How many first time caravan owners hit the road without any prior training, especially reverse tow training? I suspect the majority.

You must pass a test, both theoretical and practical before you get a car driving license and nothing in that process prepares you for towing a trailer or caravan. Even then you have to display provisional plates to warn other road users that you are inexperienced.

So how can you just hitch a 2-tonne plus caravan and take-off without any experience? Well, simply, it’s just not a legal requirement in Australia and no amount of reading books, magazines or Googling can prepare you for the reality of towing a rig on the open road for the first time. That’s where professional training is the sensible solution and one that should be compulsory just as it is throughout Europe.

I’ve towed a long trailer previously but that was forty-years ago with a slow farm tractor on private land. And I could see clearly behind and over the top of the trailer. Knowing our lack of experience we had pre-booked a training course for January with Getabout Training Services who run the Tow Ed training courses around Australia.

On with the Training Wheels

It was an early start to be at the Sydney Equestrian Centre at Horsley Park for 8.15am and something wasn’t quite right with our 10-day old Land Rover Discovery 5. Exiting the M7 motorway we both noticed a strong ‘hot’ smell inside the car and not the type of odour normally associated with a new vehicle. Something somewhere was hot but the engine temperature showed normal and no warnings were displayed on the instrument panel. So we continued on with a close eye on all the gauges. And the smell, whatever it was, soon cleared. Shortly after we arrived at the training site to be greeted by Graham our trainer and the other two couples who had just arrived.

A little Theory

Supplied in advance of the training course is the Australian Practical Guide to Towing and the Practical Guide to Modern Towing DVD, which explains everything you need to know to get you going; all the abbreviations for weight measurements, how to balance the load between tow vehicle and caravan, hitching your trailer, reversing, parking, safety, laws and regulations and much, much more. This was now reinforced with a short introduction and quiz with Graham and our fellow trainees.

Next came a practical walkthrough explaining how to safely reverse the tow vehicle up to the caravan hitch and how to connect, and in what order, the chains and cables making sure all the lights, turn indicators and brake lights are operating correctly – and what to do if they aren’t. Something we weren’t aware of other than for practical reasons is the need to have all blinds in the caravan lowered – to allow police to check if anyone is riding in the van.

A change in weather and it’s all backwards

The forecast had been for rain and we had escaped it… up until now. However, not letting the heavy rain put us off, Graham’s clear instructions soon had us each reversing 50-metres or so between cones in a straight line… or as close as we could without turning the cones into fresh roadkill. This turned out to be much easier than we had anticipated and certainly a confidence boost.

The Reverse Procedure

Watching the back of the caravan through the driver’s side extended mirror, not so easy when it’s covered in rain, and looking for more or less of the van to appear would guide us to which way we should apply correction. If more of the van starts to appear on the driver’s side then simply steering briefly to the right corrects the drift and to the left if the van moves more in the opposite direction. That is, steer into the error.

Taking it slowly is the key as is making sure your travel partner is keeping an equally close eye on the surroundings and giving clear instructions but remembering the driver is the person in charge of the vehicle combination. Whether you find it easier to take steering instructions from your partner or steer based on the direction you see the van move is your choice – whichever works for you. It’s also a good idea to have your hazard lights active while reversing on a caravan site.

Smooth Arcs

Next up was turning the car and van in a smooth arcing circle. The idea being to start and end a full circle in exactly the same position. Full lock to the right then backing-off half a turn was all that was required – no further steering input was needed no matter how unintuitive it felt and you really do feel like you need to straighten the steering wheel but don’t be tempted. One circle completed as described and now the same but in reverse – it should be as simple but again unintuitive, at least that was the plan.

Reverse selected and gently pressing the accelerator and… nothing. No matter what I did with the right foot the car and van would not move. We were on a very slight incline but certainly nothing the car should remotely struggle with. Even as Graham advised, selecting low-range made no difference. It was then that I noticed a warning appear on the instrument panel and it wasn’t encouraging, ‘Gearbox Overheat’.

Now the Discovery is a seriously capable 4WD vehicle that should have absolutely no problem pulling or pushing a 2.8-tonne caravan. Whatever was happening was far from normal. It was a good opportunity at this point to break for lunch and let the transmission cool down.

Lunchtime sheltering from the rain was a good opportunity to chat with Graham and the other trainees, share experiences and ask questions about the morning’s training.

Reverse parking made simple(r)

90-degree reverse parking was what the training this morning had been preparing us for. Catherine took the lead, and following Graham’s instructions, performed a perfect 90-degree park – first time around, and then another and another. How could it be this easy? Surely some dark magic is going on here.

Well that magic is explained by correctly positioning the caravan to start with. The rear of the caravan should align with a position two strides out and three strides at 90-degrees to the point you want the van to align with, remembering to extend the start point if you need to leave extra space for a slide-out. Starting with a full lock to the right and backing-off a half turn, reverse until close to the jackknife point and stop. Then full lock to the left, reverse until you reach the opposite jackknife point and you should now be aligned and backing straight into your site. Any final adjustments are made exactly as you would at the beginning of the day’s training – straight line reversing.

On larger twin-axle vans you may get to a position where you cannot correct the turn in the remaining space available. In which case drive forwards and the caravan magically straightens itself. Practice of course makes perfect and throughout our upcoming trip we will certainly get plenty of opportunity.

A little tense

An important point to remember once reverse parked is the tension built up in the suspension of twin-axle caravans. Unhitching the van in this state can cause the drawbar to jump sideways as the tension is released. All the more reason to use chocks and keep the chains attached while unhitching. This is also the cause of loosening wheel nuts, which should be checked every time the vehicle has been reverse parked.

One of Graham’s many helpful tips to identify the point prior to a jackknife is to apply a tape marker on the front of the van at a point the driver can just see in the driver’s mirror along the line of the car to the rear. The same process applies for the opposite jackknife point.

Computer says I’m too hot

So now it was my turn and having cooled the transmission down a little it started well with my first 90-degree park with just a few adjustments but then it all came to a halt – ‘Gearbox Overheat’. We were using low-range as advised by Land Rover but something was clearly wrong and the car, again, refused to move. Our only option was to allow the transmission to cool further and call it a day as far as the training was concerned.

How were we going to drive around Australia like this? The car was only 10-days old and it couldn’t cope with an unloaded caravan.

We didn’t know if we were going to be able get the van home so Graham helped arrange for us to leave the caravan on-site for a couple of days while we got the car back to Land Rover.

Press here for Help

A great feature of the Discovery and several other models is Land Rover Assistance. A button in the car calls the Assistance service using an inbuilt SIM that uploads diagnostic data from the car and opens a phone line to a support operator. It wasn’t possible to identify the fault directly but the fact that the radiator fan had never operated during the day was a clue. Land Rover offered to have the car towed but we managed to get home without the van in-tow.

The following day a loan vehicle was provided while Land Rover got to work trying to find out what was wrong.

The caravan was towed back to our storage site thanks to Jayco Sydney and assisted by Jaguar Land Rover.

Two weeks later and we received the call we had been waiting for. Land Rover believed they had identified and fixed the fault following advice from the UK manufacturer. The suspicion was a failure with the thermostat in the transmission oil cooling system requiring the radiator and associated components to be replaced.

The best way to confirm a fix and complete our training would be to attend the Tow-Ed course again and gratefully Jaguar Land Rover agreed to cover the cost. We’ll have to wait a few weeks now for the next available slot on the course.

… to be continued.

Delivery Day!!

We were greeted with a slightly worrying, “Did you see the news on TV this morning?”. Unknown to us a fire on the dealership roof had caused serious damage to several parked cars. Fortunately ours was not among them!

Taking delivery of our new car should have been an exciting day for us both but saying goodbye to our V8 Commodore was hard.

The previous loan of a Land Rover Discovery 5 while we did our caravan shakedown also took some of the shine off taking delivery of our car – we knew what to expect and what it was like to drive. However the dealership did a great job of the reveal and handover presentation. And, unlike any other car we have bought in the past, the detailed demonstration of the car’s features was excellent – some feat knowing how advanced, feature-packed and capable this vehicle is.

But the best part… our big adventure is one step closer… exciting times ahead!!

After a wait of more than 8-months our Land Rover Discovery 5 has finally arrived in Australia and almost ready for delivery.

Wiring

We needed to install our GME UHF CB radio, Redarc Elite Pro brake controller, the caravan’s in-car camera screen as well as an Anderson connector to power the van’s fridge while we are on the move. We initially approached ARB in Penrith who promised to forward a quote to do the install on a labour only basis after we had purchased the units from them at one of the recent shows. It never appeared. Land Rover Parramatta instead got the job – they already had the car, they had intimate knowledge of the car’s wiring and it wouldn’t void the warranty. They did an excellent job but at a significant cost.

A word of warning:

If you are going to install a UHF antenna to a Discovery 5 there are very few options for fitment. There is currently no suitable bullbar and the usual underbonnet/wing mount bracket is aluminium and not rigid enough to survive the vibration from Australian roads. A set of motorised flaps sit behind the radiator grill further restricting mount points. One alternative would be to mount the antenna on a roof rack but height restrictions in shopping centres will be an issue with an already very tall car.

Custom Antenna Bracket

Land Rover Parramatta created a very rigid custom bracket for us that fits through the middle of the radiator grill to a central mounting point that is strong enough to handle anywhere the car is likely to go both on and off-road.

Heat-shrink has been applied where the bracket passes through the grill to prevent contact with the grill’s paint finish.

When the antenna needs to be removed a sealing cap made from winding self-amalgamating tape around the thread and top of the socket will provide a dust and watertight seal. The tape will chemically bond to itself forming a semi-rigid cap that can be screwed-off and back on again as required.

Hooking-up our van for only the second time and thankfully on a much less windy day. What looked to be a very tight turn out of our site was much easier than expected and we were soon checking-out and heading North 440km to Repton – our home for the next four nights.

On Reflection

By now we were getting used to the sideways forces as trucks pass by but our extended mirrors were fairing worse. We had bought the recommended SpeedFix mirrors that follow the curved contour of our car mirrors.

Vehicle manufacturers design their mirrors to be as aerodynamic as possible but in turn are making it far harder to attach extending mirrors. And this was a case in point for us. The more we tightened the screws of the SpeedFix mirror the more it slipped away from the frame of the car mirror. The airstream at 100kmh made it worse until one of the mirrors fell off in Catherine’s hand as she wound down the passenger window to tighten it. We’ll be looking for an alternative set of mirrors.

Journey’s End – Almost

We eventually arrived at Repton without further incident… well almost. Unknown to us was a closed bridge that spans the Bellinger River between us and our site. Thanks to one of the locals we were guided to an alternative route, where we made the mistake of following the first road sign into Repton, which took us down a steep, narrow and very winding road. Fortunately there was no other traffic and we arrived without issue at the Bellinger River Tourist Park.

Nine out of Ten

Now as everyone knows well, reverse parking into your allocated site is a public spectacle where you will be judged on how well you perform this manoeuvre. Equally there will be many who freely offer their advice to guide you into place – whether you need it or not. In our case it was most welcome as our site was right against a very large tree and not enough room in the roadway to turn our van the required 90-degrees. In our favour, however, was a grassed area opposite that had been temporarily closed-off to allow the grass to regrow and allowed us to do a straight reverse park – I can do those!!

And so we spent our first evening by the beautiful Bellinger River with a beer in hand as we sat watching dolphins swim by and reflections of the setting sun ripple in the water.

Okay, so we still don’t have our tow vehicle but we needed to do a shakedown test of the caravan before we hit the road on our Big Lap and to make sure any issues could be addressed when the van goes in for its first service.

We had an 80th birthday celebration to attend on the NSW Central Coast in addition to a 4-night stay voucher at the Bellinger River Tourist Park in Repton courtesy of Jayco Sydney. It would make the ideal opportunity for our first road trip… if we had a tow vehicle. Thankfully, and due to the delays with the delivery of our Discovery 5, Land Rover Parramatta kindly volunteered one of their Discovery’s for the trip.

Without a hitch

Hitching-up our van for the first time was much easier than expected thanks to the rear camera on the car. Lining up the tow ball with the hitch was spot-on first time! Doubtless it was beginner’s luck – it can’t be that easy.

Our loan car had the same Redarc Electronic Brake Controller that we had bought for our car, which self calibrates and it wasn’t long before we got the feel for the correct braking assistance as we navigated the winding country roads. And, apart from the slightly higher engine revs on take-off, the 3L V6 diesel had no problems with the 2.8-tonnes we were now towing behind up and down hills. Of course your driving style changes a lot when towing but even on the busy stop/start 3-lane road leading to the M1 it was easy to keep up with other traffic and sit neatly in the centre lane.

Bridge Sway

After days of clear, calm weather, today of all days was blowing an absolute gale and we were both concerned of the crosswind effects it would have on our driving – especially over exposed bridges on the M1 heading north. So it should have come as no surprise as the van was exposed to the strong winds across Mooney Mooney bridge for the first time. The sudden lurch to the right was much stronger than expected but we were already slowing down and with my foot off the accelerator, light braking and the assistance of the car and caravan’s stability control systems working together, soon brought us back in line and we continued very cautiously along the remainder of the bridge.

We made it

With no further issues we arrived safely at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort at Bateau Bay and a much welcome surprise – a drive-through site!! What more could we ask for on our first trip?

Issues with the caravan?
So far none.

Site issues?
Only that the water point on our site was further away than the length of our hose. Lesson 1. Get a second hose and a coupler.