Wind deflectors

[Steve L]

Remember the big black whale tails we used to see a few years ago on nearly every car towing a van. I still use one.

I know caravan design has now gone away from the brick on wheels of the 70's/80's, but there are still benifits to be had.

I tow a 1982 caravan which has a small slope to the front of about 15 degrees from vertical.

However I find the stabilising effect of the deflector helpfull too. Because of the shape of the deflector, wind is deflected either side of the caravan which helps to keep the van straight.

The deflection of air flow over the top of the van also reduces the amount of bugs splatted on the front of the van. After all, who want's to look at what a 60mph impact does to a fly when your eating your cornflakes !!

I also get a financial benifit. I get about 10mph more speed out of the unit and around 6 miles per gallon improvement on fuel consumption. On the 5000 miles a year I tow the caravan I save 42 gallons of fuel, which equates to £160 saving or another couple of weeks site fees.

By the way I got my deflector from a local saturday funiature action for 3 quid!! guess it is money well spent.

 

[MickC1]

Hi Steve

Yes this sight is now very rare due to modern unit aerodynamics. In fact it would probably cause problems on new outfits that are designed in wind tunnels etc. I tow all day at the max legal limit and haven't had a dead fly on the front of the 'van yet. But if it works for you then that's fine, and you certainly had a bargain.

I'm just curious though as to what outfit you have that allows you to go 10 mph faster. Does this mean that you usually can't get over 50 mph? Or are you referring to continental driving with higher limits?

 

[jon_5062082]

its not my caravan with the aerodynamic problem , its smooth as a babys bum , no flies on the front of it , they all get splattered on the front of the breezeblock shaped Nissan terrano i drag it with....lol

 

[Steve L]

Hi Steve

Yes this sight is now very rare due to modern unit aerodynamics. In fact it would probably cause problems on new outfits that are designed in wind tunnels etc. I tow all day at the max legal limit and haven't had a dead fly on the front of the 'van yet. But if it works for you then that's fine, and you certainly had a bargain.

I'm just curious though as to what outfit you have that allows you to go 10 mph faster. Does this mean that you usually can't get over 50 mph? Or are you referring to continental driving with higher limits?

I actually get about 55mph out of the outfit, because of the older type van I tow which has not got much slope on the front.