Safe to enter when hitched?

[JAMIE_374369867]

I'm new to all this and could just do with some advice. It may seem like a silly question but is it ok to enter a caravan whilst it is hitched to a parked car? I Wasn't sure whether it would need to be unhitched first, when stopping for lunch etc.

Advise would be appreciated.

 

[RogerL]

When stopping for lunch, I just wind the rear steadies down to stop too much bouncing but don't unhitch.

 

[Lutz]

Winding the steadies down is only for convenience, as Roger says, to stop the caravan from bouncing around while you're inside, but theoretically there's not even any need to do that.

 

[Lutz]

ps: We've often popped off into the loo when stationary in a traffic jam. No chance of winding the steadies down then!

 

[joeby]

ps: We've often popped off into the loo when stationary in a traffic jam. No chance of winding the steadies down then!

i do the same

 

[ChrisUK]

I thought that this was a NO NO on modern vans. The chassis now being so light weight that the floor can distort without the legs down. I would at least drop the rear ones, this is a bit of a pain on my Elddis as it has anti theft sensors on the rear leg, so a quick wind down usually sets off the alarm.

 

[Lutz]

The forces that the chassis experiences when you walk through the caravan are minimal compared with the dynamic ones when driving over a badly pot-holed road. Therefore, there can be no danger of damage to the chassis if you enter the caravan without the steadies down.

 

[MAM]

I always wind-down the jockey wheel to avoid additional weight on the tow bar from people sitting in the front of the van.

 

[Lutz]

Although two people sitting in the front of the caravan will raise the noseweight over the limit, this is only a quasi-static load which will be removed before you are back on the move again. The loads occuring during dynamic towing are therefore unaffected, so there is no real need to lower the jockey wheel. Just like lowering the steadies, it only serves to prevent the caravan from bouncing around while you're inside.

 

[MAM]

Hello Lutz,

My three young childer could never be described as "quasi-static". They do not have the abiity to sit still with the exitement of going away, so they actually generate for more pressure on the tow bar than most heavy objects.

 

[Legsmaniac_374344731]

We sat in our caravan in a motorway service station still hitched to our car, making a cuppa tea, eating sarnies and using the toilet before continuing our journey to Devon recently. We did put the rear steadies down on the way there but didn't bother on the way back.

 

[Lutz]

Compared with the shock loads that the caravan gets when driving over a pot-holed road, even children jumping up and down inside a stationary caravan are not going to seriously overload the towbar if the jockey wheel or steadies are not down.

 

[Meister]

Legs .... you said "We did put the rear steadies down on the way there but didn't bother on the way back."

Was that because after all the scraping on the ground as you drove along they were worn away so wouldn't touch the ground on the return journey ? ;o) lol