Dont know how caravaners handle it !
Submitted: Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:38
ThreadID:
69104
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Member - Lionel A (WA)
Howdy everyone,
Had a bit of a nasty experience this morning.
Motoring out to a job on a country road and met a large tanker coming the other way. I was travelling at about 100 kph and presume the truck was also.
The ensuing burst of wind deflection from the truck, as it passed, was enough to toss the Nissan over the dirt verge, if I tried to steer back onto the road I would have rolled. The verge had a severe negative camber which saw me ride it out between two trees, take out about 15 metres of a cockys fence, put the wind up a few sheep and had to lock in the hubs to get back onto the road [lotsa rain]. No damage to the Nissan and all sorted with the farmer.
Travelling the rest of the way to work I got to thinking how would a caravaner get on. Never towed one but am interested to hear from those that have been caught out like this.
Always aware of wind deflection from trucks and prepare for it but this was a hum-dinger.
Cheers......Lionel.
Reply By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:47
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:47
Lionel,
That really does sound scary! It makes you wonder about some of these so called single vehicle incidents - who knows if there was a truck going the other day and what the wind conditions were?
Fortunately my camper rig is low profile and I haven't experienced such a wallop. I am always wary when the wind is coming from my RHS and a vehicle of any reasoinable size passes in the opposite direction.
I guess the only answer is to slow down a bit.
PS can you send some of that wet weather over to us dry souls in SA?
Kingo
AnswerID:
366363
Follow Up By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:54
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:54
Other way
(should have previewed my reply)
K
FollowupID:
634087
Reply By: Member - Vince B (NSW) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:49
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 17:49
Hi Lionel.
Just sold my camper this afternoon to a fellow from
Perth.I am looking to purchase an off road van.
After reading your comments, I hope I have done the right thing LOL.
Cheers.
Vince
AnswerID:
366364
Follow Up By: Sir Kev & Darkie - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 18:20
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 18:20
Vince,
Pickles Auctions have a few Vans (Offroaders) going up for Auction at
Coffs Harbour very soon
Cheers Kev
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FollowupID:
634090
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 23:13
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 23:13
Vince, rest assured a good off road van will be heavy and stable.
Mh
FollowupID:
634127
Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 00:16
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 00:16
Vince,
I'm happy to deliver in September.........
FollowupID:
634130
Follow Up By: Member - Vince B (NSW) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 06:39
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 06:39
Kev,
Sorry Kev. I would like the van to be flood free LOL.
Vince
FollowupID:
634142
Reply By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 18:25
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 18:25
Was luxuriating in
Mataranka Springs a number of years back and people were talking about their trip experiences. Turns out a bloke talking crossed the Nullarbor the same day as us but later in the day. His brand new van got side swiped by a triple semi that didn't stop. His van was a right-off. They ended up buying a new van in
Adelaide so they could continue their trip.
AnswerID:
366368
Reply By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 19:04
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 19:04
Hi All
We haven't had much of a problem with the Van we currently have now, re: Turbulence, but a couple of years ago with our other van which was lower to the ground and was being towed by the Cooks Ford Explorer, nearly every truck that passed us used to make the Tow Vehicle and Van swerve violently, it didn't matter what speed we were doing it would allways happen, the rig had all the Staberliser Equipment ect, anyway when I bought the Navara to tow it with, we didn't have any problems, it turned out that the Aerodynamics of the Ford Explorer left a lot to be desired, I still use the vehicle for work, and on a windy day I'm flat out keeping it on the road, I have spoken to a couple of other Exploder owners and they have similar problems.
Cheers
Daza
AnswerID:
366373
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 23:12
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 23:12
Hi Daza
The tow vehicle in the tragic accident referred to below was a Ford Explorer.
Mh
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Ray B (WA) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:33
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:33
Hi all
The wife and I towed our 20ft van from
Busselton to
Broome last year and we passed plenty of roadtrains up north. The only problem was we lost a vent cover off the roof with the wind gusts the roadtrains produce when they pass. We were towing with a 200 series t/Diesel v8. The van didn,t step out of line once and we had screaming headwinds the whole way.
I think as has been said before here its got a lot to do with aerodynamics of the tow vehicle and/or caravan
Cheers......Ray
AnswerID:
366383
Reply By: Saharaman (aka Geepeem) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:43
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:43
Have a look at this reference. It is quite a read but a very interesting finding:
FINDING OF INQUEST
Cheers
GPM
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Saharaman (aka Geepeem) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:45
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:45
Sory t appear this file is no longer accessaible. It was the inquest of 2 people who were killed in a caravan accident in SA in 2004 (I think) when a large truck overtook their van.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Fred G NSW - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:49
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:49
We are currently at
Longreach, going from the Hunter Valley to Alice.
Passed many on coming road trains today between
Charleville and
Longreach, and had a couple overtake me. 1000's of #@$&@# roos, no matter what time of day or night.
You need to watch your mirrors and let those trucks coming from behind know you can see them, and slow to let them overtake. When you see one or three or four coming towards you, you also need to slow and move over as far as is safe, and the roadtrain will do the same and be most thankfull for your actions. If you slow down, you won't have a problem with buffeting.
In one event today, whilst four oncoming road trains were passing us, about 200 mtrs of serious truck, I had a rock take out my windscreen, and a bloody roo came from the left and seriously deformed the front left corner of the Jayco. Thank C#rist for insurance when we get home.....:-))
Anyway, will check out the local stuff tomorrow, and then onwards.
Fred.
AnswerID:
366386
Follow Up By: Member - Footloose - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 10:32
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 10:32
Now that really was bad luck ! Last year when I was on that road, there wasn't a live roo anywhere ! Lots of road kill but no live ones .
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:57
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 20:57
I read that report and there was a lot more to it than actually came out I would think.
Like Modified van, sitting in a yard with no jockey wheel and the towbar horizontal.
Van was unloaded by family before police checked it.
Van went a fair way off the road after being disconnected from car ?????????
Mine with 305kg on the ball would dig in and flip I would think.
If a van is loaded correctly and within its legal weight and has a WDH it should track OK.
I have just arrived in
Darwin from
Adelaide and have passed heaps of Road trains going opposite way and been passed by heaps more and not had a moments trouble.
Sure you get a bit of a buffet just as they come up beside you and a sucking after they go past but as long as you remain aware its usually OK.
Had a side wind to Pt
Augusta and rear quarter ALL the rest of the way to
Batchelor.
Cheers
AnswerID:
366388
Reply By: Member - Redbakk (WA) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 21:51
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 21:51
Think of the thousands of vans being towed around this country every day, including
mine, and there are very few incidences.
It's a bit like flying , every now and again you will hear of a plane crash....but the sky is filled with thousands of them everyday.
Yes....things do happen....no denying that....but most of the time it can be all done without incident.
As I have towed my van around I can only remember 1 incident that caused me any grief.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Dion - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:11
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:11
Yes, but how often do planes crash...........??????????
Usually just the once!!
Cheers,
D.
FollowupID:
634118
Reply By: Motherhen - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:15
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:15
Hi Lionel
Sounds like you and Nissan had a lucky escape. Nissans are rather tough when they go through fences, and glad to hear you are unhurt. I take it the wind was quite strong at the time? Our caravan is heavy and has presented no problems. Some years ago, when we had a
farm south of Jerramungup, on a particularly windy day a caravan overturned just from the wind travelling past a bit of a gully. It was the end of travels for some poor eastern staters, as the caravan came apart. The Shire later burnt the wreck as it was creating a traffic
hazard with people stopping to
check if it was a recent accident.
Motherhen
AnswerID:
366405
Reply By: Member - Shane D (QLD) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:31
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:31
You will feel a lot more turbulance from an oncoming truck if there is a cross wind.
If the truck passes on the same side as the wind is coming from, you will most certainly feel it, goes the same when you are being overtaken buy one.
Shane
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Peter R (QLD) - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:36
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:36
Keep an eye out and take precautions too.
A UHF is handy for those wide loads
Pedro
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Motherhen - Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:45
Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 22:45
I have found the same Shane, with the worst buffeting on the vehicle being just after the truck had past and the wind hit (i had a Mitsubishi 'people mover' when this was evident).
Mh
FollowupID:
634124
Follow Up By: Ozboc - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 08:20
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 08:20
Was that load a front scoop ( not sure on correct terminology) for a bull dozer ??
Largest load i have seen on a truck would have been about 10 years ago - in western
Sydney
I was coming
home from the city about 3 am - then seen a few cop cars flying up the wrong side of the road- they proceeded to stop ALL traffic - Then an electrical crew began to unhook overhead wires that went across the road - another crew removed fences from the center of the road and another crew removed traffic lights at the corner - It was almost like a military operation the speed it was all done in
In the distance you could hear a truck under heavy load- as it got closer you could see that it was actually 2 trucks at the front connected by a Pole towing a massive trailer with steering in the rear and another truck on the rear pushing - the load appeared to be a MASSIVE pump / or pump housing , and they were going at about walking pace
never seen anything like it before - nor have a i seen anything like it again - i am just upset i never got any photos of it ...
Just though i would share
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Follow Up By: Member - Shane D (QLD) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 09:46
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 09:46
Here you go Ozboc, youtube has heaps of big stuff
big load
runs for a bit over a minute.
Shane
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Peter R (QLD) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 11:32
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 11:32
Don't know what it was but it wastravellin north on the southern side of
Rockhampton on the Pacific Highway.
Pedro
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Russ n Sue - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:55
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 13:55
We have both a heavy car and van. Deflection from oncoming trucks has been minimal but when trucks overtake, that's a whole different thing.
Trucks, especially cab-over types push a wall of air out in front and at the sides and as they overtake your van the wall of air hitting the van behind the axles tends to push the van to the left at the rear, making the front want to go right, thus making your hitch point also want to go right, while the front of the car sort of tries to go left. It is a very disconcerting feeling.
As the truck goes past the caravan axles the wall of air then hits the front of the van, reversing the whole centre of effort.
This takes place in a quite short space of time and it has spooked me on more than one occasion. we haven't gone off the road but you definitley need to grip the steering wheel and hold on if you want to stay as straight as possible.
We have had a situation where truck approached us during very windy, cross-wind conditions and the force of the buffeting ripped a bit of trim off from around the windscreen!
Cheers
Russ
AnswerID:
366471
Reply By: Member -Dodger - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:00
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 15:00
We have an off road van that has a high ball weight 210kg for a 1800kg van when it is loaded, because of the weight or the aerodynamics we do not get bothered too much with trucks going either way however our mirrors often get shaken when a fast truck passes in the opposite direction.
My biggest bug bear is wide loads, when I hear on the radio
the pilot vehicle warning oncoming vehicles of their size all is well and we thus have no trouble however when in the wifes car without radio it is often a bother as we do not know their dimensions.
It would be great if their wide load sign on
the pilot vehicle had the width of the load displayed as then one would know when to get right off and not merely over the fog line.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: tim_c - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 22:58
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 22:58
Hi Dodger, didn't know they warned you of oversized loads on the radio - is that on UHF? Which channel? I will be more diligent in keeping the radio on while travelling from now on!
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member -Dodger - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 08:18
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 08:18
Tim,
Just run with your
UHF radio on scan and you can hear lots.
EG. Those stop and go men on their radio.
Most over length/width load pilot vehicles transmit their presence to transport over ch 40.
I have my UHF on group scan VIZ,
Ch 40 for the trucks etc.
Ch 20 for the Motor homes.
Ch 18 for the Caravaner's.
Ch 10 the 4wd outback ch.
Ch 12 our local 4wd club.
However I often turn it to open scan when traveling the coastal highways as the trucks often use different channels..
I will start another thread on this
See .....What channel do you use.
So we don't hijack this one.
FollowupID:
634311
Reply By: Member - Matt & Caz H (QLD) - Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:01
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 18:01
Hey Lionel,
we are doing a lap of the paddock....... we have been as far as
Longreach and are currently in Tassie - we have a UHF and keep in close contact with all the truckies!! and so far have had no issues - we let the truckies know where we are ect they are cool with that - we are over 13mts in length with the van and cruiser
Cheers
Matt, Caz & Kids
AnswerID:
366502
Reply By: Member - Wyknot (Qld) - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 16:14
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 16:14
it looks like a dump truck body going from
Brisbane to one of the coal mines in QLD.
A indication of the width is if one pilot in front and one pilot at rear load up to 5 metres
2 pilots and one Police up to 6 metres
On non critical roads up to 6 metres 3 pilots and No Police
2 pilots and 2 Police on loads up to 11 metres
All wide loads in Qld use UHF 40 . just keep a listen out. and long before you hear from the wide load you will hear other truck drivers warning other trucks.. The first pilot should be at least 1 km out in front of the load so as to give plenty of warning to other road users. and even further in the wet or narrow sections of roadway.
The best thing is if you don't know how wide the load is . Simply pull over in a safe place till it passes. This also gives you time to grab your camera just in case.
Remember some of the loads take up all of the bitumen and then some. Be guided by the Pilot
AnswerID:
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Reply By: pojo - Monday, May 25, 2009 at 20:37
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 20:37
How stupid is the APIA advertisment on TV showing the little car hitched up to a big VAN You be the Judge
AnswerID:
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