Drill for corner steadies
Does anyone have advice to offer on type/make/specification of cordless drill to buy for winding the corner steadies on my caravan?
Comments
-
Cheap and, ideally but not essentially, non-hammer.
2 -
After having 3 cheap drills I elected to buy a Ryobi using a Li on battery and it has been well worth it, it will now do the corner steadies and the awning pegs for a whole trip with 2 sites without charging.
2 -
I've always found an Aldi drill. It winds the legs down and it winds the legs up again. And if it doesn't I will use the winder. I am sure there are better drills out there. But for the price and the job they need to do they are fine. Actually they are better than fine.
0 -
I agree (yes, really, Ian!
). For most of us, just get on and use the winder handle that comes with the van. I can understand why someone with a major back problem might struggle and for them it'd be useful. But I'm amazed at the number of times I've seen folk get the drill out for this 30 second job and then spend an hour or more putting up a full awning with no apparent physical problems!Still, each to their own - it's just down to choice as ever.
0 -
Thank you all for your replies. I bought a cheap one which didn't last long a few years ago.. Have been using winder which is fine but new van seems to have shallower pitched thread which seems to take more winds. I think I (or more accurately my wife) will continue with the winder until I need to replace my DIY mains drill and then buy a better cordless drill.
Must admit hadn't thought about using screw in awning pegs!
0 -
I use a drill because it is quick and easy and I am lazy.
Actually and I have genuinely just remembered this. I can't use the supplied winder in storage because the van is backed up a fence and there isn't enough space to operate a standard winder.
2 -
As part of our 'set-up' routine, it's my job to wind the steadies, so I always use the winder, not a drill. I use stairs rather than escalators, and the top deck of the bus - if I can still do it I will.
My Mum-in-law followed the same principle, and carried on going up the thirty-six steps to her front door until she was ninety-four!
It's a small bit of exercise, but every little helps!
1 -
The Lidl's drill with a li-on battery is excellent mine is 4 years old and has wound its way all over the UK and Europe. About 30 quid I think and lasted better than a ni/cad Bosch that preceded it. Sure you can use the handle if you like but having a drill with you is also handy for some minor repairs. Each to their own eh!!
1 -
I got a Titan model from screwfix, from memory it cost me £50 with two batteries which last ages. I use it home too for ............ drilling and screw driving.
I have no issues about using it to wind the legs at all, if people think It's 'lazy' so be it.
0 -
I simply relegated by oldest battery drill to the job, and put new NiMH cells in (sourced directly from China). It will happily cater for 5 or 6 campsites.
I did forget to take the charger to Spain, and after 3 months had to resort to the hand-crank on the return journey...........easy but really b-o-r-i-n-g
0 -
I'm one of those sad people who put the steadies down when we use caravan for tea breaks/lunch; just think it save weight on the hitch when we are in the caravan. So on a journey it's probably 8 times in the day (raise in morning, down/up am coffee, lunch, pm tea and down on arrival). Battery drill for me, cheap and cheerful but remember to take charger!!
2 -
While I have no desires to shape people's decision as to whether or not to use a drill to raise/ lower their corner steadies, I do rather wish that members tried to post accurate information as an honest aid to fellow readers.
Earlier in this thread, someone posted that it took just 30 secs to raise their steadies. Yet when my husband timed himself, because like me, he found such claims to be incredible, it took him 2:30 to wind ours up with our handle. That's very quick, so why claim 30sec.
I recall another gross underestimate, on a much earlier post, when someone told us that it took under 10 min to erect and peg out their framed awning. Well by hook, crook or exaggeration they were clearly determined to convince us all that their decision to avoid an air awning was based on sound decision making.
Another one that gave rise to laughter in our household, was that mobile phones were for emergency use only. Ahem national statistics on smart phone usage tell a rather different story.
And on to which battery drill. I think that we will all agree that LiOn batteries provide the best portable energy source on the market today. But they expensive. And of course cheap ones don't have the capacity found in dearer models. 18v will survive heavy use far better than low voltage models.
What do we use ours for? Well first and foremost it's useful at home to have access to a decent drill.
In the caravan we've used ours for;
Winding corner steadies.
Winding in screw pegs.
Whisking cream etc (I carry a whisk)
Minor repairs (we drilled out the holes left by a broken rivet in a chair, to fit a slightly larger bolt, just last week)
The convenience goes on and on. - but you don't have too use one if you don't want to.
To the OP. It's no accident that Makita power tools dominate the professional market. So for a really smooth ride, that's the bran that the product that we would recommend. Don't buy one which is sold with a 1.3 Ah battery. Buy the 3. The current top of the range is 6 Ah. If there's no limit to the depths of your pocket.
2 -
It's a good job the C&MC have adherents to accuracy such as you JC
1 -
Dear jenny this really is the (only?) charm of the CC forum.
One question with 50 answers....or even 500 answers sometimes.
It does happen that on the rare occasion one answer amidst the many is the correct one....but you do have to search for that golden nugget
I appreciate I may have exaggerated a little so please don't list me with all the others
0 -
It's not the time it takes to do it manually but the stuffing out of my back - so I will carry on using a drill. The first time I saw a drill used I suggested that my neighbour was cheating - he made a very polite and accurate response which converted me to using battery power!
Never thought of using it to whisk cream though - brilliant! Meringues too perhaps? Not to mention blending soups etc?
0 -
That conjures up an illustration of that well-known phrase depicting calamities.
1 -
I use the little B&D that I found in my workshop.
0 -
Whisking cream- yes that's a first! I have a Hitachi from Screwfix. Jenny is so right about the 1.3 amp batteries they supply these things with - the larger and longer lasting the better where I'm concerned. The point here I think is that since Ive started carrying a drill, I have found it an extremely useful bit of kit not just for the legs and mover etc but for repairs as Jenny has alluded to.
0 -
Thank you EJB, you most certainly don't figure on any adverse list of mine.
Having been a caravaner for 37 years, and having been paid, during part of that time as a caravan photojournalist, I've come across a few howlers in my time.
Before the days of the internet as we know it, the club magazine published several pages of reader's letters. And what a mixed bag they were. I frequently commented, that if you'd never had a letter published anywhere before, then the CC Mag would rectify the matter in double quick time. But what ignorance of scientific and engineering principles they displayed. What entrenched beliefs they exposed. I have some favourite members on this site, who can be guaranteed to have the knowledge and experience that serious comments deserve. And such souls are a useful resource for us all to learn from. There are other names who can be guaranteed to serially expose their lack of understanding in writing.
There's a bit of a catch 22 operating, when the ignorant are too ignorant to recognise their own deficiencies. But that's true for many aspects of life. So we just plod on, confident that our airline pilots and surgeons are well trained, when a sizeable numbejr of people rely on their uninformed intuition. Mind you there are a few heads of state, globally, who know little better.
Pippa, I've never done meringues in the van, but I have done soups. I need to widen my horizens 🤗1
