Your best advice for learning to drive RV?

[Questor]

The biggest thing I've driven is a Ryder rental truck for moving, and it wasn't too difficult compared to driving a car. But I think RVs are different, especially since I'll be trailering a boat. What advice can you give me for learning to REALLY drive and control one of these big vehicles?

Thanks.

 

[Tom]

The RV will likely be easier to drive than the Ryder truck and certainly a lot smoother. The boat trailer will follow along behind the RV and you won't even know that 14 foot aluminum boat is back there. Our old class A had a window in the very back and I'd periodically send the wife back there to check if the boat (or car) was still there.

Reversing down a boat ramp will need a little practice, but you'll soon find that's quite easy.

 

[Bob Buchanan]

The biggest thing I've driven is a Ryder rental truck for moving, and it wasn't too difficult compared to driving a car. But I think RVs are different, especially since I'll be trailering a boat. What advice can you give me for learning to REALLY drive and control one of these big vehicles?

Thanks.

Check out this web site. Jerry Ray is a member of this forum and teaches at The RV Shool. This page is a testimonial from one of his students:

http://www.rvschool.com/letter.htm

If you then go to the home page, you can get the particulars on the school, locatioins of training, and so forth.

 

[Ron]

Sam says "just steer the front where you want to go and everything behind follow quite nicely. ;D Going to a large empty parking lot is a good place to practice a bit and of course getting training from Jerry Ray is an excellent idea.

 

[Betty Brewer]

Check out this web site. Jerry Ray is a member of this forum and teaches at The RV Shool. This page is a testimonial from one of his students:http://www.rvschool.com/letter.htmIf you then go to the home page, you can get the particulars on the school, locatioins of training, and so forth.

Bob,
Thanks for sharing that quote.  It was from me.  And here several years later... He has still not taken country Dance lessons with me. 

Betty

 

[Terry A. Brewer]

>> He has still not taken country Dance lessons with me. <<

Liar...we both went to class & FAILED.

 

[King]

Two things...
1. You sit way forward compared to a car, and the RV is much longer.  you have to swing the front a little wider around a corner for the rear wheels to clear.  At first, I ran a rear whlle over a curb in almost every parking lot.
2. Get a backup camera if your rig doesn't come with one.  you can't back up a trailer without it.  By the time your boat shows up in your mirrors, it's too far out of line to correct.

 

[E. Graham]

Best advice for learning to drive an RV? - Take a lesson!

When John and I bought our first travel trailer, we each booked separate one-on-one lessons with an Instructor who was qualified to teach tractor-trailer transport truck drivers.? We did this because driving a car does not prepare one in any way to drive something that is so much bigger and so much more unwieldy.? It takes longer to stop, take more room to turn, requires more care in backing up --- and so on, and so on.

A 3 to 4 hour lesson will give you both the the physical --- and the mental --- skills to keep yourself, your family, and other drivers safe on the road.

Be sure your instructor has a current teaching certificate from a legitimate licensing body.

Safe and happy travelling!

Elisabeth
Primary Driver in the Graham Family

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Bob,
Thanks for sharing that quote.? It was from me.? And here several years later... He has still not taken country Dance lessons with me.?

Betty

Oh -- that was from Betty "Brewer". I didn't pick up on that right away. What a nice thing for you to do, Betty. I'm sure Jerry (and Dick) appreciated it. Jerry's background in the truck driving training field and his personality and demeanor are sure ideal for what he now does as an RV driver trainer.