Stone Protection-Van Underside

Rod
From recent first hand experience I can assure you that the damage is from the tug wheels. On my recent 12K trip to Cape York and Birdsville and Strezlecki tracks without stone protection, I had the underside of the van from the A frame back peppered. The protection on the front of the van worked.
Components were damaged including:

sullage tank pvc drain valve handle broken, valve replaced with bronze model, valve pvc outlet fitting broken and valve body dented, another new valve and outlet fitting installed.

Water tank pump earth lead broken, new lead made and fitted.

Water tank contents gauge reading full all time. Repaired broken lead.

Some plumbing attaching fittings broken and replaced.

There were no things that were critical but some were annoying. I suspect the damage may have been greater if there had not been a good protective layer of mud on the items under there.

The damage is simply caused by the wheels getting stones airborne for the oncoming van to hit them at whatever speed you are doing. For me travelling at about 70kph meant that was the speed the stones were hitting the components. Up the speed and increase the damage as well.

The answer is obviously to fit a system that stops the rocks at the wheels of the tug as those systems that are on the underside of the A frame will only protect the front of the van, not the underside. The other solution is to totally sheet the van underside.

Cheers

Stretchlizard

Hi Rod,

Im planning on using insertion rubber bolted across the bottom when I get my van.

Cheers Wilko

Thanks all. Ihave a Stone Stomper so will look at the additional mud (stone) flaps.

I wonder if this is a case of a van built for bitumen only and being taken where it was not designed to go.

Surely if it is a caravan designed to go on dirt roads (I do not mean a real remote off road one made for the CSR) then if it was properly "built to purpose" then I would expect it to have the necessary underbody protection.