Ah, but you have a Springer that owns a Land Rover.
How can a fancy caravan compete with that?
Kevin...
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Landie went last year...:-0
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So what's he driving now?
Kevin...
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Is he a good gun dog?
I'll take him off your hands ;-)
Kevin...
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Ahh he had an electric caravan mover then. They are for people who can't drive... :-)
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Or can't reverse a bendy:)
Pat
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A neighbour's got one of those on a trailer tent!
How long before we have travelators to take us from the front door to the car?
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I have a remote controlled garage door, does that count.
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Ahh he had an electric caravan mover then. They are for people who can't drive...
I had one fitted when I bought a caravan in 2001.
Unless you live in a mansion with an enormous drive and parking area, they are invaluable.
Trying to push a caravan round a corner by yourself is not easy. They are also vital for the disabled and infirm.
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>>Trying to push a caravan round a corner by yourself is not easy.>>
As Pat said, for people who cant reverse.
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I can certainly reverse a bendy and can drive but I have a mover on my van. Although I do not have to justify ownership,
my reason is that my drive is slightly uphill with about half an inch clearance on either side at the top. I also suffer from angina.
The mover means, as well as moving the van, I can also see how far I am from the wall and fence. The width is so critical I have to take the windows off the van to give me an extra 2 inches or so.
So.... they're not all for lazy, feckless owners or do I detect some more of the usual ' anti- caravan ' brigade again ?
Ted
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do I detect some more of the usual ' anti- caravan ' brigade again ? Ted
No, just the usual gentle wind up brigade. :-)
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>>Trying to push a caravan round a corner by yourself is not easy.>> As Pat said for people who cant reverse.
NO. It's when your caravan is not accessible by the car and there is no option but to push it.
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NO. It's when your caravan is not accessible by the car and there is no option but to push it.
>>
How can your caravan not be accessible by car? I mean, if the van got there...
Edited by Robin Reliant on 15/09/2009 at 18:20
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i saw a clever bit of work the other day. an old guy had put down a set of small train tracks with a pair of rail dollys. he reversed his caravan onto them and then he could push the caravan SIDEWAYS into a bit of the drive you couldn't back it into. very smart.
i think the caravan movers are great for people who have limited mobility and/or strength but they seem to have been adopted by any numpty who can't reverse because they don't have the brains to do it.
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>>>>any numpty who can't reverse because they don't have the brains to do it. <<<
Is that a bendy bus you drive alfatrike? :)
Pat
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dear pda, i am licenced to drive a bendy bus. i haven't driven one yet but would like to do so.
when i was driving recovery trucks i could reverse customers caravans into places they couldn't with their car. i believe if people don't have the knowledge and/or skill to reverse a trailer of any kind the should NOT do it. they would be stuffed in an emergency situation.
alf
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I agree with the changes whereby Joe Soap of a certain age can't now tow unless he's passed a test. A good thing.
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caravan movers are great for people who have limited mobility and/or strength but they seem to have been adopted by any numpty
Numpty here. I can reverse a trailer as it happens, and will do when it's quicker, but the movers are a really useful innovation and well worth the modest cost.
I don't hesitate to use one to get our little pop-top caravan into places that I can't put it with the car (usually in the garden, or hitch-in to a pitch) or instead of reversing uphill - reverse is far too high to let the clutch in fully, and shoving 1200kg uphill is very hard on the clutch.
Do you scorn all labour saving devices, or just those used by people you feel like having a go at?
;-)
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well Simon, i too drive bendy's & have done for 30+ years but still have a mover on my twin axle van. When touring in Europe there have been times when the mover has worth its weight in gold . Turning a van around , weighing 1800kg on a 100 square metre pitch when its 30ft long cannot be done with a vehicle attached,
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Good on ya Manatee - I'll rise to the bait also having been a caravanner for 25 odd years (tents before that) and having last year had a mover fitted to the caravan! We're the sort of sad old gits who use a caravan because
a) When younger we certainly couldn't have afforded to go to Greece for a month with 2 kids - we could in a caravan - and visit and explore many other countries on the way.
b) I prefer not to be one of those sad gits joining up with hundreds of other sad gits at the airport to fly for a couple of hours to join up with all the other sad gits around the pool in a concrete monstrosity surrounded by other concrete monstrosities with the 50 nearest bars selling egg, chips and beans and serving Guinness or bitter.
c) Now we are getting on a bit we still enjoy the caravan - we can have a beach, mountain, walking, cycling, city, ancient monument, mediaeval village, chateau or just sitting around doing nothing holiday all in one - and you try affording to take your other half away for 6 weeks this summer and staying in hotels - the municipal sites we use in France cost less than £12 per night - plenty of money left over for a nice meal or 2 and plenty of wine and beer. And if short of cash how about the local market and all its fresh produce and cook yourself a feast (and eat what you like any time you like!)
d) The mover - well I'm actually pretty good at reversing with a caravan but the mover enables you to get to that lovely little spot between the trees next to the river and also when you get home to get it into the back garden easily when there is only 3 inches clearance each side (my wife does that - she's a whiz with the remote!). No more getting a sweat on manoeuvring by hand - do you know, I sometimes even use my electric drill to put the jacks down. It must be because I'm exhausted from using the manual gearbox on the car - must get an automatic.
Must go, got to book our autumn break in a rather nice hotel - they're great for a short break but my goodness, they are boring and restrictive for longer than a few days especially when you have to eat with all those other sad gits. Can't wait for next summer and off in the 'van - don't know where but we will decide when we get the other side of the channel - left out of Calais? right? straight on? Who knows?
Hook, line and sinker!!
Phil
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>>b) I prefer not to be one of those sad gits joining up with hundreds of other sad gitsat the airport to fly for a couple of hours to join up with all the other sad gits around the pool in a concrete monstrosity surrounded by other concrete monstrosities with the 50 nearest bars selling egg, chips and beans and serving Guinness or bitter
One of the reasons I got a campervan rather than a caravan is that I hate caravan parks. I encountered on one my travels, and saw lots of sad gits in sad plastic boxes squeezed in beside other sad gits in sad plastic boxes.
With the campervan, I can park up on a beach overnight, or down a muddy lane, or in a field. 90% of the places I stayed in my campervan would have been inaccessible to a caravan.
But all that's irrelevant. If you enjoy your caravan, then it doesn't matter whether anyone else thinks you're a sad git. And if others enjoy being body-searched at Gatwick, then it doesn't matter whether you think they're sad gits.
Best wishes
NowWheels-the-sad-git
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My 77 year old dad recently sold his caravan as it was just gettting too much for him. However he had a mover fitted 5/6 years ago and that allowed him to carry on with this hobby for those extra years.
However one day when I was over and he was turning it around (ironically for me to wash it), he stopped just short of hitting one of his trees at the rear.
"Watch, stop" shouts I to my dad who was at the front of the caravan.
Dad walks to the rear of the caravan and somehow in the process gets the remote control round the wrong way.
He presses for it to go away from the tree but in this confusion presses the back button and proceeds to crack the fibreglass body against the tree.
All joking aside, that was a very traumatic moment for me. In that one movement I suddenly realised that my dad had aged, was now not confident and what hurt more than anything, was the look in his face because he realised the exact same thing.
So anything that helps people like my dad to get a few more years enjoyment out of their life is welcome in my eyes!
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>ancient monument, mediaeval village, chateau
My goodness that one hell of an ugly caravan, who did you buy it from Mr Munster of Gothic vans ltd?
Edited by Webmaster on 16/09/2009 at 02:35
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Dear NowWheels-the-sad-git
"But all that's irrelevant. If you enjoy your caravan, then it doesn't matter whether anyone else thinks you're a sad git. And if others enjoy being body-searched at Gatwick, then it doesn't matter whether you think they're sad gits"
Agreed - I was just "rising to the bait" of the anti-caravan brigade. Each to their own, live and let live etc. I also realise that many do not have the choice - if you only gat a week or 10 days hols then if you want the sun a quick flight is the only way.
"I hate caravan parks. I encountered on one my travels, and saw lots of sad gits in sad plastic boxes squeezed in beside other sad gits in sad plastic boxes."
Agreed - we don't stay on "caravan parks", we stay on campsites along with people in tents, in campervans etc - usually small sites with large separated pitches.
"With the campervan, I can park up on a beach overnight, or down a muddy lane, or in a field. 90% of the places I stayed in my campervan would have been inaccessible to a caravan."
Maybe, but I also mentioned going to Greece for a month. We used to put the van on a beach - about half mile long, maybe half a dozen other "campers" - couple of tents, couple of VW campervans etc. A caravan can be as self contained as a campervan, maybe not as easy down a "muddy lane "though! There are also loads of "camping a la ferme"sites on the continent - pitch up in a field, maximum of 5 vans/campers/tents.
Often considered a campervan but
a) Much more expensive than a caravan for same accommodation (couldn't afford when kids were little)
b) Couldn't afford a campervan and car and couldn't face driving to work in campervan the rest of year.
c) Can set up van and use car for exploring area - with campervan, presumably have to "pack up" before going out for day and leave something on your pitch otherwise some bloomin' caravanner will nick your place! (or tow a little car for "days out" or exploring?)
But, as I say, each to their own, and I shouldn't really denigrate "package hols" 'cos I have never been on one
Phil-the-sad-git
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c) Can set up van and use car for exploring area - with campervan presumably have to "pack up" before going out for day and leave something on your pitch otherwise some bloomin' caravanner will nick your place! (or tow a little car for "days out" or exploring?)
Yup, I've seen some ppl towing a Smart Car behind a motorhome. Seems kinda daft to me -- it'd be cheaper and easier to get a caravan.
But I don't have a motorhome, I have a campervan. (Same body as a van, but with higher roof -- not like the coachbuilt motorhomes, which are really caravans with a cab attached).
I don't need to worry about a "pitch", because I don't use campsites, at least not unless I have failed to get a weekly shower some other way (I do flannel washes the rest of the time) ... so there's no pitch for anyone to nick. Packing up is easy enough -- just don't take too much stuff!
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I don't need to worry about a "pitch" because I don't use campsites at least not unless I have failed to get a weekly shower some other way (I do flannel washes the rest of the time) ... so there's no pitch for anyone to nick. Packing up is easy enough -- just don't take too much stuff!
I think we're talking rather different styles of camping here...
My 'sad git' caravan has a power shower! (And a loo, central heating, oven, microwave, digital TV, permanently made-up double bed, ...).
When its parked up I can go exploring down the muddy lanes on foot with the dog or in my 4x4, but I can have a shower when I come back!
As for crammed into caravan sites, the answer is don't go to those - there are thousands of 5-caravan (max) sites across the country.
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As for crammed into caravan sites the answer is don't go to those - there are thousands of 5-caravan (max) sites across the country.
There are in the UK. Not necessarily in other countries.
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"there are thousands of 5-caravan (max) sites across the country."
"There are in the UK. Not necessarily in other countries."
Try France NW, (hence my term for these sites - "camping a la ferme"). Or Germany.
In addition, virtually every town/village in France has a municipal site. These are often small but very well maintained and remarkably good value (about £10 a night). Near coast or other "honeypot" locations they can be big and expensive if you want bar/disco/shop etc on site which we avoid but a few miles away will be a small one. As an example, we found one not far from La Rochelle/Isle de Re on which we were often the only occupants - cost about 7 euros a night - brill showers which were cleaned for us (!) each morning. Also found a little "camping a la ferme" near Biscarrosse in the forest run by a charming old couple - 5 vans/campers spread over about 3 acres.
Hope I'm not "teaching my grandmother to suck eggs"!!!Enjoy your camping
Phil
For France try this website/ book - has every site in France in it
www.campingfrance.com/index.jsp?lg=uk
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"unless I have failed to get a weekly shower some other way (I do flannel washes the rest of the time) ."
Wrong thread NW, wrong thread!!
try "Images of Backroomers"
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=78...2
;-)
Phil
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dear Manatee, i'm not scorning labour saving devices just SOME of the people who adopt them. i understand and welcome innovation and new ideas. i understand that using a caravan mover to get it into a tight space, it's the ones who use it for using it's sake that are the numpties.
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i saw a clever bit of work the other day. an old guy had put down a set of small train tracks with a pair of rail dollys.
Reminds me of a small stately home in Knutsford. I used to collect and deliver the odd classic car for the owner. next to his garages he had a helicopter pad on rails. The whole pad and chopper could be pushed in and out of a small hangar.........class !
ted
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>> NO. It's when your caravan is not accessible by the car and there is no >> option but to push it. >> How can your caravan not be accessible by car? I mean if the van got there...
Either you pushed it there or used the caravan mover.
Where you have limited space the 'van has to be unhitched and moved before the car can be put in the garage. Usually, it's not possible park the caravan using the car. As I mentioned on my first post, we don't all live in mansions with acres of space on our drives.
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