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EMUK AIRLIFT PILLOWS

How to level our Mountain Yacht?

We have been looking for a good solution to level our Mountain Yacht for some time. We are not really fussy about levelling but sometimes the angle is just too big and then it gets uncomfortable.

We have tried lots of stuff: using a rock, tree stump or whatever nature gives you, sometimes fine but often not a real solution. We also bought large camper leveller’s but they were just not up to the task.

The camper levellers are bulky and just not strong enough on bad or rocky surfaces. As they are mostly open at the bottom they tend to sink away on soft surfaces. And there is always the question: how far should I drive up on them to stay levelled?

Sandbags

We also used sandbags as we carry around at least 10 bags for various purposes. We use them as traction aids (sand ladders) in mud or sand when you fill them up and throw them in the ruts in front or behind your wheels. You can use them as levellers when you fill them with sand, dirt or even snow, pretty much anything you can get your hands on.  This functions ok, but needs some work before you can use them. So not the best solution either.

Emuk Airlift Pillows

After a while we found the Emuk Airlift Pillows on the internet. We did some more research and figured this could be the solution for us. They are basically large pillows made of very strong multiple layers of rubber with aluminium grippers that protects the pillow and keeps it together.

You can lift between 1,5 and 20 cm. and they can be used on any surface. The Emuk pillows can be used up to 11 tonnes!

You basically drive onto the pillows with the wheels that you want to have lifted. Inflate the pillow until you are levelled (we went all the way up to 7 bar, but we think that 6 bar is the official maximum)  and that is all there is to it. You can use a handpump, electrical pump or in our case: the air hose of the truck. For us the simplest and quickest option as we have air outlets on both sides of our Mountain Yacht.

We have been using the Emuk pillows during our 11 weeks Balkan trip this summer. We did not use them every day, as it was not always necessary, but we have been using them a lot. On all kinds of surfaces: from asphalt to pebbles and even sharp rocks and they withstood anything we threw at them.

Verdict

We are very impressed by the Emuk Airlift pillows. They are easy to stow and very rugged. The pillows in the pictures are the ‘small’ ones that have a width of 48 cm. As we found out that there are Expedition truck-sized-pillows of 60 cm we ordered those and sold the other ones. After a summer of heavy use, they still looked barely used.

It is an investment of around € 500,- for a pair, but quality does not come cheap. The ease of use and the comfort of being levelled any time is definitely worth it in our opinion.

In the future we will report on the behaviour and wear and tear of the pillows, but so far, so good!

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