , as per the list , then we do outside the caravan .

4 . Don ’ t let anyone interrupt you while doing the checks . If you are interrupted , at least you will know where you were up to by looking at the list to see what was the last check ticked off .

5 . Then get your wife / husband / partner to also complete the checklist . Your partner will soon become interested in why we do these checks and what we need to do to travel safely .

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