Saturday, Jan 07, 2006 at 08:09
Joanne,
My comment regarding the king tides seems to have taken on a life of its own.
They arent anything to be overly concerned about, just be aware they will be happening this week. You should be aware of what the tides are doing anyway. You wouldnt generally be on the beach at high tide anyway but if you get caught out as sometimes happens youll know whats going on.
Tides do rule a lot of your actions on any beach trip especially if youve driven to the top end of the island on the hard sand at low tide (which as mentioned above is almost like driveing on the road) get a bit involved with swimming, sightseeing etc and suddenly realise you have a 2 hr drive with an incomming tide thats already halfway in. Driveing on the soft sand at the top of the beach is doable but if the sand is really soft is hard slog, the main "problems" being some creek crossings such as
Eli creek (a must see by the way) at high tide and going around rocks. Cathedral rocks has a track through the village if the water is too high to get around them.
There is nothing overly dangerous or difficult about driving fraser island just be aware of whats going on around you and take it easy.
Tyre pressures,
everyone has an opinion on this,so Ill give you
mine.
Lower pressures will effect your vechicles handleing at higher speeds sharp turns,hard brakeing etc but will allow you to drive through the softer sand USUALLY without getting bogged, higher pressures do dig up the tracks and beach an bit more but are probably better if your planning a high speed 80kmh +run on the hard sand at low tide.
My choice? I usually air down to 20 psi at dont got any faster than 60kmh and enjoy the view. If I need to I can drop them to 12 to 15 psi.
Sometime during your trip do a bit of experimentation with your tyre pressures, try highway pressures with soft sand listern to the vechicle as it slogs through, try the same stretch of sand with lower pressures and see the difference. As there has been rain lately you wont get the really soft sand.
When do yo know your bogged? when all forward motion has stopped, (if your still makeing forward progress even a meter a minute, your not yet bogged), once youve stopped take your foot off the accelerator dont dig yourself down to the chassis rails, get out and assess the situation is it better to continue forward or go back through your tracks in reverse?, drop tyre pressures, clear sand from the front and rear of your tyres. Dont rev the freckle off the thing and then drop the clutch this just digs holes, use as few rev as required to drive out.
Cleaning your vechicle after the fun on the beach is a good move, a really good flushing with fresh water in all the nooks and crannys underneath to remove sand build up will help prevent rust. A spray of something like lanotech, lanox etc can also help. I spray the underside of my 4wd with lanox, also give it a good wash and polish before I go and repeat when I get
home. No rust yet.
As mention elsewhere dont drive though the salt water if you can aviod it, but you sometimes get caught out.
This thread has generated a lot of good advice, have a read and then just go and do the trip and enjoy yourselves.
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