Can you relate?

[Grumpy]

Anybody been here.....

[jbrnigan]

I never complain when my wife offers to help with parking the TT. But, I learned many moons ago, that to save our marriage, I needed to be able to do it by myself. 30 years later, I still do it by myself as she watches, thinking she's helping.....LOL

[triplebvalp]

Yep, this is on a wall in our fifth wheel.

[Tunce the traveler]

I sure can Grumpy and it’s best if I just back it in my myself. Now if she we’re driving the same holds true.

[Iraqvet05]

The kids and backing up the trailer were true tests for us but we eventually made it. I'll say I'd much rather have my wife helping me back up a trailer than some of my co-workers.

[JaycoMLOK]

The fuss we had in the passed was when she would try and help she would stand where I couldn’t see her. The new 5er has a backup camera no more fussing. Only down side is now we have to find something else to fuss about so we can make up we each other later!��

[Siamese]

Backing the trailer. Ugh. I'm pretty sure my wife stinks at helping back it. She always finds the place to stand where I can't see her. We tried walkie talkies, but she kept talking into it without pushing the button. Now, we use cell phones, but I can't get her to respond when I talk to her.

Only thing worse is docking the sailboat. Trailer's a snap compared to that.

She's a great CPA. Knows her way around a spreadsheet, but the part of the human brain that comprehends backing and docking...it ain't there.

And, don't get me started on her navigating I'm trying to convince her that you always need to check the route that the GPS chooses...does it actually go where we want? Otherwise, instead of ending up at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, you end up at the Hermitage Hair Salon. Or, on your trip from northern Alabama to the campground on the west side of mobile bay, you end up on the east side of mobile bay.

P.S.
Working within her limitations, we somehow manage to get the trailer into pretty much any campsite. What I find really annoying is those campgrounds where the guy from the campground leads the way to site in his golf cart, and starts barking out orders when I start backing. I just tell them, "we've got it from here", and ignore them after that. Makes them mad.

[Witt74]

I know what you guys mean. Been thru all that with DW. Never mind the blank look when I try to explain the level bubble is on the high side!

[Camper_bob]

"I'm sorry for what I said when we were backing the trailer"

DW and I have always been a great team on this. We know our strengths and weaknesses. Driving or backing trailers or large vehicles are not her strengths; we both know this and respect it. Just like navigating in an urban environment is not one of mine. I can find a specific spot in any wooded, rural or outdoor area, and can take you straight back to that spot weeks later. If I've been there once, I can get there again. In the city, I can't find pavement with two hands, a map and a flashlight.

[JaycoMLOK]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Just like navigating in an urban environment is not one of mine. I can find a specific spot in any wooded, rural or outdoor area, and can take you straight back to that spot weeks later. If I've been there once, I can get there again. In the city, I can't find pavement with two hands, a map and a flashlight.

I'm the same way! I just a old county boy so that city mapping and directions is left up to her. But we still end up in the wrong places some times.

[Murff]

We were a spectacle at the campground in the early days of our RVing adventure.

Now, when we see a new rig with a young couple coming into back in their rig to their campsite, it's time to get the patio chairs and watch the show!

Murff

[RedHorse1]

Guess I just got lucky. The Bride is the official navigator, I can count on her to ask what roads I want and she runs with it. Sometimes suggesting alternate routes, sometimes not. Once we have a route she will map food, rest, potty and fuel stops for us. At the CG parking is my job and she watches to make sure I don’t back over something not in my field of view and helps me spot the 5th for utilities and patio (if we have one) and tree clearance (if we have any). I’ve gotten her to drive, once, but she doesn’t like it at all. I drive, fix stuff and pour the adult bev’s at the end of the day.

[jimp]

We've not had any serious disagreements over parking the MH or TT. When we first started she would just say more left or right, but it depended on which way she was standing, not which way I needed to go, so.... I finally got her to say more to the passenger side/driver side, which helps me.

She refuses to drive my F150 to the store, much less drive it with a 28' TT hooked up. She does help with the hitching up/unhitching, the leveling, then she goes inside to set up the inside while I do the outside stuff. She will back the truck up a bit to hitch up, or pull the truck up when unhitching, but that's it. LOL. At least I don't have to worry about the seat being up on the front bumper like the drivers seat in her after she drives it.

[LuckyDuck]

[QUOTE=Siamese;836315]...Only thing worse is docking the sailboat. Trailer's a snap compared to that.

LOL. That is the absolute truth! Can’t can’t how many times I vowed to sell the sailboat after docking. With the TT, no wind, no waves. Just a tree or two!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Guess I just got lucky. The Bride is the official navigator, I can count on her to ask what roads I want and she runs with it. Sometimes suggesting alternate routes, sometimes not. Once we have a route she will map food, rest, potty and fuel stops for us. At the CG parking is my job and she watches to make sure I don’t back over something not in my field of view and helps me spot the 5th for utilities and patio (if we have one) and tree clearance (if we have any). I’ve gotten her to drive, once, but she doesn’t like it at all. I drive, fix stuff and pour the adult bev’s at the end of the day.

That's pretty much how we roll. She's a HUGE fan of my Old Fashion as well. And I use the good stuff, including real Luxardo cherries!!

[Lake Huron]

My DW, God bless her, was absolutely useless when it came to helping back ANY or our trailers. This big pig we got now, she has gotten a lot better and we have a little bit of a system. Once we get to the site location, get out and look it over good and determine what WE have to look out for. She has finally figured out if I cant see her, I cant hear her. Fortunately, so far, we haven't damaged anything. A few close ones, but...

As far as navigational directions go,.. yeah. I look over the map very well before we leave so I know where we have to go. She relies on the map directions on the stupid phone which is right about 50% of the time.

Like someone else posted before, me finding my way thru the concrete jungle, forget it. Yet, drop me off on the side of the road 1400 miles from home at a spot I hunted a couple of times 3 years ago and I can take you over a mile back in the woods and swamp to the same tree I sat in back then.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Lake Huron

...snip

Like someone else posted before, me finding my way thru the concrete jungle, forget it. Yet, drop me off on the side of the road 1400 miles from home at a spot I hunted a couple of times 3 years ago and I can take you over a mile back in the woods and swamp to the same tree I sat in back then.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!!

Talking about boats; DW and I are both SUPER proficient with those too. Or at least we were, we haven't owned one in a while, so we're probably a little out of practice. Pretty much the same plan for that task though; she has her jobs, I have mine. Separation of duties creates a better environment for team work IMO; don't criticize the other's work, remain respectful and help where you can. But it also creates risk. I hurt my back one trip. I couldn't move. DW had to finish breaking camp and hook up the trailer and drive the whole works home pretty much all by herself. I was totally useless, sitting in the truck the whole time. But I was able to walk her through everything because she'd seen me do it a thousand times.

But sitting back watching people at a boat launch, you could be entertained for days. Just sling a chair, pop a cold one, sit back and watch the humanity. People are CRAZY stupid with boats!!

[Lake Huron]

Snip...

But sitting back watching people at a boat launch, you could be entertained for days. Just sling a chair, pop a cold one, sit back and watch the humanity. People are CRAZY stupid with boats!![/QUOTE]

You got that right!
Back in the day I had jet skis. 2 place trailer. Get to the ramp and wait in line. While I'm waiting i got the tether key attached, changed into my wet suit, ski disconnected from the winch line, lifejacket hanging off the handlebars and ready to go. All the docks are occupied and this turkey in front of me has this MONSTER of a boat in the first dock which is right next to the seawall. Theres a pretty big gap between his boat and the boat at the second dock. That guy is behind me waiting in line to get his boat out of the water, so we are all at a standstill because the turkey with the monster boat needs backing lessons. His trailer is so long he's blocking everyone from going anywhere. I got impatient waiting so I went up over the curb, around his dumb @$$, and slid my trailer between the two boats. I backed into the water fast enough that I stomped on the brake, threw it in drive and pulled half the river water out with the trailer. The ski slid right off the trailer and drifted out into the river. I parked the truck, and walked right past dumb dumb, still trying to back that stupid trailer under his boat, walked right down the dock he was occupying, dove off the end of it, swam to the ski, fired it up and took off. Other boaters out in the water were clapping and giving a thumbs up and laughing.

[us71na]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

But sitting back watching people at a boat launch, you could be entertained for days. Just sling a chair, pop a cold one, sit back and watch the humanity. People are CRAZY stupid with boats!!

In South Carolina some folks have solved the problem of backing a boat backwards down the ramp by mounting a ball on the front of their trucks. Once you get to the ready area, you unhitch, turn the truck around and drive the trailer right down the ramp.

I had spent the morning out fishing on the Santee river in SC and was returning to the dock to go home. I saw this guy prepping his fancy bass boat for launch with one of these front end hookups. He finished coiling his line on the flat platform on the bow of the boat, tied the free end to his truck, jumped in the cab and drove rather quickly down the ramp and then spiked the brakes as the boat entered the water. True to physics the boat kept going when the trailer stopped and the line was uncoiling off the deck nicely. As the slack ran out the line rose up out of the water, tensioned up due to the inertia of the boat and went "snap", the two pieces of line dropped into the water and the boat kept on going out into the current of the river. The look on the guys face still sitting in the cab of the truck was priceless.

Once he recovered and got out of the truck I offered him a ride in my boat to go retrieve his boat.

[Murff]

Originally Posted by us71na

In South Carolina some folks have solved the problem of backing a boat backwards down the ramp by mounting a ball on the front of their trucks. Once you get to the ready area, you unhitch, turn the truck around and drive the trailer right down the ramp.

I had spent the morning out fishing on the Santee river in SC and was returning to the dock to go home. I saw this guy prepping his fancy bass boat for launch with one of these front end hookups. He finished coiling his line on the flat platform on the bow of the boat, tied the free end to his truck, jumped in the cab and drove rather quickly down the ramp and then spiked the brakes as the boat entered the water. True to physics the boat kept going when the trailer stopped and the line was uncoiling off the deck nicely. As the slack ran out the line rose up out of the water, tensioned up due to the inertia of the boat and went "snap", the two pieces of line dropped into the water and the boat kept on going out into the current of the river. The look on the guys face still sitting in the cab of the truck was priceless.

Once he recovered and got out of the truck I offered him a ride in my boat to go retrieve his boat.