How to Drive a Motorhome
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- I explain all the things that you should be aware of while you're driving an RV or motorhome. Including parking, speed limits, weight, size and pitching up.
If you have any other hints, tip or suggestions then please add them to the comments section.
Speed Limit Links
www.gov.uk/speed-limits
www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/17...
Herman's Online Store
www.redbubble.com/people/Herm...
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Pretty much spot on. Best advice I was given when I started caravanning applies also to motorhomes. Slow down and make the journey as enjoyable as the rest of the Holiday.
Very good advice……clear and precise well done. One thing I would like to add is……If you are on a motorway and are overtaking a lorry most HGV drivers will flash their headlights to indicate to you that you are clear of them and you are safe to pull back into the left hand lane.
A word of caution don’t always rely on them doing so……they don’t have to. After you have passed them and pulled Ito the left lane it is polite to briefly flash your hazard lights to say thank you. Equally when a HGV is overtaking you it is very helpful to the lorry driver if you flash your headlights to indicate to him that he is safe to pull back into the left lane safely and he likewise will flash his indicators to thank you especially if he is driving a long vehicle. He will appreciate your gesture and it will make you feel a good deed has been done.
Thanks for the tips, Rod 👍👍
dont forget when measuring height to take into account that folding sattelite dish or that antenna these can add 8 or more inches to the overall height of the vehicle
Parking is the main issue we have. We try to avoid parking in supermarkets particularly at peak times. There is usually space furthest from the building where you can choose the best position as described in your video. When visiting tourist sites, a little research the day before can avoid frustrating time wasting on the day. Great video Ads, I would add that we use caution but have learnt as we have gone along. Trev 👍🏻😄
I live on a single track part of the Five hundred. We locals call the your motor homes “convoy masters” why? They are normally followed by several cars wishing to overtake. We locals pull in to at passing place on our left hand side as soon as a faster vehicle pulls up behind to allow it to pass by. Why? Because if we play the “convoy master” and have vehicles behind us at the next passing point we may meet another motor home with its convoy behind it! If visiting motor homes followed this rule they would find when they meet another motor home they can pass each other without any trouble. Of course when two motor homes travel together keeping each other “company” meet two others coming the opposite way everything stops whilst the practice their reversing skills😩 please use your BIG mirrors, pull in and make life easier for us locals, but far more importantly, for yourselves! 😁
Thanks John. These rules are also on the official NC500 website. If only everyone read and obeyed them. Just let other vehicles pass and be at least one passing bay from the vehicle in front. 👍👍🚙🚚🚛🚜🚌🚗🚗🛵🚑⛴
as a bus and lorry driver i still found these tips very usefull,big thanks,
That's brilliant, terawattz. I'm glad you found the video useful👍👍. Thanks for commenting
Very educational.
Great Advice, Cheers
Thanks for commenting David. Do you have a m/h or do you have plans to buy one?
Hi Ade, The biggest problem I've had is the parking and rear overhang issue, I got used to it but not before catching the rear bumper. a very annoying and expensive exercise. Thanks for your channel. cheers Keith
When your driving a wider than normal vehicle and you see someone coming towards you, don't be to quick to move over to the side of the road. The reason being if you move to soon the vehicle coming towards you will take up the space you have just vacated and you having moved will now have no where to go. So,
I am not suggesting a game of chicken but command the space in the road you are entitled to and if room is a bit tight slow down and you will have room on the nearside to move in to.
Great tip, gunnerdoit2day. Thanks
Good one, beat me to it!
Great advice, brilliant vlogs/ blogs.
Thanks Rick. Do you own or thinking of getting a motorhome?
@@HermanHitstheRoad Hi mate, we used to have a motor home but we went back to a caravan, but would love to go back to a motorhome, but the problem is that they're so expensive to get something decent. But love the vlogs...
There are sat navs designed specifically for Motorhomes and Caravans or HGV. Ours is a Falcon Navigator and you can enter the dimensions of the Motorhome, so it avoids low bridges.
It can still take you up the road wrong though
@@HermanHitstheRoad So true.
The leading ones seem to be a Garmin, TomTom Go Camper and Aguri. Pro's over a standard car sat nav - can enter vehicle dimensions to exclude roads you can't fit on. A feature they don't have I think they should is to set your vehicle emission category to avoid being charged or fined for entering zones you shouldn't be in.
Bob in your most recent video's you mentioned that the 'inbuilt' SatNav on the Bailey was lacking in these good features. Out of interest do any Motorhomes have Satnavs that are intelligent from the perspective of the Motorhome or do you always have to buy a third party device.
How can a sat nav designed specifically to consider vehicle size in relation to road size take you up the wrong road? Surely they are not fit for purpose?
Excellent tips and I’m a veteran motorhome driver! I bought a truck satnav from Amazon or ebay for about £35 and I could enter my vehicle’s dimensions. Don’t use Waze unless for a car. It took me down tiny single track roads!
Thanks for letting us know, Diana. What is the name of the sat nav you brought?
Every car driver should watch this. The large number of car drivers try passing on the inside when you are turning right, experienced it many times when we had our caravan. A small caravan is not as much of a problem as a long twin wheel and lots of motor homes have a substantial overhang that most car drivers are unaware of.
I agree. It needs to be shared around and posted on social media sites :-)
you can now buy navigation systems for big motorhomes which include avoiding low bridges and narrow roads where possible
Thanks rscosworthfan, the problem isn't the sat nav but the reference data they use. The truck satnavs can still take you down the wrong road. Thanks for letting us know 👍👍🚐📡📡
Just brilliant x
Thanks Julie. Do you have a m/h or camper?
Herman Hits the Road , no we don’t have a Motorhomes as yet, we are enjoying listening and learning from the motorhome experts, so when we have decided the layout and model that will suit us we can go for it x
@@gallivantinggalantes Have you been to a motorhome show? They are a great way of checking out the layouts. We also made a video on how to choose a motorhome czcams.com/video/UOudTwysVEs/video.html
Herman Hits the Road , no not as yet, we’ve followed other Motorhomers at the shows, think this is our next plan. I will check out your video thank you 😊
We find a reversing camera to be must have accessory. Ours connect as soon as one turns on the engine so it works as a rear view mirror. Very usefull for those Audi and BMW drivers who like to drive in the wind tunnel of large vehicles. Regarding size we drive a 5.60 meter mh, with the bikes on the rack, it's just over 6 meters. We find it to be the perfect size for parking in normal car parks and drive around city centers. Sadly manufacturers are following the opposite trend and new mh are way too long.
Narrow viewing angle for rear view mirror function, wide angle for reversing (parking). Can also be setup with a camera on the non drivers side to enable side viewing when driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.
That sounds like a great idea. Thanks for sharing
When you consider that you have probably spent a great deal of money on your Motorhome I'd suggest you invest in a Truck Satnav, you can input your Motorhome dimensions & the Satnav will take that into account when offering you a route. Truck Satnavs are expensive so maybe consider a second hand one?
It's not the sat nav that's the problem, it's the reference data it uses. I used to do a lot of work on navigation software and data and I've seen the data collected wasn't correct. For example, at the time the OS bridge data had heights in Imperial and metric but a lot of times the feet didn't match the metres and visa versa. The OS said the data comes directly from the bridge road signs which are placed by the different councils.
The data might be better these days but you should never trust your sat nav.
@@HermanHitstheRoad - True they can be problematic, I'm a truck driver & I've found that Tom Tom or Garmin are the best. I personally have not had any issues with my Garmin. Your quite right though to keep your eyes opened for appropriate roads signs.
It's 2yrs old but thought l would add my penny's worth of advice.
I drove lorries many thousands of miles.
So...... Don't use a car satnav for a motorhome. Use a LORRY satnav. Or a satnav that has "lorry mode". Then it won't take you down roads suitable only for cars.
People tend to follow satnavs regardless. Some will even drive I to a river if the satnav tells them to drive straight on.
So lorry mode or lorry (Truck) satnav should be used for all motorhomes.
Great idea, Riley. Thanks 🚙🚙🚙
EXCELLENT motorhome information / help . Would to see hints / help on bathroom, toilet, kitchen, bedroom, cab area, dining area,storage (inside and outside).
Thanks Sandy. Glad you enjoyed the video. We have many videos on those subjects. Kitchen, bathroom, dining area, bedroom are similar to a house and we have a video about lockers.
Are you new to motorhoming? What are you looking for?
The speed information you gave is wrong but luckily the link you included is correct a Motorhome under 3.05 tonnes unladen has the same national speed limit as a car where as a Motorhome with an unladen weight over 3.05 tonnes has the lower speeds. This is one of the reasons most self builders reregister with the dvla so they can take advantage of the speed limit increase as well as the cheaper insurance
The info in the video is for a 3.5 t motorhome like Herman and I believe is correct. Like you say speed limit for 3t is like a car
Herman Hits the Road speed limits for motorhomes are dependent upon its unladen weight not its maximum gross weight,
What the overall length of Herman?
Hi Tony, Herman is 6 metres excluding the bike rack
Buy a bus and truck sat nav as these allow you to put height, width, length and weight in so no small roads and low bridges 👍🏻
Hi Mark, but you're still relying on the sat nav data being 100% accurate and it isn't. Never trust a sat nav. 👍👍
Herman Hits the Road, Yes you are but these days they’re a lot more reliable with the map data, and because you put dimensions in a truck sat nav makes them more practical for Motorhomes so no silly roads etc. I used mine driving coaches to and from London and it worked perfectly and was £40 off eBay 😃👍🏻
@@KRAM-zb2vc Hi hoping you still see this after a year… do these sat navs actually know the width of the roads??? 🤷♀️ I will buy one like a shot if I thought they wouldn’t send us down the wrong roads!
@@HermanHitstheRoad yes I know but it’s better than taking a wrong turn and having to reverse - if you can. Sat navs have come a long way and are very accurate these days.
Tail swing should always be considered.
I thought I mentioned that, Paul. Do I not?
Thought he would have a cool EU nickname for a motor home. Something like Petrol Palace.
Combustion Cabin?
Hi 79 Strat, how's things? What do you mean? Herman the Hymer is a cool name. Do you have an RV/motorhome?
That sounds like it's on fire 😉🚙
Get a commercial vehicle sat nav
This might be a good idea, skyterrapin but I wouldn't trust any satnav. They rely on road data which can be wrong. For example the bridge data I've seen contained the height in metric and imperial. In many cases, when converted, they didn't match up.
I recently went viewing Motorhomes as a first time buyer :-) and to be honest when I sat in an A Class (Mobilvetta 79) it scared the hell out of me regards how wide it felt. I next tried a Benimar with Ford transit cab and that felt much better more like a car and gave me a little reassurance :-)
Are there any tips when driving say an A Class as to estimating the width i.e stickers on the windscreen etc.. I have seen on US RV Vblogs.
czcams.com/video/ZNqc52WVJ8w/video.html This one seems good for the pivot point and width indicators and setting up the mirrors.
Did you all just buy and drive or take some lessons beforehand ?
You gather I am still a little apprehensive around the width issue.
Mike
Hi Mike, we started in rentals with Fiat or Ford cabs (not A class). No lessons or anything like that or even aids. What I do have is a feel for the size but that comes naturally over time driving the vehicle and using the mirrors to see how close I am to the kirb etc. I still do this in tight places. If you feel that you as the driver are positioned in the middle of the road then the vehicle probably isn't. Imagine your lane split down the middle and keep yourself to the side of the middle. Also, look ahead at the gap and think about whether the vehicle can fit through the gap rather than whether you can drive through the gap. What is the vehicle going to do when you turn the wheel? Are the sides going to get closer the side the road or parked cars.
I think you already do this in your car. The problem is the movement of the sides and back of the motorhome when you turn the wheel.
I hope this helps
Sygic truck/caravan gps knows your height etc...
Thanks Andreas but you can't rely on a sat nav because it's data could be wrong
@@HermanHitstheRoad yep, that is true.
I drive a bus, so I should be Ok. Roll on retirement.......Cheers Ads.
You will be fine, Mate
👍🚐
yes.. ALWAYS remember to put pointless background music on videos with narration, as it makes it harder to hear what you are saying , which is Always useful, after all. we are only hear to listen to some cheesy generic music.
How to drive a motorhome.....not like a car!
It's just a big car, Dan
@@HermanHitstheRoad My Carado has a wide track chassis, if I drove it like a car I would mount every pavement when turning !!!
STOP putting background music to videos with *narration* .. it ONLY makes it HARDER to hear what you are saying and is VERY distracting ... EVERYONE STOP DOING THIS.. we are NOT here to listen to music !!
Just because you have an opinion does not make you right! Get over it.
Or maybe you need your hearing tested Rob
Thanks for commenting, @livelongandprosper70
anyone who gives their vehicle a name, needs a slap
Anyone who names their vehicle has a sense of humour
@@HermanHitstheRoad no, you are just a Wanker.
No....... You need a slap.