Thread: French Line - no winch.

The French Line is a relatively easy drive, you will probably see a lot of others out there this time of year....it is so pleasant....take your loooong flag.....keep your radio on, keep your tyre pressures down low, as Justin said, check your necessities and only take them. Winch is unnecessary. Long handle shovel is your friend. If you got stuck on the French Line at this time of year you wouldn't be alone for very long. Everybody stops early afternoon and you can see where everybody stops.....there isn't much choice. Wish you an enjoyable trip. Next year we are going to do a SW>NE Simpson crossing without maps and roads(maybe some station tracks) with a traditional land owner friend and I will be only taking half what I took last time.

I hope you are planning to take some sort of long distance communication device for emergencies. Travelling by yourself through the desert is leaving no room for error.
If you can get hold of a tirfor to borrow, it would probably be worth taking, just in case. Learn how to use it before you go. You can also use the hilift jack as a winch, it will do the job fine, but having to re-rig it every 4 or 5 feet might be a bit of a pain. Likewise, learn how todo this before you go, nothing worse than trying to work it out while you are flustered. This will ensure you have enough ancilliary equipment on hand to do the job, like shackles, chain, winch extension strap etc.
With proper tyre pressures though, as long as you dont take any unnecessary risks or drive like a moron, you should have no trouble with the crossing, just follow the tyre tracks across the salt pans, that's usually the firmest option.

I have never found the need for a winch in any of the crossings of the Simpson that I have led and neither have any of the others accompanying me on those numerous trips. As said many times in this and other threads relating to sand driving, tyre pressures and not overloading - ie. leaving the unnecessary items at home - are the biggest two factors that will contribute to a successful and enjoyable desert experience.

The only other factors that I'd add is to select the gear that will provide JUST ENOUGH MOMENTUM to get you over the sand ridge WITHOUT SPINNING WHEELS. Once your wheels are spinning, you are digging holes for yourself instead of moving forward.

bloody hell Barney, we're telling Stallie not to take unnecessary gear like a winch and you tell him to take a turfor....you know how much a turfor and rope weighs? bet you cant lift it alone.....we're telling him to trim down and you're telling him to fatten up. there is so much UFH chatter along the French line you don't need any other communication. Hope youre not getting too confused here with advice Stallie

If sticking to the main tracks (French, QAA, WAA, WBG and probably even the Hay River run due to it's recent increased popularity) then the Simpson can no longer be considered a remote area if people and traffic are the criteria used to judge remoteness.

If you were considering the Madigan Line, Geosurvey Hill or the geographical centre of the Simpson then that's a different matter and would require far more planning and preparation.

Wow, quite the discussion! Thanks for all the replies.

As said in the opening, I'm going with just my two boys and leaving the mrs and the 2yo at home to save weight. Makes it a boys trip too!

I'm no stranger to remote travel, but its my first long "committed" sand track hence the question - and mainly to placate the mrs as she had heard me tossing up whether to get a winch before our Kimberley trip last year. When she learnt that she wasn't included, jealousy ensued and the maternal worry kicked in! I'm sure if she was coming she wouldn't have asked!

By the sounds of it, it won't be that remote anyway if there are likely to be other cars daily which is fine. Much busier than the places we have been in the past. I'm not intending to try anything hard here - happy to play conservative and avoid getting into trouble in the first place.

And to reply to those other posters: I'll be carrying a spot tracker and Satphone. I'll have a highlift jack and drag chain and can set up the system as a winch if needed (off the buried tyre). Camping gear will be a bare minimum -even taking my mountaineering (diesel burning) stove which weighs 300g - to cut down the weight.

Thanks again all. Keep a lookout for the maroon d2a, Vic rego, voyager racks, and me and my boys. We'll get to Coober in 2 days from Melbourne, then head to Oodnadatta, Dalhousie and about 5 days across to Birdsville, then a week between there and Innamincka, then 2 days home.

Leave the HiLift home...

Weigh a tonne and hardly useful.

Again one of those "think it might be handy" items; that's not...

And take cans, not stubbies.