Why not place caravan on pitch with motormover
Quite often on sites I see a caravan being positioned onto pitch using a motormover. Often the driver has several attempts to position close to the peg. Often when reversing to his nearside he cannot see the peg which makes it harder even if OH is 'guiding'.
I have seen drivers sometimes making 8+ attempts and taking well over 5 minutes. Then often the driver puts on the motormover to line up the Alko Wheel lock or to level across etc.
Given they are going to engage it anyway why not just use it to pitch?
Comments
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I agree ET. We usually use the mover as we need it on for the wheel lock in any event. If there is plenty of room and no children about it is nice to have a bit of reversing practice. However, if tight always the mover. Occasionally to get the van onto
the pitch folk will come within inches of ours or another van and then they engage the mover for the wheel lock. One slight slip of the feet and there could be major damage. Why they don't use the mover in these circumstances is a mystery.0 -
Women like to use motormovers, my wife was always spot on to the peg when driving the van using the MM.
Men on the other hand, at least among my caravanning friends and I, prefer to reverse the van on to the pitch using the towcar. (That's what the towcar is for after all.) Most of us experienced drivers can complete the manoeuvre to the peg every time.
I'm not claiming it's a gender thing --- but there again.
K
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We always wonder the same when there's a motormover on the caravan it's not used for easy pitching manoeuvres. On quite a few occasions we've seen a "domestic" incident between driver and pitching guide! In order not to provide any entertaining moments for
others on site we use the motormover to reverse onto pitch and if required when hooking up. Also it can be as quick to unhook and engage the motormover as have numerous attempts at reversing to the correct position.0 -
Have you tried lining up for an Alko Wheel lock without a mover. I have had to on one occasion with the car. What a pain.
...OH checks when we reverse onto pitch
Tried that
We left a site last year and one of the motors dropped off our old mover and was run over by the caravan. The next pitch was I think at Hillhead. Now I needed a mover to get onto the driveway at home. highway is too narrow, 8m from our frontage to neighbour
opposite boundry wall. 5m cariageway and 1.5m footways.I had to reverse with the car. Not a problem. The problem came when OH could not tell if it was lined up. After my getting out of the car, checking, getting into the car moving ........ I guess a dozen or more times I was a tad peed off.
We were on site from a Thursday leaving on a Tuesday. Helpfull dealer fitted me in for the Monday for a new mover.
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Men on the other hand, at least among my caravanning friends and I, prefer to reverse the van on to the pitch using the towcar. (That's what the towcar is for after all.) Most of us experienced
drivers can complete the manoeuvre to the peg every time.And I thought that having paid the best part of £1,000 to have a MM fitted it was for moving the van into position. Well I never
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We have up to now never had a mm, I am not saying in a few years time one might be fitted?, but the cost and extra weight,I will hold out against as long as possible,
But I will say and I dought if anyone can say honestly say they have not made a "pigs ear" of pitching at some time
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We have up to now never had a mm, I am not saying in a few years time one might be fitted?, but the cost and extra weight,I will hold out against as long as possible,
But I will say and I dought if anyone can say honestly say they have not made a "pigs ear" of pitching at some time
Never ever too good
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My OH puts the caravan on the pitch with the car, in whatever position is quick and easy, to get it off the site road. Then he hands the mover control to me, and I put it in whatever position I feel is best, given the shade, the orientation of the pitch, and the best level area.
We always holiday in the caravan, now, on sites in France and the rest of Europe, so there is absolutely no lining up to a peg, or anything like that.
I always receive a few funny looks from others, who obviously find it 'interesting' watching a woman position the caravan.
We had the mover fitted about ten years ago, after he had back problems which almost caused insurance repatriation! Fortunately I could tow so we continued with our holiday and, as is typical on French sites, as soon as people saw that we needed help they offered it. However, after that we realised that a move was essential. I would never say never to a mover - you just don't know what is around the corner.
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I never had a motor mover on any of our caravans, a waste of money and a waste of payload in my opionion. I have had the advantage of reversing all shapes and sizes of trailer and trailed equipment in my job for the last 30+ years, but I can still make
a pigs ear of it at times. However I'm generally on the peg first time, maybe second. Most of the motor mover people that I see seem to take forever to position the van. The record was 45 minutes from the point of unhitching the car. Anyway certainly don't
need one now we have changed to a motorhome.0 -
Our last 3 caravans had a MM fitted, OH was/is quite capable of reversing onto a pitch but some are very tight. When we were younger and stronger we used to reverse it onto the pitch then position it by hand, however my back is no longer up for it these
days so we fitted a mover. It was my job to site it like ValDa, where I wished it to be. OH used to park the car out of the way so other folk could drive past and I would 'play' with the remote once
you've had a bit of practice it only takes a few minutes.0 -
We have up to now never had a mm, I am not saying in a few years time one might be fitted?, but the cost and extra weight,I will hold out against as long as possible,
But I will say and I dought if anyone can say honestly say they have not made a "pigs ear" of pitching at some time
Never ever too good
..Your smiley is missing
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We had a MM fitted on our last caravan, like quite a few van owners we have a very awkward driveway at home and it was a great help (rather than ask a neighbour to help.) They're also very useful for awkward pitches, a great invention all round.
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Quite often on sites I see a caravan being positioned onto pitch using a motormover. Often the driver has several attempts to position close to the peg. Often when reversing to his nearside he cannot see the peg which makes it harder even if OH is 'guiding'.
I have seen drivers sometimes making 8+ attempts and taking well over 5 minutes. Then often the driver puts on the motormover to line up the Alko Wheel lock or to level across etc.Given they are going to engage it anyway why not just use it to pitch?
Write your comments here...Easy T it is possibly a pride thing, or maybe they know they are being watched by more experienced Caravanners and don't want to look complete novices............SG2
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We had a mm fitted after a tour around France a few years ago and found a few 'tight' entrances with narrow access roads and hedges and bearing in mind vans are now wider, longer and heavier than they were I ain't pushing it! I'll use the car when I can
(which is most of the time) but i'm not one for struggling into small spaces.A couple of years ago on Cote d'Azur (Les Pinedes) OH was moving van with mm and a couple came and watched in amazement - apparently they had never seen one at work!
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We use the mover on 90% of pitches. Only exception is some of the larger French sites where there is more to 'aim at'.
Can't imagine ever using a front tow bar......imagine the tut tutting in the queue behind while you are faffing about re-hooking up the caravan......quite apart from the eyesore on the font of the car.
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I never had a motor mover on any of our caravans, a waste of money and a waste of payload in my opionion. I have had the advantage of reversing all shapes and sizes of trailer and trailed equipment in my job for the last 30+ years, but I can still make
a pigs ear of it at times. However I'm generally on the peg first time, maybe second. Most of the motor mover people that I see seem to take forever to position the van. The record was 45 minutes from the point of unhitching the car. Anyway certainly don't
need one now we have changed to a motorhome.Whether they are a waste of money or not is another question. However for us they are essential. When our gatewat was around 9 feet I had a 1970 (?) Eccles Topaz which I guess was about 6m long and towed with, probably a 1975 Bluebird Saloon - Boxy and comfy.
I could happily tow in and I guess it was about 6m long. Present van is 7m shipping length and the X-Trail has a larger turning circle than that or later cars. There is every chance that the rear of the van would contact with the wall opposite as I swiung
in.Otherwise I would be hapy not to have a mover. The point is as many folk need one why not make full use?
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Easy T it is possibly a pride thing, or maybe they know they are being watched by more experienced Caravanners and don't want to look complete novices............SG2
I think that in some cases you are right. On our last holiday, on one site, A car must have made almost a dozen manouvres to place the caravan. To be fair it was a bery awkward position and did require a good number of nites at the cherry because of position
of other vans etc. but then he used the motormovers when he finally set up. Very skilled but why faff??0 -
We have a mover because the van is a t/a and is impossible to turn by hand.As regards pitching i will only use the mover if i cant line it up with the car which is very rare.I work on the principle that if its possible i will do it.I like the practice
v9
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When I had a caravan I only used the MM on very tight sites. It was always easier to use the car to put the van right on the peg on normal sites. However, there was always a down side when some man ( usually older) would come and congratulate me on my
driving. Hiding my irritation and desire to say "have you ever congratulated a man on his pitching" was always difficult. Now I get "do you drive that big motorhome youself" as a source of irritation!Rant over
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Motor mover is essential for us.
When we get home, caravan goes through the garage (just!), across a carefully marked out reinforced 's' shaped path across the grass, and onto it's storage area about 3 inches from the shed on one side and right on the edge of its 'pitch' on the other side.
Impossible to do with a car or by hand.And as we have the mover, we use it on site too. Why not? It's quicker and more accurate than those doing the '8 times shunt' with their car.
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