Thread: Trailer in Simpson Desert

I am speaking from the experience of nearly two years living in the Simpson Desert in the sixties, so my knowledge is a bit dated - but my total experience of the conditions may well be more than most, and I doubt if the desert has changed much in forty years.

It is possible to travel with a trailer in the desert, but you are making things a lot more difficult for yourself if you do. A major difference between the Simpson (and most other Australian Deserts) and typical African or middle east deserts is that the Australian deserts have sand ridges not isolated (usually crescentic) dunes. This means that it is impossible to avoid driving across them, unless you confine yoour travel to one direction. Further, most tracks across the Australian deserts started life as survey lines that went straight regardless of sandhills, where in Africa or the middle east most tracks started as camel tracks that deliberately followed the line of least resistance. The result is that in Australian Deserts, you have far more travel uphill on sand than in Africa or Asia. (and downhill, but that is not a problem) And this is where a trailer is a problem; not only are you more likely to fail in your first attempt at the hill, but the consequences of failing are a lot worse - ever tried backing a trailer in loose sand down a steep hill? Leaving a trailer at the foot of a sandhill and winching it up is not a big deal the first couple of times - but if you have to do it every half kilometre, it will rapidly wear thin.
When I was working there we had trailers - but they were only moved when the camp moved and we learnt from experience that we needed to have a bulldozer available.
The problem with the idea that three axles are better than two is that the third axle is unpowered. If you proposed powered trailers, the problems are less, but they introduce their own problems. You would also find that far from spreading the same weight over three axles, you would end up with a lot more weight. The secret to easy desert travel is travel light!
East to West is much more difficult than West to East - the steepness of the slope is by far the most important factor,
Hope this helps.

Michael,
I have been accross the Simpson twice in the last 2 years. My opinion is that if you can pack light enough to not need one it would be better but you will not have any problems towing a trailer across.

The main proviso on this is that it is a good offroad trailer.

I went across last time with a rooftop tent, on the roof of caurse, but for the next trip I plan to have the tent on a trailer. I think you are right that it spreads the load, it is also a lot easier on the vehicle springs and shocks.

The main reason experts say not to take a trailer is because the fall apart, not just in the desert but on the corrogations getting there. In my opinion I would not take a trailer with leaf springs but only one with independent coils. You also need to make sure you take plenty of spares for the trailer, especially wheel bearings. I think ik you would want to have brakes on the trailer also, preferably electric.

There were plenty of people with offroad campers travelling across the Simpson this year. They were all of the good quality type. We did meet 2 people who had offroad trailers with leaf springs and they had both had to make running reapirs both before and in the desert.

Lastly, don't fill the trailer. Just because you have the extra room in the trailer does not mean you have to use it. The lighter you pack the easier the trip will be.

Great responses, thanks.

One guy (2 adults 2 kids) is hoping he can take an off-road camper, he was thinking behind a 100 series, but he's now convinced he should get a Defender [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

The other guy (2 adults 3 kids) has a S1 V8 Disco (and hence no room), though he may be replacing that.

I've got an off road trailer, it's got a light chassis - U section steel with big holes like an aeroplane frame - looks military. It is leaf sprung with 7.50x16 tyres on Land Rover rims. It has a couple of hydraulic resitance arm/canister things on the axle that have had the linkages disconnected 8O . I've had a steel tub with front and back tailgates made up for it. I was thinking of slightly extending the draw bar for better manueverability and fitting an off-road hitch; fitting shocks; slinging a spare tyre underneath; as well as a caravan type water tank; and maybe electric brakes; and lending it to the 2nd guy. (he pays for the mods - I've already got the hitch and water tank, and he gets to use it for his trip to the Simpson - Broome - Perth - Melb).

I'm hoping to take my SIII, 2 adults and travel light.

My fear is that if there are no trailers, I'll become a mule and I don't want to overload the Landy. If we do take trailers, I'll have a capstan winch, which would be better for continuous use than electric, but I don't want to stuff up my winch repeatedly towing trailers up sand dunes.

I'll pass your feedback onto these guys. Please keep the comments coming.

I've only been to the simpson once, but we went a long way off the beaten path. We travelled in the simpson for 10 days, and carried enough water, 260 litres of fuel, and enough food and camping gear for 2 people + child in a defender with no roof rack. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

As has been said, light is the most important thing, but then if you're just driving the French Track which is pretty much a road you'll be fine. You can't get into too much trouble with that much traffic around. I think you'll have some unpleasant times getting over the sandhills but you won't die or anything and it's your choice and you'll have to live with it. 8O

If you are intending leaving the track you'll be in real trouble. Unless you just travel nnw/sse you are going to have to cross dunes. What's more, you'll need to cross big dunes. There were many where our party had to have a number of goes and we weren't towing. 8O 8O

When we were going in there was a guy towing a trailer. When we came out that same trailer was there abandoned full of gear because it broke. Turns out he sold it to the servo owner for two tanks of fuel 8O

Good luck!

Hey Captain, I can't agree with you on your comments about the French Line. It is true that it is the most travelled, so you will see plenty of people, but it is also the most difficult and hardest track on the vehicle.

Most people who take trailers get of the French line ASAP and travel around some of the other tracks such as the Rig Rd and Knolls tk. Even without a trailer this would be my suggestion as it breaks up the trip a bit and puts variety into the driving. Both Tracks mentioned are clay top tracks so they are a bit bumpier put you do not have the bad sand drifts on top of the ridges.
IMHO I would stay away from theWAA line if you are doing the trip fro the first time with a trailer, I reckon it is probably the hardest (the most fun) and is similar to the French Line but a lot rougher.

We haven't determined a definate route, but I was toying with the option of entering the desert further south through the clay pan / salt pan areas.
Warburton and Rig or K1 tracks.

We'd do some exursions to the border area (Poeppel Cnr) and then we were hoping to head for the East McDonell ranges by traversing the Colson Tk.

I've since learned that the track is closed, but one of the guys is hoping that we may do it anyway by somehow getting a permit :roll:

Has anyone done the Colson Tk? What's it like? How would a roaming trip like this go with a trailer as opposed to a straight out crossing?

You can see that such a trip would put an increased fuel load on the group.

Any ideas?

We were thinking of doing the Colson track this year (well I was anyway) but it was the fuel issue which stopped us. I have a V8 Disco so I carried 205litres just to do the Simpson. You would have to add a lot more for Colson Track.

Happy to confirm (pending delivery) that one other vehicle for the trip is a Defender (02) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]