Caravan Motor Mover Guide: Powrtouch Interview

You need an awful lot more than just your caravan before you can begin touring. After speaking to hundreds of fellow caravan owners, one thing we can all agree on is that a motor mover is an essential piece of equipment. For those new to caravanning, you probably have a lot of questions about motor movers, such as:

• What does a motor mover do?
• Do I need a motor mover for my caravan?
• What should I expect to pay for a good, reliable motor mover?
• How do I decide which motor mover I need?

In my caravan motor mover guide, I answer all the above questions. I also had the opportunity to speak to Phil Clark, Managing Director of Truma Ltd, which includes the leading motor mover designer and manufacturer Powrtouch. Thanks to his contributions, this is an excellent resource for caravan newbies looking to purchase their first motor mover. By the end of this post, you’ll be a motor mover expert too!

Looking to purchase a motor mover? We’ve created a guide to the best motor movers that money can buy. Read it here to make sure you purchase the perfect motor mover for your requirements.

What does a motor mover do?

The most important question of all is, “what does a motor mover do?”

Powrtouch Interview: What does a motor mover do?

“To answer that we really need to ask, ‘how did we cope before motor movers?’ These great devices manoeuvre our caravans effortlessly by the touch of a handset control button, making it easy to pitch, hitch up, level, line up wheel locks, and even keep our caravans safer by parking them nose in when in storage or at home making them more secure!”

Expanding upon the answer above, a motor mover is an electronic device that is fitted to the chassis of your caravan. The device allows you to manoeuvre your caravan remotely, meaning the days of pushing your caravan around manually are gone!

A motor mover consists of 3 separate elements:

• Two or 4 motor units (depending on whether you have a single or twin axle caravan)
• Electronic control unit
• Remote control

The video below from Tamar Caravan Centre is an excellent demonstration of how a motor mover works. In the video, we see a motor mover fitted to a single axle caravan.

As you can see in the video above, a suitable motor mover allows for precise movements (even as small as 1mm at a time, because Powrtouch motor movers are so accurate) and enhanced manoeuvrability versus trying to push your caravan around. Trying to get your caravan into a specific position just by pushing it around is basically impossible. A motor mover takes all the work and stress out of moving your caravan.

Do I Need A Motor Mover For My Caravan?

You might wonder whether you actually need a motor mover for your caravan. After all, if you have a lightweight caravan, is there any point investing in a £1,000 device for moving your caravan when it’s light enough to push around?

Powrtouch interview: Do I need a motor mover for my caravan? Is my caravan light enough that I don’t need one?

“It’s not so much the weight of the caravan you need to consider but the surface you want manoeuvre on; for example, gravel, wet grass, and slopes make pushing even light caravans almost impossible. And let’s be honest, when we get to our holiday pitch after a long drive the last thing we want to do is to struggle pushing and pulling a caravan into our desired location. The quicker we get that job done, the quicker we start our much-deserved break.”

I agree completely with what Phil at Powrtouch had to say regarding whether or not you need a motor mover for your caravan. At the end of the day, do you really want to waste your holiday time trying to push your caravan around?

For readers wondering, I’ve tried pushing around my caravan in the past without using the motor mover. It’s a pointless endeavour that ends solely in stress and failure. It’s not worth the effort and time wasted when there are devices out there that do all the work for you!

A motor mover really is a must, regardless of the weight of your caravan. Especially when you consider the security and storage benefits of using a motor mover too.

What Should You Expect To Pay For A Good, Reliable Motor Mover?

Motor movers vary greatly in price depending upon where you look. If you’re a caravanning newbie, this might make it tough to figure out ballpark figures for what you should be spending on a good, reliable motor mover.

Powrtouch interview: What should you expect to pay for a good, reliable motor mover?

“This is like anything: you get what you pay for. Powrtouch have been manufacturing movers for some 25 years and therefore know what they are talking about. When purchasing a mover always consider that saving a few pounds on an unknown brand is probably false economy as, like most of us, you depend on this device to make every caravanning holiday easy as holidays should be. I would expect to pay under £1,000 for a quality manual engagement version (including the installation) and slightly more to upgrade it to an easier automatic engagement version that takes away having to engage the rollers to the tyres.”

As Phil said, you really do get what you pay for. There are cheap motor movers out there, but you really do get what you pay for. If you buy a cheap motor mover from a brand that no one’s heard of, don’t be surprised if it lets you down! On the other hand, if you purchase a motor mover from a well-known reputable brand (such as Powrtouch!) you can expect a quality product that stands the test of time.

I’ve oftentimes come across the question how long does a motor mover last? In response, I’d normally ask how long’s a piece of string?!

In my personal experience, my caravan is fitted with a 11-year-old Powrtouch motor mover that’s still going strong. I’ve seldom had an issue with it, but it is well maintained. A quick look at the Powrtouch website tells you that all their latest motor movers come with a 5-year, no-quibble guarantee. On the other hand, some cheaper motor movers don’t come with a guarantee of any kind. Doesn’t that tell you all you need to know about the importance of purchasing a reliable motor mover from a reputable brand?

How Do I Decide Which Motor Mover I Need?

Before purchasing my first motor mover, I remember having a look online and realising just how many there are to choose from. So how do you decide on which motor mover you need?

Powrtouch Interview: How do I decide which motor mover I need?

“You need the correct mover for your caravan: twin axle movers are very different to single axle versions. Also, you need to consider if you are happy to engage the rollers to the tyre by a wrench provided or you want the fully automatic version. Powrtouch have a full range of mover models to suite every caravan and every budget.”

There are several considerations when you’re choosing a motor mover, such as:

Weight of caravan. The type of motor mover you need will depend upon the weight of your caravan. For example, the Powrtouch Freedom is capable of moving caravans weighing up to 1500kg, whereas the Powrtouch Evolution is capable of manoeuvring caravans weighing up to 2000kg. Therefore the motor mover you need will differ according to the weight of your tourer.

Weight of motor mover. Motor movers are heavy. A single-axle motor mover kit can weight approximately 30kg. This is an important consideration when choosing and installing motor movers because your folding camper can end up being very heavy! If your folding camper is heavy as it is, you don’t want to make it too heavy by using motor movers.

Battery requirements. To power your motor movers, you’ll need an adequate leisure battery. The battery you require might end up costing you around £150, so you need to factor this cost in. The battery you choose will also be fairly large and weigh a lot, so you need to consider this too! The bigger the battery, the longer it will run for. I would expect a good quality 110AH battery to run a single axle mover for 30 minutes. This might not sound like a lot, but it’s a manoeuvring device and really only used for 5 minutes at a time.

Budget. Motor movers can differ greatly in price. With that in mind, you must set a budget before you take a look at your options. If you don’t, you can end up spending way too much on motor movers.

That’s all for this blog post! Thanks for reading and a big thank you to Phil Clark, Managing Director of Truma Ltd, of which the Powrtouch brand sits under, for his contributions to our article.