Hello. I have a 1996 Monaco Dynasty and am staying at a campground to spend time with my grandchildren. The site is very steep and I relied on my partner to assist me to back the RV into the site. Well I have learned from this experience as I made the huge mistake of turning the RV into a hill that resulted in damage to the front driver's side. Luckily I am taking the RV to a body shop on Monday as they are taking out all the rails holding the storage compartments out as well as the undercarriage for all areas mentioned are rusted out. Anyway I have learned from my backing in experience that I will get out of the RV prior to backing in and come up with a plan of my own rather than to listen to a partner who is standing at the back of RV directing me and not looking at what is happening out front as well. I now think that the person directing me is there just to make sure I am not hitting a tree at the side or back. I will from now on that if the parking is not working as I had planned is to stop...get out..and rethink. Anyway. ..expensive lesson. I thought I would feel better coming clean with my confession of stupidly but I dont. Stupid...stupid...mistake. Thank you for listening.

Even thought I THINK I can do most anything, when backing our unit, I have at least 1 person outside with our two way radios and I do a walk around first. I go extremely slow and sometimes hope out a time or two to see how things are progressing.I know it may be over kill, but I am poor and can't afford any added expenses due to my screw ups.Good luck with the repairs.

Your not the first one. If there is only 1 person to help you back in it is hard to see every corner. The driver can't see the front corners of the MH while backing in. I had 3 people helping me back into a very tight spot with my MH I was going slow when I herd an noise I had hit a rod across the street that a solar light was on. Bent the rod but did no damage to the MH. The spotter at the back was watching the back and didn't see the rod. By the time we got set up and slides open the BR slide was about 1 ft. from the camper next to us. As I stated very tight spot.

Key word here GOALGetOutAndLook:)

One thing that has helped me when backing up without a spotter, is that I have three large bright red rubber flexible cones (about 2 ft. tall) that I will place at the back of the spot that I want to back into.Since my rear camera will adjust, I put it at the 'hitch view' and put a cone at the middle at the end of the spot I'm trying to back into. The other two go 5 ft. on either side of that centered red cone.I have no problem getting out two or three times to MAKE SURE that I'm doing it right. This cone set-up has really helped me. I now feel confident backing up because I can see my ultimate ending spot with the cones.I know anything can happen so I try to minimize that as much as possible.Quick story, I was traveling from Florida to Georgia and put the campgrounds address in my Nav. I accidentally put in NE 45th Ave. instead of NW 45th Ave at the beginning of the street name. The Nav took me down a heavily treed fairly narrow country road. Once I made my turn, I realized that something was wrong and there was NO WHERE to turn around the big-rig. Finally, I see a fairly wide driveway on my right that had 'entrance fencing' but it still looked doable. It just so happens that the owner was pulling out as I was driving down the road very slowly. I waved him to stop and got out to ask directions, that's when I realized my error.I asked him if it was OK to turn around in his driveway, he said "sure". So, I unhook the Honda, park it to the side with the flashers on. I pull past the driveway so that I can then reverse into his driveway. I pull out my three red cones putting one at the mailbox and the other two at the point where the entrance fencing narrows. That way, I could see the narrow points better.Shockingly, I just fit without an inch to spare. As I was backing in, the front of the coach was swinging towards the fence across the street from this driveway. My front bumper was so close to the fence that a person could not have walked between the bumper and the fence. It was just enough room for me to complete my turn. I was lucky. The cones helped tremendously as I had no one to help me.Safe travels,MM.

Your confession has been heard, you are absolved and forgiven, but you must repair the damage and resolve never to do THAT again, nor should you blame your partner, who was not driving, after all.

Confession of bad parking | Good Sam Community

xctraveler
Explorer
Jul 29, 2016
What 2gypsies said. We take turns at the wheel and on the ground. Hand signals only! It is hard to express sarcasm or anger with with simple hand signals. If the ground person is not visible the coach does not move! Slap on the side of the coach means STOP! Often we will consult at the driver window.

On a wide open site with no overhead obstructions I may walk next to the driver side window to suggest small corrections to spot the coach just so.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jul 29, 2016
Kayteg1 wrote:
You know the common wisdom for easy divorce?
"Buy big RV and let your spouse help to park it"

Huh? Many women drive and back in the RVs. They can do just as good as a guy! :)

Also, friends of ours - if he is driving that day - gets out and lets her do the parking. He finds that he can't understand her signals so it's easier for them if he does the signaling and she drives it into the site. They have a 43' motorhome.

For us, the spotter constantly walks around all corners checking as it's being parked. We don't use a radio. We use only hand signals and if the driver can't see the spotter at any time, the driver doesn't move an inch.
bobkatmsu
Explorer
Jul 29, 2016
My DW and I both get out and look together. Then I tell her exactly what I want to do. I tell her what she is responsible for watching and at what point I want the tail end at so she can tell me to start turning. If anything she is more careful than I am. She's always asking me to come back and take a look to make sure she understood what I wanted.
We made a pact years ago when we bought our first RV, that we would never argue or get frustrated with each other when we were parking the RV. We are always joking and laughing while we park. I may get frustrated with how uneven the lot is but I always give her a pat on the butt and let her know she is doing a great job. The looks and comments we get from other campers is precious. We always tell them about our pact and our hope is maybe we helped keep the divorce rate down a little. haha
dcbrewer
Explorer
Jul 29, 2016
My way is without a spotter, than I know I have got to watch it all, and depend on no one, DW is setting in the seat beside me. Pull up and check out the spot you are backing into, and know where everything is at, than pull up to the right angle and back in. Than get out and check distance for slide outs. And done.
mama_sylvia
Explorer
Jul 27, 2016
You're braver than I am, I will go FAR out of my way to avoid having to back up!
J-Rooster
Explorer
Jul 26, 2016
Being a retired truckdriver that is the correct thing too do. Remember GOAL (Get, Out, And, Look)! I learned that in the Smith defensive driving class that I haven taken several times. Also, the instructor said when your backing up, 3 things can happen and, 2 of those things are bad. Sorry to hear about the damage.
FIRE_UP
Explorer
Jul 26, 2016
Kayteg1 wrote:
You know the common wisdom for easy divorce?
"Buy big RV and let your spouse help to park it"

I see that and raise you:

How about the same scenario on a BOAT RAMP??????
Scott
dieseltruckdriv
Explorer II
Jul 26, 2016
My spotter (wife) has one job at the back, and that is to make sure I don't back the roof into anything. I take care of the rest, and yes, definitely get out and look.
msmith1199
Explorer II
Jul 26, 2016
Yup lesson learned. I will say that unless the spot is obviously wide open without any obstructions and I can clearly see all that as I drive up to it, I always get out and take a look at everything. I never trust the spotter. And front end swing is all the driver too as somebody at the back of a motorhome can rarely watch out for the front end too. You're kind of like the Captain of a ship, if somebody else screws up, it's still your fault.
OLYLEN
Explorer
Jul 26, 2016
Well I learned that lesson the EZ way. Wife was on the right rear doing her duty and I turned the left front into a bush, little green no damage but taught me to SLOW DOWN and keep all four corners safe. Keep the eyes moving on all mirrors and don't fixate on one spot.

LEN

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