Camping in travel trailers is so good, it’s worth doing a little extra work for. No we’re not saying that getting prepared for a camping trip is some horribly tedious, painful project, but towing a trailer can be a little tricky for beginners. Some of us have been towing different kinds of trailers for years, so hitching up a travel trailer and rolling to a campsite feels like second nature. But we understand that not everyone has experience in this area, and driving with a few thousand pounds extra attached to your tow vehicle might sound a little intimidating. Believe us, it’s not nearly as hard as it seems. All you need is a little knowledge, practice and preparation, and this guide will help you with all three! If you have any other questions or need some service before your next journey, feel free to stop by RVs and Boats for Less in Pocatello, near Twin Falls and Idaho Falls, ID.
Prepare for Towing
You’re setting yourself up for failure if your travel trailer isn’t road-ready, so make sure you do some inspections before you even start loading up. First of all, make sure your doors and panels lock securely. After you load your luggage, you’ll want to check these again to ensure everything will stay put during your trip. Next, adjust the mirrors appropriately so you can see any cargo that might get strapped to the outside. You want to be able to notice if something falls off, but you also need to see cars approaching you from the side. Finally, after you pack your trailer, check the pressure on every tire. You might have experienced a blowout on a car before, which sometimes isn’t that bad, but risking such an event on travel trailers is extremely dangerous. That’s too much weight to be supported by weak tires, so make sure each one is inflated to the manufacturer’s recommended level.
Load Evenly
Another way to ensure smooth driving on the road is to distribute all of your cargo evenly throughout your travel trailer. Most of the weight should go on the front axle, so try putting about 15-20% of your trailer’s weight in the nose. This will hold the trailer on the hitch, which ensures a stable connection and makes handling much easier. After this, load evenly from front to back, but be sure to load heavy stuff toward the floor and lighter stuff up top. If you have too much weight too high, you’ll throw off the center of gravity, which increases your chance of rolling. Finally, load evenly from side to side as well. You can probably figure out why this is important: too much weight on one side can cause the trailer to lose control and tip in one direction, so stay balanced from side to side.
Acceleration and Braking
Once you’re on the road, there’s a few things to keep in mind about your vehicle’s performance abilities. Even with a powerful truck, it’s going to take quite a bit of time to accelerate, so don’t come out of a stop sign or cross traffic unless you’re sure you can safely get going without blocking traffic. Brakes are also tricky, because most travel trailers have independent air brake systems that take time to generate stopping power. You won’t bring the camper to a sudden halt by slamming on the brakes. Instead, you have to gradually apply pressure, and the trailer’s brakes will slowly be applied to the tires. This means that you’ll have to increase your following distance on the highway, anticipate sudden stops, and slow down long before you come into corners.
Handling
Steering is also pretty difficult to get used to, but you won’t have any problem with it after you practice a little. The main difficulty comes from the added length of your camper. This means that you need to look behind you whenever taking a sharp turn or corner so you can make sure you don’t scrape against any obstacles (or other cars!). Coming out of driveways and intersections can be tricky too, so just keep in mind that you need to allow a lot of extra room to avoid hopping curbs and striking objects on the pavement.
In many ways, you might feel like you’re completely re-learning to drive when you tow travel trailers. It definitely takes some extra work, but the experience you get with RV camping is more than worth it. If you have any more questions, we’re always happy to help you out at RVs and Boats for Less. If you’re still in the market for a camper, you can also check out our dealership in Pocatello, ID, serving the areas of Salt Lake City and Logan, Utah.
