in this video we're going to talk about all things towing when it comes to RVs
and we're going to share from our personal experience three major factors you must consider
when looking at a tow car so you're going to want to take notes bookmark this video or
maybe even share it with someone you know that is planning on jumping into the RV lifestyle
real quick we wanted to introduce ourselves in case you are just seeing this for the first
time on our channel my name is Ben and I'm Charity this is now year five for us
yes 2022 marks year five of RV life and we've made some mistakes along the way discovered awesome
hacks made a few upgrades this channel is here to both educate and entertain you and people tell us
in the comments the bloops are always the best so you'll want to watch until the end for those
so factor number one do you even need a tow car well it is possible to rv without a tow vehicle
however there are some things to consider if you do choose this route you're going to really want
to research out the destinations that you're traveling to to see if there's shuttle service
or ride sharing service in those places that you want to go last summer for example we got
an instagram message from someone who was staying in the Saint Ignace Michigan area and that's the
same area we were in as well and we'd been posting pictures of Mackinac island now this family let us
know that they did not have a tow car and they had a drivable motorhome and because of that they were
not able to get over to the ferry terminal to go to Mackinac island because there was no shuttle
service and there was no Uber or lift in that area now something to be aware of is certain states
don't have these ride sharing services most due to tax laws so you're going to want to
make sure to do your research in advance to make sure that there are transportation options in
the areas that you want to visit now you can plan trips to grocery stores before going to
the campground so you don't have to disconnect to drive over to the store or using e-bikes or
regular bikes are a great alternative for local areas so you guys don't have a toad
we have no how are you getting around this is our second trip to Florida this year and both
times had no tow vehicle first time was in a 45 foot diesel pusher and this is in 25 foot
little diesel class c motorhome so okay can it be done oh yeah totally can be done a little more
trip planning than you do with the big coach but this time we actually have the smaller rig which
is easier to begin with but then we also have an electric scooter and an electric bike so okay
super easy with that what we did back in march when we stayed um at bradenton in the 45-footer
so we did two things one is we just had to be more organized and plan our shopping ahead and so we
actually were pretty close to a Costco so we would go for a walks in the afternoon and we'd just get
a few things you can't get too much at Costco when you're not driving back and another time we walked
to the public grocery store and we then we did a big grocery shop but then we got an Uber back
a lot of mopeds and motorcycles can actually be mounted on a hitch mount rack system on
the back of a drivable rv and those can provide transportation to just be able to
go and see and explore without having to actually break camp to be able to go out
factor number two car dolly or trailer towing so when we bought our first
rv the person that sold it to us actually included a car dolly with it as part of the
purchase so we used this for our front wheel drive sedan and knowing what we
know now we would actually have brought the minivan instead the only pro that we found
is it was an inexpensive way to get set up with a tow car and really get out on the road sooner
Dollys themselves are fairly inexpensive and it requires no other wiring to the vehicle itself
just drive up strap on the tires and you're off so pro is you can use an existing car if you already
have it and you don't want to spend much money and if it's front wheel drive it'll work another
pro is there's less wear and tear on the tires transmission there are a few cons though too
so the tire straps will work loose with miles so we actually had to stop quite a bit we didn't know
how to tie on the straps properly so they kept coming loose when we did figure it out they still
came loose and you can't back up without removing the whole car removing the toe dolly everything
so think of it like backing up a wet spaghetti noodle if you pull into somewhere follow the semi
trucks don't don't go if you see semi trucks not going there don't go there follow the semi trucks
length of time to hitch up and load up the vehicle install the straps
tighten down having to find a place to put the dolly when at a campground with a back insight
most campgrounds have designated parking areas for dollies so just like ben was saying it was
a pain in the behind when we were using a car dolly just because of all of these
factors and the biggest one is where are you going to put it another thing that you've got to
think about too with camp sites and camp grounds is just how that site is how big that site is
all of those things even when we park our tow car on the site we always want to make sure that
we have enough room and so a new tool that we have been using to just make sure that we have the room
that we need with a campsite when we choose a campsite is campgroundviews.com now that's because
campgroundviews.com lets you take a virtual tour of a campground before you book that site so you
know exactly what that site looks like you have a really good feel for if there's extra room behind
where you're gonna put your rv beside where you're gonna put your rv all of those things before that
you choose the site it is a pain in the butt especially if you are using a car dolly or a
trailer or something like that where you get to your site and you realize none of this is
going to fit and i'm going to have to go try to put this somewhere else so it is our new
go-to tool to be able to look at those campgrounds first you can go to gratefulglamper.com forward
slash campground views and there'll be a link in the description for you below as well
so now factor number three is flat towing a vehicle behind your rv now after four years
of rv life we decided that this is the way to go we bought a jeep wrangler specifically
for the ease of flat towing and we literally can hook up and unhook in like five minutes or less
the tow bar folds out of the way easily when it's not in use and arriving at the campground
to unhook and back into our site super super simple
now this does cost more for the initial setup and there are many vehicles that can be flat-towed
with certain precautions and guidelines in the description below i'm going to put a link to
what are called dinghy guides this lets you know what vehicles can be flat-toed just the
way they are with certain precautions for example some vehicles have to be run every six hours to
circulate transmission fluid so our setup is we bought our jeep used specifically because it's a
very easy to just put into neutral and not have to worry about anything else when you're towing so we
initially started off using a blue ox tow bar that actually came with our first rv and then we bought
another blue ox that we found used on facebook marketplace now we've recently upgraded to the
roadmaster nighthawk and we like it much better because the wiring is built into it it has nice
light and then we use a floor mounted auxiliary brake in the jeep now we're not a fan of this but
because we want to upgrade our jeep at some point we didn't want something that was more of a
permanent install in the jeep at the time however with used car prices being what they are we're
just kind of rethinking a lot of things as far as do we want to keep the jeep do we want to get
something else so we may go with a more permanent install of a braking system at some point but we
don't want to do that until that we know for sure that it's a vehicle we want to keep long term
and we're going to show what are we showing stop it ooh crab seriously
lobster we have a video okay all right man now you now I'm hungry you're talking about shelling
I did it again you're not allowed had seen our pictures and they just decided to reach out well
noise pollution holy RV okay so you can stand in the plant
no no I'm not standing on the plant that's fine how am I on the screen you're fine it's
probably better if you don't even see yourself yeah actually okay your windows like from here
okay and you're getting this from here stop it it's tilted on its axis and the thunderstorms
yep okay in this is it rolling yeah okay boy have fun editing this one
yeah how's it going for you, yeah Mr let me criticize you
well it's more fun to criticize you yeah it's not as easy on this side of the camera no
now I see what you have to go through oh and literally bugs flew in my eye hey this is now
your face I gotta get the bug out of my eye all right if people are saying the bloops are awesome
next next bloopers are awesome you're sounding like me oh my god the sun
is so bright I'm gonna have to move this isn't gonna work so factor so factor number two
sounding like me I mean it's just not worth it
oh my god it's so bright it's so bright the sun the sun
you get to hold this over me here
yeah it is but over me come over here here there make sure it shades me there okay up
there you go so you'll have to let us know what are you doing for a tow car are you taking a
coat co so you'll have to let us know in the comments below what you're doing for a tow car
do you have a tow car that you bring with you are you using something else for transportation
let us know in the comments below because we love hearing from you but you're also letting the RV
community know your helpful hints and suggestions as well so I'm gonna put a video up here for a
step-by-step walkthrough of how we actually hook up our jeep when we're ready to flat tow it
now if we don't see you out on the road or around the campground we'll see you in the next video