Backing a Trailer behind a camper

Go with the mirrors.

And not just for backing.

How would you plan to make a safe lane change if you can't see what may be
alongside your rig?
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 01:11:03 +0000, Gould 0738 wrote:

 > Go with the mirrors.
 >
 > And not just for backing.
 >
 > How would you plan to make a safe lane change if you can't see what may be
 > alongside your rig?

Yes, I WILL need larger mirrors for driving. But there's a big difference
between seeing what 50 ft behind you and seeing a boat that's narrower
than you are, 10 ft back.

Someone suggested removable clamp-on mirrors for launching/retrieving, of
course in addition to the wider mirrors I'd have for travelling. Trouble
is, the "travel" mirrors would have to be on all the time, even when I
DON'T have the camper on. Ever driven over the Putallo Bridge? I do it to
get to work each morning, and mirrors sticking out a ft on each side would
be torn off by opposing traffic.

Lloyd
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

"Gould 0738" wrote in message

 > Go with the mirrors.
 >
 > And not just for backing.
 >
 > How would you plan to make a safe lane change if you can't see what may be
 > alongside your rig?



For the past several years I've had a full sized 2500 series pickup for my
primary vehicle. Both of the trucks were equipped with large mirrors with
smaller wide angle inserts.

I recently traded to a smaller vehicle (2004 Durango - yup, it has a hemi)
and felt lost without the ability to see what was behind me. There is
actually a blind spot where, if someone is passing, you cannot see them at
all in the mirrors.

A trip to Auto Zone and the purchase of a couple of stick-on wide angle
mirrors solved the problem.

Eisboch
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

 >You don't need the mirrors when tooling down the highway --

Yes you do.
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

Gould 0738 wrote:
  >>You don't need the mirrors when tooling down the highway --
 >
 >
 > Yes you do.
You don't need the optional trailer towing mirrors -- the stock ones
will see the red flashing light as quick as the wide ones. the boat is
narrow -- that's why he needs wide mirrors/
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

Mirrors will definetly help but everyone I know that has ever done tandem
towing disconnects before backing (back only one unit at a time). You could
get by w/ doing it if your really good at backing, recognize the back item
will go the opposite way of the center item, and as long as you cannot see
it - it is lined up. When you can just start to see the back unit you need
to go the other way.

Tony

"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message

 > Hi,
 >
 > I want to go fishing/camping in my 1990 Nissan with a SMALL camper
 > (I think they're called "camperettes") on the back, towing my small boat
 > (12ft aluminum skiff, with some addons like a floor so I can't just heave
 > it on top).
 >
 > The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
 > I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
 > down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?
 > Closed-cct tv? Surely there are others that do this...
 >
 > Lloyd Sumpter
 > "The Tin Boat" Mirrocraft 12
 >
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

In article ,
Lloyd Sumpter <lsumpter.TakeThisOut@dccnet.com> wrote:


 > The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
 > I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
 > down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?

I would strongly recommend that you get mirrors that will allow you to
keep an eye on the boat when you are travelling as well as for backing
up. A few years ago I was following a camper towing an aluminum boat
when I noticed that the boat seemed to be bouncing on the trailer so I
backed off and fortunately was well back when the boat left the
trailer. I stopped long enough to slide the boat off to the side of
the road and then tried to catch up to the camper.

He was travelling at a pretty good rate so I drove about 10-12 miles
before I caught up to him again. Then it took a considerable amount of
horn blowing and pointing to the back of his camper before the guy
finally stopped. Then he got out of his vehicle and came up to my car
swearing and all pissed off because I had caused him to stop. I
finally got a word in that his boat was missing from his trailer and
because he couldn't see it from where he was standing he wouldn't
believe me and said that couldn't possibly be the case. He finally
took a look and then was all apologetic and was very surprised when I
told him how far he would have to go back to get his boat. He did
mention that he could not see the boat from inside the camper so just
assumed that everything was fine. If he had caused an accident I
imagine that he would have been in big trouble with both the police
and his insurance company.

A proper set of trailering mirrors should not have any noticeable
effect on mileage compared to the bulk of a camper pushing against the
wind. In any event it's a very small cost to insure that things are
okay with your boat and trailer.

--
Don Dickson
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 01:30:15 +0000, Tony Thomas wrote:

 > Mirrors will definetly help but everyone I know that has ever done tandem
 > towing disconnects before backing (back only one unit at a time).

He he...

I've noticed that what we do for camping almost seems unique in North
America: we have "slide-in" campers that fit on the back of pickup trucks.
You see them EVERYWHERE in BC and the American "pacific northwest", but
rarely anywhere else.

The "camper" I'm referring to sits in the truckbed - it's not a separate
trailer. The problem with it is that it's wider than the truck (or the
boat!).

Here's what a "big one" looks like:
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.virtualproperties.ca/j1058/" target="_blank">http://www.virtualproperties.ca/j1058/</a>

and this is more what I have in mind:
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://cargobody.com/camper.htm" target="_blank">http://cargobody.com/camper.htm</a>

Lloyd
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message

 > Hi,
 >
 > I want to go fishing/camping in my 1990 Nissan with a SMALL camper
 > (I think they're called "camperettes") on the back, towing my small boat
 > (12ft aluminum skiff, with some addons like a floor so I can't just heave
 > it on top).
 >
 > The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
 > I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
 > down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?
 > Closed-cct tv? Surely there are others that do this...

A friend of mine had that problem backing an empty boat trailer down the
ramp. I was out in boat and could see that the trailer dropped below the
line of vision when starting down the ramp. A guy finally offered to do it
for her, and he simply drove way down the wide ramp, turned, and pulled back
up the ramp until everything was straight. He then backed it straight down
into the water.
--
Jon
JPinOH

poke the "i" out to reply
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

Put a cheap bumper hitch on your front bumper and drive it down forward.
Gordon

"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message

 > Hi,
 >
 > I want to go fishing/camping in my 1990 Nissan with a SMALL camper
 > (I think they're called "camperettes") on the back, towing my small boat
 > (12ft aluminum skiff, with some addons like a floor so I can't just heave
 > it on top).
 >
 > The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
 > I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
 > down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?
 > Closed-cct tv? Surely there are others that do this...
 >
 > Lloyd Sumpter
 > "The Tin Boat" Mirrocraft 12
 >
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

That works fine if you have a big enough ramp and no one else on it.
The front bumper hitch is the best idea. Used it on a MH - offset it
to the right side so I could look down the side of the boat/trailer.
Really slick - also kept the driving wheels out of the water and on
dry land....

George


On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 22:50:16 -0500, "Jon Porter"
wrote:

 >


  >> Hi,
  >>
  >> I want to go fishing/camping in my 1990 Nissan with a SMALL camper
  >> (I think they're called "camperettes") on the back, towing my small boat
  >> (12ft aluminum skiff, with some addons like a floor so I can't just heave
  >> it on top).
  >>
  >> The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
  >> I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
  >> down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?
  >> Closed-cct tv? Surely there are others that do this...
 >
 >A friend of mine had that problem backing an empty boat trailer down the
 >ramp. I was out in boat and could see that the trailer dropped below the
 >line of vision when starting down the ramp. A guy finally offered to do it
 >for her, and he simply drove way down the wide ramp, turned, and pulled back
 >up the ramp until everything was straight. He then backed it straight down
 >into the water.
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 16:44:33 -0800, Lloyd Sumpter
wrote:

 >Hi,
 >
 > I want to go fishing/camping in my 1990 Nissan with a SMALL camper
 >(I think they're called "camperettes") on the back, towing my small boat
 >(12ft aluminum skiff, with some addons like a floor so I can't just heave
 >it on top).
 >
 > The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
 >I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
 >down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?
 >Closed-cct tv? Surely there are others that do this...
 >
 >Lloyd Sumpter
 >"The Tin Boat" Mirrocraft 12

How about a installing a ball in the front of your truck for ramp
purposes?
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper 

 >Yes, I WILL need larger mirrors for driving. But there's a big difference
 >between seeing what 50 ft behind you and seeing a boat that's narrower
 >than you are, 10 ft back.

One of the useless skills I happened to learn in life is how to back a semi
trailer through a slalom course without knocking over any cones.

If you're backing caddy whumpus, the trailer will show up in one mirror or the
other before the angle becomes too extreme. You can then correct accordingly,
(turn the wheel into the mirror with "too much" trailer showing).

If you feel as though you must keep track of both rear corners of the trailer
when backing up in a straight line (recommended), there is a little trick you
can use that won't involve bizarro mirrors.

Saw off a couple of lengths of old wooden broomstick. Hang a red plastic
pennant on each one. When you get to the ramp or some other backing situation,
insert these
broomsticks into the left and right sides of your trailer. They should stick
out far enough that you can see the flags in your mirror. As soon as you start
to turn, of course, one of the flags will disappear but they will provide a
useful reference to let you know when you are backing in a staright line. You
many have to rig up a couple of fittings on the trailer to accommodate the
broomsticks.
 >> Stay informed about: Backing a Trailer behind a camper