New to this

[B&RV]

My wife and I recently bought a 2000 Coleman Sun Valley. It's a beautiful PU. The guy who owned it took excellent care of it (still smells new). Does anybody have any advice for these "newbies"? Especially some backing up tips?
Thanks for listening.

[fritz_monroe]

Welcome.  I'm sure you are going to love your pup.

I don't really have much advise about backing up.  One thing you do need to do prior to backing up is figure out ahead of time who you will signal to each other.  For the sake of everyone else around you, make it hand signals.  Nothing worse than having a couple screaming at each other as they try to back into a spot.

Oh, I did think of a piece of backup advise.  Go to a big empty parking lot and practice.  Mark a spot and practice backing into it.

[tlhdoc]

Congratulations on the new trailer.
 
As for backing up here is what helps me. 1. Place you hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. What ever way you move your hand/turn the wheel the back of the trailer will go that way.
 
2. There is a lag time between when you turn the wheel and when the back of the trailer will turn. I usually "wiggle" the PU back into place. Since we usually back on an angle into the site, the trailer and the TV are not lined up straight, so I usually back making tiny curves on the way.
 
3. What ever way my spotter wants the back of the trailer to go they tell me drivers side or passenger side, not right or left that can get confusing (at least for me) when backing up the PU.
 
I hope this helps you.
 
The camping law of backing up says The more people that are watching you back the trailer up, the more trouble you will have.

[Billy Bob]

The thing with backing up is make SMALL adjustments on your steering wheel and let the trailer react before you make another adjustment with the steering wheel.

It is actually MUCH harder to back up a small PU trailer than a semi-truck. The SHORTER the distance from the hitch to the trailer tires the harder it is to control when backing up because on a short trailer it reacts MUCH faster. So all those people that have large TT and are watching you would have a much harder time trying to back in your PU than their own 30 ft TT.

[B&RV]

Thanks for all the good advise. It will come in handy!
We'll let you know how we turned out.

[tlhdoc]

B&RV I see that you live close to the Hudson River. Any where near the Catskill Mts?  We were there last weekend camping at North South Lake campground.

[b2220128]

Here are my backing recommendations.  The first time you back into a camp site there will be some spectators around whose backing experience range from none to pro.  They are watching for the entertainment, kind of like watching auto racing, wanting the driver to get close to disaster but not really get hurt.  Give them a show, make too slow of a turn then try to compensate with one that is too hard.  Stop before you hit anything then pull forward and try again, and again, and again.  When you finally get backed into your site, acknowledge the applause as you have entertained your audience well.  

More seriously.  Survey your route before backing, finding all obstacles on the ground and overhead.  Decide where you want the trailer to end up, within a reasonable range.  Visualize the needed maneuvers in your head. If in doubt about anything when backing, stop, get out and look.  Take your time backing,  getting nervous will make you want to rush things, that is when accidents occur.

[B&RV]

Well, we just went out for the night over the weekend. Just the local KOA for one night. No problems whatsoever. We stopped at the high school (nice big parking lot with no houses around) on our way out to practice backing up. All the tips really helped. I surveyed my route, explained to the Mrs. where I wanted to go, went slow, and made small adjustments. It went very smooth to my surprise.   Same thing for the camp site. No spectators to entertain (none that we could tell anyway). We had an excellent time and can't wait to go out again. We will be going to the Deleware Water GaP KOA for a long weekend in June.

tlhdoc: We do live in the Hudson River Valley near West Point. So we are about an hour from the Catskills. Did you like North South Lake? Is it someplace that you would recommend?

[tlhdoc]

It went very smooth to my surprise. Same thing for the camp site. No spectators to entertain (none that we could tell anyway).  

That is why it went so smooth.  
 
 

tlhdoc: We do live in the Hudson River Valley near West Point. So we are about an hour from the Catskills. Did you like North South Lake? Is it someplace that you would recommend?

North-South Lake campground is beautiful.  We have camped there the first weekend in May 4 years in a row.  It is kind of cool at that time of the year, but a beautiful place to camp.  One of my friends, Copcarguy, is from your area and knows the campgrounds in that region.  He is the one that sets up our North-South Lake Trips each year.  If you are interested in camping with a group check out the COTOC section of PUT.
 
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