We had a problem last year in France when we stopped at the end of a fairly strenuous mountain descent to find that one of the 12V cables from car to caravan had dragged along the road surface and had shredded through 6 of the internal wires leaving us with no caravan road lights. We then had to cut out the damaged section of the cable and make 6 new wire to wire connections each of them insulated by waterproof Elastoplast strip (in the absence of the more conventional insulating tape). We finally wrapped the wires in a combination of clingfilm and more Elastoplast to end up with a working and reasonably weatherproof fix. On arrival at the next site we bought some insulating tape and redid the whole repair giving us a solution that worked until we returned to UK and replaced the cable.
Since that incident we've been a bit paranoid about ensuring the cables cannot drag on the road and have tried a number of solutions using bungee cords etc. but have never achieved a very elegant result.
The reason for this post is that we've now come up with a very simple and effective solution which proved successful on this year's trip to the Pyrenees and back via the Dordogne. We now thread each cable through the gap in the handle of the Alko stabiliser before closing it (making sure that in doing so we don't trap the cables). This method ensures that the cables are well clear of the road and allow sufficient movement when turning - to be absolutely sure of this last point we tested it by driving very slowly and turning from lock to lock while my wife observed the cables.
I don't know whether this only works on our car/caravan combination (Volvo V70 & Sterling Eccles Topaz) but I do hope this may prove to be a useful tip.
Cheers,
Simon
Since that incident we've been a bit paranoid about ensuring the cables cannot drag on the road and have tried a number of solutions using bungee cords etc. but have never achieved a very elegant result.
The reason for this post is that we've now come up with a very simple and effective solution which proved successful on this year's trip to the Pyrenees and back via the Dordogne. We now thread each cable through the gap in the handle of the Alko stabiliser before closing it (making sure that in doing so we don't trap the cables). This method ensures that the cables are well clear of the road and allow sufficient movement when turning - to be absolutely sure of this last point we tested it by driving very slowly and turning from lock to lock while my wife observed the cables.
I don't know whether this only works on our car/caravan combination (Volvo V70 & Sterling Eccles Topaz) but I do hope this may prove to be a useful tip.
Cheers,
Simon
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