Who drives? Him or her?

[siamese]

Just curious. My wife and I are getting back into traveling by trailer after being out of it for over a decade, and in our case, I'll probably be doing all the driving and backing.

We got a pair of walkie-talkies, and are finding that they make us a much better backing team. With the exception of one close call with a very sneaky tree.

It's been our experience that my wife and I have vastly different skill sets in general, so we complement each other well.

It just happens that my vehicle handling comes to me naturally, be it a sailboat, motorcycle, or a truck and trailer rig. Is it safe (PC) to call it pretty much a guy thing? As a guy, raised in the 50's and 60's, I see vehicle handling as something I have to be competent at. Plus, I'm interested in it.

I'd be happy if my wife could pilot the rig half the time, but it's not where here skill or interest lies.

So what's the setup in your family unit? Who drives? Curious too, if the non-driver is the planner/navigator.

[drsteve]

MitchF150 wrote:


Anyway, works for us... Have heard the yelling back and forth on too many couples backing in.. Makes for some entertaining people watching for sure!

Just like watching folks at a boat ramp... Very entertaining..



Mitch

Nothing is better than the boat ramp. The addition of water to the equation opens up so many possibilities...

[bigarm]

I seem to be the exception here. My wife does all the driving!

[Camper_G]

I do all the driving and towing when the tt is hooked up. Dw is co- pilot. She's driven the truck once and that was enough for her. I'm confident if need be she could do it, but she has no desire to do so. It's a very tight back in to our property from the street and i think that scares her

[danimal53]

i do all the driving with the TT attached. she's pretty hesitant to even try, and i know it would stress her out. our TV is the same as her daily driver to work, she has no issue driving it. But driving and controlling something much larger is simply not in her wheelhouse.

[Bird_Freak]

I drive the most. Dw loves to take pics riding down the road how ever she has driven and is comfortable with everything we have ever had from off road buggys to tractor trailers.

[hawkeye-08]

My wife can drive and backup, but I do the driving. I know that if something were to happen, she could drive no problem. When we got married, she had CDL and drove semi hauling grain on farm. Lots of backing up with 40' trailer into tight spots. A travel trailer would be easy for her.

[GrandpaKip]

My wife has never driven the truck, with or without the trailer. She navigates. I drive and find radio stations that play oldies or classic rock. We are of the 300 mile/6 hour club. I do the trip planning for the RV. She does most of the planning for our overseas trips every 2 years. We do discuss where, when and so forth.
Usually, I can back in a spot without help. She'll get out if I can't see.
Our kids both drive and park their camper.

[3oaks]

My wife and I share the driving about 50/50 which helps to eliminate any driver fatigue. We do the trip planning together, ultimate destinations are set before leaving home, but daily routes which are usually determined the day before leaving any campground, vary along the way. All of which makes for "happy campers".

[Community Alumni]

My wife won't touch the steering wheel if there's a trailer attached lol. It doesn't bother me because I really enjoy driving especially for long periods of time. She's come around a bit recently. I got her to drive with the trailer attached for about 5 miles down the freeway and she didn't mind the drive. She still wants nothing to do with trying to back the trailer though.

She's an excellent navigator and very observant. She gives excellent direction when I'm backing the trailer and has the foresight to see potential problems. She enjoys handling the navigation side of things, what's up ahead, and the little passengers in the back. I couldn't ask for a better navigator. I told her with me being a good driver and she being a good navigator then we could get into rallying. She watched a video then said nope about 80 times :B.

[GizmosMom]

We have a Class C and don't tow. We both share the driving. On long stretches I will drive a little more than DH. He does not care to drive as much as I do. He is content to sit and read.

I am the trip planner and navigator. I just ask him to be aware of our circumstances when we are driving in cities.

We tow our bass boat with our Suburban. The first time I drove towing the boat we had a tire blowout. I handled it well but have been reluctant to tow since.

[valhalla360]

While I do most of the driving, we make sure to switch out once in a while, so if something happens to me, she can drive the rig.

All this talk about "skill set" is just silly. It's not rocket science.

As far as backing, we use hand signals. Seen plenty of walkie talkies start yelling for some reason and one poor lady almost run over when she stood behind the trailer giving directions to keep coming back...then tripped and almost got run over.

With hand signals, if I can't see her, I hit the brakes. (again, I usually do the backing but we do switch out occasionally for practice)

[Halmfamily]

I drove most of the time as the wife never wanted to pull the fifth wheel. I tried for two years to get behind the wheel with no luck until our last trip when I fell and broke my ankle. She learned real quick how to set up and break down camp and pulled the fiver home. When we got home she said it wasn't as hard as she thought. Now to teach her how to back up.

[APT]

Our Suburban is my wife's daily driver, but I do almost all the towing. There was one 1800 mile towing vacation that she helped for a few hours. She is not as comfortable, so I made it easy, rest area to rest area on an interstate.

When backing into a campsite, I only ask for help to judge rear distance and the blind corner if there are objects I don't want to hit.

[bob213]

Wife has been pulling either a TT or boat trailer since she was a kid. Can't navigate her way around the block. She drives, I navigate and although she can back it, I park the TT. Works great for us.
At first I felt castrated...now I just feel RELAXED!

[MitchF150]

I drive while towing. She spots while backing. No talking. Just hand signals. We always come in during daylight, so as long as she stays in one of my mirrors and I have a basic lay of the land of the site before I back up, it works great.

I just watch where the trailer tires are going and that's where the trailer is going to go.. She basically just tells me when to stop so the trailer door is where she wants it in the camp site. That's important!

Anyway, works for us... Have heard the yelling back and forth on too many couples backing in.. Makes for some entertaining people watching for sure!

Just like watching folks at a boat ramp... Very entertaining..

I've also seen some very nice walkie-talkie work backing in and they nail it on the first try with just very basic voice commands... So, it really comes down to what works best for you as a couple and gets you in without yelling or having to take 20 minutes to get into your site!! 🙂

Good luck!

Mitch