How to Back a Travel Trailer RV... Without Yelling

all right we're just hooking up the rig and we're headed to an empty parking lot because this video is about how to back up a fifth wheel or travel trailer with little to no yelling it is actually possible [Music] well let me try one more time gonna come out and the thing that i do differently than i think a lot i see a lot of people especially new are beers is i go way further forward than you need and i think people don't go far enough forward because they feel like the more they go forward the more they have to back it's counter-intuitive but in reality the more space you have the easier it is because you can get the right trajectory and you're dealing with more space and you can start making corrections i think you did this on your first shot without a single correction you did it nicely done thank you i thank you there was a time not too long ago that it was very difficult to find an empty parking lot but not so much but you know just to put a little time stamp on this video arizona opens tomorrow yeah so that's pretty exciting and bryce national park i heard open two days ago so that's all good news but that's not what we're talking about today we're talking about backing up the trailer and there's just a couple things that i wanted to chat here in the cab before you get in the driver's seat we start talking and so i wanted to first talk about the simple stuff let's just cover the basics okay communication right out of the gate i think a lot of people know this but just in case we're going to cover our bases you know when we first started we were saying okay move move over to the right a little bit i think it's natural when you first get started move over to the right and i was like what do you mean right so it we learned very quickly that passenger side driver's side was the way to go yes and now you say things like you know just a little bit passenger or a lot passenger shark passenger but it's always passion passenger or driver okay in terms of communication to talk to each other our go-to is our cell phone hi okay okay so you're really gonna want to come straight back for a little bit because these two twin trees are tight okay your cell phone because this truck is equipped with bluetooth and the speakers are really good and it's really loud and with the newer diesels they're not the engines aren't as loud so we can i can hear pretty well even with the windows down there are times when we don't have cell phone coverage very rare but in those times we have walkie-talkies if they're charged and not lost right i love all the what-ifs yeah okay go ahead okay so uh so i think it's important to have the walkie-talkies as a backup you might want you know if you don't have kids there's a good chance your body doggies will be great you'll be fine they'll be fine um the reason that walkie-talkies are not our default is because i found very quickly that i needed to push the button it's not like i'm going to get a headset gear and so oftentimes what it was just trish talking to me but on bluetooth i'm able to say how do i look you ask questions i ask questions yes okay so communication with each other through walkie-talkie cell phone passenger side driver i feel like it's really important that your travel partner or spouse whoever you're going to spend the most time traveling with that you both have the ability to back a trailer even if one person does it more and here's why i have been like coaching new couples on backing and i have found that rv newbies the navigator or the spotter we should say the spotter really doesn't know what to call out right well and they don't have a feeling for the turn so like they'll say turn right now now now but really you your wheels need to be in a certain place yeah and so for you to give accurate directions you need to have it kind of like a feeling of light yeah and i've been in situations they're saying okay well there's rocks over here and the driver said well where you know i don't know and i feel like if both people know have the skill yes they would know they would be a better spotter i guess that was a very long way of saying that if you are equipped at backing up you'll be a better spotter there we go okay so i think that kind of covers some of the basic type stuff how do you give someone experience and before the pressure's on and you aren't in rv park and and somebody's waiting to get by and you're blocking the road and and people are watching because let me tell you you're rolling at five o'clock at night you you were rolling between about four and six yeah three to six a happy hour time and you were good it's like an ice and a new drink okay all right so here here was my thought what makes backing a trailer tricky for an rv newbie is over correction just like staring when we we're with bondurant over correction you turn the steering wheel you look in the back it didn't move so you turn it a little bit more break it and now you've over corrected and now you have to come back and that's where all this comes from yes so here's what i was thinking i'm thinking the first step is to do a straight line back in okay a straight line back like right down there and what that will give the driver a new driver the ability to do the windows down looking in the in the rearview mirror it will help them kind of create muscle memory on how let's turn this off on how long does it take for the trailer to react to the maneuver yes and i think repetition in a straight line back will train the brain and the hands and the steering wheel to go oh if i do that that happens oh if i do that this happens right repetition and that will dramatically improve well and that's good for even a new rig just understanding it because the fifth wheel had a different access point because the versus the yeah the the kingpin was directly over the axle that's what makes it sometimes a little easier to move now sometimes it is easier to maneuver because of that yeah but you know i like that i like the travel trailer too all right so a long backup that's what we're going to do we can do it right here maybe you should set the cones out all right so let's show you our cones and we're going to get the drone up in the air and we're going to go through some practicing and then we're going to set the cones up in a site and we're going to go through our step-by-step approach of what you need to know to put it back in the site great we're good to go yes all right all right first let's get our cones out missy and dean gave this to us when we're in st louis these are the coolest things ever so this is what we're gonna use for our straight line back and to simulate an rv site but the reason i got these was actually because when we would go to a grocery store somewhere we'd park way out in the back of the parking lot and we'd take up all those spots in a parallel line we would put these out so that no one parks directly in front of the rv literally trish and i've been in a situation where someone parks directly in front of us and directly behind us yeah look at this look at that look at that in here wait wait wait for it wait for it wait for it i'm gonna park right there that's where i'm gonna park this person just rolled in i'm gonna park right here right behind this thing right behind that that sounds like that's a good idea so let's get this set up and then trish get in the driver's seat right yeah you want a little instruction first how do you want to do it uh just let's just go why not rip the bandaid off let's just [Music] go what's the plan there's a plan um well i don't know i guess i'm just gonna go around this way and then come down and line myself up so i can back back up okay okay i'll record so you've probably heard a technique when it comes to backing about putting your hand at six o'clock and then moving your hand in the direction that you want the trailer to go that's how i learned when i was 16 and backing up a boat and i it's something i still use to this day now the more you do this the less you have to remind yourself but every once in a while i'll be in a situation where i'll get kind of mixed up and i'll just put my hand at the bottom and go i want the trailer to go that way and so i move the steering wheel this way so i think a good way to use that technique is to let that initiate the way you need to turn the wheel and then once you get the hands on the wheel you kind of can just adjust accordingly but it's it's kind of like a go-to thing even with a lot of experience i'll put my hand on the bottom i want to do that one move it this way i'm looking through this mirror i want the chiller to go to the passenger side i'll move it to the passenger side and so it's just a quick way to just unconfuse yourself okay so i'll use that when i'm backing up so that i make sure that i'm going the right yes and i think the first couple passes is just getting a sense for how long does it take for the trailer to react to the maneuver i think smaller moves than you think yeah okay all right let's go my glasses all right what happened really seriously what happened i was just going and it just started going that way okay what's your plan now i'll go forward i'll try again okay this isn't going very well let me try it one more time i'm about to kill a cone okay is there an easier test is there an easier test get out what's what's going what's going wrong what are you learning nothing i'm trying to do this i'm trying to go straight how come i can't just i think i think you know what i heard there's a car with a knob now you pull this out put it in reverse which is r yep thank you you know what i think it is what your hand is staying at six o'clock so i use the six o'clock method to kind of get a sense of hey i need to go this way or this way but then don't i think you're being limited by only that amount of movement you're actually not steering enough if you can keep it kind of if you can keep it kind of a fluid motion okay i think you're moving the steering wheel and keeping it there okay and it's getting more and more out of alignment and by the time you recognize it you make another movement okay kind of keep the steering wheel fluid like as if it is if you're on a boat and you're gonna start bringing boats into this okay [Music] okay that was helpful was better yeah because wait what was helpful not to hold on to six o'clock six o'clock is only to like remember okay if i go this way the rig is gonna start turning that way yes and then you have to put your hands on yes and drive the truck and drive the truck and be paying attention to your mirrors because i was like just looking at the cones and going like this okay i'm glad you brought that up when you're doing the ski boat down the aisle you look at the end yeah because if you look at the buoys you end up driving the boat like this but when you look at them and same thing with backing your trailer you're going to have to kind of like look long and and get back there and kind of keep the steering wheel fluid okay is keeping the c streaming fluid did that kind of help a little bit or was that i think i just mainly needed to think about this is only to get me directionally aware and then just drop then i need to drive okay so there's just three steps to get your trailer into that site and the first one is to pick a reference point step two is to position the truck and trailer to prepare you to go back and step three is something that truckers call goal which is get out and look and it's completely okay and expected to do that one two or three times so let's get started okay so let's talk about step one which is the reference point in this case this is our site and so the reference point is right here on the corner imagine if there was a concrete site right there on that corner as i'm backing in i want the tires to be i want the trailer tires to be well i'm gonna i'm gonna mark it with a glove i want the trailer tires to be right there i know if the trailer tires are there that's going to be a good position for me to get in i know that if i'm two feet away from let's say the pedestal and the driver's side of the rv site i know i'm not gonna hit anything on the other side now you should always have a spotter and there's a couple rules for a spotter one is if you're talking to them on communication on like the phone or talkie it's a little bit more flexible but if you don't have those devices bob and shirley they're the ones that took us down to mexico they have a rule bob does not back up the rig unless if he sees his wife shirley in the mirror that's the rule when she goes out of the mirror he stops i think that's a fabulous rule but what you don't want to do is be standing anywhere in between the rv behind the rv at all so anyway so we'll go back to here i'm going to pick a reference point and i'm going to pick a reference point so that when those trailer tears go in it'll keep me about two feet away from the side and then i'll know that i'm fine on the other side so let's talk about positioning your truck and trailer for this site and to do that i'm going to do a little bit of an s turn and i'll tell you why if i come in and i do an s turn i come in closer to the site like this and then i come out over here like this this is the s and i go pretty far forward and i start turning back in on the s right here like this now what that has done is it has allowed me to position the rv so it's already pointing to the site that i want to go [Music] [Music] all right step three get out and look often times when tristan are doing this and it's it's difficult because i don't know trish says why don't you get out here and look and i'll walk out and i'll go oh i didn't realize that and i'll get back in the truck and put it right in it's just it's it's very helpful to get out and look there's a pull back there so i want trish to make sure that i don't bump into that pole what did this take this took two two extra minutes could end up saving 10 minutes of and i can tell already from looking at this that this side is probably a lot smaller than in real life because those tires are exactly where i want them and there's not quite enough room on the other side so we might have to make a little bit of buffer but we'll see if i can get it in there the tighter the sight the more i jack knives and so that's something you have to watch out for and then the sharper you make that turn the more that truck is going to swing around the front so i'm going to give this a quick little once around and then i'm going to just see if i can put it in anyway maybe we kill a cone [Music] so okay i think this is just the perfect site to be the perfect parking lot to be doing this because this right here i can't tell you how common it is because a lot of rv parks have a one-way road and as a result it's very narrow between as i'm coming in i frequently have to get around this little curb and so what i'll do now is i'll go back and i'll just make sure my front tire goes around this curve and then i'll start turning hard again and then i don't care where that trailer goes in that site it doesn't have to be perfect doesn't have to be straight i just need it back there because once i get that trailer back in the sight i can pull forward line up my mirrors pick a reference right point to go back and then just bring it straight back and so more times than not i'll just do a three-point turn into it into a tight rv sight and i would say this is a pretty tight rv site [Music] my spot's one of those luxury big ones oh is it yeah that's what i'm doing oh yeah now like kramer like a kramer lane oh yeah wide lanes this is so luxurious there's rv parks that are have big nice big sights that's right and you gotta start somewhere you do so i like that part trisha's nice big giant luxury site oh yeah baby oh yeah that is fantastic keep coming you're good i think you did this on your first shot without a single correction i did it nicely done thank you i thank you i think that um you're the person that's teaching you can only give you so much information yeah and then you just have to do it you have to feel it you just ha it's just practice even if you make a mistake you're gonna what's you know you're just gonna lose a cone that's right right because you're practicing yes so even if you lose a cone it's fine then you then you're like okay i get it like because you have to get it in your mind and your body yes so anyway sorry that's not very helpful but it'll make sense when you do it do you think the straight line back up and kind of getting mastering your straight line back up is number one yeah number one because now you have more confidence doing this well right because if i was trying to figure out that yeah and then turning but the whole access point thing and knowing where to start the turn yes the reference point that is harder it just takes time and eventually you'll again it's just getting to the point where you know what the rig's gonna do before you move the steering wheel and the only way to do that is through repetition yeah and in time it just becomes second nature yeah do you practice and have fun and then you feel like okay i could do this yes now if people were watching and there were rigs everywhere i'd be very nervous very nervous that was fun that was fun so what do you think is the most important part of backing in a trailer i think what i learned today was when we were preparing for this yes is that getting experience on the straight line i think that was good and then also having both people in your group understand what's up yes like situate would you say situationally aware yes so that if you're whomever is helping navigate that that turn they understand what you need to know there's only been about three times in our four years of full-time rv and we've been almost everywhere now yes where i really really struggled to get it in and that was when trish was not helping me meaning someone from the rv park said i'll come out i'll help you put in that site i'm like oh no and so they usually say no thank you that's okay thank you so much sometimes rv parks don't they just you know they're just like a mom-and-pop thing and they don't want you breaking anything yeah they don't communicate the same way right yeah and then i can have one more point sure there was one time where i wanted to just kind of like beat my chest and you know like oh there's a hard side to get in i'm like yeah you know and i mean i put it in there but i went a little too fast oh i was trying to show off where was this i don't want to stay okay but it made me realize in that moment the objective of backing a trailer yes the only objective is to get that rig in a site without damaging anything yes that's the only goal well speaking of goal that's mine my favorite and i think most important thing is goal get out and look it changes your entire perspective and it also puts you in a mindset to slow down because you know you're not going to just put it back there you're going to get out you're going to walk around you're going to look so you know there's like a timeline and you're just on the first step second step third step yeah i like goals you just reminded me of something else the pressure's on when we tend to be holding people up and maybe somebody's waiting and roll your windows down i've said this before roll your windows down make eye contact wave yeah rvers are nice yes even if they're a little uptight and a little impatient if you make eye contact and you wave 99.9 percent of the time they're gonna wave back yeah they know what you're going they're gonna say take your time or they'll even look down at their phone they won't even like look at you they know you need to focus yeah but if you kind of like don't make eye contact and you're rushing along that's that's when things are gonna go that's no good okay and then the another tip which i think is extremely important is if you have younger children that are not part of the process of driving and backing up they need to be in their seatbelt when we first did this everybody was like and they jump out and they'd be in the rig and they'd be walking around i'm like no everyone's in the back seat with your seatbelts on it forced a mentality of i'm going to sit here and sit still and i think it's good in time we learned that about five or ten minutes before we get to an rv park we'd say okay when we show up mom's gonna get out and she's gonna have the walkie-talkie of the phone and she's gonna back me into the site everyone's gonna stay put and then and then when we get the site in then carson you're gonna help me hook up the water and caleb you're going to help me do this and we'd create a game plan because you're right otherwise it's just like chaos chaos and so and that was elementary school kids now our kids are in high school at college and we don't face the same challenges yeah but it's like okay come on it's time to get out of the truck they're still like doing something on their phone so anyway but i think that having a game plan for your kids is really important because then everybody stays safe and you start on the right foot yeah other than that we are hitting the road in just about two and a half weeks which means there's only two more instructional type videos which in a way is kind of good because once we get on the road and we're traveling and we're making videos and we're doing stuff it's actually kind of hard to do videos like this so some people really like them but we we prefer our travel videos and we're excited to start making those again yeah well and we want to say thank you so much to everyone who has gotten their summer to remember shirt and has sent us a picture of um the list downloaded filled in and it's you know all these cool things that people are planning on doing so if you didn't know that summer remember list totally free download it from our website and um if you want to snatch up a summer to remember shirt now is the time it's only three more days yes and then if you did get one in three more days they're going to start printing those and getting getting them out so we're super excited a lot of changes this year a lot of flexibility we have to remain flexible yeah but yeah it's still it's still gonna be a summer remember so that's it for this video if you like it give it a thumbs up and let us know what you got out of the video down below and as always we're gonna see you next sunday 7 central bye i feel good that i know how to back up a rig yeah and i know how to go in a semi straight line yes i mean not perfect it only gets better from here well so maybe what we do now yeah is when there's not a lot of activity in rv park you should always back up it's not a bad idea can we go at night

Channel: Keep Your Daydream

Views: 539,524

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Id: 8qNFOLhhQHs

Length: 24min 39sec (1479 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020