10
Apr
Do not consider towing a travel trailer in high winds of 50 MPH or greater. 2011 Keystone Hornet Hideout 26B.
Having driven motorhomes and travel trailers before I can honestly say it never acted like a travel trailer.
Towing a travel trailer in high winds. Do not consider towing a travel trailer in high winds of 50 MPH or greater. Stick to towing speed of 20-30 MPH to be on the safe side of the weather. Keep a good eye on the weather reports from your smartphone too.
Wind speeds can change quickly as a storm gathers pace and ferocity. How much wind can a travel trailer handle. When towing the trailer wed suggest wind speeds above 20 MPH to start to be concerning.
If you were planning on towing a travel trailer in high winds to make it to the next destination before the weather hits wed strongly advise against it. If you get caught in the storm your travel trailer will only be able to withstand about half the wind speed that it could when secured in. One common problem with driving an RV in high winds especially if its a travel trailer being towed or an RV with a tow car behind is the trailer or tow vehicle can swerve into other lanes uncontrollably.
Ive been driving down the highway behind another truck towing a travel trailer and saw the wind catch the travel trailer. There have been many studies to explore towing a travel trailer in high winds. Most of the studies came up with these contributing factors for RV flipping.
The direction of the wind. Duration of high wind. Shape and weight of the RV.
Other Factors to Consider. In high winds sailors have the option to reduce the number of sails or reef fold the sails to present a smaller area to the wind. Windsurfers simply select a smaller sail.
An unladen Tautliner lorry can remove its curtains. Caravanners have no way of reducing the area of. Towing in HIGH winds is never a good idea but its the deffinition of what high winds are that needs to be determined.
I usually call it quite when wind gusts are over 50 MPH. I RV because I enjoy it and towing in more wind than that isnt enjoyable so I stop. Good luck Skip.
Stay hitched up if youre towing a trailer. Many times we arrived at a campground knowing that high winds were forecasted. In those cases it always pays to stay hitched up to to our Dodge RAM 2500.
Keeping the fifth wheel in contact with our truck helps the RV feel more stable. If trailer sway becomes severe reduce your speed gradually avoid using the vehicle brakes if possible and manually apply more trailer brakes. The brakes on the tow vehicle and trailer are a critical element to safe towing.
Electric brake controllers are an essential component to safe trailer towing. The wind speed has to reach roughly 91 mph before it is strong enough to flip over a travel trailer or self-drive RV. That speed is for the least stable model and it is stationary.
That speed limit is not for when the trailer or RV is moving. When you are on the road and moving at a good clip winds as slow as 20 mph can affect your rig. For one thing youll automatically have a smaller secondary vehicle available with which to explore your destination which can become problematic if youre in a large motorcoach and your regular car isnt set up to tow.
Travel trailers also offer some of the very best bang for your buck in the way of living space and amenities. This can affect towing characteristics both rapidly and severely. Its quite possible for a large gust of wind to grab a travel trailer and drag it and the vehicle towing it right off the road.
During certain times of the year in the desert southwest these winds can be deadly. If your trailer is long relative to the wheelbase of the vehicle youre using to tow the trailer you could be in for an interesting vacation. A travel trailer has a broad profile in the wind so if mother nature is blowing hard or if youre getting passed by tractor trailers at.
RV Positioning in High-Winds. Here are a few RV position tips for high-winds. If wind speeds increase to a point where you are having trouble controlling your RV pull over right away.
At highway speeds this can happen with winds that are 30 miles per hour or over. Get out of the wind. A common problem experienced when driving an RV during high winds particularly if its being towed or is a travel trailer is that the tow vehicle could uncontrollably veer into other lanes.
This not only presents a problem to the driver of the RV but also to other drivers driving on the same road. While the hitch position of a 5W makes it inherently more stable and reduces the effect the trailer has on the tow vehicle a properly set up travel trailer should still be fine. Problem is some many are not properly set up with a quality weight distributing hitch with built-in.
2011 Keystone Hornet Hideout 26B. We pulled the trigger on a used pull-behind travel trailer from a private seller a 2011 Keystone Hornet Hideout 26B. The dry unloaded weight is 5183 pounds.
Including the length of the hitch our travel trailer comes in at close to 30 feet long. Now compared to the huge Class A motorhomes and giant toy. The weather is rarely so bad that high winds flip RVs.
You can minimize the impact sideways winds have on your rig by doing the following. Point the front of the RV into the oncoming wind just as you do when driving down the highway. Do all you can to avoid letting the wind hit you broadside.
So lets talk numbers actual wind speeds. Your RV can be effected by as little as a 10 mile an hour breeze. At wind speeds of 15 to 20 MPH the effect increases dramatically.
Winds near 30 MPH and higher may not be safe for some RVs to travel at highway speeds and this is especially true if the conditions include imbedded gusts. As mentioned earlier we encountered some stiff side winds 50. Having driven motorhomes and travel trailers before I can honestly say it never acted like a travel trailer.
The effect of the side winds was more like driving a motorhome. Trailer and vehicle would get pushed as one no sway however nothing as bad as a motorhome. With an anti sway system you should feel little or no bow wave from passing trucks.
It can still be effected by side winds on a surface that long but should remain easy to handle. There is a sticky in the travel trailer forum about setting up a Reese Duel Cam system and. A large flat surface like a travel trailer is more vulnerable to high winds flying debris and other dangerous types of weather.
Try to avoid driving during storms especially those with high winds lightning or hail and if you must drive in these conditions move slowly and carefully trying to.