Author’s Note: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with B&W. Though the post is sponsored, all thoughts and opinions are my own based on research and user experience.
If you’ve been following our travels over the past few years, you will know that we are constantly looking for ways to improve our travel experience. Whether it be trading in our Sprinter van for our Airstream, tricking out our tow vehicle to handle any situation, or yet another solar system upgrade, we are always searching for tools and products that can help us explore further and stay out longer.
And while our tow vehicle has performed masterfully getting us safely from Baja to Alaska and back again, and our Airstream is now outfitted to camp off-grid for weeks at a time, we somehow managed to overlook the very important connection between the two — our hitch.
When we first purchased our Airstream, the previous owners were kind enough to throw in the weight distribution hitch that they had purchased to tow the Airstream. Not knowing anything about towing or hitches at the time, I gladly accepted. With the help of a camp neighbor, I was able to make some basic adjustments to the hitch and make it work with our tow vehicle. Every few months a couple of bolts would loosen and need to be re-tightened, but otherwise it worked fine – or at least I thought it did.
Fast forward two years and thousands of miles later, and we received an email from B&W Trailer Hitches asking if we would be willing to test out their new Continuum Hitch. After spending a few hours researching the product I was intrigued enough to agree to swap out our old hitch for something that appeared to be quite innovative and had the potential to significantly improve our ride comfort while towing.
When the hitch arrived I was immediately impressed by its appearance and engineering. It really was quite attractive compared to my old heavy and rusty sway bars, and after getting a better sense of how it actually worked I was even more impressed. The installation was simple and I was able to install it by myself in a few hours while dispersed camping in California’s Alabama Hills. No unplanned hardware store visits required! Which was great, because if you’ve camped out that way you know there isn’t much around.
On our first trip with the Continuum Hitch I could immediately feel the difference. I really had no idea what I had been missing out on! Our old weight distribution hitch always felt secure, but it was a long way from a smooth ride. Having never towed before purchasing our Airstream, I just accepted that towing was meant to be a bit rough. We had always experienced a bit of a push and pull while towing with our old hitch, which created a slight back and forth motion inside the cab of the truck. It usually wasn’t very pronounced, but I remember a long drive day through Northern British Columbia where it became almost maddening. That sensation completely disappeared with the Continuum and now the truck and trailer truly feel as if they are one.
In addition to bringing us a huge improvement in ride comfort, the Continuum is also much easier to connect and disconnect than our old sway bar setup. Unlike many hitches that require installation from both sides, B&W’s Continuum Hitch takes convenience to a whole new level and allows setup to be done solely from the driver’s side. This is made possible because the composite bars stay connected to the A-frame, eliminating the need to store and lug around heavy steel weight distribution bars. Plus, thanks to the hydraulic system design, loading the bars takes just a few pumps of a handle. It is a truly innovative and user-friendly design that saves time and effort, making it perfect for families like ours who are constantly on the move.
Between the improved ride and the ease of setup, we are sold on our new hitch. It made our latest trip down the Baja Peninsula so much more enjoyable and I found myself much more relaxed while towing, even on some of the most notoriously treacherous stretches of highway.
If you’re looking to improve your towing experience, or simply tired of fighting with your current hitch setup, I highly recommend giving B&W’s Continuum Weight Distribution Hitch a look. It is definitely a premium product, but like most things in life, you get what you pay for.