Ground anchor....any ideas?

Hi Paul, A mate and I were talking about this on Wednesday and what we have come up with is to buy a marine plough anchor $30 - $40 and modify it buy cutting it so that it folds up and then pinning it open when required. The weight is always going to be on the heavy side but my idea .....for what it is worth ... is that a bit of weight when using it could be advantageous when using it to get it to dig in quicker. Do not know if this is going to work but certainly cheaper if it does.

Borrow a boat sand anchor ?

a. Bury the spare wheel(I have done so a few times)
b. Use 3 star pickets at 1 foot intervals lashed together with wire and banged into the ground at a 45 degree angle.

Little Desert in Victoria has some sandy tracks and thats about it. It really shouldnt be called a desert. It has a lot of low growing flora and not too many trees in places.

If it rains out there the tracks will firm up.

Cheers

If you take care.... you shoudn't need dramatic winching. Worried by the sounds of things that you might be bush bashing???

You could take my mother-in-law and bury her with a rope around her . Only problem is she would probably talk her way out .
Willie

Some interesting options, thanks for your input folks.

Regards,
Shep

Get some Maxtrax and Drive out! ;-)

We've investigated ground anchors and tried a few on for size.

I believe that the better option is the maxtrax, on so many levels.

3 star pickets cheap and easy (except when you want to remove them)

Tim

Have you seen the wombat? Try Google

I wouldn't bury an Alloy wheel. They are not that sturdy to winch off.

Cheers Kev

This is the one in the latest edition of 4WD Monthly costs $650 though. I reckon that you could make your own for a shed load less.

Kev

Paul the likelyhood of requiring a winch is extremely low but certainly good to go prepared. The sand driving is very easy in the Little Desert even with a trailer, it's probably the claypans you might worry about when wet. With an extra tree strap or chain you can winch off 2 or 3 trees as the same time sharing the load. Always disconnect the trailer & get the strap down low around the Mallee root at the bottom. Obviously big trees are not common but a 50m extension strap may just get you to one.
3 x 1m star pickets & a drag chain to join them up is by far the cheapest solution to anchor off when there is nothing on offer.
Cheers Craig...............

Paul,

Have a hunt around some farms or farm machinery suppliers for a plough disc. They are reasonably light, stack fairly flat and also make a beaut barbecue plate.

Jim

I don`t think you have any problems at all in the Little Desert. We camped there nearly 12 months ago on another forum gathering (at Kiata campground), in all 6 vehicles that did the sand driving not one had any trouble. There was rain about 3 days before we went and although the top 2 or 3 inchs was fairly soft (dried out), below that it was fairly firm.
Just remember to air down and it sholud all be fine, and if you do manage to get bogged somehow, its fairly easy to dig yourself out or pack underneath the wheels to odrive out.