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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Brisbane
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    5,773

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    The ride on I have is an older cox orion with a 10 or 12Hp(depending on how its measured) motor.
    Of course a mower shop is going to tell you it cant and wont do it.

    With a front towball you would be surprised where you can put a trailer or get it out.

    As for the webbing straps on boat winches.....forget it they are a pain in the @#$3.....by far the best thing to have on pretty well any winch is diema rope....it is a very strong synthetic rope, that reduces much of the risks associated with winches..and its way lighter......relativly short lengths of this rope in the appropriate size can be had from most boating suppliers.

    have you thaught about swinging your gate right in flat against the fence.....it is just a matter of locating the hinges on the inside edge of both the fence and the gate.....the hinges wont bind and the gate will swing right back flat against the fence.

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Bendigo
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    51
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    662

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    Ride on mower. Its not like you would be moving the van around all day long. With a little commonsense and a take it easy approach I think would one would be fine.
    www.lockwoodcanvas.com.au

    I will never be the person who has everything, not when someone keeps inventing so much cool new stuff to buy.

    From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    910

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    When a ride on mower might do the job on concrete, I doubt it will on grass. My Cox 15HP wouldn't, thats for sure. It slips on a 30 degree slope, representing just 1/3 of its weight so how will it pull a caravan?

    There are a number of good suggestions, all work but are not the sort of acrobatics you want to do. I don't own a caravan but have a boat in my backyard that I have to move up and down my ramp every time I want to use it. I have a dedicated electric ramp winch for the job and it is still a nuisance. Some of the neighbours have bought an old tractor for this and push and pull their boat up and down their ramp with it.

    So to your caravan. The best answer is the simplest one. Use your car to move it. If it is me, I would make a larger sliding gate so that you can just reverse it in position.
    But because it is not me, you can just fit a font tow bar and push the caravan and pull it out at will.
    If fitting a front towbar is out of the question, due to the type of car, you could have fixed points in front and behind the caravan and pull forward or backwards using a towing rope through one pulley in front, or both pulleys if pulling back. You may have to re attach the rope a few times depending how much room you have out the gate. Awkward but possible. Sandbag on the rope a must to avoid decapitation of the helper.

    Bigger gate is the go.
    “We often contradict an opinion for no other reason
    than that we do not like the tone in which it is expressed.”

    Friedrich Nietzsche


  5. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    394

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    Hmmn.Move the swing set to a new position then you can reverse the caravan through the gates to where the swings were. Simple hook up when you need to travel.

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Brisbane
    Age
    67
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    2,061

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    Thanks for the replies. Its been some time since I put this post on. We ended up buying a bigger caravan with a Purple line mover fitted and no further problems with moving it around the yard. The Purple line will turn the van in its own length and it can be moved from the street into the parking spot in the back yard without any troubles.
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

    www.artisanpens.com.au
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  7. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
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    80
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    16,560

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    Hi Greg, what caravan did you change over to?

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Brisbane
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    67
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    2,061

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    Hi Fred.

    We bought an Elddis Affinity 550 which is 18'8" x 6'11" inside and 24'3" overall. It is a single axle English made van with a raised chassis and additional cross bar under specially built for Australia. Its not really an off-roader but the commercials show it being driven along outback dirt roads (something we wont be doing) It has a TARE of 1366kgs, an ATM of 1700 kgs and a ball weight of only 55kgs. It has override brakes and an anti-sway computer controlled braking system. It tows beautifully behind the small 4cyl diesel BT50 ute.

    We wanted a European van because of the low ball weight and overall weight compared with an Australian made van and also we wanted a large front lounge (small double fold out bed) and large front windows. We were tossing up between the Elddis and a Baileys but went with the Elddis because of a better deal with price.

    Also, the Elddis offers a bedroom (full Queen size island bed with storage underneath) at the rear and a separate shower and toilet. If you open the toilet door fully it latches across the small hallway closing off the bedroom completely and providing an ensuite. More of a gimmick really but it allows the air con to work better in the bedroom as it can be altered to blow air either forward, back or both.

    A benefit for Melbourne (but certainly not Brisbane) is the van also has a central heating system with ducting through the bedroom, toilet, kitchen area and behind the lounge. All the electircal and gas components are fully certified for Australian warranty and can be repaired or replaced here. Apparently, the trouble with some of the grey imports (which are cheaper) is the electrical system is different and the warranty on heaters, air-con, stove and fridge are only covered in Europe and have to be sent there for repair.

    We also looked at the new Adria vans and although weight wise they are similar, we didnt like the layout as much. However, the Adria is a well built, solid van and we didnt have any problems with the other one.

    Time to upgrade?

    Greg
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

    www.artisanpens.com.au
    www.facebook.com/artisanpens.penmakers

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

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    Thanks Greg, sounds good.

    Since I saw you last we have had 2 upgrades! We went from our Jayco Penguin camper trailer to a Jayco Heritage poptop. The camper trailer was nice to tow and easy to set up but on longer trips, such as our trip to Cairns/Cooktown we tended to get in each others' way.

    So we thought we'd buy a caravan, didn't want a full height van so went for a poptop. Took that to Tassie and a few other places and came to the conclusion that it would actually be nice to have a toilet and shower on board.

    I had been wanting a 5th wheeler for some time but the Minister of War and Finance was dead set against that as she didn't want to "drive a semi trailer".

    Anyway last August we were on our way to north Queensland again, decided to do the Newell Hwy, and driving through Narrabri she spotted this 5th wheeler and (stupidly) pointed it out to me.
    Did a quick U turn and inspected it, she actually fell in love with it but neither of us were too sure about making such a big step so we kept going.

    In Monto we ran in to a NZ couple towing a 5th wheeler of similar size and got talking to them (on the road full time) and he offered for me to drive his rig so I could get an idea what to expect. It was a 28 footer being towed with a Holden Colorado dual cab. Great to tow, easy to reverse, hitching unhitching was a cinch.

    So, long story short, we turned around, back to Narrabri, made an offer on the 5th wheeler, back to Bendigo to drop our caravan off, down to Melbourne to buy a Colorado Space Cab ute, back to Narrabri to pick up the 5th wheeler and back to Victoria to get it registered there, phew.

    We had looked at the Euro style vans prior to buying the 5th wheeler but even though we both liked layouts and features they didn't look all that capable to take on dirt roads, as we like to visit some places that aren't on the bitumen.

  10. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Wow - you really have upgraded Fred.

    I was looking over a 5th wheeler when we were at Hervey Bay last. It is a brilliant set up and the owner could walk over the roof to clean it and make adjustments. They have a heap of room in them and there is nothing better than having a toilet (in particular) and a shower. Its a real bugger getting up at 3am and walking to the park loos through the rain.

    I was wondering how it would tow and what the fuel economy would be like. I imagine the Colorado is diesel which helps a lot with economy and pulling power.
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

    www.artisanpens.com.au
    www.facebook.com/artisanpens.penmakers

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
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    80
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    Quote Originally Posted by plantagenon View Post
    Wow - you really have upgraded Fred.

    I was looking over a 5th wheeler when we were at Hervey Bay last. It is a brilliant set up and the owner could walk over the roof to clean it and make adjustments. They have a heap of room in them and there is nothing better than having a toilet (in particular) and a shower. Its a real bugger getting up at 3am and walking to the park loos through the rain.

    I was wondering how it would tow and what the fuel economy would be like. I imagine the Colorado is diesel which helps a lot with economy and pulling power.
    Yes, the Colorado is diesel and has 470nm of torque, it copes with the 3T 5th wheeler very well. Uses a bit more juice than our previous Terracan/Jayco which used around the 13-15 l/100k. This combo uses 16-18 /100k but you get a lot more for your money I guess.

    Yes, the midnight dash isn't the best when it is 2 C or raining cats and dogs, we used to have a Porta Potti but that wears thin as well.

    The 5th wheeler has a slide out and it came with a sofa as well as the usual dinette setup. We have since ditched the sofa and replaced it with a couple of very comfortable recliners.

    We are now fully self contained with 3 tanks for water, grey water and black water so we can free camp anywhere as we are not great fans of caravan parks.

    I have installed a good solar setup so power is taken care of as well.

  12. #26
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    Nov 2010
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    16-18 l/100 k is not bad economy towing a heavy 5th wheeler. Our old Ford Territory was using 16 l/100l without anything on the back. Then at 6 years old it started to fall apart. They don't build them to last long these days. We changed over to a VW Tiguan and its a great little car - 5.5 l/100k. Also bought the BT50 for towing the van as the ball weight on the VW is only 100kg and we wanted something that would carry the electric bikes as well. Even the BT50 only burns around 9 l/100k when towing.

    The slide out would give you a lot more room and its nice to customise the vans to suit your own needs. If I win Gold Lotto we might consider a motor home but with the odds on winning lotto I think we will have the van for a while.
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

    www.artisanpens.com.au
    www.facebook.com/artisanpens.penmakers

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    North Of The Boarder
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    68
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    16,794

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    Greg only just saw the photos of the yard etc, either widen the gate or put another gate down the fence further and a drive through. I have seen a van park use the same sort of electric/battery powered trolly collection cart to move vans about I think even at a caravan sales yard. A special hitch had been made.

    My neighbour has a similar problem with his boat reversing it in has to do 2x90 deg turns he had set up a tracking device and winch he hooked up to the rear of the boat trailer worked well for a while.

    Always find it on ebay

  14. #28
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    Looks like an old rotray hoe

  15. #29
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Brisbane
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    Problem has been solved mate. See posts above - We bought a new caravan and had a Purpleline Mover fitted to it. They put a 12v motor in front of each wheel of the van. You wind a cog affair the width of the wheel onto the tyre and then stand back with a remote control and move the caravan in and out of the yard and in any direction in the yard. I could never have got it in by towing it but with this new gizmo it only takes a couple of minutes and is a piece of ****.

    I had tried a small attachable mover a bit smaller than the one in the photo but it just slipped on the grass as the ball weight of the van is very light.
    The Pen is mightier than the Sword

    www.artisanpens.com.au
    www.facebook.com/artisanpens.penmakers

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