Hi, sorry silly question maybe. I know caravans don't necessarily need a storm strap but for peace of mind we want to put one on ours. Initially I thought front to back, but thinking about it, if a caravan is going to topple over it will go left to right so would it be better to put the strap left to right. I would have thought so but then if there is no movement in the caravan would this cause a problem. Again, I know most people probably have not put one on their caravan but advice on what way would really be appreciated thank you.
If you want to strap it down then there should be slots in the chassis that would allow you to thread through one or more webbing ratchet cargo straps, you then have go to find a way to secure each end to ground. If it is grass then you will need some quite long metal stakes, I guess.
Provided ground anchors whatever they are will stay in place in a gale strong enough to otherwise overturn caravan then shorter strap(s)through chassis will be more effective than strapping over body which will cause damage as described.
The only vans I have ever seen strapped down are Static Vans. They are normally Chained down to two foot long rods that have a screw shank so that they penetrate the earth two foot down.
They normally have these at each corner.
I have never seen them used with a touring caravan.
Think about the weight of a caravan, especially when that may be exaggerated by the rocking motion of the van in a strong wind and then by toppling over. Then work out just what kind of anchor you need to counter balance that weight and how far into the ground it needs to go to hold that weight in place. Using storm straps and banging a peg into the ground will be no where near enough. The legs are your best bet. If they don't hold it in place storm straps never will unless, as indicated above, they are chained well into the gound.
I understand that a force of 9000N is required to stop a 1500KG van from moving in a 20mph wind but that as the wind speed increased the increase of the force needed to prevent it moving does not increase pro rata, so you need to know what the ratio increase is and what wind speed you are targetting from your straps to work efficiently. No, I have no idea what that means either. What you need is a physics expert
Simplistically, in the 60 mph winds the other night my van did not move with just the legs down so the legs must produce a resistance against that gale of 9000N x 3 (and a + or - something for the ratio to that increase in speed from 20) and which must, presumably equal two legs down on the lee side.
Phil
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When we were away at half term (when it was really, really windy), there were several touring caravans on the site with one or more storm straps over the caravan...couldn't really understand it myself and thought at the time that the straps would probably do more damage than the wind would - it wasn't even that windy where we were.
A strap over the top would be just a token effort & not even do the job. The only thing that would definitely make a difference would be straps through chassis front & rear but you would probably need anchors concreted into the ground.
Quote: Originally posted by Jack+Jon on 23/12/2013A strap over the top would be just a token effort & not even do the job. The only thing that would definitely make a difference would be straps through chassis front & rear but you would probably need anchors concreted into the ground.
Quote: Originally posted by veema on 23/12/2013
Yes, as you previously said.
Indeed, but worth repeating as the thread progresses. Points so far made are that strap over caravan in either direction is going to be ineffective & cause damage. Strap through chassis is better but only effective if ground anchors don't pull out.
So we conclude that if a caravan is going to be strapped down, the effective way will be as my previous post. Certainly in some exposed places caravans can be blown over & as op asked its worth pointing them in the right direction to lash it down effectively if it is feasable where their caravan is parked.
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Topic: Strap on caravan - left to right?
