Hi from Stroud
Hi folks. We just bought a new caravan (Adria Altea Tyne) and are looking forward to touring around the UK, and even into Europe. The kids want to visit Paris at some point.
I know very little, but gradually picking things up, with the help of kind people here. Certainly have a lot of reading material to absorb over the winter, and some essential purchases for the van.
Must say though, towing the van home was slightly nerve wracking as I've never towed before. The very first move was pulling out on to a fast moving dual carriageway! But I got it home in one piece. And I've decided that the motor mover is one of the greatest inventions ever!
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Hi Andy and welcome.
You'll soon get the hang of things. Keep asking if you don’t know👍🏻
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Welcome. Hope everything goes smoothly from now on, Andy. Plenty of members on here have extensive experience so don't hesitate to ask any questions that come to mind as we were all new to this game once.
Would suggest for your first trip out in the van you use one close to home so that it is easy to dash back if you have forgotten anything essential.
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One thing is clear, I need a lot more practice at reversing. I got home and thought, I'll just back this on to the drive. Nope. Nearly burnt the clutch out
I need a very large space to practice, starting with going backwards in a straight line. That is hard enough.0 -
Hi Andy, the best thing I ever came across was the club's practical towing course.
Not only towing but all things connected like reversing, straight and around corners, safety re gas and electrics , hooking up properly etc.
After many years touring, UK and abroad, I am grateful for the initial burst of basic info. those many years ago.
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Oh I do have a mover fitted, and thank god I did. Best money ever spent. So after I knackered the car trying to reverse the van I engaged the mover. What I didn't realise is how powerful they are, and can even push the caravan up quite a steep incline. Absolutely magic, and I think I impressed my neighbours with it. That's after they stopped laughing at my reversing attempts
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you just need practice .... no one will laugh if you take a load of attempts to reverse onto a pitch, it'll just give an audience something to watch😉 . Sometimes I can reverse ..... sometimes I can't! 😂 You can guarantee that MrsJF will be standing on the only spot on the site where you can't see or hear you .... and that will be YOUR fault. 😂😂
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I learned to drive, a long time back, when I was in the army, got used to driving small lorries with trailers, so I can reverse, but sometimes it can be too tricky, or just go all wrong, and sometimes I do actually get the van right on the peg. Most times, for speed and not to block the site road, I get the van somewhere on the pitch, unhitch, then use the mover.
And as David said, some pitches can be impossible to get onto unless you have a mover.
Having a twin axle, and needing to park it hitch first on our sloping drive, a mover is essential. We use quite a few CCC sites, and when sites are busy and not many pitches left, the choice of pitches often involves the more awkward to access ones.
So, since you have a mover, my advice is to make good use of it.
I have lost count of how many times I have seen people struggling to reverse onto a pitch, or struggling to get the van hitched up, then looked closely at the van and seen they have a mover! WHY???
Unless it is broken, use it!
Recently, at a CCC site, I saw that a couple were having a big problem getting onto their pitch, it was a rather awkward one at the end of a cul-de-sac, so I went out to offer help. I noticed they had a mover, so asked if it was broken. The answer was no, but that they had forgotten how to use it, starting with how to engage it, as it was over a year since they had been able to get away.
Once they had found the tool to engage it, and the remote, I was able to remind them what to do.
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