(Smile)
From the day that I got my learner's permit at 17 my father had me trailering his 30' sailboat that ended up close to 40' long with the tongue extension and mast overhang in the down position. I picked it up quickly and could back that boat into just about anywhere it needed to go.
Those life skills came in handy when I had my owned my own boats and campers.
Wow! I wonder how many miles he racked up just circling the lot over and over.
When he got out of the truck, he looked like he had chewed on one of those wildwood weeds...
I was once quite good at backing a tractor and wagon. Lack of practice and less visibility means I am no longer good at even backing a van.
I can do an adequate job. Good is the wrong adjective. I will get it where it needs to be. May take several attempts, but, it will finally get into the correct spot. The 24-foot trailer is actually easier than the 16-foot trailer. The shorter the trailer, the less visibility, no matter how many mirrors you have.
I was having a trouble one day when a friend taught me how to back a trailer...simple put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, hand goes right, trailer goes right, etc. It was like a revelation...like God himself announced out of the clouds PUT YOUR HAND ON THE BOTTOM OF THE STEERING WHEEL!!! then the angels sang!!!
I can park my camper in under a minute by myself, or just over an hour with help...
I can't be the only one who kept yelling at the video "STOP turning that g&#$^@(m wheel!"
One of my favorite things to do at the lake is anchor close enough to the ramp to watch all the arguments start when man and wife are trying to get the boat in or out.
On a side note, my dad used to tell about his uncle trying to back a horse drawn wagon into the stable while his dad was watching. After several failed attempts, he flipped the reins and whistled and headed the team off down the road without saying a word.
That dude needs to go to a shopping center parking lot one Sunday morning and practice, alot.
I have very little towing experience. When I worked on a ranch in my younger years I got pretty good at pulling a hay wagon with a tractor, but that was long ago and the visibility was excellent.
A few years ago I rented an 8' drop-deck trailer to bring home a milling machine I found on Craigslist. Pulling it with my Tundra was a breeze, I hardly noticed it was back there. But when I got home and started backing into my driveway all I could see was the top of the mill -- I couldn't see any part of the trailer and had no way of telling where it was pointed. After a couple of abortive tries (complicated by traffic on the street) one of the contractors who was working on our house at the time came out and guided me into the driveway.
A short trailer like that is super sensitive to changes in direction. Without a set of eyes back there to see where the trailer was pointed it would have taken me a whole lot longer to get that thing into the garage.
@jim-frame Try backing a log splitter. You can't see it at all (maybe a little with the tailgate open) and the tongue is so short it jack knifes with the slightest turn of the wheel. After trying, and failing, years ago, I decided it is just easier to unhitch it and push it into place.
Wow...poor guy
Coming to work one morning, pass by a boat dealership, along the feeder/frontage road and the boat delivery driver in the tractor trailer is "trying" to back into the dealership. It wasn't as bad as this guy but it easily took him 7 times and he backed up traffic for easily a half-mile along the main highway.
Granted, a tractor trailer is WAY harder than a Honda Passport with jet ski trailer but I'm pretty sure that backing a trailer is part of the course to become a CDL license holder.
It’s harder to back a trailer as I get older, no showing off anymore. My upper body won’t twist 180 degrees around like it used to and my brain doesn’t process instantly like it used to. I have found lately that if I keep moving the steering wheel back and forth slightly to show my brain what hand movement causes what action, I don’t even have to think, the boat just goes where I’m looking. Videos about boat launching, boat driving in rough seas, wood cutting and Asian women out cooking, painting, constructing and building American men have become way too fascinating than they should be.
I have yet to see a youtube video with a small Asian woman setting up a tripod, setting a concrete monument or cutting line; maintaining what little out of date view of masculinity I have left. Hope my honest respect for women, stature and nationality doesn’t get me booted.
@holy-cow smaller trailers are for sure tougher and tend to react much quicker.
I suck at backing a trailer. Luckily, when I owned a boat, we had a camp where I could launch from the property, and didn't have to go to the public launch. Somehow, I could back up no problem there - no pressure or watchers
With a boat dock there is a fairly wide area in which to be successful. Backing a stock trailer so that one rear corner or the other is within a few inches of a specific target and more or less square is much tougher, especially with witnesses. This is a standard situation when picking up livestock purchased at an auction. The added fun is that you must do this between other trailers that have been backed up to load their purchases, so you not only have to be precise, you must do this for quite some distance due to the length of those trailers and the trucks attached.
