HI. Am new to caravanning. Often I have to drop the van back into staorage on my own into a tight space. I'm thinking of getting a caravan mover to assist and take the hassle out of it. The axle ones clearly seem to be better but have a price tag which is rather high.
Are the jockey wheel type any good ? It'll only be used on the flat.
Hi Wes, If you are intending using it at the storage compound only then a jockey wheel type (Mr Shifta for example) would be more than adequate and far cheaper. You will need a standard battery to power them however.
We have a Powertouch mover. Yes there is a price tag but in our opinion that is more than offset by the ease of moving the caravan with it. Not least of which is when leaving a campsite positioning the car and then 'driving' the caravan up to it rather than backing into position with lots of left a bit right a bit from the other half. Never tried a jockey wheel type but other posts on here seem to suggest that they can struggle if the area you are moving over is not completely flat.
we had a jockey wheel type mover on our last van,it was rubbish.bought it off ebay, wouldnt move the van at all if the surface was wet, the wheel slipped constantly.sold it on , may have been ok on a lighter van though.
got a powrtouch now , different class.we`d have packed up vanning now if it wasnt for the mover due to never being able to get the van out the drive to the road
For the amount of extra components you get the proper movers are far better value and no one has ever had one fail to get traction. It's not onknown for the mover to be used to help push a car out of mud.
We fitted our purpleline mover thinking it was just going to be used for park it in its storage space but soon found it far more useful when on holiday in cornwall last year.
Campsites were very wet & struggling for traction in the car, Unhitched & used the mover.
As above I fitted a Purple line Enduro to our Bailey champagne to replace a Mr Shifta, best thing I've ever purchased, easy to fit (3 hours) easy to use (even the wife can use it.)!!!!!!!!!!
Go for it, less than £600 plus a good battery.
------------- Trev and Sandy on tour in
2010 Swift Archway, Enduro mover and a baby German Shepherd
we recentlyhad a powertouch mover fitted. yes, it was a lot of money, but worth every penny. we use it to help return the van into storage, pitching up and of course leaving camp. our best example of its use was leaving site at 8am one sunday morning. to have used the car in thisvery tight space would have been very disruptive to others and frutrating for us, with the mover, no probs,
To get my van into our drive I have to turn it through 360 degrees then reverse it 20 yards to possition it 6'' from our fence, this was near impossible to do in the normal way and nearly ruptured me and the cars clutch. The Power touch handles all this with supreme ease plus all the manouvers on sites etc. I don't think we could caravan without it.
I almost bought the purpleline hitch mover, but it seemed ludicrously expensive at £300 for what it was (basically a unicycle) in comparison to a proper mover. At the time, the Enduro mover was under £500 which Powrtouch price matched and gave the 5 year warranty which Enduro did not. Powrtouch also did it on finance at a rate which at the time was competitive. I understand that Powrtouch no longer offer the 5 year warranty with their price match but you can pay extra to upgrade. It struck me that the extra £200 was money well spent. The Enduro is now about £700 on ebay, though second hand ones come up.
Powrtouch still do 5 year no quibble warranty, nice bit of gear, second one I have had. however lots of new ones coming onto market , all appear to be very similiar spec. if you are handy DIY buy and fit your self, most of the time involved is making the wiring tidy, the actual units are very easy to fit. Had one of the manual hitchdrives not very impressed, it will work in good conditions but the powered motor movers will work anywhere anytime, the boast about them tackling a 1 in 4 is not an exageration.