...put the van round the back of the house the other day cos it is closer to the workshop when I'm loading/unloading - well, since then it has done nothing but bloody chuck it down (can you see where this is going?!) Need the van out for a 6am start tomorrow so thought I'd do it now, been sunny all day so thought it would be OK - couple of van lengths into the move you can guess what happens - absolutely sunk - right down to the rims, not going anywhere no matter what I do - not helped by the fact that it is FWD and I'm having to reverse it out.
So I hooked up the car with a strop and tried to pull it out - wouldn't even move an inch - called my wife out to help (who doesn't drive manuals, "can't", and hasn't done so in 10+ years) but after a bit of instruction I manage to get her to just ride the clutch at the point before the wheels of the van start to spin, hoping it will help - still going nowhere - car tyres starting to dig in - at which point I remember the waffle boards I bought from Nige a while back (thanks Nige!) but all that did was stall the car as it was just too much for it, and I wasn't too keen on ripping my tyres to pieces on the boards by giving it too much boot!
Right, time to break out the SIII I thought, but that is hiding around the back of the house too - the van is far enough out of the way to get it out, but the motorhome is parked right across the front of the SIII - tho somehow I manage to move the motorhome just enough without getting it stuck to free the SIII (front end is now in the trees and back end is in the hedge!) - jump in the SIII - the battery is dead! (because of Christmas I haven't run her up in a while) Motorhome is close by, so with the help of two sets of jump leads joined together I get a jump start on the SIII, pull the SIII out only to realise the trailer is now in the way, which is full of bags of rubble that I've left in there waiting to go to the tip - struggle to drag it out of the way, and get the SIII in position - set her up on 4WD, back wheels onto the waffle boards and give it a go - just manages to get the van moving, so shout the wife out again (who has gone inside because it is "too bloody cold") and together over the course of 20mins we finally get the van unstuck.
I've now got a 25m, rim deep set of parallel marks through the garden - ground was so soft that I literally had to drag it out with the SIII until we got to the firmer ground.
Without the SIII I'd have been totally screwed - absolutely no way was the van going anywhere. Gave her a good run out down the road as a treat, and then drove it through the garden where the van had just been stuck and parked back in her spot round the back - didn't even break into a sweat. Bloody marvelous! Best 800 euros spent yet!!
Matt