Universal Stainless Steel Caravan Awning Clothesline

If there are two of you and you're washing a few shirts and smalls at a time, the single 6.1m line is plenty. The double is for families, full timers, and anyone who finishes the day with a pile of wet beach towels. At 12.2m it's roughly the difference between hanging a load in one go and doing it in shifts.

The other reason people go the double is that the second line doesn't have to live on the awning. Each line is completely self contained with its own mounts and its own bag, so they don't have to be used together.

In almost every case, yes. The hook & loop straps wrap around the awning arms or uprights on virtually any caravan, camper or RV, so there's no drilling and nothing model specific to match up. If you'd rather a permanent fix, the u-saddles and pop rivets go straight onto the awning arms instead.

Each line is 6.1m, which covers a typical van awning span with room to spare, and anything left over gets trimmed or coiled into the carry bag.

Up near the top of the awning upright, somewhere that gets sun but stays out of the worst of the rain. Takes about a minute per end with the hook & loop straps.

Running both lines of the double off the same awning? Space them about 300mm apart vertically so towels hanging off the top line don't sit on the bottom one.

Most people run both off the same awning, one above the other. That gives you the full 12.2m in one spot.

The other way people use it is to split them up. One line stays on the awning, the other goes across the back of the van, between the awning and a tree, over the drawbar, or inside the annexe for wet weather. Because each line has its own mounts and its own bag, the second one isn't tied to the first.

Absolutely. There's nothing caravan specific about it. If you've got two solid anchor points roughly 6m apart or less, you can run a line between them. Camper trailers, rooftop tents, boats, tray backs and canopies all work. So do sheds, carports, verandah posts, fence posts, balcony rails and a couple of decent trees.

The hook & loop straps handle anything you can wrap them around, and the u-saddles and rivets suit a permanent fix on a shed wall or post. Go the double and you can leave one line strung up at home and keep the other packed with the camping gear.

No. The hook & loop straps are the no drill option and they're included in every kit. They wrap around the awning arms and leave no marks when you take them off. That's the way most people set it up, especially on a leased or near new van.

The u-saddles and pop rivets are there for anyone who wants it mounted permanently and never wants to think about it again. You'll need a drill and a rivet gun for that route.

The line, u-saddles and fittings are 304 stainless steel, which is the marine grade normally used on boat hardware. It's built for salt air, humidity and constant UV. It won't stain your washing with rust marks the way a coated or galvanised line will once the coating wears through at the mounting points.

If you're doing a lot of coastal or beach driving, give it a rinse with fresh water now and then, same as you'd do with the rest of the van. Salt build up on any metal is worth washing off.

Let's be straight about it. A standard rotary clothesline in a backyard at home has somewhere around 40m of line on it, so a single 6.1m line holds a good deal less, and even the double at 12.2m is well short of that. What either will comfortably handle is a trip's worth of washing, and that's a very different thing to a household's weekly load. Most people find a weekend away, or even a full week, doesn't generate anywhere near what piles up at home.

One thing it does better than a rotary line: stainless steel cable doesn't stretch or sag the way rope and elastic camping lines do once a few wet beach towels go on. The line stays where you tensioned it, and if the ends settle in slightly over the first few uses, pull it back through the adjustment fitting and it's taut again.

Yes. Stainless steel doesn't perish, go brittle or fade in the sun the way plastic coated and synthetic lines do after a season or two of Australian UV. Rain won't hurt it either. We'd still suggest packing it away in the carry bag when you're moving on.

Give it a quick run over with a warm, damp cloth before your first load. Once in a while a small amount of manufacturing residue is left behind, so it's worth doing even though it's not common.

After that it's low maintenance. A wipe down every few trips, or a fresh water rinse after coastal travel, is all it needs. No oils, polishes or solvents required.

We'd suggest coiling. Leave the line uncut, wind up the excess and clip the carry bag onto the carabiner by its zip pull. It looks tidy, and you keep the full 6.1m if you change vans or want to run the line somewhere else down the track.

If you'd rather have it cut to length, use bolt cutters and leave about 100mm spare. Wrap tape either side of the cut point first so the strands don't splay when the cutters go through. Just remember it's a one way trip, so measure it out properly with the line tensioned before you cut. On the double, do one line at a time so you've still got an untrimmed line if you get the first one wrong.

No. Unclip the line and stow it in the carry bag before you hit the road. The mounts can stay on the awning arms, but a tensioned line has nowhere to go when the awning is packed away, and corrugations will work it against your paint and awning fabric. It takes about a minute to pull down, and it's the difference between a clothesline that lasts years and one that chews up your van.