Parkit360?

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bjb21
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Parkit360?

#1 Post by bjb21 » Wed May 04, 2011 8:31 pm

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anyone has used or has a parkit360 motorized dolly. I would like to purchase one but was wondering if anyone had any opinions on them? Do they work well? Thanks for any advice.

bjb21

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Parker
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Re: Parkit360?

#2 Post by Parker » Wed May 04, 2011 10:20 pm

bjb21,

That is the first Parkit360 that I have ever seen so it is hard to comment on that brand (I went to website). However, I have had a Power Mover for many years and love the thing. My Power Mover is rated to 10,000lb's (I am pretty sure) and appears to be much more sturdy than the Parkit360. Just in case you want to do a real comparison. I also had my selection narrowed down too 2 brands, but I just cannot remeber what the name of the other "Major Player" in this technologies name is......I will try to remember, but I know that it is not Parkit360.

No matter what brand you end up getting, it is important to not become complacent in hooking the trailer too the battery connection, which results in having no bakes whatsoever. Several times I made the mistake of not hooking up both my toyhauler or my boat, because the grade looked so minimal that I thought it wasn't going to be a problem.

The first time my boat got away from me, I was pulling it out of an airplane hanger with room everywhere, yet I still steered the boat straight towards my tow vehicle. I ended up turning it more sharply than I wanted, but I missed my tow vehicle by inches, and the momentum of the boat still carried it more than 3 boat lengths past my vehicle. It wasn't going fast, but it just kept going, and the brake on the power mover cannot stop a 8000lb boat.

Also, these type of trailer movers are great items to have, especially if you have extremely tight places to manuver around. You can never back up with a tow vehicle even close too how precise you can do it with a trailer mover. Night and Day!

No matter which one you get, you are going to love the convience!

I believe the Power Mover costs new about $1700, but I found mine on craigslist for approx $750 (or I paid $900....I can't remember), then I paid another $200 to have it shipped to me through Uship, since it was several states away. They are relatively simple devices and I have seen many for sale on many differrent websites since I got mine, but a used one should be fine since there really aren't too many parts to wear out.

Best of luck to you,

Parker
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GregF
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Re: Parkit360?

#3 Post by GregF » Thu May 05, 2011 9:43 am

I move mine around with the golf cart. My neighbor uses a lawn tractor.
It is not going to be quite as agile as this gizmo but it is one less thing I have to buy and find a place to store.
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rrhodes
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Re: Parkit360?

#4 Post by rrhodes » Thu May 05, 2011 10:04 am

I use a Suburban to move mine around. :)
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Re: Parkit360?

#5 Post by GregF » Thu May 05, 2011 10:12 am

I have a ford truck if I am going out on the road but the cart is easier if I am just shoving it around in the yard. I can actually see under the boat so I can stick it in a real tight spot without hitting anything. With the short wheelbase you can turn it on a dime.
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Re: Parkit360?

#6 Post by rrhodes » Thu May 05, 2011 10:29 am

Yeah, I was being smart.. LOL

I would love to have something to move my toon around with when I just want to clean it up or even do yard work around it but the wife would flip if I said I was going to blow money on it so I don't have to hook it up to the Truck...
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Re: Parkit360?

#7 Post by GregF » Thu May 05, 2011 12:28 pm

My neighbor uses his lawn tractor when he is mowing. He pulls the boat out, mows and pushes it back.
I am usually just mowing around the empty trailer so the weed eater is as fast as moving it and using a mower. I wonder how well this parkit works in the grass? It does look like something that would be easy to make using a $50 harbor fright winch motor and some junk lawn tractor hardware. I would still have the question, where to store it.
It does look like a handy thing for a boat dealer. They usually move these with a ball on the fork of a fork truck from what I see. I guess they are taking that ball off and putting it on a lot. I have also seen an unpowered dolly but that would be tough if you were moving a big boat on a slope.
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Re: Parkit360?

#8 Post by Parker » Thu May 05, 2011 2:19 pm

As cool as the dollies are, there are still drawbacks. For instance, a PowerMover cannot move any trailer up a slope of more than 15 degrees. Most entrances to Boat storages and airplane hangers have approx 15 degrees for the run-off, per the building code for drainage. Just forget about grass or gravel, it won't work. Also, The PowerMover not only is very heavy, but it is also akward to the point, where you would have to think twice about just throwing it into the back of your tow vehicle a whipping it out every time you want to use it!

The Parkit360 website even says that the product is only good on flat surfaces, which may not be realistic for many people. It certainly will not power a trailer up a driveway with any slope beyond 15 degrees.

Also, and don't ask me why because I don't know, but the 2 styles of motorized dollies than I looked at, both manufacturer's were adament about NOT hooking the power dolly to the ball. Both companies say this is unsafe. My PowerMover hooks up to a bracket that I mount to all my trailers, that is supposed to be set as far back as possible for stability. Also this free's the ball on the trailer so that I can move the trailer right up to my ball and drop it on, but that's not the reason for the frame mounting. (I have all my brackets welded on, then painted to match the trailer, for a really clean look).

Here is one thing that you can do with a motorized dolly, that you can't do with a tow vehicle or golf cart or tractor. I have a 14 x 55 Toy Condo. Inside is a boat that 36' long on the trailer and a toyhauler that is 26' long. I am able to put the boat within 1 inch of the wall, as far back as it will go, then I put the toyhauler in forwards, overlaping the two tounges by approx 7 ft. I have just inches to be able to close the door, but both fit and I could not do it without a power dolly.


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2875RLXIO
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Re: Parkit360?

#9 Post by 2875RLXIO » Thu May 05, 2011 2:27 pm

I had a Power Mover that I used for my large boat, and it actually almost ened up in the side of my house because it was too much weight for it. They ended up taking it back and refunding my money. I have a jeep wrangler with a hitch on the front, as well as a hitch on the front of my 2500 HD. Since the boat stays in Arizona now I really have not had to use the front hitches, but my driveway in California is steep and has several tight turns which the front hitches worked well on. The best thing I have used to move the boats around was a forklift with a ball on one of the forks. I was actually looking at buying one, but don't have as much use for it anymore.
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Re: Parkit360?

#10 Post by Parker » Thu May 05, 2011 2:49 pm

I forgot to add this. I agree that it wouldn't really be too hard to make one of these and for a lot less money.

I also would still like to have a front hitch on my vehicle. A friend of mine puts his boat away up the steepest and most curved driveway I have ever seen attempted, with verry little room for error, in which he could not even attempt without the front hitch.

Here are the two manufactures that I narrowed down my search too:

http://www.powermoverinc.net/index.html

http://www.powercaster.com/ (Power Caster was the name I could not remember)

But, as 2875RLXIO attests, these are not for everyone, and are only convient if you have the right circumstances.

I am sure that there are many owners of these products that have taken out their own homes, tow vehicles, and landscaping with their runaway trailers.......just something to think about. And for "christ sake", don't even think of launching your boat with one of these devises! (humor)

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Brandon
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Re: Parkit360?

#11 Post by Brandon » Thu May 05, 2011 3:47 pm

It just may be me because I dont have money to blow, but I would not be able to justify spending $1000 dollars on something, just to make something a little more convienent when I could just hook up my truck and move it where, ever I wanted.
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Re: Parkit360?

#12 Post by ROLAND » Fri May 06, 2011 2:32 am

Are you guys talking about one of those battery powered dollys. When I was looking for a boat storage place 2 years ago I found an indoor place across town that had the powered dolly available for use by their customers. This particular place was set up so there were two rows of boats... the space that was available when I was looking on the back row, which meant everytime I wanted to get my boat out, I would have to use the dolly to move the boat in front of mine, unhook it,then hook my boat up to the dolly to pull it out ( couldn't use the truck, space was way to tight ), disconnet my boat from the dolly, hook up the other guys boat and put it back,then hook up my boat to the truck.... thanks but no thanks... first of all in this particular application,waaaaay too much trouble, second of all, I wasn't comfortable with moving another mans boat back and forth... just think if you damaged it moving it... the lease papers for that place even said that we woule be responsible if we damaged another persons boat... they had to use the dolly's 'cause space was only 9' wide.... place I ended up with - space is 18 x 30,,, just back her in, unhook, throw the cover on and gone.... 10 minutes tops...
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Re: Parkit360?

#13 Post by Flanker » Fri May 06, 2011 9:06 am

I move mine with a John Deere Gator. I have a hitch on the front bumper
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Re: Parkit360?

#14 Post by Parker » Fri May 06, 2011 2:17 pm

Here is a picture of my PowerMover in action.

The boat has long since been sold.

Just too answer the obvious question......That Playcraft went almost 90mph, however 86.7 mph is the fastest I went on GPS, but I still had more throttle.....just not the BALLS!

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Re: Parkit360?

#15 Post by GregF » Fri May 06, 2011 4:26 pm

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Here is a picture of my PowerMover in action.

The boat has long since been sold.

Just too answer the obvious question......That Playcraft went almost 90mph, however 86.7 mph is the fastest I went on GPS, but I still had more throttle.....just not the BALLS!
I don't blame you, running along in front of that power mover at almost 87 MPH must be tough. ;)
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