Would YOU Want this Person Next to YOU ?

[Damian]

Taken from another forum:
"Just a question. Am I right in thinking that I should be using a spanner to tighten my Propane regulator with? It's just that we have recently enjoyed 3 days away and I have no gas left! I have a 13kg bottle and thought that it must last longer than that. I could smell gas from the front locker so can only asume that I need to tighten it with a spanner. What do you reckon? I don't think it is leaking elsewhere otherwise we would smell it in the van right? "

Makes you wonder who is next to you......................................

 

[Parksy]

What worries me sometimes is when somebody asks a caravan related question on a forum (not this one I might add!) and the replies range from being flippant or silly to downright dangerous.
At least the guy who Damian has quoted had sense enough to ask somebody (eventually!), it's the ones who don't know and dont ask who we should be really worried about.

 

[earlyriser]

frightening especialy after parkseys post about the tradgedy in wales.

 

[Steve L]

I quite agree with parksey here.
I realy don't mind anyone asking even the most basic of questions on here and I'm quite willing to respond. After all, when I first started 26 years ago, I read the PC mag and asked fellow caravanners for advice.

When I answer people's questions I try to keep the answer simple and concise, so that I don't confuse people with technical jargon etc. I do find that sometimes replies can get confusing and the most obvious one would be the 85% guideline and explaining the weight system of car & caravan.

Recently on our site, I showed three people in one day, how to reverse their caravans using the bit of tape at 6 'o' clock on the steering wheel method. All of them couldn't believe how easy it was to pick up and just how good they reversed their caravans.

All of them were newbie's and non of them had been shown that or had their tow car vin plate or caravan vin plate shown to them let alone explained. One poor chap was way over the tow limit for his car, yet his mate was towing a freedom micro van behind his frontera. So they swapped vans to tow home to be legal. He was going to see his dealer who sold him the van when he got home. He was not amused!
One tip to those who want to help others out. Don't go over and "take over", quietly and politely offer advice. First off, you won't put their back up! Secondly, they will learn twice as quickly if they "do the doing", and they get the satisfaction of the end result.

I used to have to reverse left handed my brother-in-law's caravan onto his drive and up the side of his house with only inches to spare. He was a qualified car driving instructor, but while he could instruct people to drive, he was hopeless at reversing. I showed him my methodogy and after about 10 practice runs he got the hang of reversing his caravan.

 

[haggarj2]

Whats the secret with the tape on the steering wheel then?Never heard of that method but I do have trouble reversing the caravan probably just lack off practice.Any advice would be greatly appreciated though.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Haggarj2
I was shown a similar method in the 70s. Place a piece of masking tape on the bottom of the steering wheel, 6 o'clock. Mark an arrow to the right and one to the left.
Place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want the caravan to go right move the steering wheel in the direction of the right arrow. Left for left. Bingo you can now start reversing in the correct direction without getting confused which way your wheels are.

 

[Surfer]

Never heard of the steering wheel method. I use common sense, driving skills and reverse. However as per the original OP, they state that they could smell gas etc. Surely common sense would tell you that gas is at a high pressure and there is not way you would tighten a nut with your fingers! What if someone had been walking past and flicked a cigarette butt on the ground nearby? Even dropping something onto a stone could have generated a spark.
Surely if you smell gas the first thing you do is to switch off the gas, get an engineer and not wait until you blow yourself and your neigbours to kingdom come? They were very, very lucky that ther was no incident because it woudl have been unlikely insurance would have paid out due to gross negligence.