Levelling

[Ginge tourer]

How important is it to level the van when parking up? I have so far used my chocks twice when the spirit level (my phone) indicated being out by 2 and 3 degrees front to rear, but when it is only 1 degree is it worth the effort? Plus how do you do left to right as opposed to front to rear?

 

[Hirsch]

How important is it to level the van when parking up? I have so far used my chocks twice when the spirit level (my phone) indicated being out by 2 and 3 degrees front to rear, but when it is only 1 degree is it worth the effort? Plus how do you do left to right as opposed to front to rear?

Good question (last sentence). I have decided that without levelling equipment fitted close has to be near enough.

 

[Janine]

Sometimes you need to be level for the fridge to work, especially in older vans.
To level side to side, chock the wheels on the same side.

 

[monzer]

I like to park so the cupboard doors slowly swing closed and the water in the shower gets a good run to the drain hole.

Apart from being level to keep the fridge happy it's personal preference.

 

[lorger]

If we need to level side to side we will put both ramps on one side so one front and one back, if we need to level front to back plus a little to side we put both ramps under either front or back. We would then place the a ramp at the wheel thats needs raised the highest and the next ramp an inch or two away from other wheel, this will raise the axle to slightly different level in the hope of levelling it.

If you only have one plug hole in the shower tray then you need to be as level as possible, thankfully we have two so less important.

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[M-J]

For left and right go up the levelling ramps higher on the side required.

To do this go up 1 or 2 levels on the side that needs to be higher before you put the ramp under the other wheel and go up that.

 

[pelican]

How important is it to level the van when parking up? I have so far used my chocks twice when the spirit level (my phone) indicated being out by 2 and 3 degrees front to rear, but when it is only 1 degree is it worth the effort? Plus how do you do left to right as opposed to front to rear?

We find the easiest way is to let the tyres down but the wife takes ages to pump them up when we leave.

 

[KiwiKampers]

I am very particular about the van being level. I don’t use a spirit level or phone. It’s just a “feeling”, probably in my inner ear. If I don’t park on the level I will be guaranteed a poor night’s sleep. The blood rushes to my head, or my feet!
My husband doesn’t understand it and has no idea when the van is level so he leaves me to manoeuvre and do what he calls “the f**k about shuffle” until I am happy, or he gets the levelling chocks out of the locker and places them where I tell him to. He’s good like that!

 

[Eggs]

I'm in the that'll do camp, if I don't roll out of bed and water sort of goes down the plug hole I'm level enough.

 

[TheBig1]

When you have been doing it every week for years, you get a sense for when it is about right. No level? put liquid of your choice in a glass and place on floor just inside the door or on a worktop space. When level, the liquid is the same distance down the jar on all sides. When you get it right, switch off ignition leave in gear and pull handbrake on. Then drink your "level" aid to celebrate a job well done

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[Guigsy]

It's something we used to care a lot about. My wife was convinced that it'd be an issue when sleeping. But after spending too much time free camping staying in a lot of spanish carparks where you can't get the ramps out, we've learnt that generally it doesn't matter. Now we only bother if there's a serious slope.

 

[Wissel]

As long as it's level enough for a pan to stay in place on the hob, we are happy.

 

[Lenny HB]

Never used to bother too much, as long the wine bottle didn't fall over and head was higher than feet in the bed.
But since having air suspension and at the press of a button it gets the van dead level 90% of the time I'm a bit more fussy now.
Never bothered with a spirit level I can stand in the van an know instantly if it's level.

 

[DMC65]

When you have been doing it every week for years, you get a sense for when it is about right. No level? put liquid of your choice in a glass and place on floor just inside the door or on a worktop space. When level, the liquid is the same distance down the jar on all sides. When you get it right, switch off ignition leave in gear and pull handbrake on. Then drink your "level" aid to celebrate a job well done

It's difficult to get a yard of ale to stay upright on a slope right enough.

 

[Badknee]

As long as my darling carer‘s gin and tonic (not too much tonic) didn’t slide off the table we were fine but now we’ve got jacks it’s a simple press of a button

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[Potty]

We always try to pitch so that the front is slightly down as we sleep with our feet pointing towards the front.

 

[sedge]

We always try to pitch so that the front is slightly down as we sleep with our feet pointing towards the front.

Yes, if we can't actually get properly level that is - head higher than feet, never the other way about - awful.

A friend insists on using his phone and we were directing him where to pitch on a campsite one time and wanted him to come forward 3 feet. He refused - so he and his wife spent the next 10 days of the rally coming out of their hab door into a puddle. He did accept afterwards that he should have listened - but his wife hasn't forgotten either - so I doubt if he'll ever hear the last!

 

[Wellington]

I cannot sleep head down, and when I last had the caravan out (pre-MH) I could NOT get the thing level. I even swapped to the other end of the bed and I was STILL feet up. We were away for the summer and moving on frequently visiting friends and different parts of the country, and I thought I’d lost the knack (levelling was always my job as a kid. Thought I was pretty good at it by now!)

Turns out, because my bedroom floor at hone wasn’t level (by a very-lot) I was acclimatised to sleeping very feet down, so level felt head down to me! I was in fact levelling the van perfectly. hence feeling feet up both ways round!

I now have a properly level bedroom floor, and E and P levellers, and sleep on the flat wherever I go. Turns out your vestibular system is 1) very sensitive and 2) plastic!

 

[wigster]

As has been said , Head higher than feet when sleeping

 

[Eggs]

As has been said , Head higher than feet when sleeping

Isn't that what pillows provide when the van is 'level enough'?

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[Tombola]

If it feels right its right to me.
I do like the head end of the bed to be slightly higher where possible.
Never ever the other way round, I just couldnt sleep

 

[wigster]

When van is level enough exactly right .

 

[Leakylunar]

Always spent time levelling caravan, so long as my head is slightly higher than my feet in bed in the camper that’ll do me.

 

[MR BLO]

If anything near side higher than the offside. Not for any technical reasons but it helps prevent our fidget bum child falling out of bed.
The problem arises because the wife hears the bump and, without fail, suspects burglars, and so I am despatched from bed to check just in case even though I have to step over the root cause on the way to the door.

 

[dunnah01]

Nearly always end up with the front wheels on the top step of the ramps unless we get lucky with a very sloping site. Our van is a tail in the air AlKo chassis so just parking up leaves the front 6" low which results in the drunken wobble when moving around inside. After about 1000 attempts I still don't have a foolproof method for getting the Comfortmatic 3.0 onto the ramps without using the 'charge at them & slam on the anchors at the top' approach. If I slightly touch the throttle whilst a wheel is on a ramp they just shoot forwards or backwards and I have to start again . I may get some mats one day but we're not planning any trips for a while just yet.

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[RustyRuss]

I must be OCD!! Can’t abide not being level!! We have a TyrePal that tells me the tyre temperature and pressure, I wait for 10-15 minutes until the tyres cool down and have less pressure in them before I get the spirit level out and use our ramps to get perfectly level. Then I attach the “steadies” to the tow bar so that we stay level for the duration.

 

[Detnor]

A level van suggests a level top, a nice flat surface for rain to collect then come off when you move. I reversed off ramps with my wife standing ready to pick the ramps up, she got soaked....lesson learnt.

 

[cmcardle75]

Rather than buy a level and have to store it, there are plenty of spirit level apps on your phone that you can download to do the same thing.

 

[Two on Tour]

 

[Gellyneck]

Rather than buy a level and have to store it, there are plenty of spirit level apps on your phone that you can download to do the same thing.

Even better is a glass of wine. If it doesn't slop over the side it's level enough!
I'm actually thinking of stopping lugging our ramps around with us not used them in the last few years.