Comment: Oodnadatta Track

Your chance of stone damage including a windscreen depends on track conditions. If you are lucky and the grader crew have been through below William Ck and the track is compacted then you have a lower risk but not 100% out of the risk.

Cardboard is not up to it. Just get some coreflute cut to shape and use some of the round stick on velcro tabs, around 10-12 little dots will be enough. Coreflute handles impacts and water much better than cardboard

We run our Ultimate up there all the time with no issues and that does not have a stone guard but its design is somewhat different than most CT's

Regards

RobA

Met a fella on the track a couple of years back and he said a rock the size of a cricket ball had come through the rear window and missed his daughter's head by inches. He spent a week at the Pink Roadhouse waiting for a new rear window.

So I'd be recommending something to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

Hi,

I broke a rear window on my Prado a couple of years ago because I didn't cover it over. It wasn't on the Oodnadatta Track, but I remember it being quite stony between William Creek and Oodnadatta the year that I travelled it.

I wouldn't risk it.

Graeme

Marts 09,

As the others have said you will need something better than cardboard.

Have seen taped to back window the foam rubber squares, taped with black cloth tape to hold together,then clear plastic velcro,to window looked like they had used plastic channel to sit it in.
cheers
AnnD

Hi. Have a look at http://www.stonestomper.com.au/ No affiliation etc but I use one. Not only do they protect the trailer but also the rear of your vehicle. cheers,Bob.

Very easy to break a rear window on the Oodnadatta Track. I've broken one myself and seen many others. The rocks are bigger than the average gravel outback road.

Howdy Marts09


If you don't want to install a stoneguard or rear window protection then it might pay to just reverse the trailer along the track. Could be a tad slow but you won't smash a rear window or chip the front of your trailer that way !


Happy Travelling and enjoy the tracks beauty


Gazz

Marts,

Cardboard does not cut it. It is a good emergency method but I also run a similiar plastic cut to size as RobA described with the suction caps. This gives a bit of flex and doesn't come off.
Stone Stomper is a good bit of kit but a bit pricey. If you havn't got a stone guard, I would definately consider getting one, it is around the $500 mark but it also keeps a tremendous amount of dust down.
Good luck.

Regards Will76

The Oodnadatta ROAD is a very rocky road & I would say it's a must to have some protection . I have a stone guard on camper but I also put cardboard on the back window , as you can see in my profile photo ..... it's cheap insurance ...." just think what you would do if you broke your rear window along the way !!! "
Also be careful of other cars spraying you with rock when passing ....

Another vote for the Stone Stomper. While not cheap, it is very effective, & protects
both car & trailer/van.......oldbaz.

Hope this is on topic, for those who have a stone stomper, does it interfer with hitching and unhitching? has anyone got a similar stone deflector ( who's website is down at the momnet for some reason)

I made a cheap & cheerful trampoline style stone guard out of a length of 1.8 wide shade cloth, 2 off-cuts of conduit from the scrap bin at Stratco, some cable ties to fix the ends of the shade cloth to the conduit & 2 lengths of cheap nylon rope to tie the conduit off to the rear bumper of the car & the front of the trailer, making sure to have the shade cloth running under the length of the drawbar. Cost me about $15 & works a treat!

And yes, hitching/unhitching the trailer is a bit slower, but not much. I just undo the rope attaching the stone guard to the bumper & pull the shade cloth back out of the way.

It's done the Flinders, Gawler Ranges, Oodnadatta Track, Dalhousie, Mt Dare, Finke, Painted desert, Old Ghan line, Palm Valley & Mereenie Loop.

I might try & attach some old trampoline springs on it, too keep it taught while turning tight circles. Although, that will not affect performance, as you're generally going very slow whilst turning on full lock anyway! ;)

The Oodnadatta road is quite variable in surface structure - from small/medium stones to very firm and smooth in many long stretches (all depending on weather and maintenance timing of course). BUT.... don't just worry about breaking rear windows...without some sort of stone deflection setup between the car and trailer you will probably pepper the rear of the car causing untold duco chips and minor panel dings (the stones ricochet off the trailer). As mentioned above, a quick and and easy 'trampoline' (Stone Stomper style) can be thrown together with some shadecloth and ocky straps.... might not look pretty but can do the job very well. The big advantage with the Stomper is that it is easy to live with (getting fast access to the car and trailer front).... plus it looks 'proper' :-o).

Just cover it up! anything is better than nothing & stone guards on campers will let something through eventually!

I've used everything from beer cartons to Polycarbonate (Lexan) sheet (got a piece from Alice for $100), those cheep backpacker sleeping mats are pretty good as well, you can pick one up for as little as $5.00.

Hi Marts09
We did the track last july, no need to worry about rocks on that trip, there was that much mud the rocks seemed to be stuck to the road LOL.
We were in our CRDI Terracan towing a pretty heavy off road camper, there was lots of slipping and sliding and the whole rig was covered in mud at the end, the kids loved it, no so much the wife though.
For what its worth we also did the Plenty Hwy, Mereenie loop, and many other rocky tracks, the beer carton window saver and the basic stone gaurd worked for us, but we may have been lucky.
Have fun !