In our first episode of RVgeeks Driving School, we covered the finer points of Off-Tracking & Rear Overhang. Today we’re starting a brand new semester with a focus on mirrors. Specifically, how they differ from car mirrors, how to adjust them, and how to use them.
Because we’re not RV technicians, we’ve always included the disclaimer that “we’re not professionals” with our How-To videos. But as we mentioned last time, driving is one situation where no caveat is required, as I (Peter) am a retired professional motorcoach operator and bus driving instructor. Standing in the stairwell of an MCI while teaching many hundreds of brand new, inexperienced trainees over the years (in a major city, no less) would typically garner comments such as “You must have nerves of steel” or “You must have a death wish.” So far, teaching on video has earned me a lot less notice for my alleged bravery or potential suicidal tendencies. Come to think of it, it does seem a lot safer. ;-)
This time we’ve worked to demonstrate as vividly as possible how to adjust your mirrors, then use them for both situational awareness of surrounding traffic and establishing good lane position & control.
Once again, we’ve put our 3D Robotics Solo quadcopter to good use, giving us an aerial overview that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. We’ve also added some overhead GoPro shots from high up on the side of our RV, and synchronized the footage with a driver’s-eye view. We hope the result is so clear that even a brand new RV driver will totally get it, and be safer from day one behind the wheel.
Whether you’ve been driving large vehicles with multiple flat & convex mirrors for years… or you don’t even know what convex mirrors are… we hope you’ll find some useful information to help keep you safer on the road.
We have future driving videos planned, but we appreciate your patience as the work involved in planning, shooting and editing these time-intensive pieces is considerable. We promise to release more of them as our work and travel schedule allows us.
In the meantime, please leave us a comment or question below. Let us know what you think, or if anything is unclear. We’d be interested to know, especially from newer RVers, if you find this information enlightening, or if if you knew most or all of this already.
Thanks so much, and safe travels,
Peter & John
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We love your videos and just subscribed on Patreon as well :) I would love to see segments on backing up, and on driving with a toad.
Thanks so much for your support, Mary! We’re so happy to have you here with us, and on Patreon, too. We’re hoping to make a new driving video or two this year, but they are by far the most challenging to create (at least to create well). Maybe we’ll cross paths on the road so I can give you a few pointers in person! Safe travels – Peter & John
Great video. Your clear and concise presentation is easy to watch, and learn the points presented. The video quality is very professional. Look forward to more in this series.
Joe
Thank you so much for all the information, I just purchased a 1994 Fleetwood Southwind, I have never driven one before. All of your videos really have helped me. I wish I can purchase all of your videos. Thank you again. Darlene.
Thanks so much for your kind comments, Darlene, and congratulations on your new rig! It’s always so gratifying to hear that our videos have been helpful, so we really appreciate your taking the time to write. :)
Priceless!
Fantastic videos! On the blind spot issue, the chap (Barney?) that used (still?) to do the driving classes at Lazy Days Tampa must have been responsible for sale of a zillion plastic lens thingies that magnified the area around the right front wheel. Walmart calls it a CIPA 60300 11″ x 14″ Wide Angle Lens. You stick it on the passenger window.
I liked it but your mirror aiming tutorial obviates the need for it.
Great videos. I’m just getting a 33 ft class A. My last RV was about 15 yrs ago, a 34 ft tagalong. I did learn a couple things from the videos, but just as important was refreshing some things that I would have neglected, esp with the turning.
Thanks Tom! Great to hear we’ve been helpful. And congratulations on your new RV!
Thanks for your videos, they have been a huge benefit to us. I’m about to retire and the wife and I just purchased a 30 foot Thor Ace. We bought it in Texas and drove it back to Delaware. First RV I’v ever owned or driven and your videos made me feel more comfortable, after setting the mirrors and trying to remember your driving advice as I piloted our retirement getaway home for the first time. The wife and I would love to meet you guys sometime. Loved your video with your Mom when the Wynns popped up from under the comforter! Couldn’t adjust our mirrors quite like you showed though, it didn’t dawn on me till I got home that maybe I could actually turn the entire chrome mirror till I could see only a small portion of the side of the motorhome. That is possible without breaking the mirror isn’t it? Everything is new to me, but exciting. Keep up the good work. We’ve been purchasing some products you use to have in our RV as I trust your opinion.
Hi Joe! Thanks for the nice note and congratulations on your new rig. Maybe we’ll cross paths on the road sometime.
The side view mirrors almost certainly are adjustable in two additional places that we didn’t cover in the video: 1) Where the arm meets the motorhome should be able to rotate forward or backward, allowing you to set it so the inside edge of the mirror lines up perfectly with the side of the RV, and 2) The mirror head itself, which should be able to rotate and adjust up and down. Both of these adjustments usually require a tool of some sort.. possibly an Allen wrench.
For starters, I want to say that I’ve learned a lot from your videos! Keep up the good work – I’m sure a whole lot of RVers have benefited from them, as I have. Now my question: I drive solo mostly, so I don’t usually have a spotter. Do you have any videos about backing a rig solo? I’m getting better at it, but I’m sure I could benefit from some expert advice.
Hey JD! Thanks for the nice comment. It’s always great to hear that our videos have been helpful, especially the driving videos, since that’s so near and dear to me, having been so involved in the safety & training side of the motorcoach industry for so long. I’m going to assume that you drive a motorhome? So I’m making the following points strictly with that in mind. If you’re driving an articulated vehicle (5th wheel or travel trailer) there will be some additional considerations that I’m not addressing here.
You’ve brought up a big difference between driving a bus and driving an RV that many people probably don’t usually think about. And that’s the fact that RVing very often (most often for many of us) involves 2 people on board, who can work together as a team when needed. For bus drivers, that situation is virtually non-existent, as it’s a solo job.
Like many professional drivers, over the years I drove a combination of local transit and commuter routes, along with multi-day tours. Not only was I totally alone to drive the coach, but also navigate (long before the days of GPS and back-up cameras). And of course the lives of the 40 or 50 passengers on board with me were my sole responsibility as well.
Every bus driver I ever taught was being trained to operate their vehicle alone 100% of the time. So here’s the steps I recommend for solo drivers, particularly when it comes to backing up, which is of course the most vulnerable situation, due to lack of visibility from the driver’s seat.
By the way, at my first bus driving job, in college, we were absolutely forbidden from putting buses into reverse without first obtaining permission over the radio from a supervisor. The transit routes we drove were set up so that backing up was never needed, and they knew that backing adds so much additional risk, just by its very nature, that it was prohibited. A fellow driver was spotted backing his bus down a campus street without calling in and was suspended for a week! ;-)
Try using these techniques:
1) Take a “mental picture” of the area you’re about to back into. As you’re driving forward to position yourself to back into a site, for example, slow or stop, and look into the site, making note of any and all obstacles. Don’t forget that you’re tall, so think in three dimensions, looking for trees, poles, etc. If necessary, stop the RV and get out to walk the site, again taking note of everything that might be an obstacle. Also, know how to pace off your rig’s length. I know that I pace EXACTLY 14 steps plus one foot to equal the length of our motorhome. I can walk into a campground and walk into any site and know if we’ll fit, even before bringing the rig in. If you’re unsure about anything, get out and look before backing, take that mental picture of everything there, and pace off the site if you’re not sure it’s long enough.
2) Use EVERY tool at your disposal: All mirrors, both flat and convex, the back-up camera, and if things are really tight, ask someone to spot for you if possible… or consider another site. Just be very careful when it comes to a possible spotter. A “helpful” stranger who you don’t have a good rapport and understanding with can back you into something, then walk away to leave you to deal with the damage.
3) Never let pressure, nerves, or anyone else drive your RV for you. That means that if you’re trying to maneuver in a tight spot and you’re not 100% sure that you’re clear of that power pedestal or tree or picnic table, don’t continue maneuvering just because stopping and getting out to look will block the campground roadway…. or make other campers think you don’t know what you’re doing (they’re strangers anyway, so who cares what they think of your driving ability). I’ve seen more accidents where drivers were embarrassed to simply stop, get out and evaluate the situation because people were watching them.
When I was a brand new tractor-trailer driver (yup, I drove those, too), I misjudged a tight right turn badly, turning too soon. As I got in deeper and deeper, I realized that I was about to clip a telephone pole about 2 feet in front of the right rear trailer axles, and had a parked car in front preventing me from swinging wider. I was stuck with the entire intersection blocked up… both streets. Cars were honking, pressuring me to get out of their way. I stayed calm and took my time to back completely out of the intersection, realizing that embarrassment (and a little flop sweat LOL) would be forgotten in short order, but I would never forget an accident. So now I’m telling you this story with a chuckle and a lesson learned the easy way, instead of shame for damaging my employers truck (and my driving record).
4) Beware of something called “Reverse Off-Tracking.” Assuming you saw our first driving video about Off-Tracking and Rear Overhang, there’s a seldom-discussed related danger when backing up around a corner. When backing up with the wheel turned to the right, the front left side of the RV sweeps to the left. Even though you’re sitting right there, it’s easy to forget about that sweep, allowing you to strike obstacles with your left side, right down below the driver’s seat, unless you remember to monitor in the convex mirror and out the left window. When backing with the wheel turned to the LEFT, it’s even more insidious, because now your RIGHT side (which is, by definition, your weak side) is sweeping to the right, basically moving sideways, as you back up. Taking that mental picture in advance will allow you to know that there’s a picnic table down there, and of course monitoring the right convex is key, but not an absolute, since it can’t see everything. When I’m backing up around a tight turn to the left, with my right side reverse-off-tracking to my weak right side, I ask my spotter (if available) to watch my right front corner, near the entrance door….. sometimes even more important than having them behind me. I can see behind me pretty well in the back-up camera, but I’m blind down along the entrance door, and that picnic table is lurking, waiting to dent my right side!
5) When possible, back to the left. That means positioning yourself with the spot you’ll be backing into on the left side of your RV. That’s because the left side is your strong side (because you sit over there, allowing greater visibility). As a result, it’s always easier to back the the left than the right. Of course the campsite you’re pulling into may only be accessible from one side (one-way street through the campground for example), but when you have the option, back to the left.
6) When backing up, align yourself as straight with your intended final position as much as you can while still rolling forward. Unless the roadway you’re on is very wide, this of course will not always be possible. But the straighter you back up (in other words the straighter you aligned yourself with the site while still rolling forward), the less maneuvering you’ll need to do while backing. The most common difficulty newer drivers have is steering while backing, with sawing back and forth too much or too far a common challenge to overcome. Backing straighter is easier, so straighten out with the site before backing as much as possible, doing more of the positioning of your angle in forward gear rather than in reverse.
7) Lastly, unrelated to backing, is right quarter vision. You may have noticed that if you pull up to a stop where the cross street is angled about 30-60 degrees from your position (with the left turn being shallow and the right turn being sharp), you can’t see down the road to the right. That’s because your RV doesn’t have a row of continuous window down the right side, like a car does. This is a common occurrence when exiting a parking lot for example. When we’re in that situation, I ask John if I’m all clear back to the right, since I can’t see it out the window in the entrance door (I can only see about 90 degrees straight out), or in the mirrors (right flat mirror only sees into the distance back along the length of the RV and even the convex only sees a modest angle out from the side of the rig…. and not very far into the distance.
Lacking the luxury of a co-pilot’s extra set of eyes in this case, the best thing you can do to prevent having your right quarter vision obstructed by your own RV is to position yourself perpendicular to the roadway that you’ll be entering whenever possible, especially when you’ll be turning left. That means exiting parking lots by making sure to drive straight up to the exit, not at an angle (if you’re turning right, you can be angled to the right, since you can see out the left side for oncoming traffic regardless of your angle).
Hope these tips help a bit. Guess I’ll have to add “backing” to our list of driving videos. :)
Safe Travels,
Peter
I just completed my first trip in our 30ft Class A motorhome and I found the driving videos to be extremely helpful. This is the first time I have driven a big vehicle like this and because I watched the information given I was able to get the mirrors set correctly, etc. It also really helped me understand the cut-in and kick-out of the motorhome. Thank you very much for publishing this information in an easy to understand way.
-^-Norm-^-
Congratulations on your new RV, Norman! And thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice comment. Since we make these videos to share our experience with fellow RVers, hearing things like this really makes our day. Thanks so much, and safe travels.
Great info! Thank you so much!
I have an RV for a month and I barely familiar.
Wow great info! Appreciate the time, effort & planning that went into making this video, thank you!
Your videos are amazing! Love the Trona Pinnacles view from above. We are stopping through there in a few weeks. Had originally planned a month in Arizona but those temperatures are a little too high, so we’re off to one of our most favorite areas,
Alabama Hills / Eastern Sierras.
This driving school video is so thorough. We used to live full-time in a Class A motorhome, and now travel part-time with a truck and trailer. Still working on the whole backing up thing and figuring out where best to place myself to help Michael. Next will be getting behind the wheel myself and I know that you’ve taught me some very handy tips.
thanks – Imkelina
Nice job with mirror vido. Your going to save some us, lots of money and hart ake.
Thank you for the excellent video.
After more than thirty years driving I realised that my rearview mirrors were set all wrong!
And I’m talking about the car!
Thanks Roberto, but this video is about setting RV, not car, mirrors. Don’t follow these instructions unless you’ve equipped your car with RV mirrors!
Great idea for a video series…very helpful!!!!
That was a great video. I have been driving RVs for a number of years now so I figured out most of the techniques on my own. I wish I had a video like that when I bought my first one.
Thank you so much for creating the videos. I am always looking for how to improve my driving skills. Keep them coming!
Jim Minisce
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I just watched your mirror video. It looks like it was filmed on the 10 going East towards Indio. We live in the Banning Pass, so I’m familiar with this area. Nikki Wynn’s video was filmed in the same area during a recant rain storm. It’s kind of strange seeing these videos of our area.
Yes indeed, Stephen! Much of that video was indeed filmed on I-10 heading east from Palm Springs toward Indio. Coincidentally, Nikki shot her video within 24 hours of ours, as we were all en route to the same spot near Joshua tree National Park to boondock together right after all that rain. :)
Enjoy your site and comments.
Another great driving school video. I like the combined view of the in sync video’s it gives you the feeling of really driving your coach around. (I don’t think you guys would let me hahahaha)
Do you also use the back camera to scan the traffic or is the toad covering to much to see anything?
We can indeed see traffic in the back-up camera, but it’s of somewhat limited use due to the small area covered by the camera. But every piece of information helps, and we always keeps it on.
Can’t see much but, do use it too.