beech diving

[ian]

driving down the beech and then the traxs stop so i braked had(bad thing) so i whent forward and the backend slide sideways so went backwards but no go by this time the tide was up at the wheels and i was starting to panic so i let down the tyres to 15psi and 4wlow and drive out backward

( so now i no not to brake hard and to let my tyres down before going on the beech )


AT WEDGE ISLAND IN W.A SORRY ABOUT THE WRITING

[baby_troupe]

You are VERY lucky.
Brake hard, usually will dig a hole.
Tide washing near the tyres will quickly get your car buried.

[BigBugga]

I made the mistake of braking to hard once too, but I was above the tide line.
Took a lot of digging to get out of the soft sand.

Still I learnt from my mistake.

Wedge island,
http://www.westaust.net/Wedge_Island.JPG
Wonderfull place. Will get back there one day

[grungle99]

Oldman drives on beach four - five times a week on Mid North Coast in a Landrover for past 27 years. Never been towed ever but generally tows one a week in off season - then maybe two a day in school hols.

Reckons that most people are so under estimating the sand that they nearly always stuff up. Blames the car yard dealers - selling cars that can do anything without preparation...... IMHO driving sand is harder and more treatorous than driving mud, yet people will turn around in front of a mud hole and sale straight onto a beach.

Grungle

[taziiy]

too true the amount of people i have helped out when iv'e gone beach driving it's funny not the rite tyre presures not in 4wd one didnt even know wat the second gear lever was for

[Humpy]

I saw a lady on the weekend who shouldn’t have been driving on sand, She didn’t leave enough room to pass a jeep on the track into stockton and so slid into it. Only minor damage to both vehicles but easily avoided if you knew what you were doing.

[brianonpatrol]

Two weeks ago while on Fraser Island we spotted three guys in a compact "soft-roader" down to the tow ball on the Indian Head track. Luckily they had the sense to get stuck over to one side to let others pass. They stopped us and asked if I would "get out and help them push the car out of the hole... if we get it going, gravity should take over and it will roll down the sand"... These guys had borrowed a shovel and one was digging the sand out from under the car..... they had NO recovery gear and were running 10 psi in their nearly bald road tyres....... We were doing a day trip from Dundubara to Wathumba Creek and as there were a lot of other 4X4's in the area left them to it... ( they were'nt in ANY danger)... a clear example of taking the sand too lightly!
Also there's a pic in the Eurong shop of a "rent-a-troopy" on it's lid.... back packers hired it... no experiance of sand driving ... doing donuts on the beach.. flipped it.. 7 air lifted to hospital.. 3 with head injuries 1 with intestinal damage.... Another example!!

[yay.]

Bloody hell, get some training man!

And join a club! Learn how to do it the right way.

Wedge was a favourite spot of mine, I remember how many idiots in bogged hiluxes would refuse to let down their tyres because the queue was too long at the petrol station..

Then again, hiluxes and ignorant people go together like bogans and metallica..

having relatively bald tyres on the baech can be better thatn running mud tyres cause mud tyres dig down, I get my HILUX pressures down to 12 and 8 respectively casue my hancook m/t's dig and down balloon out enough

I am yet to try beach driving...... due mainly to NO experience and the morbid fear of looking like a complete twit when ya gotta ask somebody to help snatch you out..... am also a little worried about my ute "dissintergrating" before my eyes from rust (somebody elses words) I think for now i'll stick to the tracks around Barrington Tops, a good 2/3 hours drive from the nearest beach hehe ;D

[baby_troupe]

My third solo trip was to stockton.
I can't say I recommend doing that to anyone, but what I did was to read heaps of 4wd monthly mags (nearly a years worth), follow the advice they had for driving on the beach, pack the gear & went for it.
I had a suzuki sierra at the time & lucky for me we had no problems, other than the engine running a bit hot (my inexperience driving in too high a gear)
Pics of that trip are at http://www.baby-troupe.i8.com/Suzuki.htm

BTW I was not in a club then either & had only owned the car for about 3 weeks

about 1 month ago on my last trip to fraser, two asian tourists drove straight onto the beach at inskip point in a mitsibishi magna!!! They must of been extremely dumb ??? because there were about 3 4x4's already bogged in the really soft stuff at the entrance, and they thought they had a chance. Made good entertainment though!

[Fenring]

A mate of mine is a copper down Frankston way. He got called to a job on the beach down there This peanut drove a brand new Dodge Ram onto the sand at the beach and it went down like the Titanic. The idiot got a mate in with a crane, and they tried to lift it out, would you believe? I'm told that as the chains tightened they did all sorts of things to the nice red panels, and the wheels ended up at odd angles..... ::)

[slowlux]

about 1 month ago on my last trip to fraser, two asian tourists drove straight onto the beach at inskip point in a mitsibishi magna!!! They must of been extremely dumb ??? because there were about 3 4x4's already bogged in the really soft stuff at the entrance, and they thought they had a chance. Made good entertainment though!



hahahahhahhaha! similar thing happend to me once, was at william creek in SA near lake eyre. One bloke and his wife got absoloutely totalled at "that pub", the next day our line of trucks headed down to lake eyre for a bit of viewing and saw the bloke and his wife from the night before totally bogged up above his axles in a 87 magna!! that wasnt half as funny as tryin to see him drive it out without any assistance!!!!! we then snatched him out in an instant.

[fourbyphil]

i just helped some asian tyourists (i think) out of fraser the wanted to go "beach... beach" they did pretty well getting in thought.

I'm happy they are spending their money in oz though

[slowlux]

A mate of mine is a copper down Frankston way. He got called to a job on the beach down there This peanut drove a brand new Dodge Ram onto the sand at the beach and it went down like the Titanic. The idiot got a mate in with a crane, and they tried to lift it out, would you believe? I'm told that as the chains tightened they did all sorts of things to the nice red panels, and the wheels ended up at odd angles..... ::)


Ouch!!! that's a shame, their a nice looking truck. I personally wouldnt attempt to use one off-road, especially on sand. Be good to cruise around town in though. Piss people off in their "4wd's" (rav 4's, CRV's etc)

[stevesub]

Living on Bribie Is, we do a lot of beach work. We leave the Freelander home, the traction control does not like soft sand.

We have no problems in the Troopy and use 4wd high ratio on the hard sand and 4wd low - 2nd or 3rd usually in the soft.

We have the standard 750-16 Desert Duellers (I hate those tyres but economincs come into play here) and never let then down BUT am prepared to if need be. We have never been snatched in the Troopy.

We don't use the brakes on the beach, just roll to a stop, we use others wheel tracks where possible, avoid the wet patches on the sand where possible (rust in the future) and if we have trouble getting off the beach, we back up on our tracks BEFORE we get stuck, go down a gear or two, give it death and get through with no problems.

[GQMaverick]

People don't seem to realise but beach driving comes down to three things.

1. The Correct line/track
2. Momentium
3. Tyre Pressures

I guess I am tempting fate here, but in all my time driving on beaches from Fraser Island to Moreton and all in between I have not needed the recovery gear (for myself anyway). All you have to do is keep to existing wheel tracks where possible, know the right time to change gears and to let the tyre pressures down!

Easy!

I actually find bush 4WDing harder than sand!

Cheers

Steve

[93 pathy]

I always carry four bits of carpet in the back,its the same size as the cargo carpet.and have a cheep foldup spade in the side cover. If I get stuck which is not to often I just jack up the pathy, fill the hole put the carpet down and drive away. Never more than fifteen min. So I dont have to stop to get the carpet right away I tie some rope to the carpet and it follows me to the hard stuff.
If the carpets gets to bad to keep just throw it away in a bin and go to the local carpet supply and get some more out of the bin. easy.

Sounds like a bloody good idea pathy!! i have some large pieces of carpet clogging my shed up..... might have to get a new blade for the stanley knife and slice it up.

[Wilesy]

That's a great idea.

I have done a similar thing on occasion, only with my rubber cargo mat.

Those things are stronger than we give them credit for.

They are great for the base of an exhaust jack as well.

[lovemud]

I always carry four bits of carpet in the back,its the same size as the cargo carpet.and have a cheep foldup spade in the side cover. If I get stuck which is not to often I just jack up the pathy, fill the hole put the carpet down and drive away. Never more than fifteen min. So I dont have to stop to get the carpet right away I tie some rope to the carpet and it follows me to the hard stuff.
If the carpets gets to bad to keep just throw it away in a bin and go to the local carpet supply and get some more out of the bin. easy.


I like the idea pathy ;)

[OffroadVW]

I've just come back from a week driving around Double Island & Rainbow Beach in our 74 Kombi, I run the rear tyres at 10psi and the front 16psi with no problems. We even drove passed several bogged 4wd's which raised a few eyebrows......
The only time we had any trouble was when a moron in a 100 series cut us off going through the Blow to Rainbow....he was charging along through the soft stuff at 90 degrees to the blow and then hooked it sideways across the track in front of me nearly rolling it, I had to stop to avoid hitting him and got stuck, luckily it was only a matter of backing up and I was able to drive out.....no thanks to the Tojo....

[David J1]

On new years day we went up the beach from ferry at Tewantin, just for a day drive. Only went as far as Fresh water creek (just past it) and got the chairs out while the kids played.

Reason for this reply is that about half way back we saw a Ford Laser (approx early 80's model) bogged heading north. Now being bogged didn't really surprise me, however how he got there did :o

It was not a full on soft drive but was no where near a 80kph cruise control type drive either as it can be (obviously I do not put it on cruise its just an example) at times.

Was I bad not stopping to help, hell no. If I drove a Laser up the beach I would expect others to laugh.

btw there were two 4x4's helping him out ;D

[OffroadVW]

Yeah I saw the White Laser up there too, also saw an EL Falcon there as well....... :o

i do recal someone doing a thread on this not so long ago and i was critesised quite harshly for leaving someone there to fend for them selve im all for that leave them there if a sign says 4x4 it means that only i would be the first to help out a fellow 4x4er and id have to say i would charge those that get stuck and only haxe a falcon or something like that teach them a lesson i say !!
but getting back to sand driving
in all the years i have owned a 4x4 starting from my first landrover id have to say i have never been stuck on a beach of sand or have never had to let tyres down i was told a few rules and have realy abided to them like if you need to stop let it coast to a stop without braking obviously if you need to hit the picks do it but its worked for me !!
my landrover was pretty much stock with razorblades for tyres so !!
the only thing i did to that was bust a diff and still got of the beach in front wheel drive !!

[David J1]

Yeah I saw the White Laser up there too, also saw an EL Falcon there as well....... :o


Mate was the Falcon a van ? I coulda sworn I saw a panel van or van of some sort not far from the Laser.

[OffroadVW]

No the Falcon was a sedan....not far from the Cherry Venture.

[cuttin loose]

ok guys off the topic a bit....

i'm looking at heading up to stockton wit some friends next week and we've never bin there.. anyone got some directions to head and where we can get permits etc...?? ;D ;D ;D

[RobertM]

I think the NPWS in Raymond Terrace and the Servo in Anna Bay used to be the places to get permits from but I haven't been to stockton for a while so I don't know if this has changed at all

[Humpy]

Lavis lane is the main entry, there is a servo on the corner which will sell you a permit, $5 per day or $12.50 for half year

[lovemud]

ok guys off the topic a bit....

i'm looking at heading up to stockton wit some friends next week and we've never bin there.. anyone got some directions to head and where we can get permits etc...?? ;D ;D ;D


On what day are you going there ;D

[baby_troupe]

ok guys off the topic a bit....

i'm looking at heading up to stockton wit some friends next week and we've never bin there.. anyone got some directions to head and where we can get permits etc...?? ;D ;D ;D

Drive up F3 from Sydney the full length & TR at the beresfield roundabout.
Head towards hexham & turn onto Pacific HWY towards Raymond Terrace at the Bridge.
Once you cross the bridge over the Hunter River, TR towards Williamtown. That road will come to a crossing where you would TL to williamtown, but if you go into the servo there, you can buy your permit & follow the road which would have been straight ahead (Lavis Lane) onto the beach.

[Humpy]

On what day are you going there ;D

I will probably be there on sunday

[lovemud]

On what day are you going there ;D

I will probably be there on sunday


this sunday I am going to Kurnell may be next time

[cuttin loose]

ok guys off the topic a bit....

i'm looking at heading up to stockton wit some friends next week and we've never bin there.. anyone got some directions to head and where we can get permits etc...?? ;D ;D ;D


On what day are you going there ;D


Either Tuesday or Wednesday this week... scored a couple of days off from the office.. i've gotta get out somewhere!!! ;D ;D

[cuttin loose]

On what day are you going there ;D

I will probably be there on sunday


will hopefully be back on the beach all this weekend too...
keep a look out for the white SWB Mav - that'll be me!!

;D ;D ;D

[Humpy]

On what day are you going there ;D

I will probably be there on sunday


will hopefully be back on the beach all this weekend too...
keep a look out for the white SWB Mav - that'll be me!!

;D ;D ;D

Didnt see you. but then i didnt see this post until monday.

[cuttin loose]

yeah i was there yesterday from about 2pm on...

will hopefully be back on the weekend too... ;D ;D ;D


had the weirdest thing happen whilst i was up there... had some guy come up to me and nearly swear blind he'd seen my truck in 4WDM.. i had to break the bad news to him an tell him it's been in the mag..

Pat if you're reading!!

maybe if Pat and the boys are interested, and they wanna fill a couple of pages in the mag - i'd be more than happy for em to put the truck in... ;D ;D ;D

[GQANDGU]

New to this, but can add a Beach horror story ! On a return from a recent trip to SA and Kangaroo Isl. took a small detour to Little Dip Beach. Dropped tyre pressures to 18, followed previous tracks, but still hit a super soft/wet patch & managed to bog our new GU Patrol 3 ltr diesel to the axles. After digging it out twice and gaining about 6 feet in reverse each time, noticed the tide moving closer. Wife by this stage getting somewhat 'tetchy'. Luckily made contact with a local on CB and he easily snatched me out (another Patrol). Realised afterward that I had probably disengaged the auto hubs when trying to reverse out of first bog. Only damage was serious dint in my ego !

[Wilesy]

You can overide that problem with the auto hubs unlocking on the GU.

You can manually engage them if you are in a situation by using your wheel brace on the hubs. 8)

Down in SA, at Beechport there is particular beach called "Boggy Beach". Apparently keeps the locals entertained for hours.

I got through though ;D Karma Gods missed thier chance on that one...

[DaveW Preggy Surf]

Hey maybe out of line, but it makes me laugh when I read people saying they never let their tyres down and still get through.

Most of the time that's exactly right - you can still get through, but the real point of low pressures on sand is that it is easier on the vehicles, easier on the tracks, less damage all round, and less chance of getting stuck.

Do youself and everyone else a favour and lower your pressures.

i spent 2 weeks at stockton a couple of years ago, drove on the beach nearly everyday, i had to assist numerous under educated fools in soft roaders, most of em had no idea at all, some hadnt even reduced tyre pressures, the upside was i scored a few free cartons of VB my efforts.

[freezy11]

yer stockton is fun when the sand is really really soft, lavis lane get chewed up alot, now thats the best bit of stockton

the hardest bit is getting on and getting off the beach, nothing my subie cant handle ;)

if u havent done sand driving before the anna bay entry is the best go, i think u can get a permit from one of the servos at anna bay, not sure, i allways get mine from lavis lane

[FJ60]

Its fun until you get bogged and until you have to do the underbody clean!!!

[GQANDGU]

Its fun until you get bogged and until you have to do the underbody clean!!!

Agree totally FJ60. I got bogged on Little Dip beach 3 months ago and I'm still clearing sand from the vehicle, Has anybody worked out a way to clear sand easily and quickly ?

(Reminds me of an old joke - A guy discovers a girl stuck in deep soft sand, He says "If I rescue you, what's in it for me ?" and she answers - "Sand !")

[FJ60]

yeah i have an idea...............





































BUY A TOYOTA AND YOU WONT GET STUCK!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

[seawolf]

hi just reading all the coments on beach driving really interesting one with the rolls of carpet, well to my little mistermena about three weeks ago i was down in coffin bay nat. park firs time there thought i would continue past first camp sight to ones further on towing trailer BAD MOVE let tyres down to what it said on sighnpost of we go 5 meters later were is the shovel got moving again revs getting high will change up BAD MOVE weres the shovel anyway i had to get snatched out backwards (trailer went first) if it had not been for a guy passing and stopping to help i would have been in all sorts of trouble for just being green to driving in sand learnt a lot and still learninggetting good recovery gear sorted out and will always listen to advise i wont put his name up but he will know who he is if he reads this thanks again mate. I think what i am trying to say is if you see someone in trouble dont just drive by even if you think they are a complete idiot you never know who it might be! ;)

[Brendan]

i'd like to drive over my beech of an ex... ;)

i remember when i was about 14 we used to go bodyboarding all the time down at the beach. and one time we came up to find some touro's in a falcon stuck on the beautifully single-vehicle-width beach entry. and about 4 4wd's on the wrong side of him waiting to get out. makes you think the council needs to put up more of those 'unsuitable for 2wd' signs hey?

On new years day we went up the beach from ferry at Tewantin, just for a day drive. Only went as far as Fresh water creek (just past it) and got the chairs out while the kids played.

Reason for this reply is that about half way back we saw a Ford Laser (approx early 80's model) bogged heading north. Now being bogged didn't really surprise me, however how he got there did :o

It was not a full on soft drive but was no where near a 80kph cruise control type drive either as it can be (obviously I do not put it on cruise its just an example) at times.

Was I bad not stopping to help, hell no. If I drove a Laser up the beach I would expect others to laugh.

btw there were two 4x4's helping him out ;D



Hi, sorry this thread is a bit old! but we were up there around then with a mate who had an ol mazda 323/lazer, pretty funny stuff. It was a good night! The photos are of around the cherry venture.

I know it was a bit silly, but it was fun and no one got hurt.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1156.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1154.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1139.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1140.jpg

bahahaha thats a pissa, poor car

HA ha, yeah it was fun, ended up towing it back to camping area, drying out dizzy and drove it home! Funny thing is, that it is still in the paddock now, roof cut of it, and hardly a spot of rust!

thats a sic effot

[Humpy]

HA ha, yeah it was fun, ended up towing it back to camping area, drying out dizzy and drove it home! Funny thing is, that it is still in the paddock now, roof cut of it, and hardly a spot of rust!


I call BS on the hardly any rust, I know a few people that owned those and they were full of rust, im pretty sure they wernt driven in the surf either :P



Good effort getting it going again

HA ha, yeah it was fun, ended up towing it back to camping area, drying out dizzy and drove it home! Funny thing is, that it is still in the paddock now, roof cut of it, and hardly a spot of rust!


I call BS on the hardly any rust, I know a few people that owned those and they were full of rust, im pretty sure they wernt driven in the surf either :P



Good effort getting it going again


Cheers, yeah havent checked on it for about 3 months now. But still 6 months after it had no rust! Honest!! ;D

Its not going ne more as my mate spun it into a gutter at 50 kph, bent the front wheel and broke most of the engine and suspension mounts.

This is the same car, but with new aditions to the paint! (about 6 months after beach trip)

Sorry for filling the forum up with non 4x4 pics :-\

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1709.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v109/sssslideways/IMG_1708.jpg