One of the things that is
very important to us when we purchased a caravan was that the family holiday
experience should be as easy and stress free as possible. We wanted to be
able to arrive on site and have the caravan set up as quickly as possible with
a minimum amount of fuss, allowing the rest of the family to get on and explore
their new surroundings whilst I set the caravan up.Now the thought of actually manhandling a 1.7 ton twin
axle caravan onto a narrow pitch didn't fill me with much joy. In fact,
having tried to move the caravan by hand, it is nigh on impossible. So to
reduce the stress, I decided to have a caravan mover fitted by the dealer
before I actually took delivery of the caravan. This has turned out to be
one of the best things I ever did! I did some internet research and
discovered that caravan movers were readily available for single axle caravans
but there were few caravan movers specifically built for twin axles.
Some of the manufacturers produced caravan movers for
twin axles that were based solely on the single axle mover. To enable a
twin axle caravan to turn on a tight radius some manufacturers’ equipment just
pulses the inside wheels effectively scrubbing the van around the corner.
I was advised that this isn't the best system for a caravan mover. New to
the market from Reich was a system specifically built for twin axle
caravans. The Reich 4-wheel-drive move control system actually drives on
all four wheels of the caravan. To enable the caravan to turn a very
tight radius the wheels on the inside of the turn are actually driven in the
opposite direction. This is achieved by some very clever electronics in
the control unit and an effectively means that you can turn the caravan in its
own length.
The mover was fitted for me by my dealer and consists
of four motors and actuators attached to the chassis, two electronic control
modules fitted in our case next to be battery box and a remote control. The
motors drive the wheels by engaging friction coated rollers onto the tires’
surface. The one thing I did notice was that the actuators that engage
onto the caravan tires are quite low and reduce the ground clearance which is
something to bear in mind when negotiating speed bumps on site and when towing
near kerbs.
Reich says that the four-wheel-drive system will
propel a 2000 kg twin axle caravan up a gradient of 15%. I haven't tried
this, however, the route into my drive is uphill and also on gravel and the
mover copes easily with this terrain. The mover can be engaged from one
side of the caravan utilizing a cross actuator for each pair of motors.
The actuators are easily wound in and out using the same crank as the caravan legs. The
remote is easy to use and understand and the system incorporates a so