Does anybody use a winch to help with moving a caravan? Have been looking at motor movers but don't want to spend so much and would only need to use it to pull caravan up slight incline up my drive. We have a height restriction so can't reverse it up with car.
I bought a 1000 Kilo hand boat winch to pull my van up my drive,but it was extremely hard work and I had to put in a post to secure anchor it,I think I used it twice.I then bought an electric one which worked OK but it needed 2 of us to use it, one to operate the controls and another to feed the wire rope on.After several months I finally bit the bullet and fitted a motor mover,I wish I'd bought it in the first place,It makes hitching up and pitching the van so easy.
The winches have now joined the shed full of impulse buys I have made over the years.
Saxo1
P.S. Shame about the Reds!!
Hi, Could try the jockey wheel type of mover,could pick them up for £100----£200, try the adds on this site, or ebay,caravan mags, should get a few advertised.
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If you are really interested in a winch why not buy cockerspadgers!
I think if you go the winch route it is a potential solution to one particular problem on your drive but a motor mover would have much wider benefits positioning on site etc. They don't have to be so expensive. Some fitters are doing them for £600.
We bought ours off ebay used but almost new off a write off. Cost was about £300.
I used to use a winch to get the 'van up my drive but the big problem was that there was no directional control and therefore the 'van had to be positioned quite accurately prior to the 'pull'. It worked well considering the limitations and the fact that the wife had to wind the handle! I still take it with me if I am staying on CS or CL's and I am expecting the fields to get waterlogged while I am away. With a long wire I can park on a firm area and pull the 'van gently over the waterlogged areas without causing massive ruts in the grass. It has got me out of a problem on a few occasions.
You need to bear in mind that the only safe place to pull the 'van is from the hitch head and that most winches are not safe for use when winding out.
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I use this winch. It pulls my Ranger 550-6 up my drive (75ft long) in about 2 minutes. This has a remote control so I can do it on my own. I will take photos tomorrow and see if I can post them.
Quote: Originally posted by paulandkea on 16/4/2011
never understood all this motor mover rubbish and stuff whats wrong with parking it with your car .
maybe am missing something but why spend the money when you dont need to on something you could quite easly do for free .
please explains why movers are fitted as am bit confused
thanks
In our case we can't use the car to put the caravan in the tight space we have for it to go! The motor mover also stops it disappearing down the drive as we turn it 90 degrees to the front of the house. Luckily our mover was on the first van we bought and we have had it moved to this one so we didn't have to pay out loads.
Quote: Originally posted by paulandkea on 16/4/2011
never understood all this motor mover rubbish and stuff whats wrong with parking it with your car .
maybe am missing something but why spend the money when you dont need to on something you could quite easly do for free .
please explains why movers are fitted as am bit confused
thanks
There are many reasons to use a motor mover, Our drive is only about 8 inches wider than our van and the road we live on is also very narrow. I'm a fairly accomplished driver but I wouldn't try and reverse our van up the drive. We keep the van in storage but if I ever have to bring it home I have to get my son over to help me push it up the drive. Seriously considering a MM for our new van in June.
Caravanners with disabilities, people who can't call upon their offspring to help, lone caravanners, all sorts of reasons to fit what is essentially just another labour saving device.
I use this winch. It pulls my Ranger 550-6 up my drive (75ft long) in about 2 minutes. This has a remote control so I can do it on my own. I will take photos tomorrow and see if I can post them.
i have a brand new one of these if anyone is intrested,never been out of the box,open to reasonable offers
a winch will be a lot cheaper I used a pully type rather that a ratchet for my boat it used to work fine and also got the trailer hitch first making it a lot harder to hitch up and nick.
on the subject of motor mover I cant for the life of me see the sence in the expense and weight for one esp when so very many use them to get their van into position on the pitch. seen it too often to count. Learn to reverse ! get her outside and direct you correctly, standing on driver side and driver with window down. Grrrrrrrrr it makes me Cross!
MickeyM ! are you quite sure about the size 75ft ???? please let me know when you are away and what road used need to plan my journey and time.
Quote: Originally posted by paulandkea on 16/4/2011
never understood all this motor mover rubbish and stuff whats wrong with parking it with your car .
maybe am missing something but why spend the money when you dont need to on something you could quite easly do for free .
please explains why movers are fitted as am bit confused
I can't see the point of MM either, Reversing is part of Driving, you wouldn't drive the car if you couldn't say, change gear properly, its the same with reversing, learn to do it or get out from behind the wheel!!
We watched a guy a couple of years ago when we were in Cornwall, he lined up his van with the pitch, it would have been a straight reverse!! but instead he drove about 30 yards more than he had to, then unhitched, had a look round to see if people were watching, satisfied he had an audience proceeded to use the MM to position the van, it took him about twice as long to do than it would have if he'd used the car!!! , still we had a good laugh at him
glad to see its not just me with the opinion on these things if you have 2inch either side or blind side it shouldnt make no difference if am honest .
supprising though how many cant reverse a caravan.
i do have a advantage that am a class 1 driver but even still if someone cant reverse a caravan or knows where it is they shouldnt be pulling it .
no offence but no wonder so many caravan drivers get a bad name like bus drivers etc wouldnt mind but its as easy as 123 pulling a caravan .
maybe there should be some sort or open day helping learn to reverse as from whatching others it seams there always over conpunsating to much lock all the time .
I don't have a caravan, I have a FC, but I have been on sites where the pitches are pretty small and there is no way, no matter how competent a driver you are (and I am Class 1 qualified as well) you would never reverse a van into the space (unless your car could bend in the middle).
MM's are very useful for people who are a bit older or maybe even disabled and who cannot push and pull the van around on their own (as has been said).
It is very easy to sit back and say 'people should be able to reverse a caravan' but it's not always as cut and dried as that.
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Teach a man to fish and he'll sit around on a boat all day drinking beer!
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Topic: Winch
please let me know when you are away and what road used need to plan my journey and time. 
, still we had a good laugh at him 
