I have a gently sloping driveway towards the street - although the Aliner is relatively light, I've always had to rely on my wife to push at the back while I pull the drawbar / jockey wheel. It is just not possible for me to move the van around our property alone. A few months back, she slipped on a wet driveway and broke her left arm - although it has healed and she has titanium plates fitted, she will never have the strength in that arm for the rest of her life. We discussed whether that was the end of our Avanning, but decided to get a set of caravan movers fitted. I researched and chose the Purpleline type, which are now fitted - I can now move the van at home without any assistance - and it will be good at van parks, just park on the road, unhook the van and 'walk' it onto the site.

However, in the 3 years we've had the van I have never been happy with the small 6" jockey provided by Avan - in around 20-30% of sites it tended to dig into the grass or sandy site base. As the new power movers create a fair amount of 'shove' in moving the van, I decided that the old jockey had to go. I fitted one of the new ARK heavy duty off-road units - twin 8" wheels with sealed ball bearings, 90 degree trailing yoke, 4 mounting heights with a full 250mm height windup, side wind type with removable handle, and can take 750kg down-force - a really HEAVY DUTY unit -  although it could be considered major over-kill for the Aliner, it just breezes across grassy ground - doesn't dig in anymore. It was worth the extra cost - it will do us until we reach the age and health were we have to stop vanning altogether.

Regards, Brian