Safely Positioning Your Trailer into Tight Spaces

Safely Positioning Your Trailer into Tight Spaces
One undoubtedly will encounter situations on adventures where it may be tricky getting their small travel trailer into its spot.  These types of events often occur when arriving at a destination and either access is difficult (e.g. narrow entrance, steep entrance, tight turn, etc.) or the parking spot itself is challenging (e.g. trees or other potential hazards surround the site).  The key to successfully overcoming these obstacles is to take things slowly, have a helper if possible, and carry along a couple of useful items (e.g. walkie talkies and 2×4 wood parking chocks).

Since backing into a site is a very common approach at many campgrounds, it’s important to have eyes behind the trailer during the backing up process.  A backup camera on the small travel trailer can help, but it’s always best to have a helper outside and behind the trailer who can speak via two way radio with the driver.  We always carry a pair of small walkie talkies with us in the tow vehicle and use them pretty much every time we arrive at the campsite (an inexpensive pair will do since distance between radios is very limited).  Your partner will safely guide you into the spot and give a rough countdown in feet until you should stop backing up.   Before backing up into your spot though, park the tow vehicle if possible and get out and walk behind the trailer to survey the parking site.  This also lets you talk to your partner and arrive at a general understanding on the best area to place and park the trailer.  It’s good to take into consideration which area of the site is most level, shady, allows the trailer door enough room to open, has a level surface for the rear stabilizer pads, and any other desired features.  If you don’t have a helper, getting out of the vehicle is really important as well to help you survey the campsite.

Taking things slowly is the best way to avoid any mishaps.  For small travel trailers, this means always backing up slowly and taking the time to stop backing up and pulling forward to straighten out before backing up again.  Straightening out the trailer whenever the angle between the trailer and the tow vehicle starts to get significant makes backing into the spot much easier.  Ideally, it’s easiest to back into a spot with no or almost no angle between the tow vehicle and the small travel trailer.  This may mean straightening out a few times, but, overall it makes the process much easier (vs. backing in at a radical angle).  It also may make hitching up the trailer again when leaving easier if the hitch is parallel to the entrance to the campsite.  Once you have identified all potential hazards after surveying the trailer’s parking spot, proceed with caution and listen closely to your helper over the radio (or, if working alone, take time to go slowly and park and get out whenever necessary to check on your progress).

The easiest campsites to get into are the ones that are called “pull through” sites.  As the name suggests, these sites just involve driving straight into the campsite tow vehicle first.  We visited such a site at Pismo Beach North Beach Campground.  Pulling into our site here was a breeze (and right next to the beach)!  We simply drove through the campground and then drove right into our site.  We did unhitch and move our tow vehicle a few feet forward so we could easily raise and lower our electric tongue jack for leveling the trailer.  Hitching back up and leaving was also a piece of cake.  We have only stayed at a couple of campsites so far at a pull through site.

Most of the campgrounds we have visited have been campsites which require backing the trailer onto the pad.  For the most part, this is generally pretty straightforward (while following the tips above).  However, occasionally we have had times when the campsite pad was angled such that driving in only one direction would make backing onto the pad possible.  We encountered this at one of the first campgrounds we ever visited, D.L. Bliss State Park in Lake Tahoe.  Our campsite was located near the bottom of a steep narrow road overlooking the lake.  The campsite pad was angled forward toward the lake, making attempts to try to back onto the pad fruitless (greater than a 90 degree angle in the wrong direction between the road and the pad).  And, the road was so narrow that there was no room to use the tow vehicle to angle the trailer in such an extreme way.  Fortunately, a neighboring camper was watching and he informed us that there was a turnaround at the bottom of the road so we could approach the pad from the opposite direction.  Once we turned around, it was very easy to back our Scamp 13’ into its spot since the angle of the road and pad were compatible in this direction.  We’ve also had other experiences where driving a little forward onto the shoulder of the access road was necessary to straighten out the trailer enough to back onto the pad.  This usually occurs when the main road is very narrow.

One of the most difficult approaches to make with your trailer is when there is a steep transition onto a driveway (see video).  This usually happens when staying at someone’s house or other private location.  Backing in slowly and having a helper calling out the progression is of utmost importance in these situations to avoid scraping the rear parts of the trailer’s undercarriage and or damaging the front trailer tongue jack.  If the transition is too great and parts of the trailer will not clear, having a couple of 2 x 4 boards (short wheel chocks may work) might mean the difference between getting into and out of the driveway unscathed or either giving up or suffering trailer damage.  The most important thing is to go very slowly and stop as soon as it looks like something on the trailer may scrape on the driveway.  You will need to assess if the boards you are using to raise the rear of your tow vehicle will be satisfactory enough to provide proper clearance.  It’s important to note that if something looks too dicey it’s always better to forgo the attempt and park somewhere else than risk damaging your trailer (we’ve done this before and elected not to take the risk and parked on the street instead).

We did experience the above type of situation while visiting my sister’s house in Oakland on the 4^th of July.  We didn’t want to park and sleep on the street in East Oakland because it gets very rowdy in this area on this holiday.  The transition angle from street to driveway at my sister’s house is severe and although the bottom rear of our Scamp 13’ just cleared, it was evident that our electric tongue jack was going to hit the driveway if we proceeded (see video).  So, we stopped the trailer and took a couple of our 2 x 4 wheel chocks and placed them under each rear wheel of our tow vehicle.  As we drove up on the boards, the tongue jack raised enough to navigate over the steepest part of the transition and avoid hitting the ground.  That wasn’t the only challenge we had on this driveway!  The clearance on each side of the Scamp 13’ was minimal due to a fence on one side and home wall on the other and having a helper watch each side of the trailer as I backed in slowly was essential!  It is important to note, that we also needed to use the 2 x 4s when pulling out of the driveway as well (adding the 2 x 4s in front of the rear wheels at the same spot where the tongue jack initially wasn’t going to clear).  Everything worked out well and we have stayed in my sister’s driveway a couple of times now using this method without incident!

With careful planning, taking things slowly, having some proper tools and preferably a helper, navigating your small travel trailer into tight spaces will become not only entirely possible but very rewarding.  The satisfaction gained is only recognized after having done it!  And, after you do it once, you may want to do it again and again (or not)!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.