Arriving at a site
It is always advisable to book your site in advance so you are sure of getting a pitch for the period you require.
Once arrived at the site, it’s time to then check out pitch availability (if you haven’t already pre-booked a specific pitch). Some parks will designate a pitch for you, so be sure before you book your holiday you have an idea of what pitch you are looking for.
Once you have found your ideal pitch check where you need to be with your caravan by the marker.
Types of pitch
There are different types of pitches such as:
- Hard standing
- Standard pitch with awning
- Standard pitch without awning
- Economy pitch without electrics
- Serviced pitch
- Super pitch
Manoeuvring into position
Don’t be tempted to manoeuvre onto the pitch on your own if a complete novice. Get someone to stand at the rear but to one side (so it is safer and the driver can see them!)
Once into position on your chosen pitch you need to unhitch the caravan from the car:
- Put on your car handbrake, switch off the engine, but put the car in gear.
- Put the caravan hand brake fully on.
- Push a wheel chock firmly into position behind, or in front, of the caravan wheel, depending which way you are sloping. Place another wheel chock on the wheel at the other side. A very good tip is to have a piece of string or rope attached to each chock. This will ensure you are able to remove it without getting your hands too near the moving wheel.
- Unclip the safety wire.
- Unplug the road light plugs.
- Unclamp the jockey wheel to drop into place and then retighten.
- Disengage the stabiliser and proceed to wind the jockey wheel and holding on the coupling leaver.
- The coupling should then just drop off the cars tow ball.
- Move your car out of the way, and park where desired.
The next job is getting the caravan level, if the axle line is over to one side you will need to put a levelling block underneath to level it up. You may need to use the jockey wheel to make the nose lower or higher.
A spirit level is a very useful tool to check that your caravan is level and modern aids such as a motor mover are worth considering.
Final checks
Some of the things you might want to think about once you are pitched onsite are:
- Connect the power cable to the hook-up point, and checking the residual current device (RCD) is working correctly
- Turn on the fridge
- Collect fresh water
- Position the waste water collector
- Add toilet fluids
- Turn on the gas
- Turn on the water heater when you’re sure it’s full of water
