Trailers, roof racks, and fuel ecconomy

Take a trailer, less hassle, not a great deal of difference in fuel economy. You'll end up with too much on your roof and make the vehicle unstable.

Take both so you can take a tinnie and really make the journey worthwhile. Economics is relative to the length of time you plan to spend there as well as how many are going. My argument for our 3 month trip there was that 3 months was more economical because our main cost of travelling from Brisbane was the fuel. By applying a daily cost spread over 3 months compared to say 2 it made the whole journey "cheaper".

Kind regards

Hi Leroy.
Obviously, neither is the best answer.
If it MUST be one or the other, then it is all about weight and where it is.
DO NOT overload the vehicle. You risk breaking something on the vehicle and shredding tyres.
DO NOT put lots of weight high up on a pack rack. You risk breaking the pack rack or rolling the vehicle or both.
DO NOT tow a garden trailer. It will fail. The minimum recovery fee for a trailer off the GRR was over $1500 last I heard.

Best plan is to leave the weight at home.
If it is only bulk, not weight, use the pack rack (if it is a decent one).
Second best plan is to tow a decent off-road trailer.
The difference between a pack rack and a trailer is not worth putting into the calculation, IMHO. Either is likely to be around 1.5 L/100k.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

I believe it would depend on the weight of the trailer.

I usually tow my camper trailer which weighs 1150 kg unladen.
Lets say around 1500-1600 kg without my boat and outboard.

On one trip with friends who also have an automatic Jackaroo, I was putting in up to $20 per tank more than my mate. He had a roof rack/bag combination.

Have just completed a trip to the south east from Adelaide and this time took the OzTent and roof rack to store the swags, etc.
I returned an economy of around 18 mpg (15.5 l /100km), which is similar to towing the camper, but with one difference. I was driving at 100-110 kph constantly. With the camper I generally sit at about 90 kph.

Based on my experience a roof rack with a moderate load is more economical than towing a trailer, but I think it largely depends on the overall weight.

Bill.

Roof racks worry me.

I used to carry a couple 16 ft canadian canoes on the 4wd roof rack back when I was doing trout fishing tours in the southwest.

One day when travelling relatively slowly down a 4wd track to get to a river - I bottomed out with the suspension in a small creek washaway across a track after heavy rain.

The downward pressure & weight of 2 F/glass canoes made the roof rack attachement tear the gutter clean off the 4wd on one side!

The damage was difficult and costly to repair - the gutter leaked forever more - allowing water to pool in the floorpan and start rust etc etc.

Generally speaking - now when shopping for 2nd hand vehicles I won't buy anything that has any hints of any weight having been carried on the roof via a roof rack.. I think it destroys vehicles for a host of reasons.

A trailer on the other hand has lots of advantages including being able to leave it behind if needed! (such as going from the campground into town for fresh milk fruit and veg etc).

Some of the newer vehicles now seem to have intergal roof rails and racks as standard fittings & I don't know how these hold up compared to the old roof gutter fitting - maybe others with more modern vehicles can relate their experiences in that respect.

Of course the addition of weight up top also upsets vehcile stability as well.

Best of luck with it - whichever way you go.

Cheers

Thanks guys.

Just a bit more info. The roof rack is a steel full length ARB with a Southern Cross 900x1200 roof bag I recently purchased. To go up top is a touring tent, GU alloy spare wheel and prob a 20l water jerry, and then maybe bedding etc. Yep prob starting to get a bit heavy up top.
The original plan was to take a boat as I picked up an O'Briens built off-road trailer. Essentially a box trailer with canvas canopy and bars/rack going over top which the boat would sit on.

Our plans changed as it's only the family now: 2 adults and 2 young kids, so it's a bit hard to do boating with young kids. So have decided not to worry about the boat. (fishing charters will have to be the go) Then thought well if I'm not going to bring the boat then do I need the trailer? Can I fit everything on/in the Patrol?
I am going to look at a water bladder that fits on the floor in the back seat. I thought I could build a shelf over the top then other items could be placed on top. There is a 20l jerry in the storage system I recently built.

So there's some of my thoughts. I borrowed the roof rack from a friend and I am beginning to think it's a long way up storing items which may need to be accessed on a daily basis!!

Weight is my biggerst concern but I really only have the essentials!

Leroy

don't for get you can only travel at 100km towing. cheers lee

I have done both and i think fuel usage is slightly higher with the trailer however I still have the unladen rack on so without the rack it may be similar. The rack and no trailer was good but a little cramped and climbing up and storing or getting stuff is the only set back. I generally do this on shorter trips so it is not an everday week after week chore. Towing the trailer was no hassle, except smashing the rear dummy lights with the stone deflector, and access to the gear was easy for everyone and I could take more and spread it evenly like fuel, tyres spares etc. The funny thing is when i take the trailer i tend to take more repair stuff as I have seen countless trailers broken and left on the sides of the roads. So I take a welder, generator and stuff and I think about one quarter of the trailer is loaded with stuff to repair it if needed. Whats worse, or better, is I havent needed it yet!
For a long trip i think a well set up trailer would be the go. Set up at camp would be quicker as everyone call access stuff and the GU not overloaded. The GU's have a lot of faults but they are a stable tow vehicle.

Thanks for your replies guys. I have taken all on board and decided to take the trailer for ease of packing and access. Hope the Mrs doesn't take this as she can pack everything including the kitchen sink!

Leroy