Most of the damage a caravan suffers happens while it's standing still. A few hours of preparation in October saves a lot of money and disappointment in April.
To store a caravan or motorhome over winter: clean and dry it inside and out, empty and flush the water system completely, remove or trickle-charge the leisure battery, leave cupboards and the fridge propped open so air moves, raise soft furnishings off surfaces, inflate the tyres and move it periodically to avoid flat spots, and store it on level hardstanding rather than grass. At SOS Storage a level hardstanding pitch on a gated, floodlit, CCTV-monitored yard near Newton Abbot and Torquay is £120 a month including VAT, with access every day of the year from 7:30am to 8:30pm.
A caravan that's been shut up wet in October is a caravan with mould on the upholstery in March. The inside needs to be properly dry before you close the door, and it needs air moving through it afterwards.
Clean it out completely — every crumb, every damp towel, anything organic. Leave cupboard doors, lockers and the fridge propped open so air can circulate rather than sitting still in sealed compartments. Lift cushions and mattresses onto their edges, or take them home altogether if you've got the space; soft furnishings left flat against a cold surface are where damp shows up first.
A couple of moisture traps inside make a genuine difference, and cost very little. What doesn't help is sealing every vent to keep the weather out — that traps the moisture already inside with nowhere to go.
This is the one that turns into a real bill. Water left in pipes, taps, the boiler or the water heater expands when it freezes and splits things that are awkward and expensive to reach.
Drain the whole system down: fresh tank, waste tank, water heater, and open every tap including the shower to let the lines empty. Leave the taps open over winter so any residue has somewhere to expand into. Empty and clean the toilet cassette properly rather than just rinsing it.
South Devon is mild by national standards, but 'mild' still gets hard frosts in January, and a single cold snap is enough.
A leisure battery left connected over winter will flatten, and a battery left flat for months is usually finished. Either take it out and keep it on a trickle charger at home, or fit a suitable charger if you can. Disconnect it either way so nothing quietly draws on it for five months.
Tyres develop flat spots when a heavy van sits in one position for months, and tyre walls degrade with age even when the tread looks perfect. Inflate to the correct pressure before it goes away, and move the van a little now and then over the winter if you can — a few feet forward or back is enough to change where the weight sits.
Take the handbrake off and chock the wheels instead if you're storing for a long period, so the brakes don't seize on.
Grass and soft ground are a poor choice. Damp rises straight into the underside of the van, and a wet winter turns a grass pitch into something you can't tow off without churning it up or getting stuck.
Level hardstanding avoids both problems, and it makes manoeuvring far easier — you can reverse a twin-axle on and off without jacks, chocks or a shove. Level standing also means the van sits as it was designed to, which matters for doors, drawers and the fridge.
Security is the other half of it. An unattended caravan on a driveway or a field is a soft target over winter. A fenced, gated, floodlit yard with CCTV is a different proposition, and most insurers take a considerably kinder view of it.
Tell your insurer where the van is stored. Many policies specify the storage address, and some reduce the premium for a secure site — but a claim from an address the insurer doesn't know about is a claim you may struggle to make.
It's worth photographing the van inside and out before it goes into storage, and noting the serial or CRiS number somewhere that isn't inside the van itself. If the worst happens, that record does a lot of work.
Finally, check whether your policy requires any particular security device to be fitted while stored — a hitch lock or wheel clamp is a common condition and an easy one to overlook.
Don't just hitch up and go. Check tyre pressures and look properly at the sidewalls, reconnect and test the battery, flush the water system through before you drink from it, and test the lights and brakes on the drive rather than discovering a fault on the A38.
Give it a week's notice in your head if you can — problems found in the yard on a Tuesday are inconvenient, and the same problems found at the start of a fortnight away are a ruined holiday.