Towing to the top of Cape York

Van or off road camper?

We have towed our Aussie Swag all the way via the OTL. Reasonably hard but very doable. If going via the bypass then you will have no issues at all and could even take a onroad van (albeit carefully). There are some bad corrugations up there depending on when you go (graded at around the school holidays).

I don't recommend the bypass except for heading home maybe as you miss out on a hell of a lot of the best parts of the Cape.

Regards
David

Don't even think about it!

Lesley
We were there in June and there more camper trailers in the van park at Bamaga than there were tents!!

tessa

If Tommo can do it, than it must be doable, his film crew have to sleep somewhere Lol!

Lesley, if your camper is off-road equipped, ie; heavy duty components and is in good condition, then as long as the operator is sensible and the vehicle capable then you should make it. There are sufficient bypasses to take to avoid unnecessary risks, ie; Gunshot. Most common breakages are suspensions components and wheel bearings; service them. Check your vehicle and trailer more than once daily.

Negotiating obstacles; normal procedure, pick the best and safest route, prepare recovery points (even better if you have a 2nd vehicle with you) and go. Before you go on the trip, take your camper to good off-road areas near home and test and familarise yourself with all possible obstacles you may encounter, ie; tight hair-pin uphill ascents, creek crossings, loss of momentum, difficult reversing recoveries, trailer recovery....to name a few.

Besides, you'll sleep better knowing that the 4 metre salties will pick the easier meals sleeping in tents than having to first get into your canvas and then climb the step-up to sink his chompers into you!

The main ingredient?............a sense of adventure.

G'day Lesley,

I have taken a camper trailer a couple of times and I would say your major hang up so to speak will be the trailer width. We found the track narrow and sharp in some places making it difficult with a following trailer. I must reiterate though this is only in some places, most of the OTT I found OK but a little extra width of a van might make all the difference.

Kind regards

Hi Lesley,
Could you email me and give me some thoughts on your trackmaster caravan as we are thinking about purchasing an off road van and can you tell me some of the places you have been.
thanks in advance
barb

PS if you click on my profile you will be able to message me I think ta

Hi Lesley,

I towed a builders trailer set up for that that trip to the cape via the OTL and return via Weipa and Chilli Beach. I was only towing with a petrol pathfinder but still had no probs power wise. Things change dramatically from year to year but I would think the majority of the time you would be OK with the van in tow. However, the "other" times will test you severly, by way of tight twisty sections and sharp drop offs in and out of creeks, if you are prepared to fix things if they break then by all means have a go. IF NOT THEN DON'T BOTHER.

North of Elliot falls is where most of the fun will begin for you if you take the van, so if you are struggling by the time you get to here then I would advise taking the bypass from here. Don't miss the top section of the OTL if you do go bypass, just set up camp at the falls and do a day trip to the sth side of Jardine river with vehicle only (or better still split it over two days and tent it at the Jardine). I loved Chilli beach but the last few k's in was a real killer with huge wombat holes when I went so again this would test with a van. The Pascoe on the Frenchmans track was real stony and deep so with a van would be hard yakka but doable if you are prepared to fix things if the worst happens. Also Cypress Ck with it's "bridge" would be heart in your mouth stuf. If you find a pic on this creek you will know what I mean.

How does the Trackmaster go for water sealing, some of the creeks should test this if it is not too good. I would also suggest at least one vehicle to have a suitable winch if you are taking the vans.

I would love to see pics of this trip, so if you do go with the van in tow, please let us know on this site when you get back and have pics for us to see please.

Best regards, Trevor.

We have had camper trailers with us on just about every trip some struggle and some dont.
It dosnt matter on type or make it just seems to be the luck of the draw.

All the best eric

Hi Lesley
I hav a DVD that was put out by the Gall boys at Kedron Caravans , its called the rugged Cape York adventure in my opinion i think this would give you a really good insight into what your in for towing a van up the Cape via the OTL ......this is the link to their website i think from memory the DVD was about $20 unless of course you are in Adelaide then i would let you borrow my copy ...............http://www.kedroncaravans.com/.

Cheers.........Dave

Hi Lesley,
Dont forget to run your tyre pressure a bit lower ie 25-28 psi on my Kanga.
Cheers.

Lesly,

No hassles towing the van to the tip.....via the bypass. You could even take on the bottom half of the OTL without too much hassle-I've seen photos of 20ft Bushtrackers going down Cockato Ck. Like Trevor said above, the top half of the track is where the more challenging driving begins. IMO you'd have to be NUTS to tow a 16 and a half foot van of any kind over the top half!!

Watch the Kedron video..... They went in there with seemingly zero research, and well...watch it!

Unless you own a caravan manufacturering company, I would suggest doing the top half with out the van. Set the van up at Canal Creek and go have some fun with the car, come back for the van and go the bypass.

If you do tow it over the top half, film it at least so others can see how you went!

We left our van at Mt Carbine and camped out of the Troopy for afew weeks. I didn't want to have to think about where I could or couldn't go. The Cape was as much about 4wding for me as sightseeing, so the van would have been a pain. Having said that, we agreed that if we went again we'd tow the van to Seisa or Punsand Bay and sit up there for a couple of months, play on the OTL, do other side trips at our liesure....

Good luck,

Matt

We are camped at Weipa at the moment on the way home from Bamaga towing a Bushtracker.
Travelled the bypass road and some sections of the OTL
On the OTL width is a Major problem (trees and tight turns). The Bushtracker can handle creek crossings up to 1.2m
Tyre pressure needs to be lowered to 28psi
If you take your time and survey every obstacle it is easy to keep out of trouble.
Camp at Elliot falls and and spend a few days playing on the OTL
Greg