Should have gone for a motor mover straight away
When I started caravanning in 2007, money was in short supply, but I soon realised I needed help moving my caravan from the street onto my driveway, and on/off pitches at sites. I had a long-term dodgy back, and got warning twinges when manually moving the van.
I saw a manually cranked replacement jockey wheel (hitchdrive) advertised in the caravanning press, and bought one. It was solid engineering, but only really worked on level solid surfaces! It still stands forlornly in my garden shed. Next was a secondhand Euromover bought off eBay- fairly good, but too heavy/bulky to take with you on trips, so resold on eBay asap. After that, I used a manual winch with towbar fitment- very cheap and effective at home, and still kept as a reserve mover at home. No good on site, as you need somewhere solid beyond the pitch to anchor the winch cable.
Finally I swallowed hard, and went for the onboard remote control motor mover option- magic! Just what I needed (wallet somewhat lighter though)- still advisable to have a metal plate behind your car towbar, to avoid possible damage to what is laughably called the rear bumper- if moving the van off loose gravel, make sure no gravel bits are stuck on the caravan tyre tread, before they get dragged between the tread and the mover gripper rods - and on one CC site my remote doesn't function- but there is a cable to connect the handset to the caravan, so no real problem.
I suppose I should have gone for the motor mover built in with remote from the start!
Comments
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I always thought a motor mover was a luxury & I was strong enough to manage without. On buying our latest caravan there was also a great (£) deal going to have a mover fitted at same time. Not looked back now a must have rather than 'nice to have' ! Life
is soooo much easier & with advancing years can only get better!0 -
We have only been caravanning for about six years. Our first 'van was a two berth Eccles Jade and I could manouevre it onto my drive whilst it was still attached to the car. Three years ago we replaced it with a five berth Bailey Ranger that was a metre
longer and impossible to turn around in our cul- de-sac. As I already had a heart condition and stents inseerted I had to get assistance to push our van manually onto its parking spot. I reviewed various movers and decided on a powr mover. It was fitted at
home and is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It is a necessity not a luxury and the young grandchildren love to use, with supervision it to hitch the car and caravan together. The biggeast remote control toy they will ever use.0 -
Yes i find the mover a great help now we have a 4 berth van but I still like reversing the van onto pitches & driveway to sharpen ones skills especialy if one is in good health.
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