My reversing update.

[RegandPat]

I am so lucky, next to my house is a small car park for an office and at the week end it is empty, so I have decided to try reversing in to the park, it is just about right for my van and truck, have got it down to 8 attempts so far.

 

[Pat_374304630]

Keep going... Don't give up

 

[NickinFrance]

Good luck, keep at it.

I showed my wife how to reverse using our lawn mower & little trailer.

With an overall lenght of about 8' & the trailer wheels less than 3' from the mower back wheels, it can get 'out of shape' in a matter of inches.

2 or 3 minutes of showing her the basics & a few hours practice with the mower, she can now reverse our caravan anywhere.

 

[Steve L]

Hi Reg & pat.

Practice, practice, practice.

One tip I offer people is to place a piece of electrical tape on the steering wheel rim at 6 hour position, with the wheels in the straight ahead position. Now by turning the wheel so that the tape swings towards the direction you want the trailer to go and in most instances only half a turn will be needed, you will have the caravan going where you want.

Once you have mastered reversing the caravan, swap to a small goods/camping trailer. Because the distance between the hitch and axle of the trailer is shorter than the distance between the tow car axles, they are a swine to back efficiently, but if you can master that, you'll be a true reverse artist.

I have an Abbey 540, a sailing dinghy on trailer and a 6ft x 4ft general purpose trailer, all of which I don't need to un hook to reverse, but that has taken 33 years of practice, and even now I do have to shunt to get into spaces.

You mentioned you have a truck for towing the van. Why not consider fitting a front push hitch/bar to it. That way round you can see a lot more and positioning is more accurate. I'm about to swap my car to a Rover 75 estate and I might fit one myself, as the Rover is quite a lot bigger than my old Laguna.

Keep your hand in with lots of practice, it is impressive even to seasoned towers like me to see someone park with confidence.

Good luck.

Steve L.

 

[wends64]

Good luck, keep at it.

I showed my wife how to reverse using our lawn mower & little trailer.

With an overall lenght of about 8' & the trailer wheels less than 3' from the mower back wheels, it can get 'out of shape' in a matter of inches.

2 or 3 minutes of showing her the basics & a few hours practice with the mower, she can now reverse our caravan anywhere.

long wheel base is so much easier to reverse than short wheel base.