Towing boat on the Telegraph track.

Have a look at the videos on Youtube. Here is a fair account: Tele towing in 2014

Then you could search youtube for "gunshot creek failures" and get another perspective on what not to do.

The only issue, not really an issue just a problem, that we had on the OTT (both ways) was with Nolans and it was only because it was deep. But we weren't towing.

Phil

Paddy

IMHO - Stick the boat on your roof and leave the trailer at home. If that is the trailer you are intending on taking - it won't make it! It will crack and fall apart before you get there and you will have to leave it and your boat behind.

I am not part of the anti trailer brigade - just a realist. That trailer doesn't look to be made of heavy enough stock material.

Also towing something that floats across a creek crossing - MMMMMM!

Cheers

Anthony

Make sure the wheel arches are well secured. The arch vibrating and parting company with the vehicle was the most common failure I observed. The vibrate and the welds snap or attaching fasteners shear off.

If the springs are bolted on and can be moved, move them as far back as you can, this makes the ride for the rest of the trailer more comfortable.
It could probably do the Tele track OK, the Tele isn't as hard as people make out. I did it with a stock BT50, although I dinged up the front bumper, I would bypass gunshot though (where I did my bumper) as even the chicken track is a bit tight and saw a Landcruiser like yours bogged to the axles with a log buried in the mud jammed against the bull bar. People have done it towing campers though, but take the bypass unless you have something to prove.

The Tele isn't that bad, no worse than a lot of fishing tracks further south, it is the 1000km of corrugations to get there that shake things to bits.

As for a floating trailer, it depends on when you go. I went last year in July and the deepest was probably a hole in Gunshot that was waste deep, the rest lucky to top the tyres. This year has been a dry one too.

Patrick
As with many trailer questions, there will be divided answers between the 'take it' and the 'do not take it' brigades.
I will share with you simply my own view in having done the OTT three times both ways.
I towed a TVan. Heavier than what your boat will be.
I saw many broken trailers, but both on the PDR and the OTT. IMHO the PDR is worse on the trailer. The OTT is not that hard on suspension and the like, because (hopefully) you will be walking pace or quite slow at least when encountering such terrain. But the PDR is hours and hours of constant frame rattling corrugations.
I wonder sometimes the broken trailers on the OTT, is that due to damage done earlier on the way up to the OTT, and the OTT being just that last straw.

The problem you may face on the OTT is the long drawbar you seem to have. The TVan and similar lengths are ok, but longer drawbars suffer a bit in the 'shortcut' they try to take on tight corners between trees and bushes and washouts. Even the difference between the TVan and a Kimberley Kamper is quite noticeable in the tight tracks.

So no recommendation from me, but hopefully some info you can use and consider

Good on you for getting info and being prepared, and either way you should have a ball!


CJ

Not having a boat or trailer myself I don't know enough to be able to comment on your setup, but I met up with a family on the OTT last year who were towing a boat and they weren't having any issues. They did Gunshot without any problem, not sure about Nolans because the last time I saw them was Fruitbat Falls.

So it is do-able, it clearly wasn't their first time though...

Hi Paddy

Some good comments here. I can’t comment on welds etc, ability of your trailer to put up with corrugations – you’ll have to make that judgement. But on the PDR, we saw a camper trailer upside down, separated from the car, with its axle 20m away, happened just before we arrived, and we saw axle out of a 4b (connected to the wheel – what a sight), happened hour or so before we arrived. We saw a bit more than that too. We did in a rear shocker ourselves about an hour out of Weipa. So the PDR is rough and you’d want to know your trailer can take all of that.

With the OTT, to take some if/buts out of it, measure your trailer ramp-over angle. Our camper’s is 18 degrees, we had no trouble towing it over the full length of the OTT (in 2013). Our camper’s clearance is 570mm which would be more than your boat trailer – to me provided you had some scuff plates I don’t think the clearance would be much of a concern. Having said that, a new Prado got stranded and was written off the day after we went through Nolan’s (it was not towing) – yet Nolan’s is easy if you know your stuff as a 4wd driver. Other thing, do you strap boat to the trailer? – because if not it I reckon it would float off the trailer at Logans and Nolan’s.

All in all, with your trailer, the PDR would concern me more than the OTT. But don’t miss the OTT – it’s just too much fun.

Cheers

Palm creek will be your only big issue. You will be winching. There are some tight sections but have seen plenty of trailers do it. You'll be right at nolans You'll winch through it easy.

Thank you all for your advice, much appreciated!

I have driven the Tele before, but that was 12 years ago, and I'm sure it has changed heaps since then. Had a change of plan. Might take the boat as far as Moreton or Bramwell Station, if it is ok with the owners (will pay a fee if that's how they roll) I will leave it there while I do the Tele and the northern part of the Cape, then pick it up on the way back down and go camp/fish the Weipa/Pennyfather Mapoon area and possibly lake field. Sound wise?

Thanks again for your comments,

Paddy