RV MAIL
LETTERS FROM THE ROAD
TOO MANY KEYS!
I am about to bite the bullet and get a new caravan with my wife so that we can take our kids around Australia, but why do caravans have so many keys? The van that we are looking at comes with five different keys for things like the door, the water filling points, and various hatches and lockers.
If I buy a car, it comes with one key, but if i buy a caravan, my keyring ends up looking like the keyring of a medieval dungeon master. What gives?
Lucas Bellright
Hi Lucas, welcome to the wonderful world of Australian caravans! You see, a caravan is comprised of various parts supplied by various companies, and this includes the entry door as well as the doors to each external locker. Each comes with its own key. The result: too many keys.
I’ ve been complaining about this for years, so far to no avail. But I feel your pain. Some manufacturers have each lock keyed alike to the extent they can, while others are a little too key-happy for my liking. – Ed
CHECK YOUR JOCKEY!
A quick reminder to everyone: when you depart for the day, make sure you’ ve removed your jockey wheel, unless it’ s one of those jockey wheels that swing up and rest horizontally along the A- frame. My husband left ours attached after hitching up our Jayco caravan to head towards Broken Hill from Dubbo, NSW.
Fortunately, no damage was done. He had wound the wheel up and it had stayed clamped in place until we saw it there when we were done driving for the day. We had a good laugh and were grateful that no damage was done, but in reality, it could have been quite dangerous. What if the screw keeping the jockey wheel’ s shaft clamped in place unwound, and all that steel fell to the road at highway speed? Someone could have been hurt and something could have been damaged.
Rest assured, it’ s not a mistake we have made before or one that we will ever make again.
Simone Rogers
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