Top Tips to Prepare Your Caravan for Summer

Are you ready for summer? Get your caravan ready now – check out these handy tips to help prepare your caravan.

Are you ready for summer? Get your caravan ready now – check out these handy tips to help prepare your caravan for the season:

• Clean the fridge with a mild detergent and leave the door open to dry.

• Refill the water system and test for leaks (just in case any water was left in the system and the pipes have burst).

• Run water through the system to flush it out and through the drain. Use a proprietary cleaner to sterilise the water system.

• Reinstall the toilet cassette and check the rubber seals. You can smear Vaseline or similar around the top seal if it has dried out.

• Recharge the leisure battery and make sure it takes a charge and keeps it. You can use a voltmeter to test it - immediately after a full charge, it should read at least 12.5 volts and should stay there. "Intelligent" charges such as Optimate can help bring back a battery that is low on charge.

• Check for damp over the winter - if there are leaks, you can often reseal with Mastic or a similar sealant.

• Replace the soft furnishings that have been removed over the winter.

• Check your wheel clamp and hitch-lock - lubricate and re-grease.

• Re-grease the corner steadies so they wind up and down smoothly.

• Give the caravan a good wash down to remove any lichen and moss that may have built up. If you have the time to polish the outside, it'll help keep green build-up at bay.

• Unless you feel confident about doing it yourself, consider getting the caravan serviced and the gas heating system checked. You can often find mobile firms who will do it on site and charge around £100.

• Check the battery in your carbon monoxide detector and smoke detector (and if you haven't got these - buy them!).

Our touring caravan insurance can cover you for accidental damage whilst towing, fire, theft, storm, malicious damage and third-party liability. For more information visit our touring caravan insurance page or call us on 03300 296 827 .

During stormy weather it is important that you remember a number of steps to help limit damage to your caravan.

Remove or secure exterior fittings

It may sound obvious, but it is important to remember to remove fittings such as bike racks and check the fittings on your satellite dish if you have one.

Anything removable like solar panels and exterior water tanks should be stored inside your car or caravan during a storm where possible. It is typically advised that you take down your awning but if that is not possible there are steps you can take to firm up your awning.

Securing your awning

Most awnings come with guy ropes and these can offer some protection against gusts of wind. However, you can go a step further for when the weather gets bad and invest in storm accessories such as storm anchors, poles and straps.

Unfortunately there are no guarantees that your awning will avoid all damage so it's worth checking with your touring caravan insurance provider to check that your awning is covered.

Avoid towing

When the weather is stormy it can be tempting to cut your holiday short, but it's important not to tow in this type of weather. Cross winds can cause havoc with your towing setup, leading to snaking and in the worst-case scenario could even cause your caravan to flip over.