Protecting and Maintaining Your Regent Caravan

Protecting and Maintaining Your Regent Caravan

Like your car or home, your caravan needs regular maintenance and servicing to keep it in top condition and prolong its life for years to come. At Regent Caravans, we have an extensive network of knowledgeable and experienced Dealers and Service Agents across Australia who can help you protect your investment so you can spend more time on the road.

Caravan Servicing

Although a caravan lets you avoid the expensive headaches of engines, you’ll still need to maintain a regular service schedule to catch any issues that have developed with your caravan and prevent others from arising.

The table below shows the recommended service schedule you should follow after purchasing a new caravan. If you have a big trip planned and are nearing any of these dates or mileages, have your caravan serviced before you head away to catch any problems that could derail your travel plans.

Caravan Maintenance

Of course, it is far easier (and cheaper) to keep problems at bay by performing regular maintenance on your caravan between services. One of the best pieces of maintenance that you can do is to invest in a cover as soon as you buy your van. Even if you can’t keep your caravan under shelter or in long-term storage, keeping the worst of the weather off it will go a long way to avoiding wear and tear to the fibreglass and fixtures.

Checking Your Caravan Regularly

Be proactive with your maintenance and do a little bit often: if you’re unsure where to start, our 20 Minute Maintenance guide goes over some basic maintenance tasks and key things that you should check each time before you hit the road. With so many Australians living by the coast in high-salt environments, one of the main problems you want to look out for is rust on your caravan, especially around the couplings.

After the couplings, the most important things to inspect are your tyres. Worn or weak tyres can easily cause blowouts and crashes when you’re on the road, so make sure to check the tyre tread and pressure regularly, as well as the wheel nuts and wheel bearings, which will need to be respectively tightened and greased as needed.

Fibreglass and Filters

While they’re easily overlooked, regularly cleaning and replacing the filters on your air conditioner and water pump will help prolong their service life and prevent the buildup of dust and other particles. This is especially important if you’ve been off-road or in the outback, where the famous red dust will have had a chance to work its way into every crevice and component.

The final part of maintaining your caravan is looking after the fibreglass. Unfortunately, Australia’s harsh conditions mean that over time your fibreglass will lose some of its shine, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. With a few spare hours and the following steps, you can have your caravan back in its original gleaming condition.

  1. Apply a small amount of polishing paste to the buff on a random orbital polisher and spread the paste over a small area, without the motor switched on.
  2. Start at the lowest RPM and slowly increase the RPM, keeping the buff moving at all times and ensuring the surface of the fibreglass stays damp, as it will overheat if it is not kept wet.
  3. Maintaining a consistent amount of pressure, move the polisher in slow circles over the area until the polishing paste has broken down.
  4. Clean the surface with a soft cloth after finishing and enjoy your freshly polished fibreglass.

A Little Goes A Long Way

By sticking to a consistent service schedule and doing a small amount of maintenance before you hit the road each time, you’ll be able to keep your caravan in top condition for years, even decades, and ensure that it is always ready to make more memories.

For more useful guides on buying, owning and caring for your caravan, check out our Tips and Advice section on our website. Happy travelling!