Backing up a trailer: Grounds for divorce?

Wife has been kicking around the idea that she wants to take a few of her friends camping in our toy hauler for a long weekend.

She's shared short driving stints while hauling the trailer in the past, but has never backed it up (giggity). So, that would mean I would have to teach her.

My experience has been that backing up a trailer with some semblance of skill is something that typically comes pretty naturally........some get it immediately and others never get the hang of it. I still see guys that have been hauling their boats around for decades having trouble lining up the trailer at the local ramp.

Some of the campsites we've been to have required some pretty healthy maneuvering to get the trailer into place, and it's not even all that large (8.5x20').


Any tips?

 

Pitch a tent bitch.




J/k, then you would be divorced. Who knows, take her out in an open lot and see what she can do. Larger trailers are somewhat easier to park as they aren't so squirrelly. Gotta' start somewhere?


On a side note, we had a friends wife that borrowed a trailer from us and she brought it back. She drove into the back lot lined it up and pretty much gunned it in reverse, you can guess the rest.

 

FTS.

Better start looking at what you want for a new toy hauler.

 

We were doing some gardening a few months ago and I watched her try to back up our riding mower with a dump-cart of mulch attached. It was not pretty.

Hence my trepidation.

 

Offer to deliver the TouHauler to the campsite and set it up for her... ride a bike back home... the. Back to pick it up.

 

Tell the dude she's going "camping" with to back it up for her.

 

A truck full of a bunch of clucking hens and one that's not driven with a trailer nor backed one up is not a good scenario. I'd drive the thing there myself and unload it and drive home.

 

Some great entertainment is sitting at a boat launch and watching people try to back up and launch their boats.

 

Hand at the bottom of the steering wheel.

Use mirrors.

Need trailer to go left - turn left.
Need trailer to go right - turn right.

Go slow.

Get out and look.

 

Forgot number one rule:

Husband cannot teach his wife.

 

https://parkit360.ca/collections/tr...MIndj32b_f1wIVCZ7ACh1CdQZyEAAYASAAEgJLFvD_BwE

 

I may just be the minority.. Both my mother and my wife do very well driving and parking trailers. Then again, it was either let mom drive the 700 hp jet boat or park the truck and trailer.

 

Brilliant.

 

I have a Trailer Valet XL, but man that thing can be a bitch to lug around.......and I lift, bro.

 

If I had a street legal bike, that might have been something to consider.

If they decide to keep the destination relatively local, I may just "deliver" it for them and drive the truck back until I can help her get some more practice.

 

a.) have her find a pull-through site
b.) call the park ranger / campsite owner and ask him to back it in for her
c.) what @dtalbott said
d.) not another divorce thread on here

 

Like someone said, either your brain gets it or it doesnt.

I cut my teeth on backing stuff up by working at the airport. Backing up planes by the nose wheel? no issue. We practiced by hooking up two pallet dollies and backing those up all over the ramp until it became second nature.

 

so what you're saying is that she should get a job at the airport for practice first.

 

Rent her a RV for the weekend....

 

I predict that when you bump this thread after her trip, this post will be the one making you wonder why you didn't trust your instincts.

This knowledge, right here, is the cornerstone of reduced divorce probabilities.