In article ,
Lloyd Sumpter wrote:


The problem: even the smallest of campers are wider than the truck, and
I don't think I could see the boat at all behind me. How do you back it
down the ramp? REALLY wide mirrors (there goes the ol' fuel economy!)?

I would strongly recommend that you get mirrors that will allow you to
keep an eye on the boat when you are travelling as well as for backing
up. A few years ago I was following a camper towing an aluminum boat
when I noticed that the boat seemed to be bouncing on the trailer so I
backed off and fortunately was well back when the boat left the
trailer. I stopped long enough to slide the boat off to the side of
the road and then tried to catch up to the camper.

He was travelling at a pretty good rate so I drove about 10-12 miles
before I caught up to him again. Then it took a considerable amount of
horn blowing and pointing to the back of his camper before the guy
finally stopped. Then he got out of his vehicle and came up to my car
swearing and all ****ed off because I had caused him to stop. I
finally got a word in that his boat was missing from his trailer and
because he couldn't see it from where he was standing he wouldn't
believe me and said that couldn't possibly be the case. He finally
took a look and then was all apologetic and was very surprised when I
told him how far he would have to go back to get his boat. He did
mention that he could not see the boat from inside the camper so just
assumed that everything was fine. If he had caused an accident I
imagine that he would have been in big trouble with both the police
and his insurance company.

A proper set of trailering mirrors should not have any noticeable
effect on mileage compared to the bulk of a camper pushing against the
wind. In any event it's a very small cost to insure that things are
okay with your boat and trailer.

--
Don Dickson