RV Masters How to Drive an RV - New Driver - First things to do!

[Music] so one of the marks that we want to make reference markers is we're gonna put on the convex mirrors we need to know where the pivot point is remember that the pivot point is the point at which the entire coach pivots around which is the middle of that back wheel so the whole coach pivots around that back wheel we're going to go ahead and mark the the mirrors so that we can see that point when we're driving so we talked about the pivot point now we're gonna mark the windshield then we're gonna mark the mirrors to help us have those reference points okay the way that I mark the mirrors I use some people use dots some people use paper stickers I actually like to use pin stripe it's waterproof it doesn't come off as easy so I've got some red pinstripe here I've also had blue what I do is I take a little piece of it I just kind of cut a little square off of it I don't know if you can see that but I cut a little square off of it and after I picked that up what I'll do is I'll peel the back off and I'm gonna put it on this mirror so let me show you how we're gonna set that mirror up okay the proper way to set the mirror is first have the driver sit in the seat adjust the seat where they want it and then they need to sit up a lot of times when you do these adjustments if they're slouching or looking forward that's not good what we want is them sitting in the seat we want them adjusted properly where all they have to do is just glance all they're gonna do is glance at these mirrors they should not be having to do this right so here's how we set the mirrors up the top mirror the flat mirror should be set where one inch one inch a quarter of that mirror maybe up to a third but usually less one inch is showing the side of the coach the rest of that mirror should just be seeing back and sky should it should be off of the coach so one inch of the mirror there's coach most of the mirror is not coach it's out in the open that's how you adjust it side to side now to adjust it up and down we want about the bottom third to be ground and about two thirds to be sky you actually want to be able to see the sky looking in that mirror that's because we're looking for traffic way down the road where we're looking for traffic so remember flat mirror one inch showing the coach one-third of the mirror so showing the ground the rest of sky that's how we adjust the flat mirror now adjusting the convex mirror we kind of want to do the same rule where we have about an inch or two of the coach for the most part adjusting that convex mirror all the way out is where most people end up with it and you still see plenty of coach so the top mirror gets adjusted just like a normal mirror in your car there's usually a motorized up-down left-right the convex mirror is a manual adjustment I got to come up here and I need to just move with my thumbs up and down side to side and what you want to do is you want to be able to see the back bumper see the back wheel so for the most part that convex mirror is usually adjusted all the way out and down a little bit you don't want to see just the ground you you should not see this area that's not what the convex mirror is for you should be seeing a little bit further back but you don't want that adjusted where you're looking behind you the convex mirror is for the side and then to about the back bumper any further than that you're looking too far for the convex mirror okay so we have our mirrors adjusted we got the flat mirror just that we have the convex mirror adjusted now what we're gonna do is we're gonna mark the convex mirror that's the lower one that's bent we're gonna mark the convex mirror with with a little square with a dot where the pivot point is the way that we do that is we get an obstacle I use a cone we get an obstacle we're gonna set it at the back wheel on the pivot point just about a foot or two off the coach so now what I do is I have the driver sitting in the driver's seat I take a little square I put that square on the end of my scissors and I'll put the square up on the mirror and I'll have the driver tell me left right up or down and what we want to do is we want to put that little square underneath that cone we want to make it look like the cone is sitting on top of that tape that's that's when we know where the pivot point is now what that means is anything that is above that marker you are clear you can turn you're not going to hit it the pivot point is past that marker okay if there's anything underneath that marker or being covered up with the marker then that obstacle is not yet at the pivot point and if you turn you chance hitting it [Music] so the way that you can determine if you've got that marker set up right how the driver's sit in the seat you've marked the mirror what I do is I walk back and I'll say let me know when I'm standing on the tape let me know when you can see my feet standing on the tape right about this point the driver should tell me okay you're right there now if he tells me here then we need to adjust the mirror if he tells me here then we need to adjust the mirror makes sense so as you're driving the way you use the marker is as you're driving as soon as you see the obstacle come up and clear that dot you're good to go you're not going to hit it you can turn into it that's how we mark the pivot point now many coaches today come with some really sophisticated back backup cameras or rearview cameras for those of us that don't have really sophisticated cameras one of the most important marks that I found I need to know where three feet is I need to know exactly where the three feet is off the back of my bumper okay so the way you do that is you come back here and you set an obstacle a curb a pool noodle a cone set some sort of obstacle where you want you know three feet off the back of the coach okay now you need to make sure that the camera is adjusted that camera when it is on in most instances you should be able to see this back bumper ordained close to it that cameras should almost be kind of sort of straight down but not to the point that you have nothing back here you don't want that camera raised up so far that it's looking off into space straight behind you that's not the idea or at least that's not how I use it I want to see from here because I like to make sure my tow vehicles still attached I want to see from here back what this allows me to do is when I'm backing I know exactly where my rear end is right so let's say I'm backing into a wall I'm backing into a campground I'm backing into something I need to see when I'm about the hit something so I like that camera coming down almost looking at the bumper and I still end up getting about I can see the back of my Jeep so I've got three feet here 12 feet I can still see almost 15 feet behind me even with that camera angled down pretty steeply so anyway that's my preference on how to use that camera but I don't have a really fancy camera that says three feet six feet nine feet with a little red you know I don't have any sort of fancy backing system so what I do I got a cone it's three feet off of the back I'm gonna go to the camera inside and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take another piece of this tape another piece of this pinstriping peel it off and I'm gonna put it right on the screen right on my radio screen I mean that's where I've got mine right on the radio screen and I put that cone right on top okay what that tells me is when I'm backing I know exactly where three feet is I can back into a wall a campground a parking lot I can back next to a garbage get anything and I know exactly where that back bumper is and I can stop within a foot because I know where three feet is that mark that tape tells me okay when the obstacle hits that tape that obstacle is three feet away from me that's how I use that marker so for those of us that don't have super fancy backing systems that's a great way to mark how far away I am from the an obstacle as I'm packing okay now this is how we do the windshield markers okay we pulled the coach up along a long white line so we can either do a cone line it's easier to find the curb or a long white parking lot line so basically we bring the coach in we line it up and we've got a nice long white line here that the driver can see I put the coach about that far off the line just enough for the mirror to maybe be right on it or maybe even a little bit inside it okay so I bring the coach in I see him coming I see him coming here's my line and I'm bringing the coach in until he's lined up right on that line but the is either right on it or just to the inside then once again I have the driver sit in the driver's seat relaxed comfortable I take some of this tape a little bit longer maybe what is that inch maybe a little less I take some of that tape and what I do is I have the driver put this on the line so I'll tell them raise it lower it left right or he'll tell me and so usually the left marker ends up right about here okay so here's my line it's on the left side of the coach I'm lined up perfectly with it and he's gonna put this marker right on the line okay this is the left boundary the purpose of this marker is if he puts this marker on the line then he knows he's not going to hit the obstacle so if he's driving down the road and he's trying to position the coach he can put this on the line and he'll know that he is right off the line perfectly just that far off the line it's most helpful for tight construction bridges really tight lanes when you need to to take as little space as possible that marker put it right on the line and hold it and that'll keep you in position close to the barrier but not hitting the barrier without a marker you're sometimes kind of all over not sure exactly how close you are or not now in order to do the right marker we turn the coach around we come up we put the long white line right here so the driver can see the white line right and we're gonna do the same thing and usually the the right marker ends up somewhere right about here the middle of the coach little closer actually to the driver up down it might be above the windshield wiper might be below now if again remember we're about a foot off just enough for the mirror about a foot off that line so the right marker if he turns the coach and lines it up on the right marker then the coach will run right alongside nice and tightly on that right-hand side if he uses the left marker he'll be running along perfectly generally once in a great while the coach is marked perfectly where when you're coming down the center of the of the lane you have markers all right on the inside perfectly right on the whole way that's usually not the case though usually one marker will bring you this way a little this marker will bring you this way a little rarely are those markers perfectly aligned where you're gonna be centered by using both you pick one either use the left one or you pick the right one use the right one that just helps you with laying positioning okay that's how that's how you use the highway windshield marker now I'll show you an example of exactly when you would use that what it would look like this is an example of using that highway windshield marker that I was talking about it's actually a great example we're in a shoot doing some construction here on some road construction I've got a wall I got a hard barrier right up against me here so I actually want to spin the camera and let you see that so go ahead and take a look at this okay so this this is the shoot that we're in RK it's a single lane construction Hugh I've got a hard barrier on one side I got a hard barrier on the other side on the left side I have less tolerance than on the right side on the right side here I've got a rumble strip but I've probably got two or three feet on the left side I've got closer to maybe one foot maybe a little bit more so fortunately we're going at a low speed right now so I can demonstrate this that windshield marker I've got a left windshield marker and I've got a right windshield marker and I taught you how to put the windshield marker on the line so that you know how far away you are so this is a scenario especially as we speed up here this is a scenario where you know I feel like I'm close to the wall oh my gosh I don't want to hit it I've got more tolerance on the right so I am going to use my left windshield marker I am gonna put my windshield marker right on that yellow line and as long as that windshield marker is on the yellow line then I'm okay I'm not going to hit the wall and I know that I'm okay on the right I'm not gonna hit that guardrail so this is an example of how to use that windshield marker just shoot from straight down the shoe here put that marker right on that yellow line and I'm gonna be perfectly aligned everything's gonna be fine now I also could use the white line on the right if I chose to I could put the marker that's on the right side of the windshield right on that white line and then as long as I stay on that right line well I'll be okay I like putting the marker on the side that has less tolerance so if I'm up against a brick wall and I've got nothing on the other side well I'm okay floating because whatever's on the other side I've got I've got more room that I'm gonna miss it maybe it's a row of traffic and they can get out of my way or give me space sometimes that happens when you're going across a bridge fit for construction you're going across the bridge and it's super tight and you have to pick what what obstacle you're gonna ride right up against as close as you can get and the other side of the lane is just traffic well that's okay traffic can move for you traffic can give you space you know who can't move for you and who can't give you space a concrete barrier concrete barrier is not going to give you a whole lot of wiggle room so I just want to do a quick example of what that looks like to use that highway marker

Channel: RV Masters

Views: 159,370

Rating: 4.8552132 out of 5

Keywords: buy an rv, rv education, rv training, driving training rv, new rv, rv help

Id: ZNqc52WVJ8w

Length: 15min 18sec (918 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 07 2018