I am fairly new to being a caravan / eriba bod but in my research before I bought our 530 Troll I read a number of posts where people had suggested it was important to make sure that there was not too much rust on the chassis. When we went to buy our van I had a good look underneath and was surprised how clean it was for 15+ years old. This weekend I decided to get right under the van for a close up look and it is amazingly rust free.

Whilst I was down there I painted a layer of Ankor Wax over all the metal framework - its something I have used over the years on many old Land Rovers that I have renovated. It is really easy to use and now I can be sure that my rust free chassis will remain that way for years to come.

Have other people treated the chassis over the years?

Colin - there are some small holes in the chassis to allow air movement which is normal, they are less than 5mm in diameter I would say. If it was a landrover the holes are much larger and I would have been applying it with a compressed airline and do have a tool that can be used to squirt right inside the chassis rail. Honestly the condition of my eriba chassis after 15+ years was spotless so I did not bother using the compressed air as it is quite messy and results in overspray and I did not feel it was needed.

Randa - I did not find any rust really on my chassis. Perhaps the only very small spots where on the very outside where the chassis meets the body work. On these I used a small wire brush the size of tooth brush to just take off the top layer of rust and then painted the ankor wax right ontop. If there had been anything more than just surface flakes I would have rubbed it down and used hammerite paint and then ankor wax ontop once it was dry.

Ankor wax is brilliant stuff, it is quite thick so I tend to fill a bucket with warm water and leave it to warm up for 20 minutes and then it is runny like paint. You can easily paint it on with a brush using a jam jar to take small amounts under with you. Ankor wax can be used over dirt or even when the chassis is wet as it displaces the water and sticks to the metal like you would not believe. I probably used three jam jars for the whole chassis so you do not need very much.

It was fun under there as well - I could see where all the electrics, water etc was routed. Its worth using the jockey wheel to move the front / back up or down and do half the chassis then adjust the jockey wheel and do the other half to give maximum space underneath.

Safety Note: obviously please chock the wheels to ensure caravan cannot move as you need to raise the four stabiliser arms to do this job!!! Do not rely just on handbrake!

Yeah - not the easiest place to get into but once you are down there is was much easier to work on than most cars I have had the misfortune of getting under!!