Fraser Island - Tips for driving with heavy camper

[ewwreckers]

We were out there from 30/12 - 3/1 but only took tents, left camper in hervey bay. We went river heads to wangoolba creek so we didnt have to worry about timing tides, vic took his cue from the rangers who were all running skinny road tyres on their cruisers without letting any air out. Only place we got bogged was wathumba creek when he went to go across the creek at low tide to help a guy who's starter motor Shite itself (will be all in the trip report when we finally get home). They apparently had a bit of rain over a few days before we got there though. We saw people towing double axle trailers and there was a 22 ft cruiser boat out there too that someone was towing!

[Rumpig]

We saw people towing double axle trailers and there was a 22 ft cruiser boat out there too that someone was towing!

if you saw the size of the boats some guys used to tow up the island when the Fraser Fishing Expo used to be on, you'd be gob smacked. it really was a spectacle worth seeing.

[ian_baker58]

take as much weight out of the van and put it in the prado and dont be afraid to drop air, when we went over i had 16 in the front 18 in the back and 16 in the camper, both truck and trailer were very heavy. If you be careful you will be fine running pressures of 16 or 18 and it makes it more comfotable when driving the inland tracks. Also dont speed on the tracks, i lost my temper with several vehicles that were speeding through the tracks.

Good advice - lower the tire pressures (good advice in this post generally) and reduce the weight in the trailer as much as possible.  Weight is everything in that environment. Know your tide timings and don't take un-necessary risks.

We were ther JUL 12 - great time.  My experience is that there are usualy helpful people around.  You appear to have the right recovery gear and attitude - you'll have a great time!

[Kalebjarrod]

Watch the tides and you only have a short run to camp along a hard beach

Get to in skip early so you don't have to line up on soft sand, pick your line, and go go go

18psi, easy peasy, you'll reply to this thread and say it was so easy

[Mallory Black]

oh yeah, leave the water tank empty and top up at the campsite, save lots of weight there

[Jeepers Creepers]

oh yeah, leave the water tank empty and top up at the campsite, save lots of weight there

I'mthinkingofdoingthatmyselfnexttime. We carry a 100 litres currently.

[MR MAC GU]

My general rule is...

18psi not towing
12-15 psi towing match the trailer tyres as well.

I have run as low as 8 psi with no problems just take it easy and don't turn sharp.

This is after many years of towing 1800+kg to Moreton, straddle, Fraser and the Simpson desert.

Drop low before you hit sand and you won't get stuck, your car may do it at 18-25psi but it will be working hard and chewing fuel.

Go low and go slow for soft sand and increase to 15-18 for harder sand up to 80kph just don't turn sharp!


Sent from Behind you...BOO

[jeeps]

I would also echo some of the comments that others have made about lowering the tyre pressures in the camper. I've helped many a stubborn old grey nomad with his diesel toyota land barge or patrol who's been stuck at cuttings trying to get a 1.5 tonne+ caravan off the beach with no success. A year or so ago one old fella with his 4.2 Patrol made about 5 attempts in front of us trying to get off the beach at teewah before running out of puff, each time reversing back and giving it another go. He told me he was running 15psi in the patrol but he refused to drop the caravan's tyres from the their 30+psi road pressure. I finally convinced him to drop the caravan's pressures to 18 or so psi and off the beach he went first go. He came back to thank me for the advice and said he's been camping up there for 20 years and never heard of lowering  trailer/caravan pressures.

Also, if your 4wd's rear end sags or the drawbar weight is excessive that'll cause problems too. My camper trailer is only 700kg's loaded up so i make sure i can lift the drawbar by hand and that makes a HUGE difference on the soft stuff.

I don't know what the cost of these top spec pop top campers are but i would expect that they are about $30,000 new. If i was taking one of those up the beach i wouldn't hesitate in purchasing 2x pairs of Maxtrax. They're less than $300 per pair so that's something like less than 2% of the cost of the camper...

cheers

[gordo350]

Can anyone explain why lowering the tyres of the camper helps. I understand the tug tyres get more traction by having a longer foot print but wouldn't that make the trailer harder to pull if they also had a bigger foot print. Is it because they dont dig into the sand as deep ?

[Chris-Vi]

I ran 18psi on Fraser and towed our Cape York to Orchid Beach without a worry and that has a heavy tow ball weight. Dropping the camper trailer tyre pressures as well gives a bigger foot print like your vehicle and it floats, for a better word, over the sand. It sits on top easier. I found out the hard way last time I was at Inskip. By not lowering the camper tyres I got bogged. They were trying to push a wall of sand in front of them. Lowered the pressures and drove out and too our camping spot. 

[nbd73]

Can anyone explain why lowering the tyres of the camper helps. I understand the tug tyres get more traction by having a longer foot print but wouldn't that make the trailer harder to pull if they also had a bigger foot print. Is it because they dont dig into the sand as deep ?

Same reason as lowering in car. Whether pushing or pulling, a partially deflated tyre is less likely to dig in and more likely to roll over objects, be they sand or mud or whatever.  A fully inflated tyre is like an anchor behind your vehicle.

[gordo350]

Same reason as lowering in car. Whether pushing or pulling, a partially deflated tyre is less likely to dig in and more likely to roll over objects, be they sand or mud or whatever.  A fully inflated tyre is like an anchor behind your vehicle

That make sense now