Thread: Sand Ladders / Bridging Planks

Originally Posted by Reads90

I took some Carbon Fiber sand ladders with me round Aus. Diud not use them though. Great as they are really light but strong

Sounds ideal but possibly a tad expensive for something I may not even need to use.

Are they commercially available and if so at what sort of cost?
Also what size were they?

Roger

Milk crates gentlemen, each milk crate yeilds 4-5 usable pads, tie them together with rope hinges and you can make em as long as you like, they stack, they double as shower mats, theyre light and if you know where to look, you can get em free.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Milk crates gentlemen, each milk crate yeilds 4-5 usable pads, tie them together with rope hinges and you can make em as long as you like, they stack, they double as shower mats, theyre light and if you know where to look, you can get em free.

But you are carrying a lot of air around in relation to the distance they will cover. Broken down milk crates are low mass, high volume. You have to put them somewhere. Coir mats can be rolled up into tight, low mass, cylinders, and hung wherever. In sand country, off the side posts of your bull bar or brush guard would be ideal. Remember, before the fifities no-one in the bush had 4wd's. They got the job done with skill, knowledge, & patience. No-one in my family had a 4wd on a mail run until 1992. I asked the person if he found it easier with the 4wd ( a second-hand Nissan), and he replied that he "put the hubs in once last year, but probably didn't need to".

I use them for driver training purposes. But to be honest, it's not very often that I require them. I know when I did the Simpson run last year, I only carried a very basic recovery kit. With all the weight of everything that you have to take, I backed of on stuff that was "nice to have". My recovery kit did include a sand anchor though so I could winch myself out if required.

To me it is the type of item that you'd carry for competitions etc more so than really long distance travelling. Even though you are thinking of doing madigans line, I don't envisage you getting stuck too many times. And even then you'd be doing it with another vehicle??? If so then you'll be using your snatch strap 99 times out of 100.

Just a couple of thoughts anyway

Chris

Yeah the milk crate is a little bit space consuming, thats why you cut them up

But you cant beat the cost and the fact that they can be sperated and made into a a vertical stack instead of something 5 foot long and a foot wide ( guestimate). And if you uncoulple them you can lay them around corners mind you I would not want to try bridging with them

I found out the milk crates thing off of an old timer one day when I was tractionally disadvantaged on a beach who explained it to me and then lent me the ones he had in the bottom of his ummm not landrovers tray space.

as for storage of them or any other sand ladder/mat I know someone with umm a non landrover who keeps them on the floor under the rear passangers feet. I can see it doing 2 things, 1, stops foot scuffing on the floor and 2, it means the passangers HAVE to get out to help.

Good idea Reads. But bugger, I had access to this stuff by the sheet up until a month ago. Wish I had thought of that then. Will have to keep an eye out for some.Did not really think it would be strong enough.

Originally Posted by Reads90

I had them in the Uk and used them in competion alot. They are great and strong. Good for useing as bridging ladders. BTW it is stuff called Fidergrete and can be bought here. Is used for chemical floors so you walk on it and all dangerous water and cheimacls fall though it. But need to find it from builders and then get it cut to the size you need
I had them mounted on the back of the truck

Originally Posted by cewilson

I use them for driver training purposes. But to be honest, it's not very often that I require them. I know when I did the Simpson run last year, I only carried a very basic recovery kit. With all the weight of everything that you have to take, I backed of on stuff that was "nice to have". My recovery kit did include a sand anchor though so I could winch myself out if required.

To me it is the type of item that you'd carry for competitions etc more so than really long distance travelling. Even though you are thinking of doing madigans line, I don't envisage you getting stuck too many times. And even then you'd be doing it with another vehicle??? If so then you'll be using your snatch strap 99 times out of 100.

Just a couple of thoughts anyway

Chris

Well said and some good thoughts.

We will be travelling exclusively with Defenders - probably two 130's, three Xtremes and one Isuzu County. Although each vehicle will be self sufficient, we will be load sharing with emergency items such as spares, special tools, and specialised recovery equipment.

The reason I have started to consider the long sand ladders is that I have read reports on another forum about extreme difficulty crossing some dunes after one vehicle had failed to proceed and was being towed - more than 4hrs to cross one dune. We will be carrying two solid tow bars as we don't intend leaving anyone stranded in the unfortunate event of a major, non repairable breakdown. Madigans Line traverses some pretty remote country and if you could get a third party to tow you out of there, it would be frightfully exxy.

My idea, to keep weight down (which I realise is very important) was to incorporate some type of lightweight but strong sand ladder into a roofrack - thereby serving a double purpose. And if we don't need to use the sand ladders at least we've been able to carry a few spare tyre cases up top.

Roger

IF you only keep them there while you are off road and dont intend to night travel, mod the bull bar and store them between the bar and the fenders, along with the snatch bag, winch extention strap and long handled shovel I made a set of clamps from cheapy bunnings ubolts to hold everything but the sand ladders. The gear blocks the lights but dont make enough difference to the air flow to the radiator to be troublesome, Not sure if the sand ladders or desert heat will be enough to make it a problem tho.