FL2 on the Beach at Fraser

[mckenny]

Hi all, new member.

Taking the freelander 2 to Fraser in September. 1st time on the beach in this car? Anything specific to consider for beach driving in soft sand with FL2's. Also, bit worried about the clearance on the inland tracks. Anyone taken there's up there? I've taken the FL2 to a few muddy places where I have had to be careful with the clearance. (Always suprising how good she goes) but never the beach.

Any comments / advice welcome


Cheers,

[mikehzz]

Let the tyres down to around 15psi. In sand mode, turn DSC off and drive manually. If you get stuck in really soft sand, reverse out using mud & ruts. Awesome car on sand.

[bell1975]

You'd be wanting to keep asking yourself "Am I going to be dragging the undercarriage through the entire length of this deeply rutted section in front of me?". If it looks too deep I'd be giving it some berries as you'll lose so much momentum as your diffs and whatever else hangs low tries to delve the middle hump flat...as sure as night follows day you will find yourself hung up on the high hump in the middle of the bad sections of some inland tracks. I see Hiluxes getting stuck in these sections so I would imagine that a FL will struggle equally as much but I'll be honest I'm not familiar with the clearance on the FLs compared to other vehicles.

Conditions change rapidly depending upon traffic volumes and rainfall on the island. Check the DERM site for the latest conditions report.

I haven't been to FI for a while but some of the truly shocking areas are traditionally those between Kingfisher in the west and Eurong via Lake McKenzie and then between the McKenzie t/o and Cornwells Break Road and/or Eurong (back of Eurong road). Further north there's usually some rough stuff between the eastern beach and Lake Allom and also the Wathumba Rd (not so much deeply rutted just a sh**ty bit of road).

Indian Head bypass track is worth having a walk through to see what the state of it is like before ploughing through. It's only a half km walk there and back to your car. And if you end up passing on it you can always wander up the headland and enjoy the view of the backpackers, er, I mean the other view. Once you're on the 1 way circuit towards Waddy Point there are a couple of sections that catch people in low(er) clearance vehicles out too. At least it's easier to carry a bit more speed along there without having to worry too much about finding another vehicle coming toward you. But only a fool would think that it couldn't happen.

And on the backpacker front it's also worth checking out Eli Creek...or Champagne Pools depending on whether you have made it through Indian Head (and if you didn't the Pools are only 20 mins walk up the beach from the track).

Once you're back on the mainland you'd be wanting to allow a good couple of hours attempting to return your vehicle to a pre-Fraser Island state. Large volumes of water but not high pressure and maybe a can of Inox or Lanotech to squirt onto any bits that look like they're allergic to salt water.

Take care and enjoy your journey. Post a few photos here when you return.

[mckenny]

Many thanks for these posts. Glad no one said don't even think about it! Also good to hear others have confidence in the car in the sand. Probably camp around the cathedrals and head to champagne pools and lake mackenzie. Can't see us getting to far north of the crossing at indian head.

Will check the confitions report closer to the time.

And definitely conscious of dragging a lot of Sand. Use to work in a burns unit and we'd occassioanlly see people come through with quite bad burns to their feet, where the cars had become bogged, hot engines on sand (which is a good conductor). Just doens't mix...

thanks again everyone.

Cheers,

[spelchek]

Hi Mckenny,

We're taking ours over to Fraser in sep as ell - when will you be there? We're heading over 10th-17th.

Not been to Fraser myself (well, I've stepped off the boat onto some western beaches a few times) but have doen a bit fo sand driving in the parks around Bundy. The FL2 handles the sand really easily. What wheel/tyre combo are you running? I've got 17's with Bridgestone Duellers.

Looking forward to the trip - and packing it a bit as we're towing a camper-trailer. Should give a good indication of how capable she is I guess.

[Jono70]

I was there last year (FL2 TD4). Don't bother letting the tyres down - no need (gives extra clearance; which is better than Prado anyway). The car is so good on sand due to power to weight. If you get to high mid sections in rutted tracks drive on top of them. It seems a but risky but the FL2 is light and holds the line easily. We drove past bogged Hilux Surfs and Landcrusiers. By the time we left four days later I was so casual with the car let my wife drive. Really - you will be amazed. Still take all the safety gear but you won't need it. If you leave via Inskip point (Rainbow beach) follow the signs to the carwash and they have a compressor to reinflate tyres if you do let them down. Only tip is slow down for the washouts on the eastern beach as they all vary in depth/ridge angle. Have fun!

Going to buy a Disc 4 only because wife wants the FL2 and load space in them is a little small for the longer trips I want to start doing.

[stig0000]

had me mums up the beach and dident bother putting the tyres down,, was great fun, great car on the sand,, just glides over it so easy, and the td4 just powers thru sooo easy,, ul be fine,

buy the end of it i dident bother with the sand mode,, just tern DSC off and went fine,

[mckenny]

Thanks Jono, Spelchek and stig,

Spelchek, we're up there from 14 Sep to 20 Sep so we might cross paths. If you see a black one cruising around with a pod on top that'll be us. tyre's are pretty standard, Toyo HVT's 17s. Am sure they'll be fine for sand driving.

Jono and stig, thanks for comments as well. Great to hear the stories and just adds to increasing confidence in the car. Think I'll stick on the safe side and let the tyre's down to around 18psi for the trip on / off the barge and up to the campsite. Mate has a portable compressor so can always inflate them a bit more for the days trips if required.

Been thinking about your comment about riding high on the inland tracks Jono. It does go against how I'd normally drive tracks but I take your point. Being light and having a pretty short wheel base, I can see the FL2 holding the line fairly well. I'll see how deep they look. Don't won't to be sliding off into a tree. Travelling up with to 2 new Tritons, a hilux and a pajero. I had a look and the FL2 has more clearance than the new 4wd tritons. 210 to 200mm. So I might let them go first and see how much sand they drag


Cheers everyone,

McKenny

[mckenny]

Well we're back. One of the best trips ever.

Brilliant Weather. Surf was a duckpond by the end of the trip. No wind.
Bagged out on tailor and that was including the kids limits (Mind you not many left now)

FL2 handled itself brilliantly. Though I'm told the tracks weren't too bad this year. We went to day trips at champagne pools, lake wabby, lake mackenzie, eli creek. FL2 handled itself well on all of those trips. Passed indian head easily. (Though as I mentioned don't think the track was too bad)

Although we did have to pull out a nice pommy family in jeep. Ill prepared. Tyres at 31 PSI (said he'd let them out a bit....) following god knows what track with no recovery gear.

I was cautious with how the FL2 handled but now confident it will go anywhere I want to if driven with a bit of cautiousness on some terrains. Overall it handled like a dream.

Thanks for the advice and tips everyone.

Cheers,

Mckenny

[spelchek]

We had an awesome time as well mackenny - although we only got 3 tailor between two of us all week. Family loved it and (as the missus and I hoped) the kids are keen as mustard to get back out camping again in 'the landy'. Pity we didn't see you (didn't see your post re:dates until we returned) - would have liked to get a picture of the two FL2's to compliment the ~47,000 I took of ours

Same experience as you re: FL2's ability - certainly very confidence inspiring for future trips. I was running 22psi on all 4 wheels and it felt like she just floated over the sand (which I guess she did, really). Even with the camper-trailer she never even felt like struggling no matter where we took her. Never even looked at the recovery gear.

Another pleasant factor with the FL2 was the fuel use. The other family we went with had a Navara (3.2l diesel) and it used way more fuel than the Landy. We averaged 13.5l/100km over the week - including the towing.

I've got some great pics and will post a trip report as soon as I catch up on the rest of my life (came home to find an IT ****storm due to my businesses hosting service migrating servers which caused some big problems).