Does your female partner drive your outfit?

[bertschb]

My observation-

Men and women are equally capable of driving/towing anything. In fact, I've read that women are actually better at driving heavy equipment because they are more gentle and don't tear things up.

I think the reason you don't see many women pulling RV's is because most men prefer to do it and most women like the fact that their man wants to drive. Who wouldn't? Heck, I'd love to sit back and watch the scenery (or a movie for that matter) but I want to be in charge while towing. I still have more testosterone. This works great for us. My wife can take naps while I drive and I get treated like a king when we arrive at our destination. "You drove all day hun. Can I get you anything???" "Why yes! I would like some ice cream, thank you."

[fez111]

Hi. We have pulled a pop-up for a year or two, A 23 Foot Frolic for 6 or so years, a 39 foot Layton TT for 25 years, a 35 Foot 5er for 4 years, and not a 42.5 foot Solitude since 2017. Our first year as snowbirds we bought the Solitude and my Dear Wife pulled the 35 foot 5er from northern Florida back to Michigan, round trip, in 36 hours. Until that time she had always pulled our boat(s) while I pulled our RV's. The boats ranged from 14 foot for a few years to two different tandem trailers with 2000+ pound boats. She can back a boat into the water better than ANY man!

All that being said, my wife is very willing and able to pull our 14K+ Solitude, but I don't want her to bear the responsibility. I have no doubt that she is very capable of pulling a trailer 7 or 8 times heavier than any boat she has ever pulled. From pulling long, heavy trailers for 35+ years I also know how other drivers treat RV's on the road as a nuisance, how tiny little cars jump out in front and slam on the brakes, etc., and also being very mechanical I realize the torture our truck goes through and what noises to listen for while its doing all that work. But, because we have our lives and thousands of $$ at stake, if something really bad happens, I would rather own that responsibility so she won't have to. It sounds petty, but ask her, I'm selfish.

[Upthere]

My great gal has NEVER driven our rig down the highway, during our 30 years of pulling our RV until.... (I was waiting for hernia surgery that was cancelled last spring due to Covid) we were heading out on our famous Hwy 5 in BC.
I had an attack very suddenly and found a place to pull over. I was in a great deal of pain and my wife (without missing a beat) kicked me out of my seat and continued down the highway for another 2 hours. I was very impressed and she was driving a mountain Hwy with a 33 ft 5th wheel for the first time.
I will never underestimate her again 👍

[shutterbug]

My great gal has NEVER driven our rig down the highway, during our 30 years of pulling our RV until.... (I was waiting for hernia surgery that was cancelled last spring due to Covid) we were heading out on our famous Hwy 5 in BC.
I had an attack very suddenly and found a place to pull over. I was in a great deal of pain and my wife (without missing a beat) kicked me out of my seat and continued down the highway for another 2 hours. I was very impressed and she was driving a mountain Hwy with a 33 ft 5th wheel for the first time.
I will never underestimate her again 👍

I do most of the driving, BUT I insist my wife drive from time to time for the very reason you noted above. You never know when you'll find yourself in an emergency situation. I want to make sure that she's comfortable with the rig and can get herself to a safe location in the event anything ever happened to me.

[ssidiver]

I’m not the main driver but as soon as I get my classes completed I will help. Of course the pandemic put that off a while. Hopefully, this year will prove to be the year. I hate to see my poor hubby doing all the driving. Of course, we only ventured around Michigan last summer.

[ssidiver]

I do most of the driving, BUT I insist my wife drive from time to time for the very reason you noted above. You never know when you'll find yourself in an emergency situation. I want to make sure that she's comfortable with the rig and can get herself to a safe location in the event anything ever happened to me.

That’s why I signed up for classes!

[Steven@147]

Yes in fact my wife drove our rig yesterday part of the way from Galveston to Austin. I drove through Houston and part of the way west on I10, then the wife took over. We switched back at a Bucee's and she did great turning into Bucee's and maneuvering through their parking lot. This was right before we got to our next campground. She just isn't comfortable backing the rig into a site and that's ok.

[livinthelife]

My observation-

Men and women are equally capable of driving/towing anything. In fact, I've read that women are actually better at driving heavy equipment because they are more gentle and don't tear things up.

I think the reason you don't see many women pulling RV's is because most men prefer to do it and most women like the fact that their man wants to drive. Who wouldn't? Heck, I'd love to sit back and watch the scenery (or a movie for that matter) but I want to be in charge while towing. I still have more testosterone. This works great for us. My wife can take naps while I drive and I get treated like a king when we arrive at our destination. "You drove all day hun. Can I get you anything???" "Why yes! I would like some ice cream, thank you."

That's not the way we work it. I'm responsible for navigation, and watching the tire monitor, as well as keeping an eye right side (on ramps, as well a anyone stupid enough to drive up the shoulder - yes, it's happened) while traveling.

[ElSimon]

Our 4 sons learned early that the truck is mom's. We started with an F150 and now she drives an F250 Diesel. First trailer was a Scamp pulled with an Explorer. Now it's a GD 310 GK. 2 hours or cross country my wife drives. My DIL has no trouble driving the rig either. Her father was a trucker for many years. He says it's in her blood. I usually drive when it is time to park it. I backed a 25' flat bed trailer into the garage with 1" clearance on each side. Didn't touch once. Putting the 5er into a spot with trees, power and water spigots is no trouble for me. She does the long haul and I do the finesse.

It's scary that it doesn't bother her. I'm safe as long as she doesn't know how to put the hitch in the bed and torque it down. If she knew where I keep the torque wrench and how to install the hitch she would be tempted to be gone before I got home from work! I left the hitch in once and had to fly from Utah to Texas to catch up with her!

BTW - Her sister also does the driving in their family.

[Nomad303]

"Just curious how many women share driving duty whatever your truck/trailer combo might be. "

My wife does drive our RAM/303RLS rig. It really comes in handy when I have to work while riding down road.