How do you estimate overall length?

It depends on the park. Many do not want you to put jacks down or park on the grass so you need to fit the truck and trailer into the paved area.

At Bridge Bay Campground in Yellowstone, they had pull through sites along the road and you needed to fit in the site to not block the road. The guest agent supervisor used your length to fit you into the best site.

With a 100 foot tape measure.

It is important to realize that the park is giving you a length for your safety and convenience. Not theirs. They don't really care if you're a few feet over, as long as you can make it work.

In my experience, the lengths given on the web are how deep the site is. It's up to you to figure how you fit in that given length. If you want to leave your truck hitched, you'll need a site long enough for that. If you don't, you will need to park next to the trailer if the site is wide enough, or you might have to park somewhere else and walk in. It's up to you. Google Earth can sometimes help with that decision.

Most often I've found the sites can handle more than the quoted length. For example, you can overhang rocks or a bumpstop at the rear. But of course you can't be sure until you've been to the park at least once.

Acei wrote:
Lets say a National Park limits the overall length of the TV + trailer to 40ft. For PU/FW combo, how do you determine this? Is it when it is hitched up (most amount of overlap) or do they measure the units separately and then add the two together (i.e. no overlap scenario)?

Also, for a 1T standard bed (6.5ft) PUs, how much overlap do you end up when a FW is hitched up?

I did not estimate mine. I just stepped it off while hooked up. I got 49'. Easy, peasy.

Well if the park indicates trailer plus tow vehicle, I would use the connected length since I could back the disconnected truck under the 5er if I was short of room.

I've never seen anyone measure a rig before letting you in.

Now if it's crazy oversized, they might say something (ie: 40'5th wheel into a 25' site).

More common is they can't fit and then there is some head scratching while they try to figure out what to do.

I believe the size is typically in reference to the trailer with a bit of extra room for the truck but you may have to park the truck on an angle or leave the tailgate down so you can back up under the overhang.

avvidclif1 wrote:
Try Nov 4th, Nov 11th is Memorial Day and a very special holiday to a lot of us.

My apology, Thank you. Typo has been corrected.

Probably a different video

No tow truck but a similar situation. Thru a too small tunnel and ^%$#@!

BK

naturist wrote:
A lot of incompetent drivers over-estimate their skill level. Come to think of it, that's even most of us at least once in our lives.

Still, there is no excuse for taking a vehicle down a road that cannot accommodate that vehicle, especially after there's a sign saying so at the start.

In our town there is just such a road leading across the railroad tracks and up a hill, in the midst of which is another spur track that includes a curve and a grade change (aka hump) that is very sharp. Because of the hump and the curve, what can be driven in a car or pickup is quite impossible for an 18 wheeler. The center of the trailer scrapes and if the trailer is loaded, i.e. high center of gravity, it can roll over an embankment taking the tractor with it.

There are many gouge marks in the hump.

Doing anything like that is a Learning Experience. Nobody has ever towed a 5th Wheel until they did it. We have all been there at one Time or another. It seems like People forget that.

Try Nov 4th, Nov 11th is Memorial Day and a very special holiday to a lot of us.