How do you get your motorhome ready to go into a workshop for repairs or servicing?
The job might involve fixing a leaky tap, having a habitation inspection or installing motorhome solar panels, but whatever type of work is required, there are things you can do to make the technician’s life easier.
From my own experience, I have to say that not everyone thinks about helping in this way. While it is tempting to enhance your tours with various motorhome upgrades, I often see ‘vans that are simply packed to the gunwales with all manner of gear, which quite frankly, just gets in our way.
Now you might be thinking “But why should I bother?” and the answer is simple: emptying out as much of your stuff as is reasonable makes life easier for the technician, whatever work they might be carrying out.
The problem is, if they have to spend time emptying cupboards to get at batteries or the water pump, or even just to check for damp during a motorhome habitation inspection, it is all going to add time to the task in hand, which you might find being added to the bill for the work.
Time to clear the decks
Here’s an example from my own experience: a motorhome was brought in to check the state of the leisure batteries, because they didn’t seem able to hold a charge for very long.
On entering the ’van, I was met with almost all the floor space covered with bags of stuff, a large gazebo in its pack, several chairs and a table.
Opening the locker where the batteries were housed, I found it packed with clutter, which had to be removed to get at the batteries.
On another occasion, I was carrying out a hab inspection on a motorhome that had just been brought back from an extended stay in Spain (see: touring Europe in a campervan if you’re planning such a trip), and it was rammed to the rafters with gear, to the point where I couldn’t get into the washroom at all.
The final straw was the underwear hanging from an overhead locker handle – presumably to air after washing, but not what I wanted to see!
There are a few good reasons to empty your motorhome when putting it into a workshop. First, it makes the technician’s life easier, which means they’re much less likely to cut corners. It also means there’s no reason to add time to the job, and let’s face it, their time is your money.
Another good reason is to find all the stuff you have been carrying but never use, which can help you maximise your campervan storage options. As Gentleman Jack wisely says: “Once a year, empty everything out of your motorhome; anything you find that you haven’t used in the past year you probably don’t need.”
Carrying stuff that you don’t need is just using up your precious payload, too.
Don’t miss our tips on what you can do to extend the life of your leisure battery, either; after all, most of your ‘van’s equipment will rely on electricity to run, but there are steps you can take to extend the leisure battery’s life and ensure everything continues to run smoothly.
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