Is motorhome towing necessary?

COMMENT

One of the joys of owning a motorhome is having everything at hand at a moment’s notice. But unless you’re driving a custom coach or truck-based motorhome, large storage bins accessible from the outside of the vehicle are a rare luxury.

Our old Winnebago Leisure Seeker 2335 had a huge bin in the rear but it was a bit of an anomaly. The bin was so large, it swallowed tables, chairs, beach gear and kids bicycles with ease and when empty, it made a fabulous cubby for the kids.

Our ‘new’ motorhome (an almost 30-year-old, 23ft Winnebago) is larger internally but boot space is rather small fry. We knew this when we bought it but as is often the case with emotional purchases, we hoodwinked ourselves into thinking that the huge storage bin wouldn’t be missed.

We based this argument on all the fresh ‘inside space’ we were getting… after all, the entire reason we were changing motorhomes was to get more space.

The old beast we purchased has two bunks down back with an L shaped kitchen opposite, a single bed opposite a double dinette and a further double bed over the cab. It’s a real gem for every-day living but getting things out from under all those extra seats and beds isn’t easy.

The extra living space actually compounds the storage problem because being more comfortable, we naturally want to stay places longer with everyone’s favourite toys along for the duration.

Push-bikes, table and chairs, kites, an inflatable kayak, paddles, fishing gear and all the awning kit to boot… soon every nook and cranny of our new motorhome was filled and things were flowing down the corridor and into the cab.

After narrowly avoiding a bike pedal in the left ear during sharpish braking thanks to an errant native duck, I started thinking about a different solution for carrying around all our extra gear. I then hit upon the genius idea of towing a trailer.

Perhaps I’m being generous with the term ‘genius’ but for many motorhome owners, towing something is not as intuitive as you might think. For starters, many people own a motorhome precisely because they wish to avoid towing but I was thinking of towing something much smaller than a caravan and I thought if the trailer was light enough, I could simply detach it in times of trouble and avoid all that pesky trailer backing stuff that I … err, some people have so much trouble with.  

I already owned a 5x8 box trailer so I started exploring the possibility to have a canopy made for it to protect contents from dust, dirt and rain. It turns out, there’s an entire industry of clever sheet metal workers who can do exactly this.

So in very short order, I had a canopy constructed out of aluminium with canvas sides to make the entire thing as light as possible. On my test run with the trailer empty, I was very pleased to note that our speed and fuel consumption remained indifferent.

I actually had to stop several times for fear the new trailer had dropped off somewhere and we were in fact towing nothing… but then I filled it up and that problem disappeared entirely.

I’ve already mentioned the kids’ push bikes and various other bits and bobs rattling around the cabin but I must reveal there was an additional factor driving the whole ‘trailer’ endeavour.

I recently purchased a second hand motor scooter ‘on the cheap’ with some vague notion of fixing it to the rear drawbar somehow. This drawbar idea never really took shape because the spare tyres were already occupying that space and my wife can’t tolerate tire tracks on the bed linen!

The trailer idea seemed to offer a solution in which I could park my toy and the various bicycles. There’s nothing like ‘win-win’ to launch a project from concept to reality!

But have you ever noticed that no matter how large your house you will fill it. Well, it turns out that trailers are a little like that. What started out as a spacious, carpet lined area with oodles of room for carrying a few bikes and my lovely little motor scooter, quickly became our ‘motorhome junk room’.

Overnight a clothes line sprang up from the ceiling. Wet swim fins and sandy flotation devices appeared next and then things got rather out of hand. Soon the motor scooter was buried under all the family muck and, needless to say, I was beginning to have second thoughts.

And then there were the hills.

What had previously been gentle gradients to make the drive more scenic and interesting, transformed into radiator boiling and 40km/h speed humps, which quickly sapped my enthusiasm for the whole endeavour.

To make matters worse, my navigation device seemed to have it in for me and took me up every dead-end alley and narrow turning on the map. As you probably already realised, a trailer filled is a trailer entirely too heavy to ‘detach’ and move by hand. Hmmm.

After the third, forty-three-point-turn in a day, I was getting ready to light the new trailer on fire and set it adrift down a handy river when we made camp and I finally got to enjoy all that extra space I had been lugging around.

To say I was smitten would be an understatement. The unpacking process was so enjoyable and so surpassed expectations that I replaced everything just so my wife could have a go. Chairs for everyone (not just adults), bicycles for everyone (not just children) and my wonderful new motor scooter, ready for bread and milk runs whenever the need.

It has been a few trips since that maiden ‘trailer’ adventure and while towing behind a motorhome is not as easy as I hoped, it’s not as hard as it was.

I fixed our faulty thermostatic fan (no more overheating) and reduced the trailer weight slightly so we now achieve better than walking pace on all but the steepest gradients.

I continue to view narrow roads with suspicion and when entered they continue to come to unexpected ends. In such circumstances, three sets of ear plugs help to protect the innocent and if things ever get really tough, I can always find a caravan owner to help me out of a tight spot…