Trailer Tricks

[timboli]

I noticed in Practical boat owner this month-I know,wash my mouth out-that in the hints and tips section there are some ideas to do with backing a car up to a towing hitch using either a strategically positioned mirror attached to the spare wheel/back of the car or a post on the front of the trailer.
If anyone else finds difficulty knowing how far to back up without outside assistance like me,it may be worth a look.
If anyone does this already-how well does it work?

[TQBoater]

Never seen the mirror idea but I have a friend who has a video camera mounted just behind the towball for general reversing. As he can see the edge of the ball in the picture hooking up to the trailer is no problem.

WebSite

They are priced a bit high for me, I'm waiting to find an old bin lorry in the scrapyard and take one from there

[whitingiom]

Take 16 year old son with you, ask him to watch you reverse and suggest you'll take it out of his pocket money if you damage car!

Seriously my wife is far better at reversing than me so I usually let her hook it up (and reverse down slip).....it's her car so she takes care of it.

I usually make sure the jockey is wound higher than the tow bar, hang the safety chain off the hitch and wait for the tinkle that tells me the ball is underneath.

[Mark Halliday]

A garden cane stuck in a lump of plasticine on top of the tow hitch will give you a good idea of where it is.

[codprawn]

You can rig up a video reversing system for less than £100 if you use a hand held portable tv and a small ccd camera - stuff like this is getting so cheap it is amazing.

[Mike B]

I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a micromark b/w 5in tv/monitor and b/w camera from a store in cardiff called "The Range" not sure if it is a chain or not. It can only take one camera which wasn't a problem for me. It is all set up to run on 12v and has a single lead from the camera to the monitor which feeds power to the cam and a/v signal back to the monitor.

A similar item is http://www.mismo.co.uk/product/247eMM23072.html but this has ability to take two cameras and is more expensive (I paid £50).

If anyone is interested I will find out the model number tonight and you may be able to track one down.

[Alex Brown]

A while ago, I had thought of putting one of these

http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/mod...moduleno=19863

on the top of the a-frame looking back behind the boat whilst towing - it'd certainly help the viewing of the blind spot directly behind the tow. Could probably fit the lcd tv where the central rear view mirror is too on the top of the windscreen to give the desired result.

-Alex

[Jon]

[QUOTE=Mike B] I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a micromark b/w 5in tv/monitor and b/w camera from a store in cardiff called "The Range" not sure if it is a chain or not. It can only take one camera which wasn't a problem for me. It is all set up to run on 12v and has a single lead from the camera to the monitor which feeds power to the cam and a/v signal back to the monitor.

The Range is a client of mine - stores are listed on http://www.therange.co.uk/

More opening all the time.

[codprawn]

Great shops - the one in Swansea is brilliant

[Rogue Wave]

I think PBO is a great magazine I have learned a lot from it.

there is a range in Soton It's in the area that was once the dell. about half a mile away

The stick and plasticine seems a good option to me