This is going to save my marriage. That's my first thought as I stare at the truck dash glowing with the view of a boat ready for hitch. I just finished fishing for tarpon in Florida's Treasure Coast. Truth be told, I tanked. I couldn't help myself. I stopped stripping line to stare at tarpon, which look like dolphins compared to trout. They were on to me as soon as my fly stopped twitching. I didn't hook a single fish, but I looked at a lot of them.
"There's 70 to 80 tarpon under us," Steve Beare, On Island Time Charters captain had told me when I froze up. "My fish finder is lit up like a Christmas tree."
But no present for me so on to my next Floridian challenge: pull an Epic boat hitched to a Nissan American Titan. The hot and cold temperature settings on the truck's seats are impressive, but the hitch cam on the tailgate? Marriage saver when it matters most. In the driveway.
My husband and I are a solid team, but you wouldn't know it when it's time to hook up any type of trailer to our truck. Our neighbors can vouch for that. I know they peek out their windows watching the horrific driveway display that says anything but couple of the year.
He doesn't like my hand signals. I don't like the way he ignores my hand signals in the rear view mirror. Especially the middle-fingered one I show him right before I walk back in the house and leave him half hitched.
Thankfully, most drift boats are light enough to manually line up by hand but camp trailers and bigger boats like the one I'm hauling in Florida require help from another. Well, they did until Nissan turned the two-man job into a solo operation with its hitch cam.
Yes, other trucks have rearview cameras, but they usually point out. The Titan's is on the tailgate and it angles down toward the hitching point. It's one of six cameras on the truck that, when combined, create a 360-degree view displayed on the dash. Nissan calls it the Around View Monitor and it's within easy see of the driver.
Actually it's within easy see in the shade. Situating the monitor deeper in the dash would make it easier to see in bright, sunny conditions. Regardless, it's still better than your fishing buddy, or your spouse, behind the truck waving arms wildly trying to line up the connection point between what tows and what needs to be towed.
With around view, I can connect a boat trailer on my own. I can also check trailer lights on my own. The Titan is programmed to do that too. My husband and I will never have to cross each other's hostile driveway paths again. The neighbors will have to find something else to spy on.
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