Caravan maintenance checklist for owners who rent out
A rental caravan works harder than the family one, and the renter who collects it on Friday cannot tell a tired bearing from a good one. This is the checklist for the gap between bookings. The walk-around before every handover, the hour you give it every few rentals, the once-a-year workshop visit, and the papers that stay on board.
A private caravan stands in the yard most of the year. A rental caravan on Kampi can go out with a new driver every few days through December, each with their own idea of what "gravel road" means. Things wear. The renter will not notice a bearing running hot, and by the time they do, it is your caravan on the side of the N1.
So break the job into three habits. A walk-around before every handover. A closer look every month, or every few rentals. A proper service once a year, plus a deeper check in mid-May before the cross-border season and again in mid-October before December. That is the Kampi Care rhythm. Write every check down. A filled-in Service Booklet from the Kampi Store feeds your Listing Health Score, and "the last renter did not complain" is not a maintenance record.
Before every rental
Do this the day before handover, hitched to your own vehicle on level ground, so a flat battery or a dead indicator has time to be fixed. It is the same walk-around the renter is told to do on the collecting your caravan page, so anything you skip is what they will find.
Tyres and wheels
Caravan tyres die of age and sun, not kilometres.
0 of 6 done
The torque figure comes from the bolt size, not just the wheel material. AL-KO's chassis handbook gives 49 Nm for M10, 88 Nm for M12 on steel wheels, 110 Nm for M12 on alloy, 135 Nm for M14 and 210 Nm for M16. Cross sequence, no rattle gun, nothing on the threads. If a wheel has been off, re-check after 50 km.
Lights and plug
0 of 5 done
Most intermittent light faults are corrosion, at the pins or at an earth point. Look there first.
Coupling, breakaway and jockey wheel
0 of 8 done
A braked caravan must have a breakaway device that puts the brakes on if it comes off the ball. That requirement sits in the compulsory build standard every South African caravan is homologated to (VC 8026, which Regulation 216 makes a road requirement), not in a numbered traffic regulation. Wrap the cable around the jockey wheel and you have disabled it.
1 Nose weight is the downward push on the tow ball. VC 8026 fixes the band at 25 to 100 kg for a loaded caravan. Check yours with a bathroom scale under the coupling before the season starts.
Gas
0 of 6 done
2 Gas safety: 9 kg cylinder, regulator, soapy water test on the joints, and ventilation
220 V and battery
0 of 4 done
The test button proves the mechanism moves, not how sensitive it is. Most "the solar is broken" messages from renters turn out to be a flat battery, so test the charging side too.
Water, fridge and inside
0 of 7 done
Every month, or every few rentals
Once a month in season, or after every three or four bookings, unhitch, chock and give it an hour.
0 of 8 done
Bearings are the quiet killer. AL-KO's schedule for a taper-roller axle is a play check after 1 500 km or six months and a grease check after 10 000 km or twelve months. Kampi's fleet rhythm is the same, with 2 500 km for real off-road use, and AL-KO adds a regrease soon after any water crossing. A set of bearings and seals costs under R500. A hub that lets go near Kuruman does not.
Damp is the slow one. Hardware store silicone fails in 18 to 24 months of South African sun. Use a UV-stable polyurethane sealant, and plan a full re-seal of roof and windows every three to four years.
Once a year
Book a workshop for the parts you should not do yourself. Kampi Care's workshop list names the workshops Kampi uses. One of them, Noord Karavane, is run by the brother of a Kampi founder, so you know where our bias sits.
0 of 12 done
Between bookings: storage
0 of 6 done
Lithium batteries will not take a charge below 0 degrees C at the cell, which is why Kampi's power guide prefers AGM for a caravan that winters in the Drakensberg or the Cederberg.
The paperwork set
0 of 4 done
The tare and GVM on the disc are what a renter and a traffic officer will read, and the what can I tow page tells renters to compare them with their own licence disc before they book. If you have added a battery box, a second cylinder and a roof rack since it was registered, the tare may no longer be true, and changing the figures means re-registration with a letter from a roadworthy station. On a change of ownership, Regulation 138 requires roadworthy certification within 60 days before relicensing.
A certificate of compliance for the 220 V side is best practice rather than settled law. The Electrical Installation Regulations require one, valid for up to two years, from every user or lessor of an electrical installation, but whether a caravan's wiring counts has never been ruled on. Get one anyway if you have changed the wiring.
Common questions
What is the legal minimum tyre tread depth for a caravan in South Africa?
Regulation 212 of the National Road Traffic Regulations says 1 mm, with a clearly visible pattern across the full breadth and circumference of the tyre. The same regulation makes a tyre illegal the moment the tread is level with the built-in wear indicator bars, and on a modern tyre those sit at about 1.6 mm. A trailer is a motor vehicle under the Act, so this applies to your caravan. Treat the wear bars as the legal line, and on a loaded caravan replace at about 3 mm.
How often should I repack the wheel bearings on a rental caravan?
AL-KO's chassis handbook says check the hub play after 1 500 km or six months, and check the grease quantity and quality after 10 000 km or twelve months, renewing it if needed. Kampi Care works to the same rhythm, once a year or every 10 000 to 12 000 km, and every 2 500 km if the caravan does real off-road work. Any noise, rust or heat marks mean a new cup and cone as a set, whatever the calendar says.
Does my caravan need a gas certificate of conformity to rent it out?
Yes. A caravan with a gas installation must have a gas certificate of conformity under regulation 17 of the Pressure Equipment Regulations, 2009, and only an installer registered with SAQCC Gas may issue it. The caravan standard is SANS 10087-2. You need a new certificate after any change to the gas system or when the caravan changes hands. Kampi's host guide asks for one, and it lives with the caravan's papers.
What torque do the wheel nuts on a caravan need?
It depends on the bolt size, not just the wheel material. AL-KO's figures are 49 Nm for M10, 88 Nm for M12 on steel wheels, 110 Nm for M12 on alloy wheels, 135 Nm for M14 and 210 Nm for M16. Read the handbook or the axle plate, then tighten in a cross pattern with a hand torque wrench. Never lubricate the bolts, and re-check after 50 km.
How do I know if a tyre is too old even though it still has tread?
Read the four-digit date code on the sidewall. "2219" means week 22 of 2019. Continental's South African advice for caravan and trailer tyres is six years, eight at the very latest, however much tread is left. A caravan tyre spends most of its life standing in the sun, and that is what kills it.
What should the battery read before a handover?
Above 12.6 V at rest, which is Kampi Care's line and roughly 90 percent charged on Trojan's state-of-charge table. At rest means the battery has stood for at least six hours with nothing charging or discharging it. A reading taken while the fridge is running or the solar panel is charging tells you nothing.
Should I leave the handbrake on when the caravan stands for weeks?
AL-KO says the handbrake must be fully up, at 90 degrees, whenever the caravan is parked, and that a disconnected caravan should have every wheel chocked. Some owners release the handbrake for months-long storage and rely on chocks alone, so the shoes do not bond to the drums. Either way, chock every wheel. And never leave a disconnected caravan on chocks with the handbrake off on a slope.
