We laughed our way through any problems we had. 1st: First thing was that you don't always need load stabiliser bars. I sat our van on the ball and the back of the ute dropped to its "load height". That is where the ute would normally sit if you had a light load in the back. 2nd: Write a check lists and laminate them and keep them in the van. We have check lists for leaving and arriving. Thinks like check handbrake off, chains on, cupboards closed etc etc. We also have check lists for where what goes where to keep the van weight the same no matter who packs the van. 3rd: We found out that semi trailers and large trucks suck you towards them when they pass you especially going in the same direction. 4th: I found out at 4am that the power points that you plug your van into have circuit breakers on them. AND that there are circuit breakers INSIDE the van. 5th: We found out that not many people travel the Kings Highway into Batemans Bay towing a 20ft Caravan on dusk in flogging down rain. 6th: Don't use water like you are at home......its not an endless supply. Also its better to use the rear tank first so that if you do empty one tank, you don't end up with a tail heavy van. 7th: A lot of car drivers will try and sneak in on you when trying to merge out of the slow lane. They really have no idea that you put your blinker on early to warn them that you are moving over NOT to tell them to speed up and try and beat you. 8th: A womans estimation of how far away from the ball the hitch is needs to be taken with a bucket of salt.
STILL LEARNING.
M&D
-- Edited by MarkandDeb on Thursday 11th of September 2014 05:21:50 PM
Magyar Connection said
09:15 AM Sep 11, 2014
Thanks for the post guys. I had a good chuckle, especially Number 8. It reminded me of the advice the women give us blokes to stand closer to the bowl because it may be a bit shorter than you think!
Tim
KFT said
10:50 AM Sep 11, 2014
good post M&D
We have been caravanners for 15 years or so and are still learning new stuff.
My wife and I have a system where she does the inside check before leaving and I do the outside. We then check each others work and anything that does not look right gets checked again by both of us.
After doing all that we occasionally manage to miss something like leaving pegs or ropes behind, particularly if someone has come along to chat while you are packing up.
enjoy the learning there is lots to learn.
frank
Dougwe said
12:44 PM Sep 11, 2014
A very intersting post M&D.
8. No dinner for you for a week now Mark unless you fend for yourself.
MarkandDeb said
05:20 PM Sep 11, 2014
Ahhhh Doug. Always been a great cook. Maybe that's why.
No, actually I got out of the tug to have a look after 3 attempts to appease her and found I was a good foot away compared to the 50mm she told me.
Then the neighbour came over to see what we were laughing so loud about and told us that these days there are a lot of women doing the reversing. He also said that reversing has been the cause of many a campsite break up. We just looked at him and laughed harder.
We have been married for 33 years, its going to take something more substantial than a reversing error to split us up.
Change my radio station while I am driving .......now THAT could be a reason.
HAHAHAHAHA
Kendo said
05:00 PM Sep 16, 2014
Love #8
I have taught my Missus to stand with her hands apart to show how far the ball is away from the socket. Next is to get her to stand 90° to me so I can see her hands in the mirrors.
Jeff
Dougwe said
06:01 PM Sep 16, 2014
As a solo it is all one big problem anyway. Maybe if I changed that salt to pepper either the ball or hitch will sneeze when they meet to let me know all is OK.
grahos said
09:47 PM Sep 16, 2014
My wife tries to make me stop backing by trying putting her hands on the car to stop instead of saying stop.
Gerty Dancer said
04:28 PM Sep 17, 2014
We do alright with backing onto the hitch, I hold my hands apart the ball distance from the hitch, and stand next to the hitch so he can see me in the rear mirror, or just look over his shoulder.
But backing onto a site is fun. We don't like entertaining the neighbors though, so if its going pear-shaped he gets out and has a look for himself. We were advised to let me drive and he give directions but somehow he's not game to try.... ?
Diggings said
10:53 AM Sep 18, 2014
Always remember Mum guiding Dad back in the day, she says that's perfect now just move it over a foot.
chopit said
06:22 PM Sep 23, 2014
Funny how the item that rings truest with us is the most commented on.
Well done.
ken thomas said
10:27 AM Sep 27, 2014
That why you get reversing camera's put on the back of the car, you can reverse right over the ball and all's sweet
Ken
Big Gorilla said
08:00 PM Sep 29, 2014
Your # 2 I believe is a must. I suppose it goes back to my days working in aviation, but I do exactly the same in my MH. And it works in a caravan as well, probably more so. It's easy enough to drive off leaving the roof vent open, cupboards not locked, TV not secured, and importantly gas not turned off.
Legendts said
09:31 PM Sep 29, 2014
Mark, also had a chuckle at No 8.
We use a UHF handheld for my wife and the car UHF (for me) when reversing etc and the terms "your way" meaning the drivers side and "my way" for passenger side positioning, seems to work for us.
pambaz said
09:22 PM Oct 12, 2014
I always do the backing up to the tow ball while his nibs guides me. Get it right most times, no words needed he just uses hand actions while I watch in the rear view mirror.
We have been travelling in our van for 7-8 yrs now and we still are learning and we still forget something. Some days are diamonds others are stone, nobody is perfect. He does outside I do inside and we try to double check. The times we forget something is when someone decides they want to stop and have a chat while we are packing up. Did have a check list with our first van and then we thought we knew everything when we got the next one. Ha ha
Pam
Bruce and Bev said
06:27 PM Nov 22, 2014
Hi Mark.
Youre so right about your point #8. I use a reversing camera to line me up onto the tow bar, but the wife still cant indicate to me clearly how much further I need to come back before stopping (or denting the rear of my ute). Thinking of buying a "marriage saver" guide to fit on around the tow ball when Im reversing - a small version of the towing coupling used on large trucks. ( and yes, we have a UHF in the ute and 2 x hand helds - she wont use them). I let her guide me back till she says stop (hopefully without damaging the ute), then get out and look for myself and make the final, fine adjustments.
I keep telling her to do the reversing and I will stand and give her the instructions - a total "NO" lol.
Gerty - The "experts" reckon you should always reverse so your van is turning right, so the driver can see the angle the 'van is moving back at. I started that from the 1st day we bought a 'van and don't have any problems. Sometimes I find I haven't gone far enough forward and need to come back out of the turn and go further forward. When I use a C/P (especially if I book it on-line) I always tell them what sort of site I want and if its one I have to reverse into, I tell them I need to reverse to my right and I then quickly inspect the site when I arrive and pay to ensure it suits me. I don't like having a row of other vanners watching me stuff up, although most will happily help as they've had similar problems as well (and a great way to arrange happy hour)
We laughed our way through any problems we had.
1st: First thing was that you don't always need load stabiliser bars. I sat our van on the ball and the back of the ute dropped to its "load height". That is where the ute would normally sit if you had a light load in the back.
2nd: Write a check lists and laminate them and keep them in the van.
We have check lists for leaving and arriving. Thinks like check handbrake off, chains on, cupboards closed etc etc.
We also have check lists for where what goes where to keep the van weight the same no matter who packs the van.
3rd: We found out that semi trailers and large trucks suck you towards them when they pass you especially going in the same direction.
4th: I found out at 4am that the power points that you plug your van into have circuit breakers on them. AND that there are circuit breakers INSIDE the van.
5th: We found out that not many people travel the Kings Highway into Batemans Bay towing a 20ft Caravan on dusk in flogging down rain.
6th: Don't use water like you are at home......its not an endless supply. Also its better to use the rear tank first so that if you do empty one tank, you don't end up
with a tail heavy van.
7th: A lot of car drivers will try and sneak in on you when trying to merge out of the slow lane. They really have no idea that you put your blinker on early to warn them that
you are moving over NOT to tell them to speed up and try and beat you.
8th: A womans estimation of how far away from the ball the hitch is needs to be taken with a bucket of salt.
STILL LEARNING.
M&D
-- Edited by MarkandDeb on Thursday 11th of September 2014 05:21:50 PM
Thanks for the post guys. I had a good chuckle, especially Number 8. It reminded me of the advice the women give us blokes to stand closer to the bowl because it may be a bit shorter than you think!
Tim
We have been caravanners for 15 years or so and are still learning new stuff.
My wife and I have a system where she does the inside check before leaving and I do the outside. We then check each others work and anything that does not look right gets checked again by both of us.
After doing all that we occasionally manage to miss something like leaving pegs or ropes behind, particularly if someone has come along to chat while you are packing up.
enjoy the learning there is lots to learn.
frank
8. No dinner for you for a week now Mark unless you fend for yourself.
No, actually I got out of the tug to have a look after 3 attempts to appease her and found I was a good foot away compared to the 50mm she told me.
Then the neighbour came over to see what we were laughing so loud about and told us that these days there are a lot of women doing the reversing. He also said that reversing has been the cause of many a campsite break up. We just looked at him and laughed harder.
We have been married for 33 years, its going to take something more substantial than a reversing error to split us up.
Change my radio station while I am driving .......now THAT could be a reason.
HAHAHAHAHA
Love #8
I have taught my Missus to stand with her hands apart to show how far the ball is away from the socket. Next is to get her to stand 90° to me so I can see her hands in the mirrors.
Jeff
But backing onto a site is fun. We don't like entertaining the neighbors though, so if its going pear-shaped he gets out and has a look for himself. We were advised to let me drive and he give directions but somehow he's not game to try.... ?
Well done.
Ken
Your # 2 I believe is a must. I suppose it goes back to my days working in aviation, but I do exactly the same in my MH. And it works in a caravan as well, probably more so. It's easy enough to drive off leaving the roof vent open, cupboards not locked, TV not secured, and importantly gas not turned off.
We use a UHF handheld for my wife and the car UHF (for me) when reversing etc and the terms "your way" meaning the drivers side and "my way" for passenger side positioning, seems to work for us.
We have been travelling in our van for 7-8 yrs now and we still are learning and we still forget something. Some days are diamonds others are stone, nobody is perfect. He does outside I do inside and we try to double check. The times we forget something is when someone decides they want to stop and have a chat while we are packing up. Did have a check list with our first van and then we thought we knew everything when we got the next one. Ha ha
Pam
Youre so right about your point #8. I use a reversing camera to line me up onto the tow bar, but the wife still cant indicate to me clearly how much further I need to come back before stopping (or denting the rear of my ute). Thinking of buying a "marriage saver" guide to fit on around the tow ball when Im reversing - a small version of the towing coupling used on large trucks. ( and yes, we have a UHF in the ute and 2 x hand helds - she wont use them). I let her guide me back till she says stop (hopefully without damaging the ute), then get out and look for myself and make the final, fine adjustments.
I keep telling her to do the reversing and I will stand and give her the instructions - a total "NO" lol.
Gerty - The "experts" reckon you should always reverse so your van is turning right, so the driver can see the angle the 'van is moving back at. I started that from the 1st day we bought a 'van and don't have any problems. Sometimes I find I haven't gone far enough forward and need to come back out of the turn and go further forward. When I use a C/P (especially if I book it on-line) I always tell them what sort of site I want and if its one I have to reverse into, I tell them I need to reverse to my right and I then quickly inspect the site when I arrive and pay to ensure it suits me. I don't like having a row of other vanners watching me stuff up, although most will happily help as they've had similar problems as well (and a great way to arrange happy hour)