New Trailer Time

[Gkconfer]

My wife and I will travel to Ohio tomorrow to pick up our new Rockwood Mini-Lite 2306.....we're very excited. When I called the campground near RV Wholesalers where we'll be staying, the office guy asked me if I'd ever backed up an RV before. "No," I responded. "Good," he said, I'm gonna sell tickets so we can all watch. We can use a good laugh." Wise guy!!!

[momtovn]

hahahah good one!! good luck with the camper, we have the same one ( but flaggstaff 23lb) on order!!! we dont know how to back up either!

[greti]

Congratulations! I'll be up there in two weeks picking mine up. What campground will you be staying at?

[socref01]

Welcome to the forum. Don't let backing up freak you out or anything...it just takes practice and EVERYONE has had the learning curve. Just have someone spotting to YELL stop! Before you hit anything. I have days where I back up put it right where it needs to be first time and I have days where it just won't cooperate...

[Gkconfer]

Thanks, Greti. The Indian Lakes State Park capmpground is located about a mile or so from RVW...$25 a night, and they allow pets as long as they're on a leash.

[prof_fate]

We get ours (finally) on tuesday. They're gonna bring it to our house for us. THEN the fun begins...we plan to go to the mall sunday morning and practice. Empty lot, no onlookers, lots of room and lines to guide us.

I also picked up some FRS radios so we can talk and not yell directions...now the DW does not take 'directions' well - we fight when we set up our popup (ok, she walks away and I have to setup by myself) so this is gonna be fun - NOT!

Our (ok, my) bigger fear is if we have to stop on the way to the campground, say at a mcdonalds or grocery store and I gotta back the rig up to get outta there. At least with our small popup I could see over it to knwo what was back there.

[Terier]

Originally Posted by Gkconfer

When I called the campground near RV Wholesalers where we'll be staying, the office guy asked me if I'd ever backed up an RV before. "No," I responded. "Good," he said, I'm gonna sell tickets so we can all watch. We can use a good laugh."

He could give out a "Day Pass" with me because I really, really, really suck at it. I have a wide open space and I still have problems backing into where I want it to end up. Now that there'a car on one side and a trailer on the other side it does help to see where my lane is but I still need a lot of practice. Of course it's easier when I have someone directing me.

Originally Posted by prof_fate

Our (ok, my) bigger fear is if we have to stop on the way to the campground, say at a mcdonalds or grocery store and I gotta back the rig up to get outta there. At least with our small popup I could see over it to knwo what was back there.

Although I tried to avoid small turn around I got into a tight spot when I pulled into a fast food restaurant to get a soda. The lot was narrow and although I parked side ways I couldn’t make the turn to depart. My walk-through took several hours and I really wanted that cold diet coke. Thank goodness that one driver came out and moved his car so I could get out of there.

Congrats! Lots of good times to come...

[caper]

Backing up travel trailers doesn't have to be a frustrating task, as long as you can follow some simple rules:
Rule #1: Make sure your outside mirrors are as wide as the travel trailer you are pulling, you can but extensions if you need them, especially if you are driving a smaller SUV or a sedan with a wide trailer. Backing a travel trailer is unlike backing up your vehicle alone and it is recommended to use the mirrors exclusively for this maneuver, it is safer than hanging your head out of the window, and you will have the best control over your combined vehicles.



Rule #2: Before backing, try to position the travel trailer as close to the intended parking space as possible. In addition try to have the towing vehicle and the travel trailer in a straight line, lined up with the parking space. Every situation will be different and you might not be able to achieve perfection but good positioning will make the backing up much easier.
Rule #3: After you have positioned your towing vehicle and travel trailer, as best as possible, slowly begin to move backwards toward the parking location observing the progress from the mirrors only! You will notice that the travel trailer will tend to move toward one side or the other, almost immediately, as you begin to move backwards. To correct this, if the travel trailer is moving into the view of the "passenger mirror" you should steer, from the 12 O'clock position on the wheel, "toward" the "passenger mirror" and the trailer will straighten out, or, "move out of view". The same is true if the trailer is moving into the "driver side mirror", steer toward it and you will again, straighten out the travel trailer. Try slow vehicle speed and subtle steering corrections. Over steering and fast speeds will lead to losing control and damage to both the towing vehicle and the travel trailer. Simply put, steering "into" the mirror chases the trailer out of that mirror, or "straightens it out"!
Rule #4: If you are not able to position the travel trailer straight before backing, you will have to "jack" the trailer into place. To initiate the "jack" will counter steer to cause the vehicles to pivot into the parking spot. Of course you need to keep an eye on the back of the travel trailer to avoid collision with other travel trailers and obstacles but keep in mind that the trailer usually hangs passed the trailers wheels but the pivot point is the wheels! If you want your travel trailer to move toward the driver side, you will have to turn your steering wheel toward the passenger side, that will start the "jack" then you can use the controlling technique in rule #3 to achieve the desired amount of "jacking" required to place your travel trailer in its spot. The more travel trailer you see in your mirror the harder the "jack" your vehicle is in. Be careful not to move too fast! As you want to avoid going past the half way point, 90 degrees, to avoid damaging the towing vehicle, and/or travel trailers.
Rule #5: Take your time, and start over again (pull forward to straighten out) if you need to. Subtle and slow corrections work best.


Hope this helps. If The other campers start to laugh just ask them the help you back in. We are not all bad, most will help.

[Big Dawg]

Originally Posted by Gkconfer

Thanks, Greti. The Indian Lakes State Park capmpground is located about a mile or so from RVW...$25 a night, and they allow pets as long as they're on a leash.

Indian lake is a really nice place. It really books up solid in the summer months. I hope you enjoy your time there, and with the new camper.

[THarlow]

20 years of doing this, and I have only 1 rule. Place your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel, move your hands in the direction you want to move the trailer. Don't think about it, just follow rule #1.

[gregm59]

Ditto. Hands on the bottom, move them in the direction you want to go. My brother is a fireman and they have those really big rigs. His instructor taught him well and he really helped me out. Now, I don't even think about it (much). Of course, I still have a problem backing up my small utility trailer. I simply have more control over the longer trailer and with it being so big, it forces me to take my time. One time, at a campground, as we were backing in, some "expert" made a comment to my wife about moving in slow motion. Her reply was, "so what, he gets in right the first time and this isn't a race!" That's what puts the Dear in DW.

[Labzy]

Originally Posted by Gkconfer

My wife and I will travel to Ohio tomorrow to pick up our new Rockwood Mini-Lite 2306.....we're very excited. When I called the campground near RV Wholesalers where we'll be staying, the office guy asked me if I'd ever backed up an RV before. "No," I responded. "Good," he said, I'm gonna sell tickets so we can all watch. We can use a good laugh." Wise guy!!!

Congrats on the new trailer!!!!!!
We ordered the same one a little over a month ago =]
I also am nervous about backing up etc......
Also we have to drive 4 hours to Toronto to pick it up, then drive home, and back-in to our small driveway.
There's nothing like learning on the 'fly'.
My husband and I will either be laughing the whole time or wanting to kill each other LOL
Good thing the 401 is straight 2 lane, and we will only have to exit it once!!!!!

Good-luck!!! & post some pics when you get it!!!!!!

[prof_fate]

Originally Posted by caper

Rule #3: After you have positioned your towing vehicle and travel trailer, as best as possible, slowly begin to move backwards toward the parking location observing the progress from the mirrors only! You will notice that the travel trailer will tend to move toward one side or the other, almost immediately, as you begin to move backwards.

Now that sounds like something I can understand! Most of my backing up has been small, short trailers. I know longer is better as I had a 17' boat for a few years and had no problems with it - but I've always turned around to look to backup - I could see what I was doing which won't be the case with the TT so this is great advice! Now I want to go back up and see how this works!

[Big Dawg]

Originally Posted by THarlow

20 years of doing this, and I have only 1 rule. Place your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel, move your hands in the direction you want to move the trailer. Don't think about it, just follow rule #1.

I am going to try to get used to using that rule, did not realize it until mentioned here, it sure does make sense...

[tentcamper1]

go slow and tell whoever is watching to yell STOP when your close to something. I always get out and look around and we decide where we want to park. my wife is really good at guiding me back- I tell her to talk to me as we back up so I know what is going on. sometimes I need her to watch the right or left side and sometimes the front of the truck until we are clear of the campsite markers or trees.
one situation I got into was the GPS had me turn down the old road to the state park. we stopped about a 200 feet (my truck and trailer are 55 feet long) down the road and had to back up to get out. it was up hill slow right turn and then a left turn and back out on to the 2 lane road (50 mph speed limit) went smooth and no traffic
don't let it frustrate you its all part of the experience!

[shabby]

Just remember when backing up there are a few things to keep it a little bit easier. Always have a spotter to help guide you, drop your hand to the bottom of the steering wheel and what ever way you want the trailer to go that is the way you turn the wheel, sometimes it is better for your spotter to stand in front of you and do a walk around every now and then. Remember the bigger the trailer the easier it is to back up believe it or not!! It will come to all with some practice. The worst is getting to a campground and you have to get your TT into a lot that requires you to pretty much jacknife it into place because the roads at most campgrounds are not that wide and if someone is already in the lot across from yours it is sometime not possible to do it, a lot of campgrounds do have people working for them that will assist you if needed and some even have tractors available for those hard to get into lots so all you do is unhook and let them get it in a lot easier with the tractor hooked up to your TT. A friend of mine once said "If you put a hook up somehow on the front of your truck you could just unhook and rehook to the front and just drive it in." It probably would work but I don't think that I want a hitch with a ball mounted on the front of my truck!!!!

[caleb]

Originally Posted by THarlow

20 years of doing this, and I have only 1 rule. Place your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel, move your hands in the direction you want to move the trailer. Don't think about it, just follow rule #1.

Good advice, I was just going to post the same thing Backing up is simple if you keep your head clear and follow this one simple rule.

[MtnGuy]

Find a big empty parking lot, and practice, practice, practice.

[Terier]

Lots of good advise provided! I think I need work on number 3 (if I remember correctly) since I can't line the Yukon and trailer up straight first.