When our guests arrive at Horton Common, and they are setting up their caravan, I often meet them while they are fitting various security devices. This includes hitch locks, wheel clamps, but also, on some occasions, caravan leg locks. So with this post, I wanted to discuss the topic of corner steady leg locks. In terms of their effectiveness as a security product. However, I also want to discuss what are the pros and cons, along with some typical examples I see fitted to our guest’s caravans.
Do caravan leg locks provide a suitable level of security protection? – Image: Amazon.co.uk
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Caravan corner steady leg locks should be viewed as an additional security measure, not a primary crime prevention device.
Some insurers may provide an additional discount for fitting leg locks, so that’s a question worth asking your insurance provider.
If you wish to skip to a particular section of this post or a particular caravan leg lock product example, you can use the Table of Contents below:
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Table of Contents
Caravan Corner Steady Leg Lock Options
Below is a selection of leg lock products currently on the market. Sometimes purchased individually, sometimes they come in pairs.
Whether you want to choose to fit leg locks to each corner steady is a personal preference.
Theft prevention is, first and foremost, about creating a visual deterrent. You want to make the potential thief hesitant even to try to steal the caravan.
Therefore, the more corner steady leg locks fitted, the greater visual deterrent they provide.
That being said, it also depends on the specific caravan. If the corner steady winders are hidden under the caravan skirts, leg locks may provide no visual deterrent at all.
Purpleline Fullstop Torpedo
Purpleline with its Fullstop range of caravan security products appears to be quite a popular choice with our guests over the last couple of years.
The ‘Torpedo’ is the leg lock security device which is obviously fitted once you have levelled your caravan and lowered the corner steadies into position.
The Purple Line / Full Stop corner steady leg locks act as a good visual deterrent with their bright orange appearance – Image: Amazon.co.uk
Reading the technical information on the Torpedo on the Purple Line website there is no reference to the product being given a security protection rating.
Their other products, such as the Nemesis Ultra wheel clamp, are rated to the Gold Standard by Sold Secure. However, this doesn’t appear to be the case with the Torpedo.
What I think is also worth noting is that you cannot purchase additional keys for the Torpedo leg locks directly from Purple Line. And you will need a locksmith to produce additional keys for the leg locks. While the Torpedo leg locks are by no means the only security product you should consider for your caravan, they can provide an extra layer of protection.
Fullstop Torpedo Leg Lock Features
- Highly visible
- Length: 125.25
- Diameter: 380mm
- Weight: 0.74kg
Maypole Stronghold Caravan Corner Steady Leg Lock
As with Purple Line, Maypole produces a wide range of caravan security products. Their Stronghold corner steady leg locks are just one of their products.
What you will quickly notice with the Stronghold leg lock is the polished metal as opposed to the bright orange appearance of the Torpedo.
Therefore, it could be argued the Stronghold leg locks provide less of a visual deterrent.
The Maypole Stronghold leg locks are apparently insurance approved and independently test – Image: Amazon.co.uk
Now, as you can see from the product image above, Maypole does state their leg lock is Insurance approved and ‘independently tested’.
Unfortunately, after reading their website, I was unable to find references for either insurance companies who approve the use of this product, or who have conducted the independent testing.
This is a similar scenario for caravan door locks.
SAS Caravan Leg Locks
If you’re looking to fit several leg locks to your caravan corner steadies, you may wish to consider the offering by SAS. They do provide individual leg locks.
However, it’s their pair or set of 4 that provides the best value for money.
If you are considering four leg locks for your caravan, you may consider the set offered by SAS – Image: Amazon.co.uk
However, as with the leg lock offerings from Maypole and Purple Line above, SAS hasn’t provided any specific security protection standard.
Though their bright yellow appearance should provide some form of visual theft deterrent at least.
Milenco Caravan Leg Lock Products
Milenco is another popular caravan accessory brand. When it comes to leg locks, they actually have three products on offer. Leg nuts (1), an adjustable leg lock (2) and their caravan immobilizer (3).
Each of these leg lock products is applicable to different circumstances. The leg nuts are their cheapest related product, where the adjustable leg locks will be required to fit some caravans.
(1) The Leg Nut is the cheapest associated product offered by Milenco – Image: Amazon.co.uk
(2) The adjustable caravan leg lock from Milenco will be required to secure the corner steadies on some caravans – Image: Amazon.co.uk
Their third related product, which they refer to as the ‘immobilizer’, works differently than all the other leg lock products referenced above. Therefore, I’ve also provided a video.
Milenco claims that the other type of leg locks (which presumably also includes their cheaper leg nuts) can be overcome with pliers.
(3) The Milenco caravan ‘immobiliser’ leg locks are claimed to provide more security than the other designs available. Image: Amazon.co.uk
To properly understand how this type of leg lock fits the caravan’s steady legs, I’ve provided the video below. It’s slightly more fiddly to fit and will require you to reach further under the caravan.
However, it does arguably make it harder for a thief to be able to raise the stabiliser.
AL-KO Premium Leg Lock
So the final product I’m going to reference in this post is the AL-KO premium leg lock.
Now, it’s important to note that this product it can only be fitted to caravans that feature the AL-KO premium corner steadies, which were featured on some caravans from 2006.
This leg lock will not fit all caravans.
Unfortunately, I’m still unable to find any reference of which caravan insurance companies will provide discounts for the use of this caravan leg lock.
What is also worth noting is that do have to pay quite a steep ‘premium’ for this product. You could probably purchase a set of 4 SAS leg locks for the price of 1 AL-KO premium lock.
Conclusions On Caravan Leg Locks
So what are my final thoughts on caravan leg locks based on the products above and from discussions with our guests?
Well, the first thing is to contact your insurance company. Will they provide a discount if single or multiple leg locks are fitted, and how much of a discount?
Also, do they require you to use a specific product to secure that discount? I would think it’s likely that your insurer is going to want to discuss caravan hitch locks and wheel clamps first and foremost.
Many of those products are rated to various security standards to provide a certain level of protection.
Therefore, I think when it comes to caravan leg locks, they should just be seen as the icing on your securing cake, as it were.
A ‘bells and whistles’ approach to caravan security. In other words, I would only be considering leg locks once you’re happy you have suitable hitch lock and wheel lock protection.
What I do think is important is proper corner steady servicing. I hope you found this post useful and informative.
I also hope you consider coming to visit us at some point in the future here at Horton Common. 🙂
FAQ
Do All Caravan Corner Steady Leg Locks Fit All Caravans?
While the hexagon bolt head caravan leg locks is pretty standard, not all leg locks will fit all caravans. The reason is due to the rear skirt design on some caravans or the design of the corner steady itself.
For instance, on some of the modern Bailey caravans, the bolt head of the corner steady is recessed through the rear skirt.
Therefore, trying to fit a leg lock in this situation is pretty difficult, if not impossible.
I did read a review online where someone stated that they cut out some of the plastic of the skirt to be able to fit the corner steady leg lock.
Now, cutting into the rear skirt of the caravan to fit a leg lock is obviously not ideal. Furthermore, how much of a security deterrent is that leg lock then providing?
As stated above, the first objective of any caravan security device is to try and put the potential thief from even trying to steal the caravan.
Well, if you can’t actually see the leg lock, even if its bright yellow/orange, it’s not providing much of a visual deterrent. Therefore, as a corner steady leg lock is just a supplemental security device.
They are not a primary deterrent. So if it doesn’t fit, you may consider returning the product for a refund.
What Do You Do If You Lose The Keys To Your Leg Locks
Generally, all of the products listed above come with multiple keys. You obviously don’t want to store these leg lock keys in your caravan.
That defeats the point of a security device if thieves broke into the caravan.
However, you also don’t want to store all of the keys in one place, hence just on your caravan key ring. Therefore, it’s probably a good idea to keep a set on your car key ring as well.
What is worth noting is if you are going for the full all-round solution of four leg locks, that may end up being four separate keys.
In that case, you may want to use a system such as coloured stickers on the locks and keys so you can quickly identify which is which.
I believe with Maypole caravan corner steady leg locks; they provide a specific code with each leg lock you purchase. You can then ring them to order a new set of keys.
However, if you lose the keys when you want to take the leg locks off to get going, that’s not a great help.
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