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Would I get a Caravan up this steep curved drive.

A

amallon

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a caravan but I need to be sure that I will be able to get it up to my house before I buy. As you can see from the attached pictures I have a fairly steep drive with a sharp turn immeadiatly inside my gates. My gates have a clearance of 3.9m but I'm worried about the tail swing because I will have to make the sharp turn. I need a 4 berth van, but would like 5 berth for extra space. I know its hard to tell from pictures but do you guys think its doable to get a van through these gates?

What about a motor mover? Could I reverse the van up to the gates and hook off. Then use the motor mover to get up the rest of the drive. Its a 25% gradient at its very steepest but parts of it are less steep than this.

I think the answer to my next question is probably a no but here it is anyway. Do you think my local dealer would be prepared to take a caravan out to see if it will get up?

Thanks20240730_200938.jpg20240730_201045.jpg20240730_201053.jpg20240730_201113.jpg20240730_201118.jpg
 
Assuming your car has a tow bar, try hiring a car transporter trailer and physically try it as photos are often deceiving. I hire a car transporter with a 16' long bed when needed for around £55 for a day. One of those will have a footprint ROUGHLY caravan sized so will at least give you and indication from both maneuverability and grounding-out perspective when hooked onto the car. If that checks out then a caravan MIGHT be feasible.
 
Given the width of your gates I think a van will go through with ample clearance, the 25% gradient should not be a problem with a well matched mover. The first picture seems to show the change in angle from outer drive, through gates and into inner drive to be more twisted than the other photos. Yet apart from the that picture it looks do-able. Of course a longer caravan will take more manoeuvring than a shorter one. But modern movers are incredibly precise in their response to commands. A single axle van will manoeuvre better than a twin axle.

Perhaps a scale drawing with cut outs might help.
 
I think Gary B's idea is good, looking at your tyre tracks I think it would be possible to get a caravan up there ok. Not sure about an 8ft wide one though.
 
With a motor mover I really can't see a problem. With ours you can spin it on a sixpence and get it into all sorts of difficult places that it would not get into when pushed by a car with a towbar
 
Can you post an aerial shot? It looks no tighter than a lot of CLs we have used. Can you drive in forwards towing the caravan and unhitch at the top. Then use the mover for,final positioning? Defo go with Gary B suggestion 👍
 
Thanks for the advice. I have access to a trailer which is slightly smaller than a caravan which I will grab at the weekend and see how it handles. I seems that everyone is in agreement that a mover will be able to take a van up if driving it up on the car isn't possible.

I have attached an aerial shot to give a better idea of the turn.

Screenshot 2024-07-31 082336.png
 
When building the property the heavy plant like scaffolding trucks would have had to access the property, personally I cannot see a problem, but yes you are right to be cautious and double check.
 
hey nice question, a nice problem to have looking at your home, looks beautiful. I'm quite cautious when it comes to this sort of thing being somewhat new to caravaning. All the same from what I can see I wouldn't hesitate to drive in, take it easy, tow to the top, motor mover into the final position.

Unlike a few people I wouldn't motor move from the gates to the top, I know our mover chews through electric especially going up hills etc. Incidentally, you mentioned it was a 25% gradient our emove (cheapy) motor mover only handles 18% - heres the link - https://amzn.to/4doQfV7
 
Deejuk said:
hey nice question, a nice problem to have looking at your home, looks beautiful. I'm quite cautious when it comes to this sort of thing being somewhat new to caravaning. All the same from what I can see I wouldn't hesitate to drive in, take it easy, tow to the top, motor mover into the final position.

Unlike a few people I wouldn't motor move from the gates to the top, I know our mover chews through electric especially going up hills etc. Incidentally, you mentioned it was a 25% gradient our emove (cheapy) motor mover only handles 18% - heres the link - https://amzn.to/4doQfV7
Click to expand...
That is standard for MM. Tandem with quad movers would have better chance as have higher power to weight ratio. Also more traction. How much current battery can deliver might be limiting factor. One of few occasions a starter battery or marine battery which tend to be dual purpose.

One thing to consider is approach and departure angle of caravan especially at transition from flat entrance to steep incline. Might scrap rear on ground coming and going. Shorter caravan better ideally with bit of ground clearance.
 
How much room do you have where the car is parked in picture 1? Could you tow the caravan up to the top, unhitch and then use mover to turn the caravan around?
 
It looks doable to me, and with access to the trailer you can test it out. The trailer can be made "bigger" in a safe way by laying a few roof tiling wooden battens on it sticking out to where the vans corners "are", if they get knocked you would know its too tight attempted that route.

With movers gradients can be effectively very much reduced, simply by advancing just one side at a time, rather than both. agreed it see-saws a bit but that's no bad thing in exploring the clearances. Plus with a mover your out there with clear sight lines, and progress can be slow and measured.

Whilst the trailer might have no mover, this one wheel at a time can still be explored with some good blocks to use as wheel wedges and two good blokes to help with the heft etc; you stay firmly by the brake lever throughout.

If the trailer has one of the pre gas strut hand brakes and has a mechanical auto reverse over run hitch; then setting the brake just on, and moving the hitch bodily side to side the trailer will firmly move rearwards. a "side effect" gifted by the auto revers mechanism, replicating the two wheel block see-sawing mentioned above.

But always stay by the handbrake and make sure wheel blocks are not far behind the wheels. Its not a one man job on safety grounds, ideally a three man job.

For years pre the gas strutted hitches that's how we manhandled uncoupled heavy trailers on slopes, gravel etc. none of this cartoon strip pushing and pulling them.

But bear in mind most important thing is to keep everyone, self included, safe.
 
Last edited:
Oscarmax said:
When building the property the heavy plant like scaffolding trucks would have had to access the property, personally I cannot see a problem, but yes you are right to be cautious and double check.
Click to expand...
House was built first and the driveway and gates came a long time later
 
JTQ said:
It looks doable to me, and with access to the trailer you can test it out. The trailer can be made "bigger" in a safe way by laying a few roof tiling wooden battens on it sticking out to where the vans corners "are", if they get knocked you would know its too tight attempted that route.

With movers gradients can be effectively very much reduced, simply by advancing just one side at a time, rather than both. agreed it see-saws a bit but that's no bad thing in exploring the clearances. Plus with a mover your out there with clear sight lines, and progress can be slow and measured.

Whilst the trailer might have no mover, this one wheel at a time can still be explored with some good blocks to use as wheel wedges and two good blokes to help with the heft etc; you stay firmly by the brake lever throughout.

If the trailer has one of the pre gas strut hand brakes and has a mechanical auto reverse over run hitch; then setting the brake just on, and moving the hitch bodily side to side the trailer will firmly move rearwards. a "side effect" gifted by the auto revers mechanism, replicating the two wheel block see-sawing mentioned above.

But always stay by the handbrake and make sure wheel blocks are not far behind the wheels. Its not a one man job on safety grounds, ideally a three man job.

For years pre the gas strutted hitches that's how we manhandled uncoupled heavy trailers on slopes, gravel etc. none of this cartoon strip pushing and pulling them.

But bear in mind most important thing is to keep everyone, self included, safe.
Click to expand...
Good idea to make the trailer a bit bigger.
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies and food for thought. I'm really at the early stages of deciding whether to get into caravaning but this is one of the most important considerations for me. If I can't get it up to the house, then it makes it much less attractive.

Thanks again and depending on how the trailer goes this weekend I know where to come for solid no nonese advice.
 
Your home is a new build ?
Be sure there are no restrictive covenants banning caravan storage,
In any case will you need to ask your neighbours opinion?
Most Powrtouch movers will lift their specified load up a 25% gradient.
Most leisure batteries will complete your job with plenty in reserve. Powrtouch recommend 100ah +
 
Dustydog said:
Can you post an aerial shot? It looks no tighter than a lot of CLs we have used. Can you drive in forwards towing the caravan and unhitch at the top. Then use the mover for,final positioning? Defo go with Gary B suggestion 👍
Click to expand...
This would be the ideal scenario but I'm not sure if the tailswing will catch the lefthand pillar as I make the sharp righthand turn just inside the gates. I'll have a better idea when I take the trailer
 
Another vote for doable.
Only caveat being if you purchase a "larger" van (5 berth preferred) then I would recommend movers for both axles.
Many double axle vans make do with mover on a single axle but for easy maneuvering up a your drive mover on both axles preferred.
If you needed to unhitch outside your gates then movers would easily last the distance.
Incidentally Powertouch movers - and maybe all movers - have differing models with different capabilities so suit different van weights. There is nothing to stop you fitting "overstrong" movers should that remove any anxiety.
 
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