For Beginners: How to Back Up a Travel Trailer (Airstream / Towable RV)

36 thoughts on “For Beginners: How to Back Up a Travel Trailer (Airstream / Towable RV)”

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• …port side or starboard side 🙂

• IF you have 4 wheel drive put it in 4 wheel drive either hi or low and tv will go much smoother. Have backed horse trailer down a 1/4 mile drive way that way.

• We just bought our first travel trailer and our leasing a seasonal spot. I’ve driven fire trucks before, many vehicles that I have had to use mirrors to back up, but I am never been more intimidated then the fear of backing this into our seasonal spot. So much so that I want to avoid it. I don’t have a partner to help me, my wife, god bless her, is intimidated because of my lack of patience. I guess it’s take it out to a big parking lot and practice

• Having only 2 trips under my belt, I just watched this video again and paid closer attention to the end of the scoop move whereby you turn in the opposite direction before backing up. It was an aha moment for me.

• Thank you I needed this

• I noticed this vid is 6 years old. Are you two still out there?

• the answer is…. sloowwlllyyyy!

• …and the "Spotter" should never, EVER, turn their back on a moving vehicle. Tell the driver to stop until the spotter gets in position.

• I recently took my son out for a weekend trip with my Airstream and was terrified of having to navigate all driving/hitching/hooking up requirements myself because my partner Josef was not coming along. Backing up was the worst of all. It would be great to see the encouragement of women, not just women do all of this. Why are the men always driving and the women doing the inside chores?

• 1st Get out of your vehicle and check site where you want to put your tires at your site.2nd adjust mirrors so you see tires and back side of trailer. Put a piece of wood on the ground drivers side where you want your camper tires to set. Major thing learn to use you mirrors. If someone is helping you back up tell them if you can't see me in the mirrors I can't see you.

• Sean and Kristy, today I'm pulling and backing for my FIRST time! 😬 Thank you for sharing this video!!! 🙏

• 🤔 Need to find a video on this topic for solo travelers or a trucker's perspective. 😉

• My husband and I have never had a problem with our Winnebago Minnie Drop except for the first time we took her out and there was this… TREE , of course, in our way with a very tight corner. I think the campsite always had a hard time renting this site. Nobody ever wanted to rent it for a good reason: THAT TREE!! So us new-bees showed up. We got our Winnie in there though without killing any trees. Now we can relax.
  That was a while ago now we back her in anywhere. But then she's only 24' long.
  We always use hand signals. We just did it without thinking. There's no yelling right, left, drivers side, slow down…or panic stricken STOP. I'm the one outside the camper. I have signals for every movement. It works for us.
  So far!! Happy Trails everybody.

• 😢😢😢this vid made me sad. I really want to do this in a year or two but I’m on my own. I’d have to back in by myself. I’m hoping to practice a lot. And have backup cameras. But it was disheartening to hear you say it is a two person job. Makes me feel lonely and helpless.

• Watched 5 "how to back up" vids before watching your "scoop" approach and walkie-talkie ideas. Wish I started here. Thanks for sharing such great advice.

• I just wanted to let you know that I used the scoop today to back my rig into a kinda tight storage slot. AND IT SO WORKED!! It was amazing! My wife was so proud of me. 😊

• Best tip I got as a newcomer was grab the bottom of your steering wheel and whichever direction you push it is which direction the ass end of the trailer will go.

• But there's only one of me. What's a solo person to do?

• Thank you! The scoop made it possible for me to get my 37ft 5th wheel into a very tight spot. And I used your terms Driver side and passanger side. OMG. Had I not seen your clip it would have taken hours to park.

• Eureka! "Driver's Side" and "Passenger Side"!! Duh! You've saved our marriage. Thank you !

• Something I think is important, we've bbeen backing trailers for over fifty years, is to have the spotter talk a lot! Obviously there are adequate breaks for the driver to comment, but saying "go to the passenger side" then a loooonngg silence then STOP! doesn't cut it. the driver needs to make small corrections constantly and he needs data to do that. Guessing what is happening back there during that looonngg silence is NOT good!

• That reminds me of an old Nokia flip phone with built-in walkie-talkie. Umm, I think it was Nokia. It was a long time ago….

• Gosh this video is good. Thanks. Love the football 'punt' term. Great!

• Put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel and the back of the trailer will go the direction of your hand

• It's been over 3-decades since I hauled boats and horses (not at the same time). I plan to rent a long U-Haul trailer and practice on an empty parking lot with orange cones in place to see if I am still able to back into a parking space before I buy a travel trailer. I'm wondering if I can do it by using only the mirrors.
  I am hopeful since one old-guy told me that I could drive backward better than he could drive forward.

• And, get out and survey you site before backing into it.

• Take much more room going forward before backing up.

• Woww fantástico Thanks a lot! We’ll a buy a Travel Trailer. and I have never practiced backtracking with a trailer and it terrifies me. But your video make me calm down.

• Can you provide any tips for solo drivers?

• Thanks! Just upgraded from vanlife to travel trailer camping, never towed a line, let alone a trailer 😂😂😮

• I've heard of right/ left brain. But left n right shoulder 😂😂

• Leaving this morning for our 1st outing ever…to south padre😎 Backing up is truly the one thing I’m Not looking forward to but I LOVE THE SCOOP IDEA and the I did get walkie talkies for exactly the reason you mentioned. Thanks y’all

• Here is an idea. Backing up is confusing because people make it so. Stop making backing up so confusing: goes the opposite way, put your hand here, click your heels three times. It is so SIMPLE; Which ever way the front of the tow vehicle goes so will the back of what ever you are towing!!! Simple FRONT AND REAR GO THE SAME WAY ALWAYS!!!!!!!! This is going FORWARD or BACKWARD. You have less control with your hand(s) that are spending so much time going forward by using a different position on the wheel, that now you have to think about that instead of what you are doing. Where ever you put your hand(s) on the wheel is how you do it. Do not think about it just use the toys you show and prove it to yourself. All you have to do is decide how far and how fast you need to move the front of the tow vehicle to get what you are towing where you want it. And that just takes practice. If your assistant can not see the driver in a mirror the driver can NOT see the assistant! Your GOAL ( Get- Out- And- Look) is to get it in the hole. So do that, get out and look, with/without an assistants. What one of you think is far or close may not be the same to the other. The operator of the tow vehicle IS in control. Two signals from the Assistant are required, and can be seen in mirror Stop and OK. What signals you use is between you, decide BEFORE you back up. A SIMPLE piece of paper ( one side yellow one red). Ever notice how far you see them at construction zones? But you decide. Diver does NOT need their hand holding a walkie talkie they should be controlling the rig. Spotters are always better than not. If you have use them. CDLA Drivers ( I am one of them) back into parking spaces, loading docks, etc. most of the time without, but always safer if available to use. Practice BEFORE you hit the road. Go to an auto parts store pick up a few safety cones, get then collapsible so you can run over them as many times as you need. Short one stack/store the best. Find an empty parking lot ( get permission if needed)and play bang the cones. If people continually tell you it is hard and you listen: So it will BE!

• 1. Reversing. I agree that reversing requires two people (indeed, it is the law on this side of the pond). However, I disagree that walkie-talkies are a good solution. I have been narrowboating for many years and have learned that effective hand gestures are more useful than walkie-talkies. My wife (who is sick and tired of hearing my voice) agrees with me.

  2. Driverside/passengerside. Very good tip. Both the driver and the guider need to establish a good framework for communication, be it verbal or visual. The most important thing is that both understand each other.

  3. Take your time. Very true – I have reversed many many trailers in my time and have messed it up frequently. Your advice is the best. One should never be afraid of slipping the stick into forward for a few feet and straightening the rig (to the uneducated onlooker, it looks as though you know what you are doing :-)).

• Great idea the walkie talkie. A tip I was taught hold steering wheel at the bottom. If your hand goes left, trailer goes left. If your hand goes right trailer goes right.

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