In this ultimate guide to towing series, Robert Pepper discusses how to remember the steps to hooking up your caravan and what to expect when towing a caravan for the first time, including turning, climbing hills, braking, visibility and more.
Towing a heavy caravan or trailer is difficult, potentially dangerous and nobody is born with the skills, despite what OldMate58 might opine on the Facebook forums. You wouldn’t expect someone who has never driven to just get in a car and drive, and nor should we expect someone who has never towed to just hook up and hope.
So let’s talk through your very first tow – and that starts with hooking up. The connection of towcar to trailer is more a practical, show-me sort of thing, so I won’t go over it in great detail here but just offer some pointers. Like learning to drive, it’s best to start towing your caravan for the first time somewhere quiet at a quiet time. Maybe an industrial suburb with big roads you can cut a few laps around, certainly not busy suburban streets with impatient drivers.
First, the preparation prior to towing your caravan. You’ve read our article on weights and loading, so I’ll assume your car is able to and legal to tow the trailer. I’ll also assume your weights are within limits, you’ve fitted towing mirrors if necessary, your caravan insurance is up-to-date, and so on. And now you’re all ready for the hookup!
Remember …. PECJABS-P
There will be quite a few things to connect the caravan to the towcar so you can tow, and it’ll depend a bit on the caravan. We’re dealing with travel trailers here though, not simple garden-shed like 6x4s. Here’s an easy acronym to remember – PECJABS-P.
P is for Pin, which is the pin that secures the hitch itself, which may be a standard 50mm towbar or an offroad hitch, the main connection between towcar and caravan that takes all the force and weight when towing. I’ve made it Pin as that’s the last thing you do with a hitch as there’s always some sort of final securing mechanism. Not all hitches have pins, some have latches, so you can make this the last step needed to secure your hitch.
E is for Electrics. Those are the basics of brakelights, indicators and the like, either a round 7 or flat 12 or 7 pin plug.
C is for Chains. One for trailers under 2,000kg GTM, two for above, and if so, cross them. Secure with something legal – see our Yellow Hooks article for that.
J is for Jockey Wheel. Raise/remove and stow.
A is for Auxiliaries. This is usually just an Anderson plug.
B is for Breakaway, the emergency brake system that activates when the caravan disconnects from the towcar when towing. It’s required for trailers above 2,000kg GTM.
S is for Security – is everything locked, doors shut, awning away, things tied down?
P is Park Brake – finally, take it off and you’re good to go!
You can modify this to suit your own needs, but it’s worth having a caravan towing checklist. Every experienced trailer driver has, at some point, driven away and forgotten to connect something, so mitigate that risk.
It’s time to actually tow your caravan
Okay, so you’ve prepped the car, and connected the caravan…time to actually tow! Here’s some differences between driving with a caravan, and without.
Slower acceleration
Into Drive and away you go. You’ll notice immediately the car is slower to pull away when towing a caravan. This is not surprising as the engine probably has close to double the weight to pull. Just be patient. Now try to brake –it takes longer, even with your brake controller set correctly. See our Brakes and Braking article for a how-to.
Visibility to the rear
You’ve got a big block behind you now, so if you were used to looking through the rear window or using your interior mirror…forget it, it’s side mirrors from now on, and they may be smaller than before. There’s also no longer part of a car in the mirrors, it’s a caravan, and that may entirely block your rear vision when you’re towing as your corner.
Cut-in on corners
One of the things you need to learn when towing a caravan for the first time is cut-in. Essentially, when the rig turns a corner, the back wheels of the towcar will describe a shorter, tighter arc than the front wheels, and the trailer wheels will turn tighter again – which is cut-in. This needs to be accounted for by swinging out wider when you’re turning. Cut-in gets worse the longer the turn, so you find more on a 180-degree turn than a 90-degree turn, and the tighter the turn, the worse it is. On a freeway at speed, it’s no worry at all, turning down a suburban street, and it becomes a problem. Watch the big trucks on small streets – see how they swing out? That’s what you need to do too. Best practice in a carpark with some traffic cones.
Lane changing
You’re more than doubled the length of your car, so that means you can’t just swap lanes like you used to! It can take a while to get used to the extra length when towing a caravan, and planning ahead makes all the difference.
Braking
Even if your brakes are set up correctly, the rig will take longer to stop, so guess what…plan ahead!
Hills
These days we’re used to cars not slowing even on the steepest hills at the highest speeds. But when you’re towing a caravan, that may well change, back to the days of having to accept a slow-down on hills. This means you’ll need to keep left and let faster traffic pass.
Descending is also a problem. Your towcar brakes are designed for normal driving, which is relatively gentle stops, infrequently, with the capacity for a full-on emergency stop when needed. They are not designed for towing, which is why heavier trailers have brakes. Nor are the towcar brakes designed for long descents, with or without a trailer. Combine the two and you have a very real risk of overheating your brakes to the point where they are dangerous.
The solution – dial up the trailer braking a bit so the trailer does more work, and manually select lower gears so engine braking helps slow the car, relieving the pressure on the brakes. That often means using third and second on the towcar. The engine revs a bit higher, but it’s much safer.
Manoeuvring
When you’re not towing a caravan, you can pretty much launch into any small space like a carpark, caravan park or the like. You will always be able turn around or back out, and everything is made to be car-sized.
With a trailer all that changes. You will need to assess things before you go anywhere near a confined space as it’s entirely possible to end up in a situation you can’t get yourself out of unless the trailer is unhitched, and even before that time you need a LOT more space to manoeuvre.
Ride
There’s now maybe 150kg to 350kg pressing down on a lever about 1.5m behind the rear axle. In other words, there’s a big heavy thing trying to boss the car around. This may well lead to more bouncing than you’re used to. A good tip is to drive roads you’re familiar with and see the difference when towing your caravan. Take a lap or two first without the trailer, then with. A bouncy ride means less grip, and less grip means greater stopping distances, so slow down. A bit of bounce is normal, but too much and that’s a sign something is amiss, possibly suspension softness or too low a tyre pressure on the rear.
Handling
The towcar isn’t going to go around corners the way it used to when towing a caravan, so you’ll need to slow down and be smooth. There’s simply more mass to deal with, and the trailer will be trying to go straight on, relying on the towcar to pull it around. The suspension has to work harder too, and that may also potentially reduce grip. In short, you can’t drive 5 or 6 tonnes of trailer and car like you just would the car.
Towing a caravan – what’s the best way to learn?
Take a training course! Towing a caravan is not simple and despite what some may say, it’s not just “common sense”, whatever that means. A towing course will answer your questions and give you some confidence to start learning, and I strongly recommend one for all new towers.
Here’s the good news and bad news
The bad news is that towing a caravan or trailer is not easy and you definitely need to learn new skills which, despite what some say, nobody is born with or ‘just knows because it’s common sense’. The good news is if you have learned to drive you can learn to tow – it’s less of a jump from driving to towing than it is from not driving to driving, so don’t be put off!
