How to Lay Up Your Caravan for Winter Storage

Winter Storage Guide

A practical guide from Bedam Leisure — caravan & motorhome specialists

Here's the thing about winter and your caravan: the cold itself does almost no harm. What does the damage is what the cold turns water into. A few millilitres left sitting in a pipe or a water heater freezes, expands, and quietly cracks a fitting you won't discover until spring — and a van sealed up tight with no airflow grows damp in the cushions and corners while you're not there to notice.

Both are completely avoidable. A proper layup is really just two big jobs done well — get the water out, and keep the air moving — plus a bit of care for the battery, the bodywork and the locks. Here's how we'd put a tourer to bed for the winter, in the order we'd actually do it.

What you're really protecting against

Three things go wrong over a British winter, and all three are preventable. First, frost damage: any water left in the plumbing or water heater can freeze and split a pipe, a tap or the heater tank. Second, damp: warm, moist air meeting cold surfaces in a closed-up van turns to condensation, and condensation left for months becomes mould in the soft furnishings. Third, a flat leisure battery: left to slowly discharge, it sulphates internally and may never hold a proper charge again. Tackle those three and your van comes out of storage in spring exactly as it went in.

1 The water

Drain every last drop

This is the single most important job, and the one most likely to cost you if it's skipped. Empty the fresh-water tank, the water heater and the pipework completely. Work through it in order: switch off the water heater and let it cool, turn off the pump, then open every tap — hot and cold — and leave them open so the system can drain and can't hold a vacuum. Open the drain valves and let it all run out, then leave those drain valves open for the whole of the winter.

One important exception — Alde wet heating. If your van has an Alde radiator-style central-heating system, you don't drain that circuit. It stays filled with glycol antifreeze all year; the winter job is to check the strength and top it up with the correct fluid, such as Alde Premium G12++ antifreeze. The fresh-water plumbing still gets drained as above — it's only the sealed heating loop that stays wet.

Don't forget the toilet flush tank and the cassette — empty, rinse and leave them dry — and tip out any water filter housings. A torch and five minutes spent chasing the last cupful out of low points is the cheapest insurance you'll buy all year.

2 The damp

Keep the air moving

A caravan doesn't go damp because it's cold — it goes damp because it's sealed. Trapped moist air has nowhere to go, so it settles on cold walls and windows and soaks into anything soft. The fix costs nothing: airflow. Leave the roof vents and trickle vents open (they're designed to stay open — never block them), and leave internal doors, the wardrobe, lockers and the fridge door ajar so air can circulate everywhere rather than pooling in closed spaces.

Then take the moisture sources out. Lift cushions and seat bases on their edges so air gets underneath, and ideally bring bedding, towels, cushions and removable mattresses home to store dry and warm. Stand a few moisture-trap tubs in the cupboards and corners and check them through the winter. If your storage has power and you can visit, a little low-level background warmth on the coldest spells keeps surfaces above dew point and makes a real difference.

When you visit, air it properly. Open the windows and run the heating for a short while with the van open — ten minutes of moving, warmed air does more to shift damp than anything you can leave running unattended.

3 The battery

Look after the leisure battery

A leisure battery hates two things: being left flat, and being left part-charged for months. Charge it fully before you walk away — after a day's rest, a healthy 12V battery should read 12.7V or more at the terminals. If your storage has a mains supply and you can leave a smart charger or maintainer connected, that's the easy route: it tops the battery up as it self-discharges and holds it healthy all winter.

No power where it's stored? Take the battery home. Keep it somewhere dry and frost-free, pop a maintainer on it, and check the charge about once a month, topping it up as needed. One caveat worth knowing: removing the battery can disable an alarm or tracker, and some insurers require those to be live — check your policy before you pull it.

4 The outside

Cover it — but let it breathe

A good cover keeps months of grime, leaf-fall, bird mess and UV off your bodywork, seals and graphics, and makes the spring clean a quick job rather than a weekend. The one rule that matters: it has to be breathable. A cheap plastic tarp traps moisture against the van and creates exactly the damp problem you're trying to avoid — a proper breathable cover lets the bodywork dry while still shedding rain. Choose one sized to your van's length so it fits snugly and doesn't flap and chafe in winter winds.

Don't forget the tyres. Standing still for months, tyres lose pressure, flat-spot and perish faster. Inflate them to the correct pressure before layup, keep the van off soft ground if you can, and roll it a few inches every so often so the same patch isn't loaded all winter.

5 The security

Lock it down

An unattended van out of sight for months is a target, and your insurer will almost certainly expect to see physical security in place. A visible, insurance-approved wheel clamp is the single best deterrent — most opportunist thieves move on the moment they see one. A hitchlock adds a second layer, and if you have the choice, a CaSSOA-rated storage site ticks the box many policies ask for and often trims your premium too.