Message Forums

I thought I would share my experience regarding buying and installing a motor  mover to our Pennine 2010 platinum crusader folding convertible caravan.  

Nobody could help us decide or confirm their product would fit our van, until I called Rhyno direct and chatted to Simon the owner.  

He confirmed it fitted and would arrange the delivery of a 110 am/h battery in the deal.  I was not 100% convinced he had fitted one before but he gave me a price and he said it would,  so I assumed that what ever happens they will make it fit (bespoke) at no  extra charge  unlike the others who  sell extra kits to fit specific models.  His battery was sold at 65 quid which for a 110 amp/h and with a 12 month guarentee its cheap. The Rhyno unit came with a lifetime guarentee for the product, so with battery and fitting which took 4 hours at our home for £800 then I think thats a deal.

There are cheaper models on the market and sold on ebay, but when you look at instal and other bits Rhyno comes out on top for my money.   I thought I would post this straight away to help others make a a choice, because other sellers of Motor movers don't give enough information to help you the customer decide.

Incidentally Conway/Pennine owners don't even bother asking the company for any advice.  They have not got a clue and give vague answers, when I asked about any recommendations and the battery size for our van.  Batteries come in  various sizes and makes they dont offer the compartment size in the unit instructions.

This is an independant overview i welome any comments from others.

Paul - Leighton Buzzard

Yes you are nosey, but comments and questions are very much welcome.  'My choice', is my flipant answer!, but  thats not the only reason. 

Weight at any level can be difficult for different people.  I consider myself fit and fairly healthy but my strength alone combined with my wife's, is limited even on a fairly lightweight van 1000kg  plus 200 extra,  With an inclined driveway and a corner house and limited view down the road, it made absolute sense now to invest in equipement that would enhance our new venture in folding/convertible caravans.   We have given up on camping recently because I felt we had hit a wall, and our enjoyment of camping was becoming a burden.

At some stage in the future, my Army and Police injuries would have caught up with me and prevented us using the unit for short or even long breaks away.  It would have become a burden and sat in our drive way gathering dust and grime and eventually looking sorry for itself.   So investing 12k on a new van and having used it once already, and trying to negotiate it back into our drive, I felt the burning urge to seek, and find a solution. 

My forum post, is designed to help those, who have pennine crusader platinum's, who are looking to buy a mover and really can't get the answers to some questions.   I posed questions to purpleline, Powertouch through Catterick Caravans, who incidentally where extreamly professional and took up the challenge, I would have bought through them if powertouch had said yes it fits all in price !!!!  but to get an an answer from powertouch, that they can supply an additional piece of kit to fit it, just did'nt tickle my bank balance.  Even purpleline could not really satisfy me that their product would fit without extra conversion kits, even though they are the cheapest on the market at the moment according to my research.   

I am one of these people who want to pay the price on the tin, and not be told that with this and that it now  comes to !!!!!!!.  Thats not my way.   So when my van agent Tony Wild, Wobern, said that some of his customers had fitted a Rhyno,  I thought oh, No! a Rhyno is too expensive and powertouch it will be.   I then became curious because Tony Wild were not that experienced in this field, for the reasons you  have mentioned and I made contact with Simon at Rhyno who gave me some assurance that it would fit. ( I have already explained in previous post my initial thoughs),  I initially bought the 'Lite' and he gave a fitting date within 10 days.  I enquired about a battery and he then said we can provide one at the stated a/h and fit aswell.  I had already been doing my research on batteries and found them to to be far more expensive.  I know absolutely nothing about caravans or batteries other than a little research common sense and a bit of savvy!.  But clearly his battery was cheap and would be all in. 

Having had the unit fitted today, with Vince, the fitter.  We are very pleased with the purchase and the backup, because we could not get it working when vince left,  I  phoned Simon and he laughed and said 'Paul read the instructions, but I do understand that men are not designed to', He then explained my simple oversight and my wife gave me the stare!  But obviously being a man I am always right.

I hope that my reply has covered your question.  I guess my other reason is I can afford it.  But that would be rude and smug! 

I will fully report back with any issues of concern or if it fails, but I have assurance of knowing that Vince and Simon are just a call away on the lifetime guarentee.  Others to my knowledge don't offer that, but Powertouch is second to none I understand from the word on the DVD provided with their paperwork.  Please excuse any spelling its not a formal report!  I bought the charger version, but to be honest it could have been the lite you say potatoe i say potarto.  Its got Rhyno all over it.

Paul

I love my mover, its a truma one and was fitted by the dealer we bought our new 'van from.  We both had a play with it when we were buying the 'van and realised just how much easier it was going to make our lives.  With our old 'van we used to have to unhitch our 'van and get some momentum going to get it over very rough pitted ground into its place were it lives when not being used.  Now with the mover we can pull up nearer to its home unhitch, park the car, turn the 'van around and then motor mover it into the exact spot we want her in. 

We are a very nosey bunch but it's because we just want to know "why" for whatever reason.  It's not meant to cause offense we are just interested so i hope you don't mind me asking what made you decide on a folding caravan?

I fell in love with my 'van the year before when she was just a basic model but once i saw the GT60 version of her i knew she was "the one" for me :) 

When we were looking into getting our 1st tt canvas repaired we went to Tony Wild but he told us that it couldn't be repaired :(  We had a good look around all the folding campers and tents he had on display but we couldn't find a tent that gave us the same amount of space as the tt and couldn't afford a folding camper at the time so ended up with a 2ndhand caravan just to see if we liked it lol

Ditto on the career background Paul! Both jobs take their toll on the bits that some others take for granted. It was the Army that really did it for me, and the knees are really paying the price right now. :( For me, like yourself  the movers are a necessity for me now particularly with 2 hernia's in 2 years. As much as I would like to think that I am the strong macho male hunter-gatherer of yesteryear, I am having to face reality and I hate it. I guess to pursue my hobby I would pay whatever it takes to keep enjoying it. My apologies for being nosey though!

It is good that members post good things on here. Often it is only when there are problems with a supplier is there any sort of forum activity and it is easy to fall into a negative frame of mind when it comes to suppliers and their customer service. It is good to hear someone applauded, and it would be nice to think that their business benefits from endorsements such as yours.

"From what I can gather, motor movers are a bit like caravans - those who like certain makes are generally those who use that particular make.  As far as I can make out they all do a good job, but I suppose, like caravans, you sometimes get a bad one!"

I think you have summed it up right there.  We have a rhyno and are very pleased with it.  I am sure the majority of purchasers of other makes are pleased with theirs.  There is a always going to be a very small minority of displeased purchasers of all makes who have had problems.  There is getting to be more and more choice all the time which can only be good for the consumer.