Ok..... Motor Movers - Worth the Money?

[ghop99]

Hi All

I know its all a 'bit horses for courses' and all that but we are new about to collect our first Caravan next friday and we (I) am having a crisis of confidence about reversing the van onto the drive. Its not that its really tight, we have gates that are about 9ft apart, a slight incline but we are off a main-ish rd that has trafiic on. Unfortunately there are double yellows either side of the gates as its opposite a school but people still park there over night and on a sunday. This will make the angle I would need to swing in at even tighter in order to jackknife the van throught the gates. Anyway I'm waffling but you get the picture!

Has anyone had experience using them? Has it been worth the spend?

I dont want to dread coming home every time we go out.

Thanks in advance

Greg

 

[Damian]

From a personal point of view I would not be without mine.
I know you will get the usual replies like "You should be able to reverse" and "My car is my mover", BUT, it takes a lot of pressure off, and makes for inch by inch accuracy in positioning your caravan.
Even the best towers(in their view) get it wrong sometimes, if you get it wrong, do you want to damage your van for the sake of being "macho" and showing how wel, or not you rreversing skills are.

Also, on a wet and mudy pitch, which with British weather you WILL come across, they can be invaluable in bringing the van to the car without any fuss.

 

[Gagakev]

Greg, I had one fitted to this current van for nearly the same reasons as you but unlike you we dont have double yellows outside, in fact there is none at all. The road we live on is fairly busy as its access to the rest of the village. Parked cars are getting a bit of a problem now as the neighbours offsprings are learning to drive, however over the last three/four years I have always been able to reverse in my drive when I have returned.
But we have been home all day today and there have been vehicles parked opposite all day long and they havent moved.
So today I would have had to use the mover, I WILL hold up the traffic for as long as it takes , they can always turn around and go the long way round.

 

[Gagakev]

Ive just read back my own post, sorry if it seems abit abrupt towards the end. Dont know what came over me

Should have said that they come into there own and even if you dont need to use it all the time, it is peace of mind.

 

[GeorgeandAde]

I certainly wouldnt be without mine.
We had a Truma SE automatic unit fitted to our previous van and when we part exchanged it with a newer model,we asked the dealer to swap it over to our newer van.
Yes,I am reasonably good at reversing,but where our mover really comes into its own is when I hitch up.
With the CRV,I have the spare wheel mounted on the rear door,so with the mover,I can inch the van towards the car without any fear of touching the wheel with the stabiliser bar in the upright position.
Also,our last trip away with the wife,there was no-one else on site at our arrival time to help us position the caravan on a slight upwards slope.
Switch on....press a few buttons.....hey presto!!
Worth every penny I reckon.
Adrian

 

[ghop99]

All
Thanks ever so much for your honest replies. I thought I was going to get a load of "if you can't reverse you shouldn't be towing" kind of replies. I think the thing that stands out is that they seem to solve a variety of problems rather than just backing it onto the drive kind of thing. That said, I think I will go ahead.

Thanks again for the forum doing what it is supposed to and giving friendly honest advice

Greg

 

[mullsy1]

Ours saves us the wear and tear on the clutch when trying to back into a tight drive

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Greg
in one word YES.
without one I would not be still caravanning and it ain't for the inability of reversing.. we live on a corner house the van lives in a garage round the back, it has to go down a alley and round 2 90degrees turns up a 1in 5 slope and through the garage doors with 2in gap either side, the alley at it's widest part is 9ft, the space in front of the garage to a neibours wall is 22ft in order to get it there it must be unhitched, ( I would defy any of the so called good revesers to get it in the garage from the main road still attached ) truth is were just too old to push it anymore,
as Damian said some will respond with I dont need one BUT those that DO have one would not be without. In all my years on this and other forums I have NOT heard of anyone REMOVING one from their vans because it it easier to use the van WITHOUT one.
There is a penalty to pay and that is the weight of aprox 35kg has to come out of the user payload but it is a penaly worth paying One day all new vans will have them factory fitted with the weight included in the MIRO.

colin

 

[Gagakev]

Ah but know the headache begins, Which one do you buy?
There is a recent post on this subject, motor movers which one; you could do a search and have a look, if the search facility works!!!!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Greg,

This really isnt about what other think, its what you need to take the worry outv of your circumstances, and at the same time remianing safe - no pulled muscles trying to manouver the caravan in tight spaces. Also less wear on the cars clutch and no frayed nerves about hitting the gate posts etc.

If you think you need one and you can afford it then go for it.

If yo uread through the forums historical postings, you will find that so many caravanners find movers to be really good and often the phrase 'best thing since sliced bread' can be heard.

I knew the inventer of the Caravan Mover, and his reason for desinging it was to particularly help those who were less able through age or illness but he also recognised there are likely to be others who like to take the some of the physical strain out of caravan ownership.

 

[PaulRT]

Hi Greg
I agree with other respondents. If you can afford one, go for it.
For several years I thought a mover was a luxury I could do without . After doing my back in (twice) shifting the van a bit on site, I succombed. It was well worth it. I can move the van around the drive at home for cleaning, maintence etc, get onto sites where you want to point the van at the view (with no room for the car in front) and, most important of all, it will get the van on or off a wet grass/muddy site where the car will not tow it. As for make, I fitted an Ego and have been very pleased with it. You engage it manually using a portable drill and you can vary the pressure of engagement of the rollers with the tyres to cope with very slippery conditions. It also is one of the lighter movers and has a minimal effect on ground clearance.
Cheers
Paul

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Greg
IMO a mover should be a standard fit on all TAs and most SAs other than the very lightest. We are both quite fit and strong but could never move the Wyoming by hand. Contrary to what others may say there are numerous times when the towing vehicle alone is incapable of placing the caravan exactly where you want it.
I have a Powrtouch which has performed very well for over three years. It comes with a 5year guarantee.
We wouldn't be without it.

 

[Parksy]

I'm one of those who don't use a motor mover and yes, my reversing skills are ok.

My situation is such that I don't really need a mover, the caravan is stored inside a large barn and if I bring it home we live in a cul-de-sac with no awkward walls or gateways to negotiate so it would be difficult to justify the cost on a t/a caravan for me in my own particular circumstances.
It's a good idea to practice your reversing skills now and again whether you have a mover or not because you never know what situation you may find yourself in but ignore anyone who tries to tell you that you MUST be able to reverse into your driveway or that you shouldn't choose to fit a motor mover.
In your situation I'd definitely go for a motor mover simply to cut down on the hassle and to make sure that I enjoyed using the caravan.
The scarcity of good second hand motor movers proves what a valuable asset they can be, go for it!

 

[Lutz]

I'd say whether or not a motor mover is worth it depends a lot on the condtions you're likely to encounter and your own physical strength. My old caravan was a 1300kg which normally had to be manoeuvred only on relatively level asphalted surfaces or hard standings so I found I didn't need a mover mover. My manoeuvering skills with the car were adequate on the odd occasion when the ground was too rough to allow pushing the caravan around by hand. However, my current caravan is an 1800kg and although it's a single axle there's absolutely no chance of moving that by hand on anything but a perfectly smooth level road surface, so I had a mover fitted. Besides, the current caravan is bigger and needs to be inched around a corner to get it parked in front of our house without colliding into the neighbour's hedge. Because of space restrictions, it cannot be done with the car hitched up to the caravan.

 

[Cruzer]

As caravanning virgins, when we bought our van I naively thought I'd be able to tow it into our close, unhitch and push it onto the drive by hand. Soon proved what a muppet I was thinking I could manhandle a 1420kg van off the road by hand. Had to resort to turning the van 90 degrees to the road, rehitch the car and push it onto the drive. Being a close it does have a turning circle but not big enough to allow me to swing round and reverse the van onto the drive without unhitching. We survived the first season and obviously had to reverse onto pitches on sites too, but the decision to get a mover was made following a visit to a site where the only pitch available was a bu**er to access but would have been a doddle with a mover. "That's it, i'm getting a mover, make life easier at home and on sites if needed" I said. I don't reverse on sites any more! If you've got one, use it I say.

Wouldn't be without it now. Now I even move the van into the middle of our wide driveway to wash it whereas before I'd squeeze round the back with my bucket and sponge.

 

[HenryB1]

For me a mover is a must. We have had a mover on our last three vans.Prior to that we could just about man handle a small 2 berth on our shingle drive to do a 90 degree turn to park infront of garage. Our vans have got bigger and with our Pegasus I drew paper diagrams to scale to see if I could get one around the 90 degree turn and into position. I convinced myself that I could do it but on first occasion it took many tries over 20 minutes plus before I got all of the angle right. I can now get in and out in a few minutes with caravan passing within a couple of inches of the side of the house, trees and hedges. It would be impossible without a mover. It is also possible for me to manover the van and hitch up without any assistance, a great bonus. Ours is a Powertouch, new on this van, but our previous Powertouch was still going strong after being on 2 vans and working witout problems for 9 years.
Go for a mover you will not regret it.

Henry B

 

[Surfer]

We are having an E-Go mover fitted as soon as possible onto our caravan even though it only weighs in at 1300kg MTPLM. As we both suffer with arthritis we are considering having the Electric engage fitted but don't know if it is worth the extra cost or will a 14v hand drill do the job. Previously we had a Truma motor mover and you needed to be built like Hercules to engage it onto the tyres.

 

[Tony_5041742]

As others have rightly said, your own personal circumstances are going to put a motormover into essential, nice to have, or waste of time categories. We've never felt the need to fit one before, mainly as we have a large, flat, and wide drive at home and have always managed to position the van on pitches using the tow car. (Reversing with a trailer really isn't too hard after a lot of practice!!). Even so, I'll definitely make sure a mover is fitted to my next van, mainly due to the clutch damage that low speed outfit positioning can cause and the "muddy pitch" syndrome that others have mentioned. If I still had a 4x4 with a low speed transfer box I most likely wouldn't bother, but the way I look at it a mover is cheaper than running a 4x4 nowadays.

 

[sphen]

Hi, I'm new to caravanning having come over from a motorhome. Our van is the Bailey, Unicorn, Valencia which fully loaded is 1565Kg so try pulling/shoving that uphill or into a tight space. The day after we collected it I had a mover fitted (powrtouch) which has been fantastic as I could never get it into storage without it. I have also just done the caravan club manovering course which I found very helpfull and on our first trip away last week I managed to reverse onto the pitch almost in place and just used the mover for the final bit of placement. For me - well worth the outlay, but dont forget it will eat into your payload by about 35kg.

All the best.

 

[ValA.]

We fitted a mover a couple of years ago, and have found it invaluable. It helps on-pitch to get the caravan into that absolute perfect position, tucked right into the hedge, perhaps - which used to cause arguments, and now doesn't! It helps with tight access to pitches, or sometimes inconsiderate neighbours parking making manoeuvering with the car more difficult, it helps in wet conditions, or with an uphill slope, and it helps get the caravan back between the others on the storage site. It also helps hitching up as instead of reversing the car on to the caravan, we now 'mover' the caravan on to the car which is much easier!
We fitted an E-go ourselves, and it wasn't a difficult job on a sunny day - and Yes, it was worth the money.