Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

jonbott · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 187 Location: cornwall

anyone know any (cheap)towing people to tow a caravan from canterbury to cornwall?its not a `towing van`
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2dogs:(
3 cats
1962 otten
1972 vw camper
1971 mini project
I must be mad!!

Brian M · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:17 am Post subject:

Can you please explain.

Do you mean it needs to be moved on a trailer?
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Brian
1970 Volvo Amazon and 1978 Safari 15-4 Caravan
Classic Safari Forum: www.classicsafaris.co.uk

jonbott · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 187 Location: cornwall

Roger-hatchy · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 2135 Location: Tiptree, Essex

Also what size of van
I can ask on another site, got a few friends in Kent that might know os someone.

Roger

rangerover125 · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 262

I would offer but its a bit to far from Leicestershire

ukdave2002 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4104 Location: South Cheshire

If you want to do it a low cost why not rent a trailer be about £40 and your fuel, any firm operating comercially will want far more than that.

Dave

jonbott · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 187 Location: cornwall

Peter_L · Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:53 pm Post subject:

Hi Jon.

Can't help with your question but thought you may like this.

http://www.thegreatvwcamper.com/vw-camper-cool/vw-campers-and-trailers

Rethink.... You could rent a small flat bed. It would have a winch to drag tha caravan on.

rangerover125 · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 262

I've moved several vans on flatbed trailers and even a car recovery trailer so there is no problem moving them that way. Steve

old van man · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 384

if it was me i would whip the wheels off, take them to a local tyer fitters have some buget tyers fitted, grease the berrings, free the hitch up,
strap on a trailerboard, and tow it back Smile

jonbott · Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 187 Location: cornwall

gillberry · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 702 Location: Norwich

Cheltenhams fit on trailers Very Happy

When we sold the fawn they took it away on a trailer, the fawn is a bit smaller than a sable but they towed it with a range rover, we stood out the front of the house and watched till it went out of sight, it was sad but we had bought the Nyala and had that to look forward to using in the summer

HMK · Joined: 19 Aug 2009 Posts: 42

A word of warning - & something that's not been mentioned (I don't think) on here about towing old caravans that have started to get wet in the corners that rots the framework...............

I can speak from personal experience on this, as I've had it happen to me..........When the frame starts to rot, not only does it not hold the pins/screws that hold the outer cladding in place, but these pins are often rusted away too.

What happens is that as you're travelling down the road at about 50mph, the suction of the air as it passes around the van, causes quite a strong pull on the outside surface of the caravan & you'll look in your mirror to see the whole side of the caravan starting to come away & flapping in the air like a great big sail Surprised

- with the following traffic flashing their lights & trying to get out of the way......it's not funny, I can tell you Embarassed

An "old timer" once warned me about this sort of thing happening with rotten old caravans that haven't been out on the road for a long time, so I have ALWAYS carried a roll of what can be your best friend in cases like this & that is the good old GAFFA TAPE (or even good strong parcel tape) Smile

So after managing to safely pull over, I taped all the side of the van back together with LOTS of gaffa tape & completed the rest of the journey without any more problems..........but it could have ended a lot worse....If I'm in any doubt now, I apply the old gaffa tape to any dodgy corners before I set off - can save a lot of grief Wink

Also, as has been said by others - tyres that are badly cracked can 'blow out' without warning too.

BTW, standard car tyres should NOT really be used on caravans - the only legal tyres for caravans are 'commercial van' rated tyres - the police can actually stop you from continuing on your journey if they pull you over & find you've got ordinary car tyres on your caravan. I've been told that the mobile tyre fitters have a 'field day' when the local plod have a summer time purge in this area pulling in all the passing caravans on one of our main through roads.....they check tyres, brakes, lights & number plates mainly.

Uncle Alec · Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 734 Location: Manchester

Not strictly true; modern tyres all have a load rating identifiable by a code e.g. 92T. It is easy to find a reference table online. If the weight rating of the two (or four) tyres adds up to more that the actual gross weight of the van then you're ok. But where we agree completely is that a lot of car tyres will not be sufficiently highly rated to legally carry the weight of a laden caravan. Best to check.

old van man · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 384

Now i do fit new 4 or 6 ply, cross ply "van" tyers on my vans, depending on the gross whight of the van, as to the ply used , but these tyers are not always availble at the local ATS , so thats why i said fit some buget tyers, on something as light as a sable they would be ok if only just to get it back
by the by, have just got back from delivering a 76 year old caravan on 30 year old tyers,(good tread no cracks in the sidewalls )175 miles averaging 55 mph on the motorway and the tyers where only just warm when i got there ,
happy carvanning Very Happy