Tips on backing into a campsite

[knoxjere]

A very good friend who is quite logical, taught me how to help my DH back up. One of this tips was to use my hands to show him how much distance he still had until stopping. Put your hands about body width apart and slowly move them together until stopping point is reached. Clap loudly when stop point is reached rather than yelling loudly to stop. This seems to help.

I find that the yelling works well in my situation.

I have my blind brother-in-law stand where I want the street side rear corner of the TM to be.

I aim for his red and white cane.

His had is straight out. When he can feel the TM he yells.

[Larryjb]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm surprised no one has thought of this following suggestion for newbie practice. Get a toy car/trailer and practice on the kitchen table.

When I was 16 and learning to drive, my father told me to find one of my toy cars that had wheels that could steer (try to find one of those in the toy store nowadays...!) I practiced with that toy for parallel parking. My experiences playing with toy cars with trailers probably helped me understand how easy it is to jackknife, but also taught me how the trailer reacts to the car's motions. It also helped when I had a summer job pulling a truck/trailer for a gardening company. I never had an issue of knowing how to steer the TV to move a trailer.

Now, it's been 25 years since I've pulled anything, so perhaps I don't have any justification to make any suggestions yet, but when I do get a TM I'll probably dig around for one of my son's toys to play with again, then follow the suggestions I've read in this thread.

[Kingfisher]

I find that the yelling works well in my situation.

I have my blind brother-in-law stand where I want the street side rear corner of the TM to be.

I aim for his red and white cane.

His had is straight out. When he can feel the TM he yells.
__________________:

[dab1950]

I concur with all of the previous suggestions and wish not to minimize their
importance. However, we're going to add a new tool; a wifi enabled backup
portable camera.

Rampage backup camera

The camera transmits it's signal to my smart phone on the dash. The software
for the smartphone is free to download from the manufacturer.

In our relationship, I do all of the driving and backing. The DW helps as the
spotter and using a 2 way radio(when batteries are good)
to improve communication. I've suggested, she needs to try backing and
practicing in an open parking lot, but will have none of it. Too many heated
discussions which takes away from the 'camping' experience.

Back to the camera. The base of the camera has magnets which allows it
to be placed on the rear hatch of the SUV to be focused at the hitch.
On first try, I backed the SUV myself and stopped with the ball directly
under the coupler on the TM. Took a picture through the software which
is saved in the phone and showed the DW. Life is getting better already.

As for attaching the camera to the back of the TM, that's a challenge because
there is no steel for the magnets to hold on to. So, in my work shop, I
found a piece of sheet metal, 3" X 5". I made two bends in this metal plate.
One bend is 90 degrees and about .75" from one end. The second bend is
about 20-30 degrees and in the middle. Then covered the whole thing with
duct tape as an experiment(if this works, I'll paint in properly).
This camera plate hangs nicely from the top edge of the rear window shade
on the TM. Because the camera base is fully adjustable; for rotation and angle,
I can focus the camera to show any campsite or parking position desired.
The camera has a range of 100 ft and with a view 120 degrees wide. This should provide all of the visibility I'll need.
I've provided a picture of the camera attached to my home made camera
plate.

I'm sure I'll still need my spotter, ready with the radio to yell "stop" as the
need arises. You see, I haven't actually used this new tool yet except for
the affore mentioned test of backing to the hitch.

I can't believe how busy we are in retirement. It's almost May and we
haven't been camping yet? Something wrong with this situation.

Good camping. Be safe.