Towing a van on Teewah beach.
Submitted: Thursday, Oct 02, 2014 at 21:44
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Member - Nutta
Hi all.
I'm just wondering if anyone has towed a caravan on this stretch of beach in the last few months, mostly concerned about conditions, and also towing on
the beach!.
We are heading up there next week for about 5 days and I'm hauling the van along, single axle 16 1/2 to 17 ft pop top, weight should be around 1500kgs loaded, tare is 1300kg, atm is 1740kg, I will be dumping most stuff at
home and keeping it a lot lighter than usual.
Thinking of leaving tyre pressures as is in the van, even at 35-40 psi they belly a fair bit. Obviously lower tides are better so will be timing that, I'm hoping the in/out track on the south end will be reasonable, from memory the other end was fairly flat into the campsites, can't quite recall the rocky outcrop on the way up?
The rig is a 2012 RG Coloado auto, tyre pressure will be lowered to suit the sand, I will also be removing as much weight as I can from it also, guessing it's best to put some van gear, food etc in the colly.
There are 3 rigs going, one of those with out a trailer so I have a bit of back up if needed.
Its been around 18 months since I was there last so cant quite recall
the beach.
I know some will say leave it behind and if I really have to I will, I've seen 2 1/2 to 3 ton boats on Fraser so figure it can't be impossible, and the wife will be extra happy! Especially if I don't sink it!
Any help or thoughts appreciated.
Regards Wayne.
Reply By: scandal - Friday, Oct 03, 2014 at 16:24
Friday, Oct 03, 2014 at 16:24
I'm traveling that beach north to south on Sunday, so i will have good info for you Monday if that is any help, regardless of any track condition reports you get, you really need to lower the pressures in the van tyres to suit, even if they appear to bag out, its not the tyres getting wider thats makes them float on sand, tyres need to get longer to make the bigger footprint, my cruiser weighs around 3 ton and is on 235/85 tyre's, that's about 750 kg per tyre, your van is about the same weight per tyre, i would lower it to about 20 psi, that's what pressure I run, it is little on the high side for soft sand, but remembering once your are on the hard sand that tyre pressure is too low for speed, 20 is the happy medium
The issues, if any, will be getting on and off
the beach, once below the high tide mark it will be easy, just getting there may be a problem, keep the helper tow tug in front so if you get stuck on a track he is already where you need him, take more air out if need be,
Shane
AnswerID:
539872
Reply By: scandal - Sunday, Oct 05, 2014 at 18:15
Sunday, Oct 05, 2014 at 18:15
I've just got
home, traveled to beach from
rainbow bay township south to Noosa, heaps of campers in there, lots of big vans, dual axle 2.5-3 ton jobs all set up lapping up the beautiful weather,
as for beach condition, as mentioned, there are no exposed rocks to worry about, you will only have about 25 meters of soft sand coming out of the 3rd cutting, it is bitumen to within 100 meters of
the beach, then wooden erosion planks over a small dune then onto
the beach, one thing that I did notice, driving of the plank highway there is a bit of a drop of, that might give cause for some caution, other than that I wouldn't even worry about dropping tyre pressure on the van, some random whoopy do's but speed limit conditions pretty much the entire length
Apart from getting 25 meters over the soft stuff, you wont have any problems any where else
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Nutta - Monday, Oct 06, 2014 at 08:07
Monday, Oct 06, 2014 at 08:07
Thanks for the update.
How far from high tide hours wise should we be waiting, I just don't want to get there to early.
We're leaving Thursday morning, should be there around 10am ish, the high is at 8:15am.
Coming from the
Gold Coast I dont want to be sitting there waiting, on top of that we'll probably be battling peak hour, no use going to early but my neighbour wants to, might have to let him go early on his own!
Cheers.
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