I rally mainly and see quite a few female towers. Its something thats considered just as normal as a male towing amongst the groups I go with. In fact some of the women are better than the men. I am only in my early 20's so get a lot of funny looks when I go onto the caravan club sites or commercial sites. I get watched by all reversing. Nothing is more satisfying than backing it in perfect and watching their dissapointed faces when I don't mess it up. I guess its exactly the same as what the women drivers have to put up with too.
I too do the towing, in fact all the driving as my other half rarely drives now, only to the local shops. I can also do all the hitching and unhitching single handed, fetch water, empty toilets and all the rest, in fact why do I take him with me at all!
Seems to be a lot of confusion about licences and towing, unless you have a huge van and a heavy car most folk will be okay. It is he combined weight that matters, look it up on the CC club site or the DOT
My mum tow's whilst I am (also female) co-piolet/navigator when we go to dog shows :)
I haven't seen another woman tower in the two years that we have had the caravan and find that you do get some funny looks especially from lorry drivers!!!
I used to do it 100% of the time with our last caravan, and im still the more experianced tower of us as a couple, especially when it comes to tricky situations and getting off muddy pitches, where as OH would just panick and dig us further into the dirt!
Hes only learned to tow since we bought this caravan and he retired, his job included a lot of driving of builders vans and lorries most days, so he wanted to relax whenever we went out with the caravan, and i didnt mind towing anyway.
Julia
------------- Just love to be out amoungst Nature and Wildlife
Celebrating 37 years of Caravanning in 2019, Recently Considered Retiring, but Totally Addicted for Life!
Here's another Towing Girl! I have to admit tho - my New Year Resolution was to improve my reversing, so I'm doing all the pitching and putting back into storage. It's a steep learning curve, but I'm getting there.....
My husband doesn't drive!! It took me two years to pluck up the courage to buy our first caravan as I was so terrified. Now I thinks it's the best thing I ever did. It can be tiring, especially on our longer trips to France. But I plan the trip with lots of overnight stops. Been towing for 5 years now and I love it!!
Quote: Originally posted by Molly7 on 10/3/2012
Seems to be a lot of confusion about licences and towing, unless you have a huge van and a heavy car most folk will be okay. It is he combined weight that matters, look it up on the CC club site or the DOT
This is true, to a point. But your caravan's maximum gross weight (MTPLM) must not exceed the towing vehicles minimum unladen weight (which can be quite difficult to find out, as this is not the same as kerb-weight).
Still, most modern cars a quite heavy these days (my dad's 307 estate weighs more than my 1984 BMW 5 series ) so as long as your caravan is reasonably sized & not too heavy, you are indeed fine.
I think it's great that there are so many women tow'ers on the forum. I'm single, & a man, so I don't have any choice. But I only started towing a caravan recently, & it was a bit nerve wrecking first time out (& I was on my own, learning as I went). & I'm a very confident driver normally.
I still can't say I actually enjoy towing. I love my caravan, & really enjoy the freedom it brings, but I also love my car very much, it's pretty old now & I do my best to take very good care of her. So, when I hitch a caravan to the back of her, it just seems like I'm torturing the poor old girl
Have hitched,towed and sited my little Freedom van single handedly for the past few years and absolutely love it but rarely see other lady towers.Have towed from Newcastle to Cornwall and would love to tackle France but not quite brave enough on my own.
I tow on my own and set up etc . Used to tow and set up trailer tent alone when kids came so I think it is a confidence thing. The only thing I sometimes need help with is putting up the awning but that's because I'm a bit of a midget!
The reason I do it is that My time is more flexible than the old mans' and I love to get away . When the old man comes we share the tasks including towing in France/ spain
having a sat nav makes life alot easier now when I'm on my own .
I do find some men think it's a bit odd and rush to help me even when I say I'm ok . I know they mean to be helpful but I have 3 incidents where they have messed something up including stabiliser.
I don't have a need to tow right now, but always used to take my boat to the slip & launch / recover, usually to the amazement of the on lookers. It's really no big deal, just take your time & ignore on lookers. Practice makes perfect .
It's like women parking boats in marinas, you don't see many, but the one's you do see generally make a much better job of it than the blokes.
have just been away at weekend to warren mill bamburgh five caravans all towed by females.we all go away together numerous times over the year. we are all at penrith next weekend have caister, keswick ,barnard castle and number of others still to go this year.
Methinks judging by all the replies there are loads of ladies towing. I've towed more years than I can remember, horse trailers too, and agree with a previous post, I like towing cos I like to be in control and it leaves the OH to do all the jobs when we set up.
------------- 2011:
Woodhall Country Park
Wild Rose
Kippford
Holgates
and some
I too tow our caravan all the time as my hubby is not confident doing it and it may be because I always drive as I'm a bad traveller. Why should people stare when they see a women towing I don't know because we are very capable you know!!! AND we are not feminist about it!!
Keep up the good work girls xx
We are new caravanners and have yet to take the van out (2wks to go!) but both myself and my husband have just done a caravan club towing course having never towed before and found it great. Looking forward to sharing the towing now.
------------- April - Yorkshire
May - Burford
August - France
August - Stratford upon Avon
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Where are all the women towers?
) so as long as your caravan is reasonably sized & not too heavy, you are indeed fine.
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