Welcome back to part 2 of how to tow a camper trailer! This time we’re going to focus on the basics of reversing a camper trailer and unhitching a camper trailer– Plus, I’ll throw in a couple of maintenance tips to help make some of your trailer components last even longer!

REVERSING YOUR CAMPER TRAILER

Here we are, at the cause of more headaches and blood pressure problems at tight campsites, caravan parks, driveways and garages than any other aspect of owing a camper trailer – reversing it.

Seasoned pros will make it look like second nature, and with a bit of practice and you’ll be able to do it with your eyes closed – well, almost.  The best thing you can do here is find an empty carpark like your local footy fields and practice the offroad camper trailer it in an out of various different car spaces and positions both forward and back.

You basically need to get used to how the camper trailer is going to react when you turn your steering wheel in any given direction.

When you are reversing your camper trailer you have to remember that the camper trailer is going to swing in the opposite direction to where you turn your steering wheel. A great way to get used to which way the offorad camper trailer is going to go when you turn your steering wheel is to place both your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel with the top of your hands facing towards you. This way if you want the camper trailer to swing to your left, you push the wheel to your left and if you want it to go to the right, you push the wheel to your right. It’s that simple!

I’ll give you a quick run down on how to reverse a camper trailer into a tight spot here. If I’m going to approach a spot on my left, I’ll obviously chuck the super underrated and highly neglected indicator on and I’m going to swing pretty wide. Again keeping an eye on my mirrors to see how close I am to the spot I want. You should generally leave yourself at least 5 metres or so past the spot, but the more room you give yourself, the better. Just before I come to a stop, I’m going to turn a little bit of left hand down. The reason you should do this is because it’ll cause the tail end of the offorad camper trailer to turn in the direction of the parking spot, that way you won’t have to chase the camper trailer as much.

Now I’m going to chuck the car into reverse and let the brake off slowly and basically let the car idle itself backwards. Because the spot I’m after is on my left, I’m going to chuck my hands at the bottom of my steering wheel, then move my hands to the left which will make the rear end of the camper trailer swing around to the exact spot I want it to. Keeping a close eye on all of my mirrors and my reverse camera, once I see the camper trailer swing, I’m going to catch it by counter steering in the opposite direction to make the trailer straighten up.

If you stuff up, don’t panic- even the most seasoned pros get it wrong on occasion. Maybe you’ve let the camper trailer swing for too long or perhaps not long enough. All you need to do is drive the car forward and give it another crack. It’s all about finding that sweet spot where you can chase the back end of that offroad camper trailer around to straighten up and chuck the car in park.
Again, learning how to reverse a camper trailer is all about practice and once you’ve got a feel for it, it’ll become second nature and you’ll end up developing your own tips and tricks that you can pass on in the future.

UNHITCHING YOUR TRAILER

Okay, so you’ve just pulled up at camp and you want to leave the camper trailer behind to head out exploring, or you’re done for the weekend and you’re parking your offroad camper trailer up after an awesome weekend out camping- Now it’s time to unhitch your offroad camper trailer.

First jump out and apply the handbrake on your camper trailer, then disconnect your trailer plug and any 12v sockets you might have. Leave your safety chains attached for the moment until you disconnect the trailer coupling – it’s a failsafe in case your brakes won’t hold the camper trailer.

Wind the jockey wheel up until the offroad trailer coupling disconnects, disconnect your chains and move your vehicle out of the way. It’s a good idea to chock your camper trailer tyres as well just in case. And if you need to move your offroad trailer around somewhere, lower the jockey wheel down at least half way – at full extension there is a lack of strength in the jockey wheel body and it can easily be bent.

Now, for another couple of little tips to prolong the life of your camper trailers components is to every so often give your trailer socket on your vehicle a quick spray with WD-40 as well as the jockey wheel and its handle. 

Well there you have it following these simple tips and tricks, you’ll have to confidence to tow your camper trailer just about anywhere and reverse it into even the tightest of spots! We reckon if you stick to these easy steps, you’ll be a pro in no time at all and you’ll be able to develop and pass on your own tricks and techniques!