Tell me about learning to drive your Class A!!

I might add that while I don't get up tight about it, I practice those "in town" turns when I park in the grocery store parking lot, WalMart or whatever.  We usually fit into two spaces so I just for the heck of it try to plan and time the turn and confirming with the mirrors as I turn in ... to end up centered in the space without further adjustment.  Does it always work ... no but that's why I take that opportunity to practice the manuver.

FWIW ...  ;D

Howard

I guess/know that the big secret is that on any turn, remember to turn WIDE; think about the rea wheels 20/30 feet behind you. Whether you are turning onto a side street or onto a main thoroughfare. I traffic is heavy, don't try it. It is easier on a left turn, but on a right turn don't try for the right-most lane....it wont work; you'll hit the curb every time.

  Best and easiest I can think of. 50.00 miles after RV'ing.

Howard R said:

By the way, I find especially in town, relatively slow turns, then accelerating out of the turn keeps things from rearranging themselves in the back!  This is one of those ... "don't ask me how I know things ... "  ;D

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    Probably the centripetal force caused by the acceleration trying to offset the centrifugal force wanting the MH (and its content) to stay in a straight line vs. your desire to turn.  Of course, if the object is light and not tied down, the only thing holding it is its own weight and friction. So a missile is born.

A good thought as well for a rig or any vehicle driver going through a curve. The vehicle wants to stay in a straight line and that centrifugal force wants to keep it in a straight line -- and off the curve. The acceleration against the turned tires into the curve represents the counteracting centripetal force resisting it. So it's almost always a good idea to accelerate through a curve. And braking is most always not good in that curve.

Another way to put it ref turns is to always keep the nose of the mh on the outside of the turn ... not down low in the turn like we can do in a car.  That will give you the maximum amount of room for the back wheels to come around and clear curbs, etc.  If you are in congested traffic ... DO NOT FORGET about the tail end swinging OUT on the turn ... another reason to go slow and smoothly ... you have several things to keep checking on ... but it will become second nature after a while.  Once in a while I get a curb, but not often.  ;D

And just to clarify ... when the rear wheels will clear the curb line, come about smartly as they say ... crank the wheel around as if you were trying to make a square corner rather than a leisurely turn ... remember you are doing this at a slow pace when turns are tight.

Hope this is making some sense.

And what Bob said ... I think!  ???  ;D

Howard

Gary touched on the one item that works.  Look down the highway. You come up to Jersey Barriers and the road is now about 11ft wide.  I guarantee if you start looking for your spots you will bounce off the barrier. 

Did you wonder how the heck can someone run into a parked car, truck, or LEO.  Driving down the highway..well you stare at the vehicle long enough you will drift into it. 

Next time you are on the road try it, except stare at a place.  I will bet you will hear the hum of the rumble strips. I drove a truck in NYC  and when you went down a AVE. or Street you looked straight ahead. 

Never never never did I say NEVER back up without a person backing you in.  Remember to tell them that if they cannot see you in the mirror, you cannot see them.  Never never did I say NEVER!!!!!!!! Have anyone standing behind or in front of the coach while maneuvering.  One slip, and they become a hood ornament or rear bumper....

^^What he said. Always be aware that you will tend to turn/drift in the direction you are looking!

Ernie

    Howard cautioned about the tail end swing out, here is how I measured our coach.  On a empty section of a parking lot, place the driver side of the coach next to a white line.  Turn the wheels hard right, move the coach forward until it at a 45% angle.  Stop and go measure the distance from the line to the rear most part of the coach, that is the swing out distance [my coach is 13 inches].  So if you are making right turn you will need to be at least that distance from a object.  Also do the same for the passenger side as it may be different.

Bill Dane
99 Country Coach Allure

Tin man said:

Never never never did I say NEVER back up without a person backing you in.  Remember to tell them that if they cannot see you in the mirror, you cannot see them.

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    Good advice for the OP - but not always possible if a solo RVer. Sometimes we are able to ask someone to help, but that is also not always possible. Mainly this means we are in and out of the RV many times during parking or other maneuvers. Plus we have our tricks. My current rig is the first with a backup mirror and that is a great asset - but we still need the tricks.

For example, when backing into a spot I will only go so far, then am out pacing off the distance from my back bumper to exactly where I want it to wind up - let's say it's 10 paces. I will will then pace off and mark those 10 paces from the center point of my left front tire. Usually with a rock or whatever. I then back up until the center of that tire has reached the marked rock. That 's puts my back bumper exactly where I want it to be.

As to seeing the driver in a mirror - that how we solo's adjust the passanger side mirror. Though my rig now has mirrors I can adjust from the drivers seat, my former 2 RVs and the truck that I pulled a TT and a 5thW didn't. So I would go outside to the mirror and adjust it until I could see exactly where my head would be when back in the drivers seat.

Checking brake lights on my toad is the one thing I have not been able to do solo as yet before pulling off - though reflections in windows soon verifies once underway. The other toad light tests simply take multiple trips back and forth to verify. Usually, tho, there are other RVers around to help me check lights - but not always.

Tin man said:

Never never never did I say NEVER back up without a person backing you in.  Remember to tell them that if they cannot see you in the mirror, you cannot see them.  Never never did I say NEVER!!!!!!!! Have anyone standing behind or in front of the coach while maneuvering.  One slip, and they become a hood ornament or rear bumper....

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In ten years of full timing solo I have never had or needed a spotter. Learn how to use your mirrors and backing up is very easy. I just started driving a car for the first time in years and it is harder to back up than a motorhome. The mirrors on the car are so small.

I'll chime in with my 2 cents.  As all have said, it's just a matter or doing it and gaining the experience.  All types of experience are necessary, from the parking lot options, which help with parking, to a less busy highway for learning to handle changing lanes and merging traffic.  A little experience goes a long way.  And yes, it's great to have a spotter, but that may not always be available for a variety of reasons.  So here is my 2 cents.  No matter how easy it appears to pull into a spot, or especially to back into a spot, STOP! Get out of the coach and look front, back, side to side, and especially up and down.  Look for tree limbs, utility connections, and the like.  Many of these things don't show on a camera, but if you get out and look, you can see them and navigate accordingly when you don't have a spotter.  IMHO it's not as difficult as it may initially appear.  Kinda like riding a bike.  Once you learn, it becomes much easier.

Steve

  Actually, spotters are sometimes more dangerous than not having a spotter. There are times when a park will insist on spotting for everyone that registers - and I ususally have no problem with that. And if I owned a park, and considering how badly many RVers park, I might do the same thing. Many have no regard for sprinkler heads, small fences, grass that is not a driveway, or whatever.

Spouses or partners develop elaborate sets of signals that I hope both understand.  When a combo of a big rig and a spotter making many varied hand gestures parks next to me - I always go out to protect my rig. Just recently while in Laughlin, a lady was directing the driver of a big rig into a site next to mine that was not meant for that rig in the 1st place. As I watched, she was turning him into the site while looking at the other side of the coach than the one that was going directly into my right front corner. Rather than yelling at her, I yelled at the driver. I always make sure I can see and yell at the driver in such a case. I yelled at a spotter once, and she just yelled back at me while the coach continued on a collision course. Other times, the driver gets out and starts yelling at the spotter. Then I "know" I'm in trouble.

My other pet peeve with spotters are the ones that insist on spinning their hand/arm in the direction they want me to turn my steering wheel. This was mostly when I was pulling a TT and a 5thW. Nothing could be more confusing to a driver looking in his mirror for direction. When it happens, I just stop, go back and tell the person to simply point their finger in the direction they want the back of by trailer to go. I will then turn the wheel in order to move it that way. At a park in Redwood City, CA once, I finally told the park spotter, if he didn't go away and leave me alone, I was going to ask for a refund. With his directions, I was about to wind in the SF bay.  ???

I have also been in a few parks that provide spotters. I tell them to get out of the way. I drive this thing every day without a spotter so why do they think I need one now? If you always back up using a spotter you will never learn how to back up an RV and you will always need a spotter. But then what happens when there is no spotter and you think you really need one? The funny thing about spotters is that I have seen a husband and wife team spend twenty minutes backing into a place because the spotter had no idea how to spot.

Marsha/CA said:

Ken,  my coach is a 36' diesel pusher and the fuel pedal in the middle of the road works for me visually.  I can't tell you if the pedal is actually exactly in the middle; but when I look at the white lines on the center and outside of the lane with my rear view camera, I'm pretty well centered in the lane.  I got the tip from an RV driving instruction at a FMCA rally class.

I think the biggest thing is to get familiar with your own rig and how it handles.

Marsha~

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OK, now I've got it. When you said, "put your gas pedal foot right in the center of the lane.  That will keep the rig in the middle." I took that literally, as in, drive with the gas pedal over the center of your lane. What I should have interpreted that to mean was from the way you sit in the seat, make it look like your gas pedal is over the center of the road. Now I see how the angle, from your eyes, to the pedal, to the center of the road, keeps you centered. The pedal isn't really over the center of the road, it just looks like it because of the angle.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Ken

tstumpf said:

I like that trick, where can I get some of those?

-Roni

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To get lights and sirens? Well first there's a written test, then a physical ability test, then an oral interview. If you've done well enough on those then there's 12 weeks in recruit class, finish out the year on probation and then if you promise to spend 100 days and nights a year, 24 hours at a time, living in a firehouse, you get the lights and sirens. There's some other minor stuff like walking into burning buildings and stuff but thats all piddly when you got the lights!!!  ;D

Ken

Ken....you got it.  I didn't do a very good job of explaining...sorry about that.

Marsha~

Just remember folks, the reason you have someone backing you up, is not that you cannot drive, but you cannot see behind your coach.  UNLESS YOU ARE SUPERMAN!!!!!

There is no defense for ignorance. Backup cameras have blind spots.


You are in a CAMPGROUND there are children around throwing balls, frisby's or just being children.  Swallow your pride, tell the parent of the child you just backed over how good a driver you are.

I missed the posters name who taught firemen how to drive. Ill bet that at the station when they were backing in a truck or engine they never backed in without someone backing them up.

SOP  (standard operating procedures)

Like stopping at railroad crossings.  Another story for another day.

Tin man said:

Just remember folks, the reason you have someone backing you up, is not that you cannot drive, but you cannot see behind your coach.  UNLESS YOU ARE SUPERMAN!!!!!

There is no defense for ignorance. Backup cameras have blind spots.


You are in a CAMPGROUND there are children around throwing balls, frisby's or just being children.  Swallow your pride, tell the parent of the child you just backed over how good a driver you are.

I missed the posters name who taught firemen how to drive. Ill bet that at the station when they were backing in a truck or engine they never backed in without someone backing them up.

SOP  (standard operating procedures)

Like stopping at railroad crossings.  Another story for another day.

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Suggest you read and respond to specifics, Jim - vs. highly dramatizing your points. Let's have a conversation instead.

Tom makes an excellent point, for example, that you overlooked. Many, many RVer's are solo RVers that do not have spotters with them - ever. What happens if the OP never learns to back up without a spotter, and one day, he isn't there - for health or whatever. So he just dies because she can't find a spotter?

I stressed that I get in and out of my coach many times when I park - without a spotter - because one is not available. You seem to imply that we should all give up RVing, or we are going to continually kill little kids throwing balls around the RV park. Nonsense . . .

Tom and I, and thousands of other solos are just as responsible behind the wheel as you are.

Enough said.......

Hey quick update we got our new coach yesterday!  My husband drove it home from the dealer and then we took it out this afternoon.  I did one turn around the parking lot and headed out into a low traffic business development area.  Got comfy enough behind the wheel and was able to get on the road and drive it home.  I have yet to get on the freeway but I was a lot less intimidated than I thought I'd be.  We have a split window and I figured out by lining up the bottom of the split with the white line on the right side of the road that it's a pretty good guidepoint.  I've been lining the left side center line with a vent on the dash.  Thanks so much for everyone's feedback here! 

The more you go, the more you know! Congratulations and I hope it's the start of many great adventures for you both...