That was terrifying! (1 Viewer)

[Allanm]

Slow and steady, you're on holiday!

 

[Dorset Diver]

I just wish my OH would do some of the manoeuvring then I could practice the technique and art of directing from somewhere behind the van whilst staying completely out of sight of four mirrors and two cameras .

 

[Old Soldier]

I just wish my OH would do some of the manoeuvring then I could practice the technique and art of directing from somewhere behind the van whilst staying completely out of sight of four mirrors and two cameras .

Try teaching her the old army way of giving driving signals, from the front with outstretched arms, she can't hide from you then!!

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[Baldeagle7470]

Boyd,take yourself out on some wider roads,get on the M27, not for too long,but no trees,poles or other distractions.
Steady speed,trucks around,you will learn length,width,speed awareness.Go to Gosport,Fareham,then go back to Calshot.
By the time you have. Done that you will know all you need about the size of your van.
By the way how long,high,wide is it,you need to know.
We all started somewhere.
I started with a tiny Fiat pop top about 850 cc.
Driven 40 footers all over Europe,every vehicle needed learning,just give it time.You will be fine.

 

[buttons]

Hi Boyd and welcome.....

 

[sdc77]

I just wish my OH would do some of the manoeuvring then I could practice the technique and art of directing from somewhere behind the van whilst staying completely out of sight of four mirrors and two cameras .

Some people find small walkie talkies are helpful .

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[Scout]

as @sdc77 said, good luck

 

[Minxy]

just drive it everyday and you will become confident in it. Once you know what gaps it fits you will be fine and at first you will drive it like it is 3 ft wider! I find driving ours easy as im used to driving ambulances at speed through small gaps BUT when i first joined the ambulance service I'd never driven anything so big. 3 weeks driver training then a day on the skid pan and i was let loose. i can now squeeze our MH through gaps that make hubby's eyes water and he shrinks to a size 12 by breathing in so hard! Familiarity is all you need.

Judging from the OP it's the opposite!

In order to remember you have a larger vehicle, do yourself a sign to put in front of you saying LUTON AND BODY ... it will remind you to keep looking above and at the side for things that could whack your MH as it's too easy to forget and just concentrate on driving the thing.

One thing to watch for is when you park up ... you may note that there's a tree branch/obstacle in front of you so you need to reverse out, but when you go back to drive off its very easy to forget and driver forward ... and hit it ... been there, done that (hubby was driving! ).

Get yourself out somewhere quiet (standard width roads though!) and get used to it ... after a while you'll wonder why you were worried.

 

[Minxy]

Some people find small walkie talkies are helpful .

Try teaching her the old army way of giving driving signals, from the front with outstretched arms, she can't hide from you then!!

I prefer hand signals (polite ones!) - standing at the front is fine but this means you can't see how close someone is getting to the obstacles at the rear!

Always stand so you can see the rear clearly as well as any other obstacles too at the sides/above ensuring that the driver can see you in one of the door mirrors clearly ... NEVER stand directly behind (even if they've got a camera) unless there is no other option and if you do keep a safe distance (yes he's tried to 'squish me' more than once!!! ).

I used certain hand signals:

hand in a rolling circular motion fast means plenty of room so keep going
hand in a rolling circular motion slowly means not much room so go slowly
hand held upright and still ... STOP!
circular motion to the right or right, turn the steering wheel that way​

the reason for the circular motion is that it's easier to see if a hand is moving 'round' fast or slow, just a wave gesture isn't so clear.

The above assumes, however, that hubby is taking notice in the first place!

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[Boyd]

Boyd,take yourself out on some wider roads,get on the M27, not for too long,but no trees,poles or other distractions.
Steady speed,trucks around,you will learn length,width,speed awareness.Go to Gosport,Fareham,then go back to Calshot.
By the time you have. Done that you will know all you need about the size of your van.
By the way how long,high,wide is it,you need to know.
We all started somewhere.
I started with a tiny Fiat pop top about 850 cc.
Driven 40 footers all over Europe,every vehicle needed learning,just give it time.You will be fine.

Luc

Judging from the OP it's the opposite!

In order to remember you have a larger vehicle, do yourself a sign to put in front of you saying LUTON AND BODY ... it will remind you to keep looking above and at the side for things that could whack your MH as it's too easy to forget and just concentrate on driving the thing.

One thing to watch for is when you park up ... you may note that there's a tree branch/obstacle in front of you so you need to reverse out, but when you go back to drive off its very easy to forget and driver forward ... and hit it ... been there, done that (hubby was driving! ).

Get yourself out somewhere quiet (standard width roads though!) and get used to it ... after a while you'll wonder why you were worried.

Yes you are right I started off thinking that it was just like driving a car and then got a shock when entering a 'traffic calming' obstacle with a car coming the other way. My instinct was to avoid hitting the car so I bashed a bush on the nearside. I have contacted a local company that does LGV training so will see what they advise.

 

[Zigisla]

Had my first bang over the weekend after 6 weeks of driving. Moved over to save wing mirror from on coming van; got the width right but didn’t look up!!! Smashed the aerial. Don’t need a sign to remind me now as I will never make that mistake again.
I can only ditto all the advice above. Practice and the New Forest is a really good place to be thrown in the deep end. I know, I've just done it. It does get better

 

[Puddleduck]

If you have a co-pilot then a set of walkie-talkies comes in very handy. The driver leaves one in a handy pocket (switched on and where it can be heard) and the outside person holds in the talk button and guides the driver into "tight" spaces. The guider does need to remember to check above head height for suicidal branches and the like .

It's surprising how many people stop and ask how we reverse so accurately without shouting at each other or by using hand gestures

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[Dorset Diver]

The above from Puddleduck has reminded me to say be aware of things on your roof. In theory our van is just short of 3m high but in practice with the radio aerial and Sat Dish I need to allow 3.5m

 

[magicsurfbus]

The first long trip we did in ours was to Venice, crossing the Alps via the Col de Montgenevre (no long tunnels, lots of hairpin bends). After that everything else seemed easy.

Probably the most useful thing for me was having driven a school minibus a few times, and having taken the LEA's minibus driver test. That got me used to allowing for the length of the vehicle.

We have lost virtually every sticky out bit on our MH at some point - wing mirror, heater vent cover, top marker lights, flue pipe - such is the way of things. It's what I call 3D driving, in that height is a major factor and foliage isn't square.

The only advice I'd offer to the new MH driver is use every possible opportunity to reverse it, especially on campsites or aires - you're only going to master that with practice. Last year I had to reverse ours for over a mile down a narrow Welsh lane when I realised it was getting too narrow for a vehicle of our size. I was glad I'd practiced it.

 

[Puddleduck]

I have a laminated bit of paper which is attached to the back of the driver's sun visor with all the "vital statistics", height, length, weight, tyre pressures, insurance details and breakdown service details. Luckily we've not had to use the last two

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[pappajohn]

You'll get used to it.

I felt the same when we bought an american RV.
Nearly 9 feet wide across the body....11 feet 3 inchs across the mirrors.....33 feet long and left hand drive to boot.
Never hit anything.

 

[Boyd]

The first long trip we did in ours was to Venice, crossing the Alps via the Col de Montgenevre (no long tunnels, lots of hairpin bends). After that everything else seemed easy.

Probably the most useful thing for me was having driven a school minibus a few times, and having taken the LEA's minibus driver test. That got me used to allowing for the length of the vehicle.

We have lost virtually every sticky out bit on our MH at some point - wing mirror, heater vent cover, top marker lights, flue pipe - such is the way of things. It's what I call 3D driving, in that height is a major factor and foliage isn't square.

The only advice I'd offer to the new MH driver is use every possible opportunity to reverse it, especially on campsites or aires - you're only going to master that with practice. Last year I had to reverse ours for over a mile down a narrow Welsh lane when I realised it was getting too narrow for a vehicle of our size. I was glad I'd practiced it.

The stuff of nightmares!!! I have booked myself a 4 hour driving session with a chap who trains ambulance drivers so hopefully that will help.

 

[Boyd]

You'll get used to it.

I felt the same when we bought an american RV.
Nearly 9 feet wide across the body....11 feet 3 inchs across the mirrors.....33 feet long and left hand drive to boot.
Never hit anything.

That's just showing off

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[Rob and Val]

Just don't go to any hilltop villages in Spain until you've had a lot of practice. It's difficult to even drive a medium size car in some of those. OK if you're on a donkey but otherwise you have to be very careful.

 

[Boyd]

I have a laminated bit of paper which is attached to the back of the driver's sun visor with all the "vital statistics", height, length, weight, tyre pressures, insurance details and breakdown service details. Luckily we've not had to use the last two

Just don't go to any hilltop villages in Spain until you've had a lot of practice. It's difficult to even drive a medium size car in some of those. OK if you're on a donkey but otherwise you have to be very careful.

Thanks. I am very familiar with Spanish villages as my in-laws have been there for about 20 years. One highlight was slipping backwards on the edge of a cliff when trying to get round a JCB that was repairing a landslide. That was in a Ford Fiesta so goodness knows what would have happened in something much bigger.

 

[eddie]

Oh I don't know, I think you just get used to it lol

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[Puddleduck]

Having driven a 7.5 tonne motorhome through Paris during rush hour, traffic tends not to worry me when I'm driving the motorhome. I prefer driving large vehicles (Queen of the Road).

Mind the Paris adventure might have been easier because with an old huge vehicle, a woman driver, GB plates (it was LHD) even the Parisians got out of my way . At that time my French wasn't as rusty as it is now and I knew quite a few "bad" words.

 

[CWH]

I prefer hand signals (polite ones!) - standing at the front is fine but this means you can't see how close someone is getting to the obstacles at the rear!

Always stand so you can see the rear clearly as well as any other obstacles too at the sides/above ensuring that the driver can see you in one of the door mirrors clearly ... NEVER stand directly behind (even if they've got a camera) unless there is no other option and if you do keep a safe distance (yes he's tried to 'squish me' more than once!!! ).

I used certain hand signals:

hand in a rolling circular motion fast means plenty of room so keep going
hand in a rolling circular motion slowly means not much room so go slowly
hand held upright and still ... STOP!
circular motion to the right or right, turn the steering wheel that way​

the reason for the circular motion is that it's easier to see if a hand is moving 'round' fast or slow, just a wave gesture isn't so clear.

The above assumes, however, that hubby is taking notice in the first place!

Walkie talkies are fine but not if the driver doesn't hear so well...
We did a motorhome-specific driving course and learned a set of hand signals that have never let us down, similar to @Minxy Girl

Arm out wide for lots of turn / full lock
Arm not so far out to reduce the lock and fine adjustments
Hands above each other to show the distance left to go back (& therefore slow)
Hands smacked together for stop (which means either 'that's all folks' or 'I need to discuss this with you' )​

It's worked well for backing up and for getting onto ramps.
So far.

 

[Anthea M]

View attachment 93700
Oh I don't know, I think you just get used to it lol

Eddie you've got a big' un!

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[eddie]

Hope it isn't making up for inadequacies in other departments

 

[Puddleduck]

Walkie talkies are fine but not if the driver doesn't hear so well...
We did a motorhome-specific driving course and learned a set of hand signals that have never let us down, similar to @Minxy Girl

Arm out wide for lots of turn / full lock
Arm not so far out to reduce the lock and fine adjustments
Hands above each other to show the distance left to go back (& therefore slow)
Hands smacked together for stop (which means either 'that's all folks' or 'I need to discuss this with you' )​

It's worked well for backing up and for getting onto ramps.
So far.

Do that with the car

Walkie-talkies were just a suggestion and many people do find them useful. If you do decide to use them don't leave them on channel one as you will find you get lots of people on the same channel who didn't bother to change channels. If ours are set to channel one we can hear the local tractor drivers being called for meal breaks!!!! And channel two are the people mending the roads telling each other when to direct the traffic through the single lane working...... ours are usually set to channel four

 

[Beacons]

Thats

Yea but you don't look 75 sandra.. well I don't think so..

what I thought.

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[CWH]

Walkie-talkies were just a suggestion and many people do find them useful.

I know, I think they're brilliant, we used to use them when we had horses. And of course they mean the driver can still look at whichever mirror they want and still get instructions/ help. Sadly Him Indoors wouldn't be able to use them for anything critical now.
I'd think they're much more fun as well for directing a vehicle - must make the driver look SO good! and save the banksman from looking quite so strange...

 

[ianandkath]

wait till you ave a 44 ton artic and trailer on suspended tow and have to reverve into a work yard. now thats fun

 

[Chris]

View attachment 93700
Oh I don't know, I think you just get used to it lol

That's a beast of a boat engine you have there Eddie.

What sort of speed can you do when in boy racer mode?

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