Caravan Reversing Tips: When I took over the wheel and started towing our 24ft caravan, the thought of reversing made me want to do a little vomit. Wayne had previously done all the towing, so I was jumping into very new territory.
(Check out his tips for teaching me how to tow here)
Would I be able to reverse our caravan? I have horrible memories of trying to reverse a trailer when I was younger and over the years have done my best to avoid it all together. Reverse parking, I have no problems with…I didn’t have very long to learn as I was given the opportunity to road test a 22ft caravan on my own for 10 days for a TV shoot with What’s Up! Downunder.
Here are my top tips for reversing a caravan..when you are a newbie!
1. How do you learn?
This might seem a little odd, but once you figure this out, it will make the world of difference. Do you like to see and then do? Research, read and do? Be told, watch, practice? There are so many ways to ‘learn’ how to do something. For me, I started with Wayne explaining it all to me, I watched him and then he tried to help me while I was trying to reverse. To be honest, this didn’t really work for me, I was getting confused (and I am guessing he was getting frustrated).. I needed to hit the books and Mr. Google…
2. Practice & take your time:
At every opportunity that you get, practice…over and over again! The more confidence and comfortable you get, the easier it will be…
3. Finally…and this one CHANGED my life!
It was such an easy tip, such a simple thing that made reversing make sense to me! Our good friend Mandy from TAWK wrote an article for RV Daily about a towing course she had taken part in. She commented that her instructor had told her this: “When looking in the side mirrors, turn the wheel towards the side that you want the caravan to disappear from.” Mandy found this incredibly helpful, so I gave it a go too. WOW! I was a reversing expert in a heartbeat! Yup…for me, it really was that easy and made all the difference. WOO HOO….
Good luck!
Do you have any caravan reversing tips that have been invaluable to you? We would love to hear about them.
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My comment is turn the bottom of the steering wheel the way you want the caravan to go.
When reversing the caravan hold the steering wheel at the bottom and what ever way you want the van to go turn the steering wheel the same way
Reversing tip: I place my hands at the bottom of the steering wheel- if I want the van to go left I move the whee/my handsl to the left and vice versa- works every time!!
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If you are guiding and walking beside the driver and you are looking towards the direction of travel simply tell the driver “down on your left or down on your right” depending on which way you want the van to travel. You have good vision down the drivers side and can easily call a halt to proceedings while you quickly check the blind side. For an inexperienced driver they don’t need to look in the mirror and so don’t become confused. It’s all about trust in the person doing the guiding.