RV FEATURE
Slide-outs add a considerable amount of weight to a caravan and should therefore be positioned over the axles.
A FINAL WORD OF ADVICE
Everything I have said in this article is all well and good in theory. The reality is that you will forget most of what you’ ve read here, and that the wobbles will occur so quickly and unexpectedly that you will panic and do the wrong thing. That’ s just human nature.
The most common reaction to a swaying caravan by an inexperienced driver is to hit the brakes. If you’ ve never experienced the wobbles before, it is what you will likely do out of instinct.
Therefore, one thing you could do, if you have a caravan fitted with electric brakes, is to dial the brakes to a higher setting when driving at higher speeds, such as on motorways. Then, if you get the wobbles at speed and it happens very suddenly, and you hit the brakes out of instinct, the trailer brakes should bite immediately as hard as they can. This will slow the caravan more than the tow vehicle, stopping the sway and‘ pulling’ the rig straight.
Setting the right tyre pressure for the loaded weight of your caravan is vital for stability.
It’ s not as effective as the controlled method I described earlier, but it should work, and it could just save your life.
If you’ re wondering what happened to me and my swinging trailer-load of sleepers, fortunately, I didn’ t panic. Having had some driver training and 4WDing experience, my initial reaction was to simply lift my foot off the accelerator and slow down. This stopped the swaying immediately, allowing me to pull over and unload some of the weight.
Whether it was good luck or good management, I survived to tell you about it.
Safe travels.
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