How to Drive With a Boat Trailer: Backing Up Secrets

When it comes to trailering a boat, there are many specific things you need to know, but for this article we will look at maneuvering the trailer while driving. Let’s assume you have the right hitch and receiver and you have the correct ball, and your trailer is ready to go. Of course, there are many things to check, your brakes, lights, and tire pressure but for now we will look at driving it and critically, backing up your trailer. As always, make sure your trailer has enough tongue weight to properly balance the load and insure that it drives well at speed. Proper tongue weight is typically around 10% of the trailer weight on the tongue, depending on the trailer. 

The hardest part: Backing up a trailer

For many, the scariest or most imposing thing about trailers is backing up. You will have to backup your trailer to launch your boat and presumably to maneuver the boat in other areas. With a trailer, you always have to consider where you are going because you want to be sure you have a path to get out, or enough room to turn around. If not, you will have to backup, which is fine. Here are three things to keep in mind while you practice. 

Easy Exercise to Practice Backing up a Trailer

First, imagine you are moving the trailer by hand, just as an exercise. You pick up the trailer by the tongue, the coupler at the front of the trailer, and you want to move the trailer backwards. If you want the trailer to go to the left, (you are facing the back of the trailer, so you are walking forward while the trailer is going backward). To go left, you push the tongue to the right. This is where people get messed up when they are driving, it’s not intuitive at first. Now, imagine the trailer is now attached, and you want to repeat the same maneuver. To make the trailer go left, you have to push the tongue right, the same as if you were doing it by hand, only now you are steering a vehicle in reverse, so you steer the vehicle to go right in reverse, this pushes the trailer left. 

Now, you have the trailer going left but if you maintain that position you will keep going left and potentially jackknife the trailer. Once the trailer is on track, you can straighten your wheel out and adjust accordingly. Smaller, controlled movements is the key, adjusting slightly to keep the trailer on the path you want it to go. 

Practice makes perfect

Once you practice this, you will learn how to control it better every time. Something to consider when you are trying to place the trailer in a small space while backing up is imaging yourself driving out of that spot. You would drive out and leave a wide angle before turning, and then the trailer would follow and gradually make the turn. If you turned to soon as if you weren’t towing a trailer, the trailer would most likely hit whatever is beside it. Keeping this in mind when backup and approaching from an angle, steer the trailer close to the nearest line you are aiming at, reversing the exact path you would follow on the way out. If you cut the angle too hard, you wont’ be able to straighten the trailer path very easily, if you keep it close and do a gradual turn, you can straighten out with plenty of time. This is typically when you are parking the trailer in a designated space and you can’t back straight in but need an angle. A very common occurrence. 

Conclusion

Backing straight up is actually a little trickier than it seems, although easy once you get the hang of it. Remember, control the trailer, preemptively move it where you want it if you want it straight, you will have to provide input to keep it on track. Short wheelbase trailers will want to wonder more, you have to constantly adjust. 

In summary, here is one more thing to keep in mind. When backing up, imagine following the trailer. This will keep you from getting messed up as to which way to steer. When I push the trailer to the left, start to steer in a manner that “follows” the trailer in order to straighten it out. After you practice, this will make sense. Also, many people actually turn there bodies in the car and look out the back window when reversing a trailer, this is fine by me, but I would get used to using your mirrors and facing forward too, just so you get used to it.