How to Back up Your RV, Motorhome or trailer into a Campsite

Backing your RIG in to your Campsite.

If you own and use an RV, either a Motorhome, a Trailer, or a fifth-wheel, or even a small pop-up, one of the things you will need to do, and do often, is the art of backing your Rig into a Campsite or sometimes just a tight Parking space.

MOTORHOMEs

With a Motorhome, it can be really hard to determine exactly where your tail end is, as well as where your rear wheels.

And, these are the most important things you need to manage, as you back a big Motorhome into a tight campsite.

Well here is a simple 3-step procedure that you and your Navigator can follow and put your Rig in just the right place the first time, every time.

To prepare, go to an Office Supply store and get a brightly colored (red, Orange, etc.?) package of stick-on dots.

Then go to the Drivers side of your Rig, and measure from the center of the left-rear tire, to a point that is approximately 8-feet forward of that point on your Rigs body.

At that point, place one of the sticky dots onto the Side of the Rig at near eye level, where it is easily visible. This is your reference point for step-1 of your parking process.

Repeat this on the passenger side for those rare instances where you will be required to back into your campsite from the opposite side of the street in the campground.

Communication:

You and your Navigator (spouse, significant other, etc) will need to communicate at certain points in this process, so you can use Walkie-Talkies or hand signals, but the Navigator must be outside the RV directing the Driver into the parking site.

1. First, the Navigator must define a line into the campsite that is one foot inside the edge of the campsite where your Rig’s tires will end up, as shown in Figure 3a. (Note: take care when establishing this line that your slides will clear any vertical obstacles like trees, Power Stands, etc.).

2. Then the Navigator, should stand on this line at the front edge of the campsite, and hold their arms straight out in front of themselves indicating the edge of the camp site.

3. Once the Navigator is in place you should pull your Rig slowly forward, keeping the body of your Rig almost touching your Navigators hands, until the Navigator drops their arms, indicating that the DOT is right where their hands were. See Figure-3a below

4. For the Second step, the driver should turn the Rigs steering wheel full to the Right, then pull forward until they have crossed the street as far as possible, then stop, as shown in Figure-3b. This should put your right-rear tire on your line at the corner of the campsite.

5. Finally, the Third step is to, first turn the Rigs steering wheel fully to the left, and back the rig up until the front tires are on the line and then simply straighten the steering and back straight into the campsite, as shown in Figure-3c

This process works great for the novice driver, until he/she becomes more comfortable with their Rig. Use it and you will take a lot less time getting into that Back-In site.

Of course, while backing up the driver should always use his rear camera, and mirrors to assure that you do not hit anything else in the site. And, after you are properly aligned, have the Navigator move you forward or back until;

1- your slides, and your awnings, will not hit anything when opened, and

2- your Service center (Sewage line and Water line) as well as Power cables will all be accessible and within the necessary distance for hookup.

TRAILERS:

With trailers, it is very simple to estimate how hard it is to back them into a campsite or parking place. It comes down to the just observing the distance from the hitch to the axle.

If this distance is very short, like with a Pop-Up Camper, or very short Solid Body Camper, then when you try to back up, the trailer will react very fast and to the extreme, when you turn your Auto/Truck steering wheel, so move slowly, and turn the wheel only slightly.

If your camper is a nice long trailer, or a 5th Wheel, it is, relatively, much easier to back-up and park than a shorter trailer.

The other thing you must master is the art of turning your Auto/Truck Steering Wheel in the opposite direction that you want the Trailer to turn.

Once you get that down, you will have it made.

And, the key bit of information that I can give you is simply:

Go Slowly!

Take Your Time, and you will get into that site smoothly and often on the first try, just like the old Pro’s.

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