Advice needed; backing up preferences

[Electra 225]

Super. I really appreciate every one of your replies. Some have affirmed a few things I had suspected, and others have given me new things to ponder.

You've all been a great help. I'll let you know what I come up with......I'm leaning heavily towards a redesign with all pull through sites.

[MisterT]

another consideration is this: if you have a lake, stream, water, view, etc....


- 5vrs and trailers tend to want to back-in since the 'living room' is at the rear, with the view

- motorhomes, though, have a HUGE front viewing window - many of us PREFER pulling-in, we can back out when we leave.


everyone may not have this same 'view'... but I'll bet that many of us motorhomers would not mind a park that was ALL pull-ins!

I've been to many, many rv parks and campgrounds, and find that sometimes I want to pull-in for the view, in a back-in site. Most parks don't mind, though some will quickly 'remind' you that your hookups will be on the wrong side(duh!)... I've never had any issue reaching any hookups I need to. I'd rather have the view of the 'view', than of cars and trucks going by.

but... this is generally only when the sites are fairly perpendicular to the road.

: ) word.

[Roam America]

Many years ago I took a driving school from a company that teaches semi truck driving during the week and RV on the weekend. They said do what ever possible to insure you are backing in on the driver side. They never said never back in on the blind side, but do what you can to avoid that.

Second, you approach your site about three feet from the road's edge on the site' side (drive side). When your rear bumper reaches the far edge of the site, turn your wheel, while moving forward, so that you can get as close to 45 degrees as you can the turn the wheel opposite direction so that your tow vhehicle is once again straight (at the opposite side of the road). This puts your trailer at approximately 45 degrees to the campsite which is a much better angle. Revere your tow vehicle and make appropriate adjustment backing in. Also, before backing in, get out with your spotter and review the campsite. Decide where you want the trailer to end up and what obstacle you need to avoid. MY wife (spotter) will stand in the vicinity of where the 5er connects to the truck and give me directions until I an clearly in the right direction. Then she will halt me and go the the rear of the trailer so we can finish the job. This procedure is how they teach tractor trailers to back in (minus the spotter).

This works like a charm.

But if you are designing the layout of the CG, put the sites at a 45 degree angle wherever you can. Makes it a lot easier. You'll note that most tractor/trailer parking is designed at a 45 degree angle.

[egwilly]

Most RV parks I visit that have been constructed in the past few year have the spaces slanting to driver side....much easier since you can follow the tires.
Blind side is harder, but doable. I would make it easy for them.

[Triangle Drifter]

If the access road is straight then at a slant from the drivers side however much depends on the slope, if any, of the property & how much room you have to work with laying sites out.

One of the nicest CGs we frequent is Killens Pond State Park, DE. where the loops really are in the shape of circular loops with backins around the outside. Dead simple to back in. All you have to do is go around far enough so that when you look in the mirrors your unit is lined up with your site, then go back straight. So simple yet seen so many struggle because they do not go ahead far enough to see their site.

Oh & in your designs, PLEASE locate the services, especially the dump, in the center driver side of the site.

[Gigattime]

All great responses. I prefer backing in from driver's side as well. Angled sites are definitely easier than a site that sits perpendicular to the road.

Also agree that what is across from your site can create a headache too if it interferes with the swing of the tow vehicle. I would stagger sites of possible as previously suggested.

[jacknife]

Angle so that drivers will be backing in on the driver's side. It is much easier then the blind side , which the name itself defines it . Blind ! 35 years of backing up big rigs. Angled is always better then 90 degrees.

[LaSportsman]

45, driver's side.

I don't see a problem if slanted but another vote about room for the truck to swing, particularly with a fifth wheel. Watch tree locations.

I'm not a fan of one-ways. If you can't redesign for pull through, then consider driver side slants on both sides and two way traffic.

[BillJinOR]

Driver training that I had for a major company was ALWAYS driver side back. Passenger side backing was the last resort and the company I worked for required a spotter. Passenger side backing is the hardest and most dangerous.
If you want your park trees, elect posts , water spigots etc destroyed on a regular basis by RV owners that aren't that experienced make a 90deg blindside back on 50% of your spots. One way streets are not a good idea if you have angled spots on pass and driver side.your asking for trouble.

[Arch Hoagland]

Be sure to put a ginormus rock by the front of every camping spot.

Then tell every body to park their pickup truck across the front of their space so they stick out in the front five feet.


I think your pull through sites will pay for themselves.

[keymastr]

Be sure to put a large boulder near the site entrance to give me something to aim for.

[wingnut60]

Unless you do as mentioned above with large 'character' rocks. be prepared to repair the turf where the idiots always manage to drive over no matter how much room/angle you give them.
From personal experience, I prefer pull-throughs to back-ins every time. But even so, some of the designs just will not allow enough room for me to exit a pull-through without crossing over some of the turf--and fate will almost always put a parked vehicle sticking out of the space across from where I am exiting...

Good luck with the planning--I am sure that there are a million details to think over before plunking down the money to start.

[MTK46]

Like others have said 45 degree spots back into on driver side. Other thing is the spots need to be long enough. That is with your normal 4-door truck being 22' or so & quite a few 5th wheel now are up to 45' long spot needs to be minimum of 70' long. To me a mix of pull throughs & back ins would be fine.

[Gigattime]

Duck Creek RV Resort in Michigan put a new design on how back in sites are made. They work great and maybe something to consider. See satellite view in picture attached. Your tow vehicle has a nice spot to park to the side of your camper. Works well for toads and MH's as well.