Caravan Pre-Departure Check: How to Hitch Up Without Missing a Step
Picture this. The kettle is washed and packed, the dog is finally settled, and the next free camp is 280 km up the highway. You ease the rig forward, gravel crunches under the tyres, and you roll out into the morning with the kind of calm that only comes from knowing every chain, plug and latch is exactly where it should be. That calm is not luck. It is the product of a caravan pre-departure check done properly, the same way, every single time.
Hitching up is the single highest-risk task in caravanning. An unsecured roof, a forgotten breakaway line or a hand brake left on can turn a relaxed travel day into a $4,000 repair, a roadside breakdown 90 km from the nearest tow truck or worse, a fatality on the highway. The good news is that none of this is hard. It just has to be systematic.
Why Structure Beats Memory Every Time
The brain is a poor checklist. After 12 weeks on the road, the hitch-up sequence feels obvious, and that is exactly when steps get skipped. You think you put the lynch pin in. You are almost certain the gas is off. Almost certain is not certain. The accidents that make the caravan forums are rarely caused by people who do not know what to check. They are caused by experienced travellers who knew, but assumed.
A structured procedure removes the assumption. It does not matter whether you have hitched up 5 times or 500 times. The check is the check. You work the same zones in the same order and you tick the same boxes. The list does the remembering so you do not have to.
A proper pre-departure routine has three traits:
- It is zone-based. You walk a deliberate path around the rig (front to side to rear to side to front) and check everything in that zone before moving on. No zig-zagging back and forth.
- It is double-checked at the hitch. The hitch area is where the consequences of a missed step are the most severe, so it gets checked twice from two different angles.
- It is documented. On paper, in a notes app, laminated and stuck to the door of the van. The format does not matter. The existence of it does.
Use the List Every Time, Even When You Think You Do Not Need To
This is the part most experienced caravanners get wrong. After a few months on the road they retire the list, run from memory, and trust the routine. The routine is fine until the day it is not. Until the day a phone call interrupts the sequence, or the dog runs off, or you are tired after a 600 km leg and your brain swaps step 7 with step 9.
The rule is simple. Use a physical or digital checklist in hand every single time until the checks are completely automatic. Then keep using it anyway. The list is no longer a learning tool at that point, it is a safety net. The 30 seconds it takes to tick the boxes is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Pilots use checklists for a good reason.
Do Not Forget the Inside of the Van
External checks get the attention because the consequences are visible. The internal walk-through gets skipped because it feels like housekeeping. It is not housekeeping. It is load security.
A drawer left unlatched will empty itself across the floor on the first decent corrugation. A roof fan left up will snap off at 90 km/h. A TV that was not slid back into its mount will be on the floor of the van by lunchtime. The internal check should cover:
- All drawers closed and latched.
- Cupboard doors locked.
- Fridge door locked closed.
- Non-essential electrical switches turned off (do not leave your water pump on, as you may arrive with no water and a burnt-out pump).
- Roof fans and skylights wound down and locked.
- TV stowed in its travel position and secured.
- Loose items (cups, books, phones, water bottles) put away in cupboards or on the floor, not on the bench.
- Windows closed, hatches latched, blinds and screens secured.
- Heavy items (water bottles, tool boxes) on the floor rather than up high, to keep the centre of gravity low.
⚠️ The Interruption Warning: Do everything possible to avoid being interrupted during your pre-departure checks.
Interruptions are the single biggest cause of skipped steps. A neighbour wanders over for a chat. The kids ask where the snacks are. A camp host needs to confirm departure. The phone rings. You stop, you handle the interruption, and when you come back to the rig you pick up where you think you left off. You are almost always wrong.
Before you start the check:
- Tell anyone in earshot that you are doing the checks and need 5 minutes uninterrupted.
- Put the phone on silent or in the cab.
- Sort out the dog, the kids and the rubbish first, not halfway through.
- If you do get interrupted, go back to the start of that zone and re-check it. Do not pick up where you think you stopped.
Skipped steps cause accidents. A 60-second interruption can cost you a wheel on the highway. Treat the check as the most important 5 minutes of your day, because it is.
Every Rig Is Different: Build Your Own List
The checklist below summarises the one we use for our hybrid off-road caravan with a DO35 hitch, Stone Stomper, rear extension and pop-top setup. The image at the start of the page is the top part of our list. It will not match your rig exactly. A camper trailer will be shorter. A 22-foot full-height tourer will be longer.
Build your own. Walk around your rig and write down every component that has to be in a specific state before you move (closed, locked, retracted, connected, isolated, disengaged). Group it by zone. Print it. Laminate it. Use it.
What follows is an example of a thorough zone-by-zone walkthrough. Treat it as a template, not a prescription.
Example Caravan Pre-Departure Checklist: Zone-by-Zone Walkthrough
The walk starts at the passenger-side hitch area, moves down the passenger side to the rear, around to the driver’s side, and finishes back at the driver’s-side hitch area for a deliberate double-check.
Zone 1: Passenger Side, Hitch Area
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Gas off at the bottle and lid secure | Essential safety practice when towing (if you have a 3-way fridge, use 12V while driving instead), and mandatory in tunnels, on ferries, and at fuel stations. |
| Area behind stone guard and around jerry cans clear of loose items | Anything loose becomes a projectile under the van or against the tow vehicle. |
| Roof down, latches closed and lynch pins in place | A roof that pops up at 100 km/h is a catastrophic failure. |
| Hitch (DO35) connected, button down, lid in place | This is the only thing physically connecting the van to the car. Check it twice. |
| Safety chains connected and crossed | Crossing the chains catches the drawbar if the hitch fails. |
| Trailer plug connected and locked | No plug means no brake lights, no indicators, no electric brakes. |
| Breakaway cable connected to the tow vehicle (not the safety chain) | If the van separates, this engages the van’s brakes. Connect to a dedicated point on the car. |
| Anderson plug (DC-DC charging) connected | Charges the van batteries while driving. |
| Rear camera plug connected | Cheap to forget, hard to reverse without. |
| Hand brake disengaged | Towing with the hand brake on cooks the drums in under 10 km. |
| Stone Stomper in place and secure | Stops gravel from chipping the front of the van and the rear of the car. |
Zone 2: Passenger Side of the Van
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Awning completely wound in and secured | A partially wound awning will unroll at highway speed and tear off the side of the van. |
| Doors, windows and hatches closed and locked | An unlatched door can swing open into traffic; locks stop them rattling loose on corrugations. |
| Entry step retracted or stowed | An unretracted step will hit the first speed bump or kerb and bend. |
| Wheels visually checked: pressure looks right, no damage, no foreign objects in the tread | A slow leak or a stone in the tread spotted now is a 5-minute fix; spotted at 90 km/h it is a blowout. |
| Wheel nuts: when were they last torque-checked? | Wheel nuts loosen, especially after a tyre change or rough corrugations. If you cannot answer when, do it before you leave. |
| Campsite scan: chairs, hoses, pegs, doormat, kids’ toys, water containers | The number of $200 items left at campsites across Australia would fund a small country. |
Zone 3: Rear of the Van
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Rear roof section down, latches closed, lynch pins in place | Same logic as the front roof: if it pops up at speed, it tears. |
| Spare wheels up and locked into the fold-away rear extension | A 30 kg spare wheel falling off the back at speed is lethal to the car behind you. |
| Protective cover on the gas bayonet fitting | Stops dust, mud and stones from entering the gas regulator vent on dirt roads. |
| Rear lights and reflectors clear of mud or dust | The car behind you cannot see your brake lights through 2 mm of bull dust. |
Zone 4: Driver’s Side of the Van
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Windows and hatches closed and locked | A hatch that pops at highway speed will be ripped off the hinge. |
| Wheels visually checked: pressure, damage, foreign objects in tread | Same logic as the passenger side. Check both sides every time. |
| Roof vent closed and latched | An open vent will rip off at 90 km/h and put a hole in the roof. |
| Solar panels flat (if you run tilting panels) | A tilted panel becomes a sail at highway speed and tears its mounts. |
Zone 5: Driver’s Side Hitch Area, The Double-Check
This is the most important zone. You have just walked around the entire rig. You repeat the hitch-area checks from the other side because getting the hitch right is paramount and a second look from a different angle catches what the first pass missed. Same items as Zone 1, this time from the driver’s side:
- Gas off and lid secure.
- Area behind stone guard and around jerry cans clear of loose items.
- Roof down, latches closed, lynch pins in place.
- Hitch (DO35) connected, button down, lid in place.
- Safety chains connected and crossed.
- Trailer plug connected and locked.
- Breakaway cable connected correctly.
- Anderson plug connected.
- Reversing camera plug connected.
- Hand brake disengaged.
- Stone Stomper in place and secure.
Final Departure Protocol: In-Cab and Moving Checks
External checks complete. Now you get behind the wheel and a separate, shorter checklist takes over.
- Start the engine. Confirm the brake controller is powered up and showing connection to the van.
- Full lights check, with a partner outside the rig. Indicators (left and right), brake lights, running lights, reversing lights. Do not skip this because you checked them yesterday. A trailer plug can corrode overnight.
- Brake controller test on pull-away. As soon as you start moving forward, press the manual override on the brake controller. You should feel the van brakes engage and slow the rig. If you do not feel anything, stop and investigate. This is the only test that proves the electric brakes are working before you hit the open road.
- One final look back at the site. As you drive away look back and check for anything that you left behind.
- Mirror check at 5 km. After you have been moving for 5 km, glance at the van in the side mirrors. Is it tracking straight? Any unusual movement? Any flapping covers or unsecured items? This catches anything the static check missed.
Make the List Yours
This whole article reduces to one idea: stop relying on your memory and start relying on a list. The list does not make you less experienced, it makes you less likely to be the experienced traveller whose van separated from the car at 90 km/h on the Bruce Highway.
Write yours this week. Walk around your rig with a notebook. Group the checks by zone. Print two copies, one for the van and one for the car. Use it on every single hitch-up, including the 10 km move to the next free camp.
For the technical context that underpins why some of these checks matter (particularly anything involving the hitch, the chains and the breakaway cable), read our deep-dive on caravan towing weights. For more setup and trip-prep articles, the full Caravan Guides hub is the place to start. And if you want to see what happens when corrugations meet a poorly-secured rig in real-world conditions, our Gibb River Road for Caravans hub covers the trip that will test every checklist you have ever written.
