articles and blog
Remember to shut the fridge
Category: What could possibly go wrong?. Published: 23 Jun 2009
There are a lot of things that you need to do when you pack up your campervan, motorhome, caravan or recreation vehicle. One of the most important is to make sure the fridge door is shut properly.
My first van
Flinders Ranges, SA
My early travels in my first campervan were around the Flinders Ranges in SA. On several occasions I stopped in a caravan park or camping ground and found the contents of the fridge on the floor of the van. At first I thought this meant I hadn't closed the fridge door properly, but, after about the third time this happened I knew for sure that I had shut the door properly so obviously it was opening itself while the van was moving. There was a problem with the door catch, it was too loose to hold the door closed. I was in the middle of nowhere at the time so I installed a temporary solution. As with most temporary solutions that work, it became a permanent solution.
My second van
I've had a similar problem on a number of occasions in my second van, but each time it has been my own fault, not a design fault in the fridge.
Northern Flinders Ranges, SA
When I got to the camping ground in the Gammon Ranges (Vulkathunha) National Park I opened the van to find broken eggs all over the floor. I shut the fridge properly before I left the caravan park that morning, but I went shopping after that, put the groceries in the fridge and obviously didn't shut the door properly. I'd been expecting this since the first day I put eggs in the fridge in the old van. It could have been worse, at least in this van I have vinyl on the floor, in the old van I had carpet. Cleaning this floor is easy -- getting eggs out of carpet would not have been.
Tasmanian West Coast
I was driving down the West Coast of Tasmania along a long, rough, winding and hilly road. When I got to Strahan I found that I'd left the fridge unlocked. At least the eggs stayed inside the fridge this time. Shame the blueberries didn't do the same. They'd rolled all around the van, and everything else that had been in the fridge had rolled over the top of them; there were squashed blueberries everywhere. The white vinyl on the floor was now a shade of purple. I spent the afternoon cleaning. I always check the fridge when I pack up the van, but when I stop for lunch...
Launceston, Tasmania
I drove from Scottsdale to Burnie and dropped my sister-in-law off at the Launceston airport on the way -- where I found that I hadn't locked the fridge properly again. This time the eggs found their way out of the fridge and all over the floor, but luckily not on my sister-in-law's luggage. I spent the next hour or so cleaning before I continued my drive.
I'm sure I'll be adding to this list at some stage...