Maintenance

This category covers care products and accessories for tents, outdoor gear, caravans and motorhomes: cleaners and reproofers for tents, clothing and footwear, caravan wash, internal thermal blinds, levelling ramps, nose weight gauges, corner steady winding braces and compact vacuum cleaners.

Cleaning and reproofing

• Clothing: ordinary laundry detergent leaves a residue that attracts water, so waterproof garments soak through. Clear any detergent or fabric conditioner out of the machine drawer, wash with a technical cleaner, then reproof if the fabric no longer repels water.
• Tents and gear: clean off dirt first, as grime stops a proofer working. Some proofers go on clean, dry fabric and others on damp fabric, so check the label. UV light weakens and fades fabric, and UV proofers help protect it.
• Storage: never pack a tent away until it is fully dry.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions and safety data for cleaning and proofing chemicals.

Levelling and nose weight

Corner steadies are not meant to level a caravan. Take out a side to side slope with a ramp or levelling block under the wheel, level front to back with the jockey wheel, then wind the steadies down with the brace.

Before towing, raise the steadies and check the nose weight at the hitch with a gauge. It must stay within every one of these limits: the car's, shown in its handbook, the towbar's, marked on its plate, and those of the caravan's drawbar and hitch. Caravan industry guidance suggests a nose weight of 5% to 7% of the caravan's laden weight.

For toilet fluids and water care, see sanitation; for more camping kit, see caravan and camping.