Slidin' into First

Our first stop was to be at Clinton Lake State Recreation Area in Central Illinois. We had planned for two nights just in case we had to shed more weight, which we didn't, or had something go wrong, which we did. (If you missed that, see the previous post.) That left us with a one night stay, and we were back on schedule. 

We're new to parking a fifth-wheel, so that in itself is a learning experience, but add to that, Illinois, in its wisdom, angled the campsites so that you have to back in on the blind side. After a half-hour of trying, trying again, and again, and again... we were in and straight.

Ah yes, backing in on the blind side at 90-degrees

Did I mention the hitch? No, don' think I did... Our truck has a 6.5-foot bed which means if we turn really sharp, like close to 90-degrees, the trailer's nose could hit the rear of the truck's cab. That would be bad. And expensive. We required a sliding hitch. When towing on the road, the hitch needs to be positioned forward, in order for the the trailer's kingpin, and all the weight it carries, to be over the rear axle. When needing to maneuver in really, really tight places, like many gas stations or having to perform a 90-degree back-in to a campsite, the hitch needs to be in its rearward position in order for the trailer to clear the truck's cab. 

There are two kinds of sliding hitches available. The first kind requires you to get out of the truck and pull a handle to release the slide. Then you get back in the truck, lock the trailer brakes and drive forward so the hitch can slide back. Then, you get get back out of the truck and pull the handle again to re-lock it in the rearward position. Then you can perform your maneuver. When you're ready to drive on again, you reverse the whole process. If you forget to do this, well... $$$$$$$. The second kind is an auto-slider. No getting in and out to unlock the slider; it does everything all on its own. OH, and no forgetting...

We got the automatic kind. With the most common gas station design these days having the fuel pumps perpendicular to the store and parking places, maneuvering around can be a challenge. Lots of tight turns and squeezes. Also we're finding there are a lot of campgrounds that require the 90-degree back-in. And of course, there's those senior moments.... 

It works great for us.

There is, however, a serious drawback to this system. The device works on a cam principal, so there is a rectangular key that fits into a matching slot. In order to hitch or unhitch the  components must be within ten-degrees of dead-on-balls-straight, ("it's an industry term"...). That complicates the parking considerably, (not to mention the adapter plate has to be removed to tow with a conventional hitch). 

Of course, as it often is in life, once you've bought something, it either goes on sale, or the new-and-improved version comes out. In the case of our hitch, there's now an auto-slider that doesn't require any adapter. When the kingpin locks into place, the hitch simply clamps onto the pin-plate at whatever angle the two just happen to be at. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!

It was a nice site after all was said and done...

At any rate, it's fun for the other campers to watch us getting into our spot. On to the next stop. See you there.