The other day, we brought our Hi-Lo home from the storage lot to get things organized for our next trip. As I approached home, I wanted to swing wide to the right to make a nice big left turn into our driveway. I watched the mirror and made sure I missed the mailbox on the right. Cleared it by a good 3 inches. As I began to swing to the left, the wife yells STOP! At this point, I learnt that when you turn left, the tail of the camper swings out to the right. I was now about 1 inch from that mailbox. It took me a good 10 min to slowly wriggle the camper back and forth to get it away from the mailbox and get the turn-in completed.

Moral: Don't even get close to anything. Ever.

Yeah.

I mentioned replacing a tail light in another post. It was when I was backing the trailer into my parking area, and I could not see the cement mixer next to it. I got out of the tow vehicle and estimated just how much clearance I had and backed up confidently. When I looked, I had just barely touched the mixer and poked a small hole in the tail/brake light lens. That extra 1/16 inch was all it took.

Apparently cement mixers get to win when there's competition for space.

__________________
Roger
1999 22L Classic
2008 Toyota 4Runner V6
McKesh Mirrors
Andersen Hitch

wdsniderman & anchorwood,

Don't y'all hate it when inanimate objects learn to move just in time to jump in the way? Thanks for the chuckles. Unfortunately, I read this after getting our "new" Hi-Lo home. Here's my addition:

When we brought our 83 Voyager (25 footer) home, I had to back it through an alley and make a an almost 90* angle turn to get into the uphill driveway. Mind you, I'm not a professional driver but have had a bit of experience with backing trailers up. With my wife and father-in-law giving hand signals and verbal commands and multiple "wiggle turns", it still ended up with us realizing it wasn't going to fit though our back gate (even though we measured more than a couple of times) because of the rear lights were barely too wide.

We were left with a cracked light cover on the driver's side and our camper parked on a 30* grade driveway. This Spring, we'll be putting in a bigger gate so we can move it into the backyard and onto a much more level surface.

PS -- I've already joked with my wife about a pair of rearview cameras (one on each side on the back) as a "sanity saver." Not sure how much of a joke it is, yet.

wdsniderman, you are absolutely correct. When turning one way it is the opposite back side that 'reaches' further to that side. My experience was when pulling out of a gas station after filling the tank on a rented motorhome. The concrete protecting the gas pump won and I had a $2,500 repair bill. This also can happen the same when pulling forward out of a gas station and turning before clearing the posts, again on my driver's side but on the front this time.

I am attempting to learn how use fiberglass to repair my Hi Lo after taking out a No Parking sign while attempting to miss hitting some people standing in the area I was hoping to park. The few times I have ridden in newer cars with multiple cameras I am feeling a need to have several installed on my camper. Expensive but cheaper than repairs.

We have all made bloopers and had to do repairs. A fantastic idea to always have a spotter. Cheap insurance.

I understand...completely.....and have backed plenty trailers (not 5th wheels)..thats an horse of diff color...

I can back my boat into a crack...recently I decided to put a ball on Front of my ATV so I could back it into a crack in my yard without gettin stuck or tear up grass...

Well its not as easy as thought...because its all reversed (in your head )from backing up with a regular vehicle..(it zigs when it should zag..But you can see so well and once you get past the zig & zag...IT really works well