How corrugations feel in the caravan

There is an app called "Measures" for Iphone which includes a seisomometer.

Modern suspensions etc do cause a problem by the ride in the tow vehicle being so good that not much thought is given about the actual ride being experienced by the van or trailer.

Hope you find a good instrument to record the ride as this would be great info for the driver. Vaguely remember somewhere seeing someone placings instruments on their suspension to check such details but I can't remember where.

I will be most interested to see any responses you get.

Alan

G'day Carl

I reckon if we could see what goes on inside the caravan on the really rough sections we wouldn't go there anymore and I have enough trouble spotting bad sections ahead of us.

We tow our single wheelbase and ordinary Compac 402 just about anywhere, except for areas where there are deep spoon drains, rutted areas, etc, because I have to take care when driving through gutters into most petrol stations. If necessary when the road is bad enough I will travel at 5kph (does not happen very often) as I know how much the van is being shaken about and I want to minimise my tighten the screws and check the windows maintenance after every major section.

In June we travelled north from Balranald up through and around Mungo NP, to Pooncarie and Menindee on the western side of the river (much longer) and then up to Wilcannia on the western side of the Darling and it was very rough (for us) for about 40% of the trip but two coffee stops and a few photo stops made it OK for me, on the other hand SWMBO wants to kill my best mate from Menindee who assured us the road was great. I would not want to follow me for any distance on the gravel.

Out biggest problem will always be those travelling 100kph + in the opposite direction. We spoke with one guy with a big solid off-road type van and big Toyota and they had travelled from way up north 800+ kms, dirt all the way around 110kp and a smooth trip - he spent the first 5 hours in camp (dark) fixing stuff up. He was not a happy man, I didn't ask any questions and he didn't want a beer.

I get worried every time we go for long trips on the dirt but I am prepared to slow right down (which sometimes makes it seem worse) so we can see the places we want to see.

Regards
Paul H

Carl,

While acknowledging that this suggestion is on the wrong side of the legal fence, it will provide you with a very accurate idea of what happens inside the van on corrugations.

Let your wife drive the F250 for a couple of kays. You sit in the van with a handheld UHF so you can sing out when you've had enough. Do this on an isolated section of the corrugations and it should be safe enough.

I guarantee you'll be shocked.

Carl,

When we travelled over the Gary Junction road in 2007 we filled up at Kunawarritji on the CSR then drove the short distance to Well 33 to camp. I sat in the back of our then Trakmaster Kimberley and could not believe the difference from sitting in the 4WD.

As GB says you will certainly be shocked!!

hi carl
if you mounted a camera in the van i doubt that you would get the results effectively
as the camera mount would have to be fixed to the floor or some where else that was a stable position
and then the camera would be vibrating and bouncing in the same way as everything else so you would only see possibly the things that were jumping around loosly

like someone mentioned the only way you can really get to know is ride in the van for a few k's and personelly monitor it with your own eyes
i actually did this while going around aus in 1980 on a rough road up north to find out why certain things kept moving and why a door kept coming open and also where the dust was entering
i trusted my wife's driving who was born and bred on gravel roads

by doing the above i solved several on road problems and was able to resolve it in total the above problems mentioned using a powerful torch i was able to open the cupboards etc and see where the dust was pumping in
i did it a second time to double check both times on very bad corregations
our trip was much more enjoyable afterwards

i must admit it 's not for the faint-hearted
but at the time the dust entry was cheesing us off and i was determemed to stop it and the other things as well

as they say desperate men do these thing and before someone says i'm an idiot or broke the law

i was aware of that but took the risk and got results

so carl

if you really want to know the quick answer

trust your wife and do it and i might mention i did'nt have a hand held cb we did it for a measured 5km's each time at full speed so nothing was left for the imagination
so cheers from a living dare devil

curiosity kills the odd cat????

are you the odd cat??????

Hi Carl

Different tyres pressures will also get different results. We have had a couple of instances of cordial escape out of upright unopened bottles, then find its way out of the cupboard and spread all over the caravan floor. I still cant work out how it gets onto the lino which is an add on in the interior of the van only, not the cupboards which were built on top of the original which was laid across the whole floor. Likely to happen when the corrugated stretch is not long (eg nearly to our camp spot), getting late and don't want to put down the tyres for the short stretch and not really expecting to do this run tonight, so stuff left all over the caravan seats to land on the floor amongst the sticky goo. Oh, and it is a bush camp so doesn't have water. Remedy - don't take cordial!

Seriously, if you know the result, will it stop you taking the caravan on the roads you bought it for? Just take it easy, be alert for sudden bumps or washouts and enjoy the ride.

Motherhen

Hi,
What Motherhen said:
"Seriously, if you know the result, will it stop you taking the caravan on the roads you bought it for? Just take it easy, be alert for sudden bumps or washouts and enjoy the ride."
I think you over analysing it...... Just relax & enjoy. Drive to the conditions.
These days the trips are getting so complicated, what happened to the days when we travelled alot simpler (is that a word?)
PMK

Thanks everyone.

I have tried many of the suggestions already.

Sat in the back while my wife drove back from Millstream NP and descovered that the fire extinguisher needed to be better mounted. Also the glass round thing in the microwave made a terrible racket. The thried thing was the oven door rattled.

The F250 just skips over corrugations but I feel that I might be killing the caravan suspension. Since posting this I have descovered on the interent special instruments, that give a digital readout in the cab.

I will do more research on this and make a post in a few weeks. The hard thing is getting that speed that is best for both.