Time to sort out the caravan

I have a list of things that I need to dispose of now that I’m installed in my house and I’ve been working through them, albeit rather slowly. I’ve already sold the small freezer that I had in the caravan, my old electric bike (not the new Chinese one that I couldn’t register) and the ‘coffret de chantier’ that provided an electrical connection for the caravan and the house while it was being constructed. However, the list of items that still remain is pretty long and high up on that list is my old caravan.

It’s been sited at the bottom corner of my garden for just over three years now and has been sitting doing nothing since I moved into my house last September. Although it’s old and a bit tatty it’s still watertight, which is a big selling point for someone needing an old caravan for the same reason I did or to site on a piece of private land for leisure use eg as a base for hunting or fishing. So now’s the time to ready it for sale while there’s still a a good market for it during the summer and early autumn months.

I always intended to use my Kia to tow it up to the front of my house where I can clean it inside and out and generally spruce it up. I never thought it would be easy due to the time it’s been rooted in the ground but in fact it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I’d removed the jockey wheel when I sited it down there and somehow the bolt that clamps it to the frame has gone missing, so even getting it hitched up to the car wasn’t as straightforward as it should have been. But it was after I’d got it hitched that the problems started.

My Kia has a 2.0 litre engine and a 4WD drive lock but no matter how I tried it didn’t have the power to shift the caravan let alone pull it up the slope of the garden. I’d released the caravan’s hand brake but it could well have been that the brakes were seized on, but in any event I couldn’t get it to move. I made a couple of phone calls to see if I could get hold of someone with a tractor but to no avail as the only one available didn’t have a tow ball, so I had to try to work out something different.

My Kia is automatic and I was wary about overheating its torque converter so I let it sit and cool down while I had a brief lunch. I then returned to have another go. During the break I’d had a brainwave. Up to then I’d been trying to drag the caravan out from where it had been parked in a straight line and I thought that maybe it’d be a good idea to try waggling it from side to side instead by turning the Kia’s steering wheel to left and right in succession with a break in between to allow the caravan to settle back, and it worked.

I was really relieved when it eventually moved and I was able to drag it right up to the front of the house where I needed it to be. So the Kia had the muscle for it after all! Here’s where I initially positioned it, by driving almost up to the road and reversing back.

And here’s how the bottom corner of the garden looked after the caravan had been moved. One of the ‘tonnelles’ (small marquee type tents) has already gone as it was finally destroyed by strong wind gusts a few weeks ago. I’ll probably also throw away the one that remains as although it still has a good frame, it’s roof, which had already been torn by the wind, was ripped to shreds in a hail storm that was a once in twenty year event which also put dents all over the roof, bonnet and one side of my Kia.

Although a new roof and side curtains are available for it (on sale at the moment actually) I don’t now have a flat area other than where it is to put it up and as it probably won’t sell second hand for much more than what they would cost, I don’t think there’s much use hanging onto it and it’ll probably be best to consign it to the ‘déchetterie’ given the other priorities I have just at the moment.

It took me all day to remove the electrical and water connections that I’d run down to the caravan and then connect it up again in the front of my house so I can set to cleaning it inside and out and tarting it up ready for sale. Here’s how things looked when I finished up ready for a late evening meal.

As the pictures show, the caravan is filthy on the outside so tomorrow I’ll start off with the pressure washer which will probably improve its appearance quite a lot. Although I’ve given its inside a cursory clean from time to time while it’s been empty, it’s also quite grimy inside so cleaning it thoroughly inside and out is now the priority, especially as from time to time passers by often enquire if old caravans like mine are for sale. If that happened it really would put the cherry on the cake 🙂