winching camper trailer into storage

Small boat winch works well.
Can pick them up at a number of places.

You can get them with a hole an slot type mounting that allows you remove them off a mounting plate.

Nicki

Depending on your vehicle, is there any chance of fitting a tow point to the front, slightly off centre towards the pass side. We have the same situation with our storage spot and it works a treat.

This may solve your problem and they come in handy in lots of situations anyway.

Cheers

Depending on how flush you are with money, you could get one of these.

Van Mover

Nicki

Be careful if you have to winch into position how will you get it out?
May need a winch which will allow you to "lower' it as well ie: an electric for example which will allow power out the cable but has a inbuilt safety brake etc

Regards

Jaap

Saw an advert for a portable winch in a 'tools' catalogue just recently. They had one that ran off a battery and a self contained rechargable one. Can't remember brand, shop or price... but they are out there!

G'day all, with mine I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in the concrete floor of my garage in line with the direction of pull required to get mine in, I then put my 12v boat winch on the floor through the centre slot & bingo! it works well every time, to let it out I put a rope around a garage post a few times & let it out gently & easy to control speed & weight. The bolt needs to be at least 100mm long & if possible drill the hole on a slight angle away at the top, when not in use I leave a piece of wooden dowell in the hole, works well, seee ya, dingo

Hi Nicki,
What Rocso meant (Depending on your vehicle, is there any chance of fitting a tow point to the front, slightly off centre towards the pass side. We have the same situation with our storage spot and it works a treat.) was fitting a towball to the front of your towing vehicle to 'push' the camper into its home. That is a good way to manoevre it.
Boat trailer winches come in various load ratings and gear ratios eg 5:1 and 7:1, I would suggest you consider mounting the winch in the back of the carport possibly with a socket into the floor so that it is removable, attach the winch to the back of the camper, then one person winches and another steers from the front. I have heard of another caravan owner who had two sockets in the ground to get his van around a difficult corner into its park.
Beware of these boat winches when lowering, there is no brake except the handle, which may slip off the winch or slip out of your hand.

Hi Nicki

welcome to vanning/camping. lots of great ideas here so far. i seen somewhere on a forum (maybe here??) where a guy not only fitted a towball to front of the car/4wd but also had a temporary A Frame that fitted to the rear of the van/camper that allowed him to push it into his storage so the front of the van went in first rather than rear first. added benefit of him seeing whats happening easily as he is driving in a forwards direction.

other than that you may have to inventive here and come up with a combination of ideas that suits your situation specificly. maybe a photo or two showing your access may help with further suggestions.

two very easy but are the most expensive ideas are:

1) the "motorised jockey wheels" and
2) stay away camping seeing this great country of ours - dont come back home, plus you will have more fun too - no problem with access then!!

good luck with it....

Hi Nicki,

I guess I'm presuming that it may be possible as opposed to totally impossible.

Faced the same question recently but I decided on refining my reversing technique instead. A little testing at first but really worthwhile in the end. I have a van in a narrow driveway and a narrow street. The whole exercise seemed impossible at first - hence the thought of alternatives. A sharp turn was required from the street with about six inched on either side meant a blind side was always going to be tight. Patience and understanding is the key (both of which are not in generous supply in my place). Give it a go!

Kind regards

nicki

I wrote a long reply and then lost it somehow. It took too long to load the photo...lol

This method of pushing a van into a tight spot is by far the safest. Don't even consider a winch up a slope. Too many things can go wrong

As mentioned above. Fit a towball/tow hitch to the front of your vehicle

Best photo I have is this one.

Image Could Not Be Found


Cheers

Nicki.

Another option to consider is a mechanical jockey wheel.

I use a dual wheel "Maco-Mule" to manouver my 1150kg camper trailer. It uses a ratchet based lever action.

The dual wheel Maco-Mule can be located on any side of the A-frame whereas the single wheel version needs to be on the left side.

Maco Mule

Bill.

Hi Nicki

some info here showing lots of working options for you at this link

getaway jockey wheel ideas

hope its helpful, if so let us know what you do as i am sure it will assist many others here too

cheers mick

Why not use your wagon as the winch?

Just mount a sheave/turnbuckle/pulley call it what you will onto the rear wall of the shed.

back the trailer as far into the driveway rearward as possible and disconnect from the vehicle.

Run the cable from towbar on the veicle under the centre of trailer, right up into the shed and back to the rear of trailer.

Drive forward slowly - using the vehicle and cable to slowly wnch the trailer back into the shed - someone can steer it on it;'s jockey wheel from the front if required.

W@hen getting it back out - just reverse the proceedure - push the trailer to the gradient andlet the tension on cable and vehicle slowly roll the railer down tot he front as the vehicle reverses back in to the driveway - when close enough - drop the cable and couple up the trailer.

Zero winch cost - simple and effective!

If you don;t want to use a vehicle use an endless chain attached to the rear wall of the shed or trailer - whichever suits you.

Yes - I'm a tightwad, but in my defense - Ive winched a LOT of heavey things into some pretty remote and difficut locations! ;o)





















Theres always more than one way to skin a cat! ;o)

Cheers

Nicki - there is an "as new" power jockey wheel listed on ebay at the moment for $1250 which is a great saving off the new price if it interests you. certainly would work - cheers.....