Helping hubby reverse? Maybe practice it first....
Mike Harding said
01:12 PM Aug 13, 2022
I usually camp in the forests so don't see other caravaners often but for the past five days I've camped in the bowling club area in Wentworth, NSW. This is a rectangular sealed area about 150m x 30m so it's fairly easy to manoeuvre a caravan here.
What has provided a simple pleasure is watching wives "helping" hubby reverse into a bay: hubby gets rig more or less into position and only has to reverse perhaps 15m; at this point wife hops out of the car and walks to the back of the caravan, sometimes she stands directly behind and in the centre line of the van other times she wanders around from one side of the van to the other.
During this process she sometimes waves her hand (or both of them) in a manner much as one would if tearfully sending off a young child to boarding school on the train, I look for a fluttering hankerchief. Other times she hastens switching between left and right side of van and shouts something like "Iggle! Sproggle north and shunt the brassicas." At least that's what I hear, God knows what hubby hears.
By this time hubby has the job almost done and wife starts to panic that he's going to reverse too far and hit the kerb with the caravan tyres, clearly the code for this, which must have been prearranged, is for wife to run around in small circles waving both arms in a valiant, but fruitless, attempt to achieve flight.
I take another sip of wine and think why don't they buy a couple of hand-held CBs or just sit down one day and organise a set of clear and concise hand signals?
Oh well... it's kept me smiling this week :)
watsea said
03:25 PM Aug 13, 2022
Yes, Mike. After enduring a handful of similar episodes as you described. We bought some handhelds and did some work about what sort of directions a driver can easily understand. One YouTube suggested naming the side of the van to be "driver" and "passenger", so as not to mix left and right (depending which way you face can be a problem). I find being able to adjust mirrors to see the van's tyres from the drivers seat helps too.
Works much better now. On a CP stay last year, some nearby neighbours who must have had their viewing chairs specially arranged for a show, actually paid us some compliments on how the driver put the van into a tight site, without too much trouble and no damage to the van, vehicle and tempers.
-- Edited by watsea on Saturday 13th of August 2022 03:26:18 PM
Possum3 said
03:52 PM Aug 13, 2022
Mike, I know the spot well, it's a great placed to hole up if there is serious rain predicted.
Handhelds or semaphore quite useless in this instance - as it appears to be a trait I've witnessed in most Nomads couples - He parks the beast & she has difficulty in determining Right from Left.
The only true answer is for Her to tie a lable on each wrist (perhaps knit a pair of Driving gloves with L & R embroidered) then Him to direct ie right hand down, left hand down, but that would result in much less amusement for us old farts that like to watch.
Maybe there is a market in Ladies Driving Gloves with LH & RH embroidery - food for thought.
Since retiring 12 years ago, the scenario that you've described has provided us with endless hours of enjoyment.
Whenarewethere said
07:30 PM Aug 13, 2022
Too many are too painful to watch!
Even just indicating the remaining distance to reverse with the width of your hands apart would solve a lot of problem efficiently.
Whenarewethere said
07:44 PM Aug 13, 2022
One incident we saw.
Wifey was carrying on like a marionette with smoke coming off the strings.
The poor bloke looked like he would take a bigger rope before he could finish.
We had to clear out of the area due to the cooked clutch.
From a safe distance we heard a couple of branches being removed & it wasn't from a chainsaw, neither was the associated sound!
erad said
09:43 PM Aug 13, 2022
I mostly ignore my wife's "guidance". I ask her to give me direction and distance. I get a lot of hand waving, but no distance to target, until finally I get a panicked "STOP" screamed at me. I usually have the tractor at 30 degrees angle to the van, when I get the message "That's good - keep going straight". There is no way that she can see I need another 5 m travel before the tractor is pointing in the right direction. Meanwhile, abuse comes "You're still turning the van"... I have learnt as well that when she finally says OK, I get out and check it because invariably the water hose is 1 foot short where she puts the van, or there is a tree overhanging the roof , preventing us from lifting the roof of our poptop van. Still, we have been married for 50 years so a little patience is still required when we go away...
As for hitching up the van, I make a guess and stop when I think I am close to the ball. The I get out and make my own decision as to how far and which direction to go. Again, no distance calls from SWAMBO until I hear STOP, followed by a thump as the towbar hits my bumper bar. Why cannot she tell me distance countdown? 3 feet, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, stop? At least when I look, I know how far I have to go and which direction, and get it right 90% of the time first go.
To reverse my caravan into my shed, I have less than 1 foot total clearance (that is 6" each side) in one place. I have given up on instructions, and put her into the driver's seat and I walk along beside her saying half turn left, straight, half turn right etc. The only problem is that she revs hell out of the engine and can even smoke up the clutch, when the idle speed control can easily handle the loading on the engine. I have to tell her NOT to rev the engine. But at least we get the van away and in a position where we can access it with minimal difficulty.
Rant over...
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 13th of August 2022 09:46:11 PM
Whenarewethere said
10:07 PM Aug 13, 2022
Whenarewethere said
10:16 PM Aug 13, 2022
erad wrote:
Still, we have been married for 50 years so a little patience is
Otherwise you would have been dead at 10!
Aus-Kiwi said
10:29 PM Aug 13, 2022
How would they go at traffic control Airport ??
Craig1 said
11:57 PM Aug 13, 2022
Peter drives, tows all day, Pat parks it, their system for 2 laps, he says I am hopeless at reversing, but she just has one go. No emotion needed after a couple of early tries. Deep breapth and get on with it.
Whenarewethere said
07:06 AM Aug 14, 2022
Aus-Kiwi wrote:
How would they go at traffic control Airport ??
I have two cousins, many decades ago they were air traffic controllers, one is actually a girl! They both left as they couldn't stand the stress.
They got approval, they are about half a generation older & allowed me & some friends to have a guided tour of a 747 at the Sydney hanger. Seeing a 747 (would have been the first model, in about 1974) cockpit & all the other parts of the plane up close was pretty amazing.
86GTS said
11:33 AM Aug 14, 2022
You've gotta feel sorry for some blokes with wives that are constantly p*ssing in their ear telling them what to do, where to go & when to go.
"We've gotta go there Bill 'cause Fred & Joan have!" Poor bugger!
When reversing the caravan I'd be telling her to stand directly behind it.
Whenarewethere said
12:38 PM Aug 14, 2022
Just let her do it, if it gets wrecked so be it.
Plain Truth said
01:49 PM Aug 14, 2022
As they say when you go to a caravan park,get there early for the entertainment ,
Get there late,you are the entertainment.
vince56 said
05:22 PM Aug 14, 2022
I've seen men do some absolutely stupid things, far more than women over the years.
-- Edited by vince56 on Sunday 14th of August 2022 05:24:06 PM
86GTS said
08:01 PM Aug 14, 2022
vince56 wrote:
I've seen men do some absolutely stupid things, far more than women over the years.
-- Edited by vince56 on Sunday 14th of August 2022 05:24:06 PM
Old folk do a lot of stupid things, that's why we've given ourselves three more years before going "off road" permanently. Its been an enjoyable ride but all good things must come to an end. Hopefully before we embarrass ourselves.
Tony LEE said
11:11 AM Aug 15, 2022
Between the two mirrors and reversing camera, and the fact that we are in a bus, I don't usually need a spotter - but sometimes I really do need some help outside and then I really, REALLY, wish that Betty wasn't confined to a wheelchair inside the bus.
FMC said
11:15 AM Aug 15, 2022
Saw a fellow traveler assist a new arrival in a park and proceeded to assist him to reverse in giving numerous hand signals, however he forgot to mention the sullage hose outlet which was a raised Besser block located on the off side from the driver, the consequence was that he ran over it with his car and caused some damaged to the vehicle.
I personally always have a quick site check for any unknown obstacles.
Cheers to all
StewG said
05:03 PM Aug 15, 2022
Thanks, Mike, and others above for a good laugh. You could be talking about my wife and I. Like Eran, I mostly ignore my wife's "guidance". I generally get out of the tug and inspect the site before reversing in and because I have rear cameras on the van, tell the wife to stand in the middle at the rear of the site so that I have something to aim for. Her job is to tell me when to stop. Oh, and there is a microphone in the rear camera. We often don't have any arguments...
I usually camp in the forests so don't see other caravaners often but for the past five days I've camped in the bowling club area in Wentworth, NSW. This is a rectangular sealed area about 150m x 30m so it's fairly easy to manoeuvre a caravan here.
What has provided a simple pleasure is watching wives "helping" hubby reverse into a bay: hubby gets rig more or less into position and only has to reverse perhaps 15m; at this point wife hops out of the car and walks to the back of the caravan, sometimes she stands directly behind and in the centre line of the van other times she wanders around from one side of the van to the other.
During this process she sometimes waves her hand (or both of them) in a manner much as one would if tearfully sending off a young child to boarding school on the train, I look for a fluttering hankerchief. Other times she hastens switching between left and right side of van and shouts something like "Iggle! Sproggle north and shunt the brassicas." At least that's what I hear, God knows what hubby hears.
By this time hubby has the job almost done and wife starts to panic that he's going to reverse too far and hit the kerb with the caravan tyres, clearly the code for this, which must have been prearranged, is for wife to run around in small circles waving both arms in a valiant, but fruitless, attempt to achieve flight.
I take another sip of wine and think why don't they buy a couple of hand-held CBs or just sit down one day and organise a set of clear and concise hand signals?
Oh well... it's kept me smiling this week :)
Yes, Mike. After enduring a handful of similar episodes as you described. We bought some handhelds and did some work about what sort of directions a driver can easily understand. One YouTube suggested naming the side of the van to be "driver" and "passenger", so as not to mix left and right (depending which way you face can be a problem). I find being able to adjust mirrors to see the van's tyres from the drivers seat helps too.
Works much better now. On a CP stay last year, some nearby neighbours who must have had their viewing chairs specially arranged for a show, actually paid us some compliments on how the driver put the van into a tight site, without too much trouble and no damage to the van, vehicle and tempers.
-- Edited by watsea on Saturday 13th of August 2022 03:26:18 PM
Handhelds or semaphore quite useless in this instance - as it appears to be a trait I've witnessed in most Nomads couples - He parks the beast & she has difficulty in determining Right from Left.
The only true answer is for Her to tie a lable on each wrist (perhaps knit a pair of Driving gloves with L & R embroidered) then Him to direct ie right hand down, left hand down, but that would result in much less amusement for us old farts that like to watch.
Maybe there is a market in Ladies Driving Gloves with LH & RH embroidery - food for thought.
Or maybe get one of these.........
Since retiring 12 years ago, the scenario that you've described has provided us with endless hours of enjoyment.
Too many are too painful to watch!
Even just indicating the remaining distance to reverse with the width of your hands apart would solve a lot of problem efficiently.
One incident we saw.
Wifey was carrying on like a marionette with smoke coming off the strings.
The poor bloke looked like he would take a bigger rope before he could finish.
We had to clear out of the area due to the cooked clutch.
From a safe distance we heard a couple of branches being removed & it wasn't from a chainsaw, neither was the associated sound!
I mostly ignore my wife's "guidance". I ask her to give me direction and distance. I get a lot of hand waving, but no distance to target, until finally I get a panicked "STOP" screamed at me. I usually have the tractor at 30 degrees angle to the van, when I get the message "That's good - keep going straight". There is no way that she can see I need another 5 m travel before the tractor is pointing in the right direction. Meanwhile, abuse comes "You're still turning the van"... I have learnt as well that when she finally says OK, I get out and check it because invariably the water hose is 1 foot short where she puts the van, or there is a tree overhanging the roof , preventing us from lifting the roof of our poptop van. Still, we have been married for 50 years so a little patience is still required when we go away...
As for hitching up the van, I make a guess and stop when I think I am close to the ball. The I get out and make my own decision as to how far and which direction to go. Again, no distance calls from SWAMBO until I hear STOP, followed by a thump as the towbar hits my bumper bar. Why cannot she tell me distance countdown? 3 feet, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, stop? At least when I look, I know how far I have to go and which direction, and get it right 90% of the time first go.
To reverse my caravan into my shed, I have less than 1 foot total clearance (that is 6" each side) in one place. I have given up on instructions, and put her into the driver's seat and I walk along beside her saying half turn left, straight, half turn right etc. The only problem is that she revs hell out of the engine and can even smoke up the clutch, when the idle speed control can easily handle the loading on the engine. I have to tell her NOT to rev the engine. But at least we get the van away and in a position where we can access it with minimal difficulty.
Rant over...
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 13th of August 2022 09:46:11 PM
Otherwise you would have been dead at 10!
I have two cousins, many decades ago they were air traffic controllers, one is actually a girl! They both left as they couldn't stand the stress.
They got approval, they are about half a generation older & allowed me & some friends to have a guided tour of a 747 at the Sydney hanger. Seeing a 747 (would have been the first model, in about 1974) cockpit & all the other parts of the plane up close was pretty amazing.
"We've gotta go there Bill 'cause Fred & Joan have!" Poor bugger!
When reversing the caravan I'd be telling her to stand directly behind it.
Just let her do it, if it gets wrecked so be it.
As they say when you go to a caravan park,get there early for the entertainment ,
Get there late,you are the entertainment.
I've seen men do some absolutely stupid things, far more than women over the years.
-- Edited by vince56 on Sunday 14th of August 2022 05:24:06 PM
Old folk do a lot of stupid things, that's why we've given ourselves three more years before going "off road" permanently. Its been an enjoyable ride but all good things must come to an end. Hopefully before we embarrass ourselves.
I personally always have a quick site check for any unknown obstacles.
Cheers to all