1st time beach driving advice

So what's with the compressors packing out - just badly made or not right for the conditions? You would have thought if it's sold to an Australian market it should be able to do the job here.

re; John's comment - "and never stop on an uphill in sand"
so if I do come to a stop on a dune, straight into rev and back to solid footing and go again.

Also have any of you been over at christmas? We arrive there christmas day so expecting to have to look around a fair bit to find a free camp space. I'm not to fussed but was up an Inskip for NRL GF wkd and it was chaotic - surely it can't get as packed as that down on main beach?

Just go and do it, make your own mistakes, you will find out quick enough where you went wrong, Bob

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Originally Posted by magmike

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re; John's comment - "and never stop on an uphill in sand"
so if I do come to a stop on a dune, straight into rev and back to solid footing and go again.

....

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If you are forced to come to a stop on a dune, yes, just back carefully down to the level before trying to start again. What I meant was to not intentionally stop on an uphill - wait until you get to the top; if there is a vehicle in front, wait until they are clear of the top before you even start.

And as debacle commented - plan your driving up hills so that you do not need to change gears on a hill; start off in the gear you will need to get over the top. Unless you are going very fast and are a very skilled driver, changing down on a hill is a sure recipe for getting stuck.

John

(I don't have a lot of beach experience - but I did spend nearly two years in the Simpson Desert)

Buy a tyre gauge as well.......

You could get away without a compressor as I'm pretty sure there is a servo as you land on the mainland, I have never had to air up during a beach trip. I just lower the pressures as required an re-inflate on the last day

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Originally Posted by Slunnie

If you dont want to buy a compressor then driver super carefully to the servo when you get off the island.

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Just air up at the servo 1km down the road from the beach access. Close to either George Nothling Drive (Main beach access Pt. Lookout) or Flinders Beach access.


I've got a good ARB compressor and don't bother to unpack it when on Straddie. Just use the servo.


EDIT: Just checked Google Maps. Servo is 1.9 km from main beach access and about 400m from the Flinders Beach access. The road is 60kph from memory. Low pressures for this distance will be fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by magmike

So what's with the compressors packing out - just badly made or not right for the conditions? You would have thought if it's sold to an Australian market it should be able to do the job here.

re; John's comment - "and never stop on an uphill in sand"
so if I do come to a stop on a dune, straight into rev and back to solid footing and go again.

Also have any of you been over at christmas? We arrive there christmas day so expecting to have to look around a fair bit to find a free camp space. I'm not to fussed but was up an Inskip for NRL GF wkd and it was chaotic - surely it can't get as packed as that down on main beach?

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Don't you have to book a camp site?


Main beach itself isn't too hectic along the beach itself as it's very long. Haven't actually camped there (stay in a beach shack at Amity) so not too sure about the camp sites though.


With 235/85's on the car you shouldn't have any problems. I run mine in my county at 15 psi and it will not get bogged over there no matter how many things I do wrong. The D3 on 19's however...

"...With 235/85's on the car you shouldn't have any problems. I run mine in my county at 15 psi and it will not get bogged over there no matter how many things I do wrong. The D3 on 19's however..."

'Poncey -mobiles' .... Rich mum's School bus... Toorak Tractor....

Mechanic mate of mine relishes a tale of being up a holiday beach with his Prado. Some Rich Mates took their RRS, Audi and Beemer out to play in the sand. All had those Impressive Big Wheels... and all got totally bogged.
His Prado on standard, H/T tyres pulled them all out.
He reckons he was laughing so much that he forgot to take pictures....:p:p:p

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Originally Posted by superquag

"...With 235/85's on the car you shouldn't have any problems. I run mine in my county at 15 psi and it will not get bogged over there no matter how many things I do wrong. The D3 on 19's however..."

'Poncey -mobiles' .... Rich mum's School bus... Toorak Tractor....

Mechanic mate of mine relishes a tale of being up a holiday beach with his Prado. Some Rich Mates took their RRS, Audi and Beemer out to play in the sand. All had those Impressive Big Wheels... and all got totally bogged.
His Prado on standard, H/T tyres pulled them all out.
He reckons he was laughing so much that he forgot to take pictures....:p:p:p

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A D3/RRS set up properly and driven well is excellent on sand. Seen many bogged Prado's where the D3 has sailed through. But it does have to be driven properly with lower tyre pressures. With the County it doesn't matter.


I've only had the D3 bogged once. And that was because it was only going to be a quick run and I didn't lower the tyre pressures. Hard to blame the car for my own incompetence.

I've heard,
> coast to a stop without brakes if possible (so you don't dig in).
> point the nose downhill when you stop (hopefully works with the above).

> DON'T GET BOGGED BELOW THE HIGH TIDE LINE!

Straddie trip went well... Didn't get bogged (this time!) and luckily for us we left a few days prior to the bush fire situation over there.

My confidence was given a great boost because although I'd had numerous warnings on the drive over about the badly cut up state of the access point and beach in general, the D2 never really felt like getting into trouble.

Coming in off Tazi road (tires down) I must have passed 4-5 bogged vehicles in with the first km and heaps more over the next few days.

Some of the camp access points over the dunes are really soft and some very steep, I gave one in particular a good couple of cracks but with a narrow beach I just couldnt seem to generate enough power over a soft run up to clear the brow.

Day 3 headed up to the Creek access and in and along the Fisherman's track was a great little drive. Some pretty deep flooded out parts of the track made for interesting and unexpected obstacles.

I ended up purchasing an EZ-Deflater, which wasn't actually that easy; removing the valve core completely seemed to create a blockage, it was only after fiddling around with the core partially removed that the air flowed freely. Not sure if this is specific to my tires or an issue with the product.

I also picked up an SCA Hurricane compressor which I'm about to take back and try to get a refund. It successfully inflated 2 and a half tires before giving out. It didn't die completely, sounded like it was doing to business, but the pressure wasn't budging and it seemed to be losing air from the compressor meaning a stalemate.

All round though I'm pretty rapt and looking forward to getting out again soon. Thanks again for the tips.

Mike