First tow - any tips? And some reassurance sought! :)

[Netti_374307085]

I am picking up my caravan on Wednesday night, and altho I have some experience towing a large flat bed trailer and a 10x5 box trailer, this caravan is going to be the biggest I've pulled and I've never towed with this car before. Can anyone offer any tips on my first caravan tow? I'm not going far, only about 25 miles, mostly motorway but I also have to take it along country roads at one point, through a town centre more than likely and also over a bridge spanning a river. My main issue is judging how much space I have, and also working out where the back of the end of the caravan is. I doubt I will be going much overtaking but any tips on all of the above would be appreciated.

Also, my biggest worry is getting the caravan stuck some where and causing a hold up, like going down a dead end or getting into a meet situation and having to back out of it. A very likely scenario in my small village where there is usually lines of parked cars down each side of the street and lazy drivers who do not look up past the line of traffic and do not plan ahead. They frequently go flying into the said line of parked cars and only work out what they're going to do about the car coming the other way when they actually meet it, or else leave the other driver to compensate for their lack of planning. I don't see that I will have any choice in this situation but to hold my ground and make the other driver get out of my way. I am very inexperienced at reversing trailers, much less a caravan and my caravan reversing lights will not work until I have my 12S socket put on. Has anyone ever encountered such situations, and what's the best way to deal with them? Likewise if you do end up down a dead end or unable to proceed because of the size of your rig, what to do?

Many thanks for everyone's help so far, and in advance for all further suggestions.

 

[wombat1]

Last year was my first year of towing anything at all - first day of picking up new van I was terrified!

I had an experience last year when we weree diverted just outside Barnstaple due to accident ahead. Took a B road to bypass whic took us through Little Molton or something like that. Unfortunately for Molton, the houses in the village are built right up to the pavement and the residents street park! on both sides?!*? Well you can guess what happened, 50 diverted cars and trailer outfits met a large truck coming through in the opposite direction, right in the middle of the village. A tap on the window 10 minutes later was a bloke asking if I could reverse back to let the truck through, yeah - sure?

I just sat it out and let the truck very carefully and slowly come through with cm's to spare on each side. Moral of story - don't panic - there's nothing you can do about it.

 

[martin.]

I was nervous when I towed for the first time, I think everyone one is deep down.

The only real advice to give is always plan your routes and stay reasonably localish(50 miles or so) for the first few times just to get you used to towing.

Secondly, and I think the most important one, don't let anyone on the road make you feel panicy, ignore everyone else and just concentrate on what you are doing and just take your time.

 

[RogerL]

Netti - don't EVER let other drivers intimidate you - if you need to drive cautiously to start with, thats fine - far better to incur a few unneccessary gestures than put yourself and/or other at risk. Don't feel you have to achieve the speed limit on your first trip - it's meant to be a limit, not a target for all drivers.

Many caravanners had never towed any sort of trailer before their first time - you've a head start with flat-bed and box trailers.

When making turns the caravan will cut the corner so you need to turn wider than usual but no different to a flat-bed.

If you make any mistakes, we've all made them as well - you're not the first!

 

[waffler]

All good advice above. Plan routes that use wider roads, don't go down if HGVs aren't allowed. Use the directions to site in the books NOT SATNAV or route finders. Learn how to reverse early and that will give you great confidence. Some years ago a lady journalist on PC did the handling course and when wanting to go straight back gave this advice, "Look in the mirrors and where you see the most caravan put that hand down." So if the van appears most in the rhs mirror drop your right hand on the wheel until the reflection are the same each side, bring it back straight and back you go.

Enjoy yourselves.

 

[Netti_374307085]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, most appreciated. The bit I am actually dreading the most is arriving home, as then I need to some how reverse it down my drive. It's very narrow and will only JUST fit past the wall of the house but the entrance to the drive gives me a good foot either side to play with. I think as long as I can get it into the mouth of the drive, we may be able to manhandle it the rest of the way. Do you have any tips on how to do that? What's the best way to keep control of it? Other than having some one always near the handbrake.

I'm taking the caravan to the jet wash first as it has been stood under a tree so will get a little practice reversing it into the box marked out for the jet wash with the drain in it. Otherwise the garage forecourt is quite large so plenty of room to manouevre. I might also take it up the local industrial estates for a play as well. It also doesn't help that there is an arrogant neighbour accross the road who parks their car across the road and just up from the drive, so that where you want to put full lock on to swing the car in, you can't coz you'd hit their car with your front nearside wing. I don't know if that makes any sense but it's just an added obstacle I can do without. And knowing them, the curtains will be twitching the entire time! But they wouldn't dare do anything to help....

 

[RogerP]

Hi Netti

just to echo others advice , we only started towing last year , take your time and dont be intimidated. If you've got somewhere like you suggest to practice go for it , it can only help. Again just take your time and dont worry if you have to pull forward to straighten up and start again.

With regards to getting on to your drive , would a caravan mover be an option for. Would you have time on the road to safely uncouple the van and engage a mover to get on to the drive.?

Might be worth a thought as the fixed movers can move each wheel independantly to make fine adjustments.

Although I'm able to get straight onto my drive in one go I do have to get the van over to one side once unhooked and the mover is priceless for this. In your situation with a narrow drive it may be helpful?

 

[rosies]

Hi Netti ,

Dont forget your caravan towing mirrors , either wing , door or car mirror mounted . From these you can see the positioning of your van either going forwards or backwards . Also remember the widest part of your outfit is your mirrors , so if your mirrors pass through then your caravan will , GOING forwards that is , also a guide on narrow lanes , if your mirrors hits the hedgerows then you are scrapping the caravan windows , OOOOW , costly . As said in other postings Netti please let us know of your experiences , dont be shy we have all been there and made such silly foolish mistakes .

I remember whilst we were courting ( cor thats an old word ) we pulled onto a site and the owner asked me if we had an ONYX , I said I dont think so , but I will check . Going back to the girlfriend ( now wife of over 33 years ) I said , have we got a ONYX , how should I know came the reply , as she marched off to re-ask the site owner . She came back chuckling saying , you silly b****r , he's asking wether we have an AWNING , well thats Devon dialect for you . ----- STEVE .

 

[Netti_374307085]

Well my lovely bargain caravan is now home safely and it is even more of a bargain than I thought as it also has hot water! That was one of my main requirements but as this caravan was going cheap I thought I could get around it for one season before upgrading and the owner said she didn't think it had hot water, but it has hot and cold taps in the kitchen! I'm off to write a post in the technical section about how to get it working now tho! lol Along with a few other bits and pieces but nothing too major I don't think. We also got a porta loo supplied with it, a small electric heater and a portable tele that isn't really portable and had to inserted thru the front window! My dad's said he would like it tho and will swap me for a proper portable.

I had a bit of a mare with the extended mirrors. I have ones that attach to the front wings and I had taken them apart for storage, and I couldn't remember how to reassemble them! The seller had to help me out but we got there in the end. I think I might get some mirrors that attach to the wing mirrors tho as the A frame pillars are quite large in my car, but I reckon with a little mirror adjustment the wing mounted ones could be used. Time will tell.

The drive home was surprisingly easy, it was quite quiet on the roads and when I was on single track I moved left when the other side of the road was clear to allow people to overtake. Little tip I was given was to point the car mirrors down towards the caravan wheels, so you can check if you have enough clearence either side. That was invaluable. The caravan is also tiny. It only weighs 600kg unladen and 875kg laden, so says the plate on the hitch. However, the noseweight is only 40kg - is this good or does it need a bit of downforce to help stablility? The car hardly noticed it, I hardly had to adjust the revs and gearing on the car at all, except on uphill stretches and 4th-5th takes a little longer. It was also lovely and stable even without my stabliser connected. I think I've lost part of the caravan bracket but I think I can drill a couple of holes for the one I have.

Surprise surprise tho - the neighbour across the road DID come out to move their car! Presumably because I was a wing mirror away from it at one point tho! I also managed to reverse it into the mouth of the drive quite competantly, and that was without a practice. We came straight home as it was beginning to get dark and the rear road lights aren't working. Neither is my right indicator but I have a feeling that is down to the duff buzzer relay I have been sent with my towbar kit. The caravan still isn't in the position we'd like it to be in but it is on the drive, off the street and we will site it properly at the weekend and also once I have gotten a new jockey wheel. The one it has is a solid type with chunks missing from it and it frequently collapsed as we were manouevreing it, neccessitating the use of my car trolley jack to lift the weight off the front to reassemble to jockey wheel. My legs and back are aching from hauling it down the drive tho so I am off for a well-deserved soak in a hot, Radox bath!

 

[RogerL]

See, you've done it ok - you'll never tow a caravan for the first time again!

Noseweight - should be as heavy as possible but not exceeding any of the limits of car, towbar, towball and caravan hitch - it may vary from the 40kg as you load things in.

DON'T drill holes in caravan chassis to fit stabiliser brackets - they should clamp on.

Have you got your first trip planned yet?

 

[Netti_374307085]

Yes, first trip planned and I've visiting 3 sites in 2 weeks to give me plenty of experience of towing. I'm also towing on what is described as the 3rd most dangerous road in Scotland..... but imo only if you're an idiot. If you respect the road and drive it properly and plan, it's brilliant fun. Maybe not as much fun with a van on the back but at least I can unhitch and take the car for a play after.

Think I should have left the empty gas bottle and battery in the front locker to help with noseweight but the locker cover box needs 2 new hinges so I put that in he car in case it blew away.

 

[rosies]

WELL DONE NETTI , proud of you .

 

[Chaps]

Only just read your post so not much point offering advice for your first tow now!

We've only had 2 trips out in our caravan but the first one was on 2 different sites so we've towed 5 times now. For our first trip we chose a site that we already knew from a previous visit so that we were confident how to get there and that the access was going to be ok. Rob doesn't like towing so Claire now does it all and it's getting easier every time. We're much more relaxed as time goes on and having a motor mover fitted before our last trip made us even more confident as our van has to squeeze into a tight gap on Rob's parents driveway which was nigh on impossible to negotiate by hand.

As people here have mentioned, the key is to know where you're going in advance. We plan our route on the AA route planner, print it up and check it on the map before we go, making alterations if we think it necessary.

As regards to causing a hold up, just pull over and let them pass if you think it necessary. We did this in Northumberland recently, thinking we were holding up lots of traffic but in actual fact there was only 1 car behind us. The others had turned off anyway by the time we could safely pull in.

Something we do find a bit of a problem though is using motorway services. The signposting for caravans is poor to non-existent so much so that we've decided that it would be better to pull into a layby and use our own facilities. Obviously this is only an option on A roads not motorways but worth considering.

Going away this coming weekend but know the site well as we went there in our tent last year - fond memories as it prompted us to buy the caravan!

 

[Netti_374307085]

All advice is appreciated Claire and Rob! I think I'm going to need some sort of motorised moving device too as altho I think getting it onto the drive SHOULD be possible using the car (need a bit more practice!), providing there are no cars parked nearby, getting the caravan round the back of the house where I store it proved impossible hitched to the car and extremely difficult by hand as the drive slopes. I only managed to get it parked up successfully when my 6ft+ giant of a cousin popped round unexpectedly! I really don't know what I would have done without him. He'll be getting a phonecall when I come off my holiday without doubt!

Been prompted by this thread to ask - how do you tell which roads are suitable just from looking at a map? I think the Google hybrid maps should be useful for that but you'd have to look up your whole journey. I must admit to being terribly reliant on sat nav but if it gives me a route I can easily look it up and it also gives me the option of avoiding certain parts of the route and it will find you another. How do I tell which bits to avoid, in advance?