Camping Trailer Tips: Backing A Camper

By Author: Linus Xavier
Total Articles: 81
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Learning how to back a trailer is one of the most important things of owning and operating camping trailers. If you don't know how to back your trailer up, then you will have a hard time getting the trailer into places that you want to camp, or other places along the way. Learning how to back a trailer is fairly simple, but it does take some practice and experience and patience will go a long way, because the impatient driver may do damage to your hitch, or your trailer ball. It may even cause an accident that can result in injury.

One thing that you'll need to learn about backing camping trailers is that it is nothing like backing vehicle. A vehicle is completely different, and not only are the controls completely opposite than backing a vehicle, but you must know when is the time to straighten out and try again and when you have enough room to get the trailer pointing the way that you want without jack knifing it. Also, there is a difference between backing a hitched trailer and a fifth wheel trailer, so you'll need to learn a different technique depending upon which one you own.

Backing a hitched travel trailer ...
... is a two step process. The first step is to back your tow vehicle in the opposite direction of the way that you want the trailer to go. For instance, if you want the trailer to go to the left, then you need to make sure that the back end of your tow vehicle is going right. However, you need to take it very slowly because the trailer will turn very fast because of the hitch. It turns much faster than your vehicle does when you turn the vehicle. Make sure that you take it slow and straighten out and start over as much as you need to.

The second step in the process is to maintain your turn. This is the part that will take some practice to get right. You will reverse your front wheels and keep the trailer heading in the direction that you want it to go, without going too far either way. Basically, even if you are turning the trailer, keep it as straight as you can while still turning into where you need to back into. You may need to pull forward a bit and re-align your trailer a little bit until you get the hang of it. Again, I can't stress how easy it is for the novice to go; so be cautious.

A fifth wheel will back up in much the same way, with turning the wheels. However, it can be a little trickier and you need to practice. In fact, practice is the number one thing that will improve your trailer backing skills. Another problem that you will face is that you may not know what is behind you when backing a trailer. When backing a vehicle, you can see what is behind you by looking out of the rear windshield, but trailer backing must rely on mirrors and even then, you may not get the whole picture. Again, practice makes perfect.