Years ago, my camper trailer was pinched from my driveway. It was one of the early Opus models, built before the company introduced the ‘air beams’ that give the canvas section its shape and keep it taught. Back then, the Opus used steel hoops that telescoped out like tent poles for erecting the canvas. In any case, it was my pride and joy. One day, after returning from a trip, I plonked the Opus in my driveway, exhaustedly unpacked… and forgot to fit my wheel clamp. Sure enough, the next morning, the camper was gone. It was devastating.
It was, I believe, a crime of opportunity. You see, I’d made it especially easy for them to steal the camper – I’d left the DO35 pin attached to my 80 Series’ towbar without using a lockable hitch pin. All the thieves had to do while I slept inside my house was remove the tongue with attached DO35 pin from the towbar, slide it into the hitch receiver of their own car, hitch up my poor Opus, and disappear into the night. I stuffed up – but I haven’t done it since, and never will again. It was a lesson learned the hard way.
Recently, I happened to be at Opus HQ in Keysborough, Vic. The company behind the Opus range, Purpleline, also has a wide range of anti-theft devices, and it was with a sense of bitter irony that I decided to take a closer look. The Fullstop line-up of anti-theft equipment includes three different hitch locks and a few wheel clamps, two of which aren’t actually ‘clamps’ but have the same effect and as such, we’ll refer to them as clamps here.
In any event, what I wouldn’t give to have had just one of these hitch locks or wheel clamps on my own Opus that night, all those years ago…
SARACEN HITCH LOCK
Let’s start with the Saracen hitch lock. This unit is designed to fit over standard 50mm ball couplings. It has two main steel pieces: a lower section that fits inside the ‘ball’ part of the coupling, and a lid piece that covers the top.
A steel lock barrel is inserted through the two pieces, and once locked, any potential thief would need an angle grinder to slice through the steel or a drill to drill out the lock. Yes, it’s possible that a determined thief could unbolt the coupling and fit a new one, before making off with your van… but that would be a somewhat time-consuming and noisy process that would potentially draw unwanted attention. 
It’s the same deal with most hitch locks – they can virtually all be circumvented by swapping the coupling. The point is to present the thief with a challenge. Make it hard for them. A thief travelling around with a spare coupling and the equipment to swap one over is a different beast. But a decent hitch lock such as the Saracen tells an opportunistic thief that they should look for an easier target.
Price: $109.99
SARACEN OFF-ROAD
The Cruisemaster DO35 is probably the most popular coupling in Australia, next to the humble 50mm ball coupling, so it makes sense that there would be a dedicated lock for this coupling in the Fullstop range.
The Saracen Off-Road has two main steel pieces: one for behind the coupling, and one for the front. When locked together, they completely cover the head of the DO35, making it impossible to hitch up.
It’s worth noting, too, that the Saracen Off-Road is designed to also fit the Cruisemaster DO45. As vans in Australia get bigger and heavier, and more and more 4500kg-capable American utes and other similarly-capable vehicles appear on our roads, the DO45 is now in wider usage.
Price: $230.99
SARACEN ULTRA
Have you ever wished you could lock your 50mm ball coupling onto the towball of your tow vehicle? Virtually all hitch locks are only functional once the van has been unhitched… but what if you could tow your van down the freeway with the van’s coupling locked to the car?
That’s the benefit of the Saracen Ultra. Once again, it uses two main pieces of steel, one that fits over the head of the ball coupling and the other fitting over the nut and screw thread of the towball beneath the towbar.
However, a crucial point to make is that the Saracen Ultra can still be used to lock a ball coupling without it being hitched to a vehicle. The box comes with a special steel insert that, once fitted, allows you to secure your van’s hitch.
Each of the Saracen hitch locks contain special rear hooks to secure the van’s safety chains, making it harder for a potential thief to haul away your van by the chains only.
Price: $230.99
SAMURAI WHEEL CLAMP
This is the most compact option in the Fullstop wheel clamp range. It’s designed to fit wheels up to 275R17.
Once in place, it’s a simple matter of tightening the arms of the clamp around the wheel. You do this by turning a hex screw with a supplied tool. Once the arms are tight, you then fit the barrel of the lock, turn the key, and your van isn’t going anywhere – at least not without causing a heck of a ruckus with power tools.
If you’re concerned about the Samurai’s steel arms scratching up your shiny mags, they come with rubber covers.
Side note: if you like the price, portability and ease of use of the Samurai but would feel more comfortable combining it with a hitch lock, there are Fullstop kits available that include a Samurai wheel clamp and either a Saracen lock, Saracen Off-Road or Saracen Ultra hitch lock.
Price: $173.99 (Samurai only)
FULLSTOP NEMESIS
One of the key benefits of the Samurai is that it’s relatively light and very quick and easy to fit. However, it doesn’t cover the wheel nuts so, in theory, a determined thief could overcome the Samurai by swapping the locked wheel. That’s why Purpleline, the company behind the Fullstop range, developed the Nemesis. Think of it as the Samurai’s big brother.
The ‘clamp’ section of the Nemesis is very similar to the Samurai. The crucial difference between the two is the special, separate arm that attaches to the body of the clamp. This arm contains a wide steel plate at one end that covers the wheel nuts, making it impossible to access them to remove the wheel.
Actually, it’s this wheel clamp that I had in my garage the night my Opus camper was stolen. Note to self: wheel clamps are only effective if they’ve been fitted to the vehicle. Yes, I’ve slapped my forehead over that mistake many times.
However, there’s a bit of weight to this wheel clamp and Purpleline acknowledges that as a result, it might be a better option for caravanners who want to secure their van in long-term storage, rather than lugging it around the country and fitting it each and every time they park up. That said, the Nemesis offers excellent visual deterrence – one look from a thief and I’m willing to bet said thief would move on to their next potential target.
Price: $299.99
FULLSTOP NEMESIS PRO
In recent times, Purpline began offering the Fullstop Nemesis Pro, recognising that customers wanted an excellent anti-theft device for their van that was lighter, quicker and easier to fit than the Nemesis wheel clamp, while still offering the same level of protection. Enter the Nemesis Pro.
This clamp does not look like a clamp. That’s because, strictly speaking, it isn’t. The result is the same, however. But how does it work?
The Nemesis Pro comes with a special ‘receiver’ that replaces one of your wheel nuts. Once in place and torqued to the correct setting, this receiver can stay there. Then, when it’s time to secure your van, it’s just a case of inserting a couple of steel rods into the back of the main plate of the Nemesis Pro. One of these rods slots through the ‘spoke’ of the mag wheel, while the longer rod sits behind or in front of the wheel. The assembly is then locked to the receiver nut on the wheel.
Should someone attempt to make off with your van with the Nemesis Pro attached, the longer arm will connect with the chassis and the wheel simply won’t rotate.
The main plate of the assembly also serves to cover the wheel nuts, much the same as the plate on the Nemesis does.
So ultimately, not only does the Nemesis Pro cover the wheel nuts and prevent the wheel from rotating, it’s significantly lighter than the Nemesis, and it’s vastly more portable and faster to fit.
Price: $468.99
GEMINI
Finally, we have the Gemini. While the Samurai, Nemesis and Nemesis Pro can all be used on both single-axle and tandem-axle caravans, and even your tow vehicle, the Gemini is specifically designed for tandem-axle caravans only.
The Gemini comes with two special receivers to replace a wheel nut on each wheel on each side of the van. These receivers are the same as what you get with the Nemesis Pro and can likewise remain on the wheel once torqued to the correct setting.
At its core, the Gemini is a steel rod that expands to 825mm. Once you’ve expanded the rod to the required length, it’s just a matter of locking it to each of the receivers on the wheels, effectively ‘fusing’ these wheels together, preventing them from rotating. At first, I wondered how to expand the rod. It turned out that you unscrew one section from the other – it was just taking me a while because of how fine the internal thread is, ensuring that you’re able to expand the rod to the precise length required by your wheel/nut spacing.
While it doesn’t cover the wheel nuts like the Nemesis and Nemesis Pro, it would require a thief to remove and fit two new wheels. The Gemini is, however, ‘set and forget’. Once you’ve fitted the special receivers and expanded the rod to the required length, it would never be a time-consuming or difficult task to fit this device.
Price: $368.99
FULLSTOP LOCKS
Each of the products in the Fullstop range of anti-theft devices utilise the same two-part lock/barrel mechanism. This seven-pin cylinder lock resists picking, cutting, drilling and freezing. Note: as an experiment many years ago, I attempted to drill out the lock of my Nemesis wheel clamp. I was able to do it, though I resorted to a Makita hammer drill after the Ryobi cordless struggled to do the job.
All Ryobi jokes aside, there was no way I was able to render the lock ineffective without 10 minutes of loud drilling, a little cursing, and generally calling a great deal of attention to myself. If it was a genuine attempt to break through the Nemesis and steal the van, I’d have been in handcuffs long before I got the clamp off.
More information: www.purpleline.com.au
