Hello All,
I was thinking about buying a front cover for my caravan while towing.
I have heard good and bad things about them. Can anyone advise me please.
Love em' or loath em' seems to be the norm on this topic so it won't solve the problem of making a choice whether to buy one or not. My advice is to watch this YouTube video first then decide for yourself whether you still want to buy one or not.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Have often thought of getting one for our caravan, mainly to protect the windows from stones and muck. I started by Googling towing covers and instantly got put off as they were much too expensive to bother with on our ancient caravan, but then I decided to look on ebay. There are loads on there for 10% of the prices Google brought up.
I have two questions if anyone can help. Firstly are the cheaper ones any good? I'm seeing prices from £18 to £50 on ebay, as opposed to £180 to £300 when I Googled. Secondly, do they all attach only to awning channels, as ours doesn't seem to have the same channel on the right hand side as it has on the left.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 21/5/2023
We don't bother and have had various caravans since 1994. Have seen far more without than with.
Thanks, this is our 4th caravan although there was a gap of many years between numbers 2 and 3. We've never bothered so far either, and I too see far more caravans without towing covers than with. The thing that concerns me a bit though is that our caravan is very old and we might have difficulty finding windows if one got damaged.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 21/5/2023
We don't bother and have had various caravans since 1994. Have seen far more without than with.
Thanks, this is our 4th caravan although there was a gap of many years between numbers 2 and 3. We've never bothered so far either, and I too see far more caravans without towing covers than with. The thing that concerns me a bit though is that our caravan is very old and we might have difficulty finding windows if one got damaged.
That's the only reason why I recently bought a universal front towing cover for our caravan as we did have a stone hit one of the front caravan windows last year. Being an old caravan (2004) I searched extensively for a replacement window for months without any success so had to put it through the insurance paying out £100 for the excess fee as the cost for a new window was well over 800 quid. £80 for a new 'Quest' towing cover makes sense but in saying that, I'm not really impressed with the quality as the stitching on the buckle tapes are already starting to detach due to the quality of fabric used.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 21/5/2023
We don't bother and have had various caravans since 1994. Have seen far more without than with.
Thanks, this is our 4th caravan although there was a gap of many years between numbers 2 and 3. We've never bothered so far either, and I too see far more caravans without towing covers than with. The thing that concerns me a bit though is that our caravan is very old and we might have difficulty finding windows if one got damaged.
That's the only reason why I recently bought a universal front towing cover for our caravan as we did have a stone hit one of the front caravan windows last year. Being an old caravan (2004) I searched extensively for a replacement window for months without any success so had to put it through the insurance paying out £100 for the excess fee as the cost for a new window was well over 800 quid. £80 for a new 'Quest' towing cover makes sense but in saying that, I'm not really impressed with the quality as the stitching on the buckle tapes are already starting to detach due to the quality of fabric used.
2004 is quite modern compared to ours (1992) so how on earth would we get on? Not sure how we would fit one on though as I don't think it would attach to the right hand front.
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Love our specialised covers one, wouldn’t be without it. Yes I suppose £199 seems a lot of money but as said before, if a stone breaks a window it’s money well spent. Ours fits like a glove as they are specific to each caravan model, and stops the caravan getting super dirty while travelling. You do need to look after it though, don’t fold up if soaking wet, and do t drag it along the floor like you see some people doing on sites as you could pick up grit and it will scratch the van. It does say that you mustn’t put it on a dirty caravan either as it will scratch it.
I got a brand new one left in our 'new' van. Never used it to date. Keep forgetting i have it. But, its indisputable that they keep the front clean. On our last trip after exiting a very wet field, i found the front of the van had half of it plastered to it once home. And this was just the crap the trucks wheels had 'collected' and thrown back once travelling. So i'm thinking of giving it a whirl next time out.
Quote: Originally posted by Bill Reeves on 20/5/2023
Hello All,
I was thinking about buying a front cover for my caravan while towing.
I have heard good and bad things about them. Can anyone advise me please.
Annoying is when the council resurface a road the cheap way by laying stones down for the motorist to compress into the tarmac. No joke if your car is immaculate with no stone chips and your caravan has no stone chips on the front. You will have them after a trip on one of those roads no matter how slowly you travel.
Also nice to arrive on site with a clean front and not one caked in mud and the warden refuses to allow you to wash down the front of the caravan in case you pollute the local water table!
We would not be without a front towing cover as windows are expensive to replace if they are even available.
Quote: Originally posted by blueexpo97 on 22/5/2023
AFAIK you require two channels.
Yes that is certainly the impression I got from looking at the adverts on ebay. Is it worth it in my case? I'm still not sure, especially if I would have to fit an extra awning channel. The cost could work out more than having a window made, which I hope would never be necessary. I'm not really that worried about dirt as it's easy enough to wash off and being so old the caravan could hardly be described as "immaculate", even if it is very good for its age.
Quote: Originally posted by blueexpo97 on 22/5/2023
AFAIK you require two channels.
Yes that is certainly the impression I got from looking at the adverts on ebay. Is it worth it in my case? I'm still not sure, especially if I would have to fit an extra awning channel. The cost could work out more than having a window made, which I hope would never be necessary. I'm not really that worried about dirt as it's easy enough to wash off and being so old the caravan could hardly be described as "immaculate", even if it is very good for its age.
to fit on your van Colin you would have to remove approx 2.5 meters of the trim and replace with an awning channel type, now thats not really so hard if the front of your van is straight but getting it to fit on a bend, not so easy. then you have to ensure its watertight too. towsure sell it 3 section 1.20meter for £16 remember we get a discount too for being members on ukcs if i remember rightly. is it worth doing? well when you think how many caravans are out there on the road, thousands every week, i reckon only a tiny tiny proportion of them ever have any damage done, so really you would only be doing this to keep the muck off, well if your like us and carry a watering can anyway, it takes seconds to rinse that off on arrival on site or at home
Thank You for all of your replies. It seems some love them and some hate them. The research I have done does tell me that you have to buy a decent make like tow pro (£199.0) as the cheaper ones seem to be very poor material and the straps seem to break.
I will probably go with a tow pro. If you are spending many thousands on a caravan why skimp on protecting it.
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Topic: caravan Front cover
via mobile 20/5/2023 at 6:52pm
2004 is quite modern compared to ours (1992) so how on earth would we get on? Not sure how we would fit one on though as I don't think it would attach to the right hand front.
