Thread: Towing a heavy camper trailer on sand?

I'm sure Marcus (Chops) could give you some advice here I don't know the weights etc, but he pulled this around our SA trip last year, including Googes Track.



There were plenty of big dunes, with pretty soft sand and he only had one woops moment - simply making the wrong choice of which track was the best option... easy mistake.



As Scott said - tyre pressures on the trailer is the key - would also be beneficial if the trailer has a similar track to the car

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The rule of thumb is the towball being about 10% of the total weight.
As for sand, dropping the tyres is the main key, followed by momentum.
I'm quite interested in this one, whose ball weight is only 140kg empty, and it also has a very easy pole system, which just needs a push to setup.

SUV Forward Fold GRAND DELUXE - Guardian Campers & RV Centre

That looks almost identical to mine with virtually the same empty ball weight. I can guarantee the loaded ball weight will be 100kg extra. This is not a problem so long as you are aware and load the rear of the vehicle accordingly.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

The key thing with camper trailers is the pole design. If you have to install a dozen poles to setup the main tent it’s a pain in th backside. Our Johnno’s soft floor has the main tent hoops built in and one loop is simply extended to make the tent usable for an overnight stay. Adding the awning adds 8 poles, but for an overnight is unnecessary. I saw too many of the Chinese jobbies that had a plethora of internal poles just to setup the basic room.

I don't think any of the forward fold campers that the OP is considering would have this issue. All main tent poles are permanently fitted (just fold open and extend internal hoop). The awning requires four poles with guy ropes. All the forward folds we looked at were the same.



And the point already mentioned about same track as vehicle is the key, which is almost certain for most of these campers.

Scott

You will not have many problems towing in the sand, with lowered tyre pressure.

But a set of matrix trax could come in handy https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/smilies/Whistle.png

Thanks for all the reply's guys. Sounds like the general consensus is the Disco will handle the trailer in sand without too many problems as long as the tyre pressure is suitable. I'll also check the track width of the trailer, but I think that should be OK.

With regards to the trailer itself, I'm pretty confident in the ease of set up. The main tent can be set up with basically no pole adjustment needed, or for a bit of extra tension a few spreader bars can be added, but even that only takes a couple of minutes. Awning setup is a bit trickier, but with a bit of practice should only be a 10-15 minute job. Really, my main concern (aside from cost!) was/is the weight of the trailer, but that concern has been eased by the reply's here.

Cheers
Sean

Originally Posted by LRD414

That looks almost identical to mine with virtually the same empty ball weight. I can guarantee the loaded ball weight will be 100kg extra. This is not a problem so long as you are aware and load the rear of the vehicle accordingly.


I don't think any of the forward fold campers that the OP is considering would have this issue. All main tent poles are permanently fitted (just fold open and extend internal hoop). The awning requires four poles with guy ropes. All the forward folds we looked at were the same.



And the point already mentioned about same track as vehicle is the key, which is almost certain for most of these campers.

Scott

The towball weight they quoted was for an empty trailer.
One of the neat things about that particular camper is it has a second 100 litre water tank on the rear giving a total of 200 litres, which might not be needed much of the time, but when the second tank is filled, it reduces the towball weight.

We currently have a 15 year old Aussie Swag rear fold, which is fine for what it is and does the job, but dreaming is nice...
The Aussie Swag is just a case of flip it over and clip the corners down. The awning has four poles. So it's very quick to put up.
Back to the OP and I can say ours is OK in sand as long as the pressures are lowered and you judge the momentum and stay in the hardened wheel tracks.

We just came back from a trip across the bight. Eucla to esperance and on to albany with lots of soft sand, inlet crossings and dunes.

A friend took his patriot X1 as a communal catering trailer, loaded up to about 1,600kg. He had re-tracked the trailer to match his vehicle and was running down around 12psi in places. We still had a bit of winching to do to keep it moving, so a vehicle either end of the "mothership" worked well.

One learning was the way the trailer behaved in the sand especially when reversing and over existing wheel ruts. He got really good at reversing pretty quickly across the sand and putting the trailer where he wanted it, mostly!

Practice and having a bit of support on hand would be my take-away from that trip.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The rule of thumb is the towball being about 10% of the total weight.
As for sand, dropping the tyres is the main key, followed by momentum.
I'm quite interested in this one, whose ball weight is only 140kg empty, and it also has a very easy pole system, which just needs a push to setup.

SUV Forward Fold GRAND DELUXE - Guardian Campers & RV Centre

There’s a spread sheet getting around the web of all the vans and trailers with claimed and actual ball weights.

That whole 10% thing goes right out the window!

Yeah, it makes a lot of difference if you can keep the wheels in existing wheel tracks.