I've done lots of reading in here, and it seems everyone talks about going forward. What about going in reverse?

The simplest way to make this happen is to point the nose of your truck (or whatever you have for a tow vehicle) the way you want your trailer to go. Just be nice and easy, and you should have no problems.

This is how I learned from my dad (the professional truck driver for over 25 yrs.), and it hasn't failed me yet!

 

I towed for the first time today and well I did fine until it came time to back up I just gave up on it and loop around the parking lot and lawn of the Apartment complex i moving from and got it about the way I wanted it that way I'm going to partice some more in the morning to see if i can figure out how to back it up.:o

 

Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, if you want the trailer to go to the right, move your hand to the right, if you want the trailer to go left, move your hand to the left. pretty simple to remember.

 

Try putting your hand on top of the steering wheel. As you back up, watch your mirrors. If you see the trailor in the left mirror move your hand to the left mirror, same for the right.

 

silent, i am with you. just picked up my 25 foot outback. Took me 45 minutes to get it in place, but the neighbors had a good time. I will be practicing as well.

 

We'll get it figured out it just take some practice.

 

LOL


Their is some good pointers in thier. As for me, I just got to where I could back and its easy, kinda. So far the hardest thing I have backed is the LITTLE jet ski trailer, like 10' long. It turns really quick. Our big 48' isnt to bad, unless its around something.

 

I'm right there with ya' on that one! The toughest thing I've ever had to back was my ski trailer WITHOUT the ski on it... You can;t see it! It doesn't appear in any of the mirrors, nor can you see it below the top of the tailgate... by the time you can see it in the side-views, it's already halfway to jack-knifed!

(Incidentally, to solve that problem, I bought a bolt, wing nut, fender washer, and a $4 bicycle flag from K-mart... when the ski is off the trailer, I mount the flag to the side... still can't see the trailer, but at least I have a point of reference to judge the direction the trailer is moving!)

As for the easiest? 32' long boat trailer with my Explorer Sport... could put it back in its spot next to the house within about an inch!

-Joe-

 

I never thought about it but, I guess my left hand is on top of the wheel and I'm looking out the back window when I launch my boat.
When I retrieve, I drop the tailgate so I can see the trailer wheels. I sometimes come in at low tide and have to put the wheels at the end of the ramp.

 

I did go to the lake this weekend, and my loweing help out a notch, its still a huge pain, especially if its a big ramp and you are trying to get bettween a few people. I think I will do the little atv flag trick. I think my tailgate would hit since the nose of the trailer is so short.

Dont you just love them shallow boat ramps, makes you back all the way in the water so that you have like 5" of water up on your wheels, and you hitch is almost in the water, and the boat doesn't get off it easy, good times!

 

That's a good point. My tongue is long enough that a downtailgate won't hit unless I went to nearly 90 degrees.
If you have a short or low trailer and visibilty is a problem, the tailgate comes off easy enough and could be left home.

Be glad you don't have to deal with tides in OK. A good ramp can become a bad ramp 6 hours later.

 

LOL

we went to Alaska a few years ago, boy them tides are extreme. Like 20 feet. People would get cought in the mud and when the tide would come up they couldn't get unstuck and die.

I would take my tailgate off, but since I already look like a crazzy moron by taking out oil, starting fluid, and life jackets from my door room, i'll skip the WTF looks and not haul the tailgate into the elevator.

With the SUV's, you can alway's open the hatch and have no problems.

Most of our ramps are good, the funnies things are when the ramps get really slick from moss and such, and they are steep, and people are trying to get heavy boats out without 4X4, they just spin the tires till they eat their way down to concrete or they blow a tire, LOL

We had a 20' Procraft W/ 200 EFI motor, and would yank that bad boy out with my moms little 4x4 explorer while people in normal vehicles had probs with lighter boats. funny!!!!!

 

oh yea, dont let them catch you leaving your room with the following in hand, Gas Can, Clay, And wires, nope, not a good day.

 

I tore up my bumper backing as I jack knifed the trailer the thing I didn't know I did was pinch the trailer wires when I jack knifed I only found out I didn't have trailer lights after driving a couple hundred or so miles and I stoped to get some gas and a guy came up to me and said you trailer lights ain't working there was nothing i could do at the time since I had no tools to work on the wiring just pushed my luck the rest of the way and droped the trailer off at the uhaul place and got lucky no cops were out to get me for the lights being out because of the wire harness damage from when I jack knifed the trailer.

 

Some of the best Sunday afternoons are spent at the boat ramp watching people docking their boats and backing their trailers.