On 23rd March 2013 a tornado ripped through the Cobram area tossing caravans and trees around. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297527/Tornado-tears-houses-Australia-like-bomb-going-off.html
On 20th November 2003 caravans upturned at Cullullaraine in a mini cyclone https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-11-20/mini-cyclone-creates-havoc-at-cullulleraine/1511740
The web is full of these stories just google "caravans upturned storm"
In 2016 we were in Burra Burra SA. We had our 11ft home made caravan (ATM 750kg) and we had word there was a storm brewing. Fortunately when building the van with steel frame, I built in secure points on an external wall where an internal wall was used for strength. The storm arrived so intense our washing on the line was horizontal. A few dual axle 18ft + caravans threatened to tip over with one changing its angle at the wind. Scary stuff.
So one idea is mentioned on the www. " In these cases use either short lengths of strong chain and turnbuckles or sound rope (preferably steel cable) of at least 9.5 mm (3/8 inch) diameter to secure the chassis to the ground anchor points."
In my case I purchased 8x 200mm coach bolts and welded them to make them 350mm long. Using the battery drill into the ground and I use heavy duty trailer straps around the chassis. Pictured is a method to tie down the wheels which I imagine would be preferable as the van body would rock in the wind.
I am not so sure that strong chain and turnbuckles is a good idea. If the wind is shaking the van you want some elasticity in the restraints to reduce jerking at the attachment and tiedown points. If there is no stretch the sudden jerks will be more likely to break things and pull out the ground attachments.
In boats, nylon is regarded as the best choice for the anchor line because its stretch capabilities reduce the jerking.
I can imagine the weakest point would be the attachment on the van. For the wheel tiedowns, pegs at different angles would help. But with the wheels secured, the suspension will allow movement of the body. Back to the first point.
"The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm." - Confucius
-- Edited by Are We Lost on Tuesday 17th of October 2023 09:47:13 AM
Maybe chaining the axle/s down +hitch. Allows rocking via suspension Tony
That'd work, but those winds sometimes are almost unbelievable.When I was in Wales I saw semi-trailers being overturned by strong winds on the Severn Bridge so I parked the mighty Kombi van in between a couple of big sheds. Cheers
If a known cylone is forecast for your area, best course of action is pack up and leave the zone.
However a few years ago in Nth Qld our area was hit by a mini cyclone very unexpected, a couple of vans had their awnings folded up and others no effect, to our van there was no damage, our van has a full Annex setup with full AFK arms, roof rafters and walls pegged to the ground, this make the awning and van a more secure stucture in high winds.
The washup of the weater event it appears the 2 vans had their awning with the arms attached to van with guy ropes with springs angled out from the roller, another van had in the same way survived, but he had his guy ropes angled back to the van.
Exactly. Longreach 2016, several hot days without wind some caravanners took a bus tour. The wind suddenly arrived so the rest of us were scrambling saving awnings including our own.
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Be nice... if I wanted my school teacher here I would have invited him...
Exactly. Longreach 2016, several hot days without wind some caravanners took a bus tour. The wind suddenly arrived so the rest of us were scrambling saving awnings including our own.
Best practice is to always double guy & peg awning every time it is deployed.
In known windy areas like beachfront sites, I drop the guys at night & roll the awning in .. unless I have the annex walls attached, in which case I close all the rollup 'windows' & do a walk around to check the pegs & guys.
Of course, none of this is sufficient if a cyclone is imminent.
