as a newbie to caravaning i have the task of towing and as i have never done this before apart from a trailer tent i am a little nervous . The caravan is a 90's fleetwood colchester 2 berth and although it is only 650kg unlaiden i want to put a stabiliser on and was wondering if the alko stabiliser is a little over kill. After looking at the fitting instructions my son who is a mechanic will be able to fit it. Just wondering if anyone would be able to help with this one as i dont want to spend £250 on an alko if a stabiliser for £100 would do the job with a small caravan.
Difficult one really. I don't know the value (in £'s) of a 90's Fleetwood Colchester 2 berth. I think it also depends on how long you intend to keep the van. It is easy to say that you will transfer the Alko to a new(er) van, but most of the new vans come with them fitted anyway. They are certainly very good, but if the Fleetwood is a 'stop gap' van then it might be more economical to fit a spring stabalizer. Is it worth looking on ebay to see if you can pick up a used one for a song, or even ask a dealer if they have any 'used ones' lying on the shelf.
I think I agree with David above it seems a lot of money to spend. Whilst my last 3 vans have had the Al-Ko hitch stabilisers the vans before had a spring style one which seemed almost as good. The advantage of the Al-Ko is that its part and parcel of the van. If you do find a secondhand Al-Ko it may well need new discs which can work out pretty expensive depending on model, its just something else to take into concsideration.
Personally I'd go with the Al-Ko simply because you'll fit your stabiliser every time you use your van. With the old spring type you'll eventually find it a pain to fit every time and start leaving it off more and more especially as you have to find somewhere to store it on site.
Shop around for Al-Ko stabilisers though as the prices can vary considerably - I've seen the 3004 triple pack, which includes the hitch lock as well for £258. I suspect that the best one for you would be this one, the AKS1300, and at just under £185 including postage can't be bad - at the end of the day you can always take it off again and sell it separately when you sell your van
Hi we got our first van last year 960kg fully loaded.the best thing i have done is fit the alco 3 pack from www.partsforcaravans.com they do some reconditioned packs.i was lucky when i rang they had some brand new alco 2004 in [they were years before model] he did me the 3 pack for £149 .give them a ring he is a realy helpfull man.
The alco really does do a good job i wouldent be with out it
Cheers kev
My little van is 650kg max, 1982, and has the original westafalia anti snake device fitted. And it is very effective as well!
My dad swore by the bulldog stabilizers. I don't think it really matters which one, but better with one than without, even if just for peace of mind.
Kev, I'd never even towed a trailer tent in the past, but sailed away full of confidence once I'd got the hang of it, which took me approx 2 miles. That was last week and it's the first time I've ever towed anything in my life...
I went onto the M6, just for one junction, to see what it was like. Windy, lots of lorries, no snaking... I was amazed! I put it down to the wide tyres (retro fitted) and that westafalia device. You'll be fine!
Firstly, don't be misled by the name. A stabiliser does not make an outfit stable. Despite claims to the contrary, a stabiliser is not a safety device. The manufacturers ceased to make this claim several years ago when research proved that they do not make any significant difference to the liklihood of a snake. They are merely an aid to comfort and are sold as such.
I don't want to get into another debate on this, but if you look at some of the other (many many more) threads on this subject, you will see that the subject of stabilisers has been covered many times, particularly on the towing sub forum. For reasons I have gone into on several of these threads, I strongly advise you not to fit a stabiliser as a newbie. A newbie has enough to learn about safe loading. If you are badly loaded without a stabiliser, you will feel something amiss when you are towing. If you use a stabiliser then you lose a lot of this feel, so your outfit may feel good, but could be unstable. With a stabiliser fitted, you may only discover your outfit is badly loaded when it is too late.
You don't say what you are towing with, but unless it is something really small, a 650 kg van really won't benefit from a stabiliser.
For what it's worth, we made the jump from a trailer tent to a caravan a few years ago (we went to a 5 berth van). I too was nervous about towing it. I only bought the trailer tent because I was nervous about towing a caravan and was just as nervous about towing the trailer tent. I went for a caravan after I built up my confidence towing the trailer tent.
To be fair, the caravan tows just as well as the trailer tent, if not better. It certainly stops a lot easier as it has brakes which the trailer tent did not. The caravan is also a lot easier to reverse.
hi this has come up loads and loads on here, id not bother with any stabilizer till youve towed it without first, just make sure you load correctly and take it steady and youl be fine, i found that first couple of times i towed ours i hated it, swaying and bobbleing about on the road, i was only able to travel at 35mph and if went over this it was awful, anyway when we came home i got on here and asked questions, got very very good help, as always, and was advised to make sure we loaded caravan correctly and tyres on van and car were correct pressure and hey presto all was fantastic, went 80 odd miles on next trip and not a sway or bobble in sight. must admit and still stuck aprox 40/45mph but it was ace, didnt even realise van was on back when we got going, so dont jump in buying things till youve got used to the towing without any gadgets as they dont stop anything happening they mask it and then all else happens too quick for a novice tower to correct!! so keep your money in your pocket go for few test drives and get your self sorted first, then once your confident a bit more youl not even need anything but open roads and sites booked,
As Gaynor says. If you are not loaded correctly, the outfit will be all over the road. If you have a stabiliser on it then it may dampen this out and you will carry on oblivious to the fact your outfit is an accident looking for somewhere to happen.
Thanks everyone for your replys, it certainly gives me food for thought. As i only collect the van this week it gives me chance to have a propper think on what to do, or which option to take. Just cant wait to get out on the road with our new (to us) van and enjoy but i also want to be safe so im off now to look for correct loading of a van on this excellent site
Thanks everyone for your replys, it certainly gives me food for thought. As i only collect the van this week it gives me chance to have a propper think on what to do, or which option to take. Just cant wait to get out on the road with our new (to us) van and enjoy but i also want to be safe so im off now to look for correct loading of a van on this excellent site
I've only got my first stabliiser on my new van because it came with one as standard. I've never towed with one before and never had a problem towing right up to 93% match. If you load the van right you don't need one especially on a little van like yours.
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Topic: Alko Stabiliser
. The caravan is a 90's fleetwood colchester 2 berth and although it is only 650kg unlaiden i want to put a stabiliser on and was wondering if the alko stabiliser is a little over kill. After looking at the fitting instructions my son who is a mechanic will be able to fit it. Just wondering if anyone would be able to help with this one as i dont want to spend £250 on an alko if a stabiliser for £100 would do the job with a small caravan. 
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