Now this guy would make money off of me...

I bought a trailer right a few years ago because the previous owner bought it and could not back it, no matter how hard he tried.

I've done it so long it's second nature.

Back when I was bigtime into fishing, I used to hate going to the lake the first warm and sunny weekend of the year. Everything that floated came out and 3/4ths of the people couldn't back the trailers down the ramps.
 
And then there were the people who never tried to start their engines until they were at the bottom of the ramp, and they would tie the ramp up forever trying to get it to run. Ugh!
 
I just don't have the practice. I had a small trailer I used with the lawn mower. Now I have dad's 8'x4' utility trailer. I used it a few times while emptying their house, but didn't back it well. Will need to find a parking lot somewhere and practice a bunch.
 
The Sound Guy said:
I just don't have the practice. I had a small trailer I used with the lawn mower. Now I have dad's 8'x4' utility trailer. I used it a few times while emptying their house, but didn't back it well. Will need to find a parking lot somewhere and practice a bunch.
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The short trailers are the worst! They react way too quickly to steering inputs and will jacknife in a second.
Long trailers are much easier.
 
Guard Dad said:
The short trailers are the worst! They react way too quickly to steering inputs and will jacknife in a second.
Long trailers are much easier.
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You betcha, when I drove semi I could back a trailer into a loading dock with ease. My utility trailer is another story, mostly when trying to go straight,,, it gets lost behind my truck and when it does appear,it's going sideways! I need to put some type of fold out markers on that thing.
 
I'm not gonna lie, years without practice has cause some rust build-up for me. I was embarrassed of how much I struggled backing the boat down the ramp at Blockhouse the first couple of times but it's slowly coming back.
 
:laugh2: that guy would make a lot of money off me ANY time I tried to back up. And I'm talking my SUV. Without a trailer.

I have leveled my mailbox several times. And have destroyed the front end of my daughter's car. Of course that one I blame on her, since she knows better than to park in the same zipcode as me.
 
J-man said:
I'm not gonna lie, years without practice has cause some rust build-up for me. I was embarrassed of how much I struggled backing the boat down the ramp at Blockhouse the first couple of times but it's slowly coming back.
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I'll see if my granddaughter can tutor you with that too.
 
You folks are right a short trailer is more of a challenge than a longer trailer as long as there is ample room to operate. The boat ramp is a macho thing and applies undo pressure on the operator. I do pretty good launching and backing to load. My issue is getting the boat back on the trailer and out of the water fighting tide, wind and current. If you get the trailer too deep the back of the boat wants to float off before you get it out. If you go too shallow the boat wants to stop short on the skids. It terrifies me to gun the main engine at the ramp due to shallow draft and winching it on is fine but a heavy boat can be a challenge.

 
I knew exactly how far to back it in, would watch the water level on the side rollers. I could idle it up to center on the trailer, goose it one time and it would jump right into the front rollers. I could literally load it in 60 seconds.

Launching it was about as easy. As long at the trailer wasn't wet where it would slide off too soon, I would unhook the winch and have my buddy back me in, tell him when to hit the brakes and it would slide off into the water smooth as silk.
 
Paxilpapa said:
You betcha, when I drove semi I could back a trailer into a loading dock with ease. My utility trailer is another story, mostly when trying to go straight,,, it gets lost behind my truck and when it does appear,it's going sideways! I need to put some type of fold out markers on that thing.
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I will say the new backup camera on the truck helps a lot. Since the trailer is short, as long as I don't have anything huge on it, I can see exactly what the trailer is doing.
 
NotSoSecret Russian Agent said:
:laugh2: that guy would make a lot of money off me ANY time I tried to back up. And I'm talking my SUV. Without a trailer.

I have leveled my mailbox several times. And have destroyed the front end of my daughter's car. Of course that one I blame on her, since she knows better than to park in the same zipcode as me.
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Our driveway is a challenge for people for some reason, we've had two back into the deep ditch on the downhill side and had to be pushed out.

I will admit that in my youth I did total two cars in reverse. :(
 
The Sound Guy said:
I will say the new backup camera on the truck helps a lot. Since the trailer is short, as long as I don't have anything huge on it, I can see exactly what the trailer is doing.
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Imagine a person trying to play video games and pressing all buttons on both sides of the remote control to make Mario jump for the coin with no results other than have Mario spin and maybe duck instead. Brain to thumbs signals = 0 reception.
That's me with the backup camera. :laugh2:
 
We have had to put the tailpipe under water to float off some pontoon boats,,, I hate those things.
 
The Sound Guy said:
Since the camera on the truck is up at the handle of the tailgate, I'd say I'm WAY too far!!!! :) :)
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Coincidentally this weekend my grandson and I went to HD and got 27 landscape timbers for a home project. We loaded them up and brought them home and I as was backing up the truck in the drive-way we both noticed what was in the camera was making no sense to us at all. The tailgate was down so the camera was pointed towards the ground. We both got a laugh out of that one.
 
J-man said:
Coincidentally this weekend my grandson and I went to HD and got 27 landscape timbers for a home project. We loaded them up and brought them home and I as was backing up the truck in the drive-way we both noticed what was in the camera was making no sense to us at all. The tailgate was down so the camera was pointed towards the ground. We both got a laugh out of that one.
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Yeah, that is a serious disadvantage of the design. It's amazing after 30 years of driving how quickly I've gotten used to having that camera available and how lost I feel backing up without it.
 
The Sound Guy said:
Yeah, that is a serious disadvantage of the design. It's amazing after 30 years of driving how quickly I've gotten used to having that camera available and how lost I feel backing up without it.
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It also makes replacement tailgates much more expensive. I was told to keep mine locked at all times as they are one of the most stolen items off the truck.
 
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