Corner Steadies again....

Corner steadies are essential to anyone contemplating a little in-van brain surgery during a particularly severe hurricane. The corner steadies on an Autosleeper Broadway FB 2013 weigh 12Kg.  I know because they are sitting in my loft alongside the Autosleeper carpets, the Autosleeper headboard cushions, the Autosleeper silly triangular cushions from the settee and other assorted trivia put away until we sell the van.  The steadies do provide one other function besides steadying, they afford some slight protection to the rear panel skirt which is rather flimsy fibreglass.  I have replaced my steadies with a much better protection in the form of an aluminium bumper bar bolted on to the steady brackets left behind.  Have a look at the pictures on   jansellsbond.com  for further details.

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I like the idea.

My steadies are not in the loft - we didn't have them fitted in the first place because we knew we wanted a tow bar. I wonder if your idea can still be fitted, or will the tow bar get in the way??

Off to have a look now. Next project - obviously. Thanks (I think )

Dave

Interesting...

We removed the steadies ( which we had never used ) from our EK Broadway. The mass on our rear axle is more critical because of heavy kitchen units etc at the back so even 12 kg is a worthwhile gain.

In the almost 2 years since we bought the van ( May 2014) we have spent 310 nights in it and not missed the steadies once. The rear skirt protection is not something we'd thought of but we will have a look next time we go to the van to have a look for any signs that it might be a good thing to have.

Thanks for the heads- up.

Our steadies are currently wound down and steadying the van nicely, we have a fresh coastal wind hitting the side of the van 24hours a day, without the steadies down I would be sea sick.
Boaby

If you want to save another 12kg swop the 2 x 6kg gas bottles for 2 x 3.9kg bottles. Provides a lot more capacity (space and weight) for stuff I don't really want to keep in the van.
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Sorry off topic but food for thought.

I feel I should caution those with limited experience of their Autosleeper against removing steadies until they are certain that for their own style of use they are unnecessary.

Putting steadies down is a task during pitching that I would be happy to not to do and for the smallest coachbuilts is avoidable but things are different when using larger vans.

It is obvious that many forum members do not socialise when camping but in our Wilton (Berkshire) with a front door and rear lounge, the total contents of the table would slide to the floor if another person stood on the step to access the van unless the steadies were down.

The Mercedes chassis has VERY soft suspension when static and it can be very unpleasant inside in windy conditions if the steadies aren't used.

A coastal site in the north east over easter would be a good location for you to assess whether you want to deploy steadies or not.

Fortunately, our dining room is up at the steering end of the motorhome and we are on a Peugeot chassis and we suffer from no such unpleasantness whether in the wind or when inviting guests in for dinner.  Here is a "Sit Down Meal For 10" picture taken in France last year. I am the bald git in there somewhere.  The tenth diner is of course my wife who in the one taking the shot.
More details about removal of steadylegs on our blog : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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One of those things you rarely use... but when you need them you really need them!

groundhog wrote:One of those things you rarely use... but when you need them you really need them!

Granted we do not have a very long overhang on this Broadway but we did on all of our previous vans and did not have steadies on any of them.

We've survived umpteen storms and gales in many parts of Europe, southern, central and eastern Africa over the past 45 plus years, some of which have destroyed buildings, decimated awnings and caused other havoc. 

We have worried that the entire structure might be blown over- we've seen it happen to a caravan - and we have had to hold on to rooflights and windows , but never once have we wished we had steadies and never felt we have to resort to Stugeron.  Terrified yes, motion -sick never.

I've found the steadies very useful.
I carry a Milenco Giant Double Step, it is easier for my wife to get in an out of our Broadway, as she has mobility problems.
On using the step for the first time, my weight, 17st at the rear of the Broadway, lowered the van so the habitation door would not open as it hit the step on the outside.
The remedy was, lower the steadies and you can even raise the raise the van a tad on the suspension if necessary. A godsend.
This may be not required if we eventually have air suspension fitted, which hopefully should also do the job.

JT

Had a scooter rack fitted directly to the chassis but had  the steadies moved 3ins for the rack to fit . Never know when you might need them.

Steadies are essential when the wind blows as we found out when staying on the marina just outside Gibraltar earlier this year.  
We were awoken at silly hours in the morning with the van rocking violently and I was dispatched by Mrs G to put the steadies down - it did calm things down - both inside and outside the van!! 
Liam

I only use the legs on ours when parked up at home just to take some weight off the rear suspension - think it might minimise the risk of developing "rear end sag"! - on the van that is ..

We have used the steadies on our Rienza because they are fitted. Having moved from a Duetto we are trying all the new toys we didn't have before. Being rear lounge and quite a lot of overhang I think we would feel the difference.
 We hired a coach build with a fixed rear bed before buying our own van. Rear steadies would have been a good idea for that. The whole van rocked every time you turned over in bed. Not an Autosleeper a Pilote.
 I cant see our Rienza having problems with grounding due to the tow bar, it is very solid.  I backed over a flower bed in a Car Park and took a few weeds and grass with us as we left.
 I stopped a caravan on the motorway with one back steady down. The other one was missing. The tow vehicle was a battered old Series 3  Diesel Landrover. He couldnt here  or feel the steady dragging on the road.

Morning all, thanks for these comments. I have not tried the 'steadies' yet on our Winnie however is 'rear end sag' a potential problem? I guess that like any mechanical device, if left for long periods there may be an issue of the springs 'settling' if the van is unsupported? At the moment we haven't had any problems with the van feeling too 'lively' when parked up although we have not experienced any heavy weather to date!
One to experiment on my retirement in 25 24 days time!!
I must congratulate Steve 00136 of his excellent use of the gas bottle space as an extra 'wet stowage' locker! We spent some time yesterday trying where we can put 'stuff' for our first long trip in July!! Andy

Hi Andy

I don't know about your van, but we have always found Nuevos to be down a little at the front, so a bit of saggy bottom wouldn't be a problem. We always try to park uphill if there's a slight slope.

Dave

When you do park somewhere where you are likely to get strong winds, Andy, make sure that you don't park sideways on to the wind. That magnifies the effect and, if the prevailing wind is on your door side, makes it difficult to open the door. 

Parking nose on to the wind means you take advantage of the stream-lining effect of the van shape. If its a cold wind you might like to cover the front vents or close the internal inlets to avoid internal draughts. 

We spend much of the winter travelling in Spain where there can be fierce and destructive winds, sometimes blowing for days on end.  When the van is corkscrewing around I wonder if having steadies down might be more destructive than useful.  When we park rear end on to the prevailing wind, as we sometimes have to do, when the gusts hit you can feel the rear end lift and slam back down towards the ground. If the steadies were down then surely there could be damage ?

Quilter wrote:When we park rear end on to the prevailing wind, as we sometimes have to do, when the gusts hit you can feel the rear end lift and slam back down towards the ground. If the steadies were down then surely there could be damage ?

If you use a couple of short wooden blocks under each steady you can save a lot of winding. It also means that if the wind does lift the steadies off the block they are likely to tumble and leave the steady in free air till you can attend to it. This actually happened to me in the very high winds we had when on the Cambridge Cherry Hinton site in early February this year. Inside the van it was immediately apparent that the steadies were no longer steadying but no harm was done.

Thanks Quilter and Peter, both of your observations makes absolute sense. As a former seafarer I'm used to 'heaving to' in severe weather! However, hadn't thought about it for motor-homing!
Also, having some timber blocks makes good sense and having seen how steve00136 packs his gas bottle locker that's where we will store them!
My only experience with severe storms whilst driving a MH occurred several years ago in South Africa where we got caught in the Karoo is a severe thunderstorm and had to find shelter in a small town. We found a building to shelter in the lee of as the van was impossible to drive due to getting blown around - I haven't told my beloved of that experience as anything more than 'light zephyrs' is a gale to her!

Just a thought.

If the interminable winding is a pain in the back (it would be to me!!) you could get a cheap battery drill and use that with an extended winder socket.

To locate the socket on the winding nut of the steadies, fix a short length of kitchen waste pipe in place over the nut to guide the socket on. Then you don't have to do a limbo dance to find and fit onto them.

Dave

We too have experience of driving our motorhome across the Karoo and well remember a horrific thunder and lightning storm when camped on the slopes of Spion Kop one December. Throughout it all, amazingly given the conditions, the cherubic voices of King's College Choir and the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on the World Service.   We seriously thought it might be the last sounds we heard. 

We had a Brazilian VW aircooled engine then and knew every VW agent in central and south Africa as we were always having to stop en route for more bits or repairs.

Exactly what we do as well Gromit works a treat

groundhog wrote:Exactly what we do as well Gromit works a treat

Ditto. Cheap drill from Argos; adapter from drill to extension bar, with socket at the end.

Quick update: Thanks for advice. After a bit of faffing (including lying under the van until I noted the access holes cut neatly in the rear skirt Doh!) I tested the steadies on the drive yesterday. They were nicely greased (presumably by Marquis during pre-handover service) and easy to wind down and up!
I have also taken Peters advice and cut some ply blocks to assist with avoiding 'bounce' on soft ground or in strong winds.
Once again, this Forum has provided invaluable advice to a incompetent newby! Thanks, Andy