Sometimes even a solid platform isn't enough - BBC article about a family traveling in Australia

[driveby]

Hopefully this is allowed here but the linked article is about a poor family whose rig bogged in the outback.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-aust..._custom4=C44B2650-4717-11EC-BBAC-26B7BDCD475E

Given that we all could end up like them, is there any particular skill one could have used here? Aside from don't try this at all

I've been stuck enough times in my Jeeps to know that sometimes you are just done and need help. But given where some of us planning to go, help is often a long way away. Love to hear about skills others would use given the above scenario. At least this family looked about as prepared as you could get and nobody was really at a huge risk.

 

[Superduty]

Hmmmm, that is a tough spot. The mud looks pretty thick and unforgiving. There is a tree to the side of their rig, but nothing in front or back to winch to. Even having a second vehicle travelling with them may not have helped much. You need a hell of an anchor to unstick that size truck - I will assume it has a winch.

I suppose the one skill they could have had was the foresight to not travel over that spot. However, many times things look OK, even to an experienced driver, and then it turns out bad. The other thing is to be prepared, I missed the detail of how they summoned help, but thankfully, they had some way to do that. The hobby of travelling the backcountry, or overlanding, has risks associated with it, getting stuck is one of those risks.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Using a spare wheel as a winching point can work.
That vehicle has a 17,000lb winch at the front and a 12,000lb winch at the rear.
It appears that they may have already attempted the buried tyre trick, but it was too wet.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[Superduty]

@Peter_n_Margaret where is the additional information from? Is that a photo from this actual incident?

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

The photo is from one of our boggings, not the vehicle in the article.
This incident has received lots of coverage in Australia with lots of bits of information.
I think this is the third thread about it here at Expedition Portal.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[1000arms]

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/long-wait-in-the-australian-outback.229031/

Canter stuck near Purine Bore SA

This family and canter truck could be stuck for a while near Purnie Bore SA! Ouch! https://www.9news.com.au/national/perth-family-bogged-simpson-desert-outback-floods-parents-speak/0cf40b8b-0b0b-46ea-b8a2-18bbc515ef0a

expeditionportal.com

 

[clydeps]

Given that we all could end up like them, is there any particular skill one could have used here?

Yes, being able to read a weather forecast. That country is impassable to anything when wet.

 

[waveslider]

The photo is from one of our boggings, not the vehicle in the article.
This incident has received lots of coverage in Australia with lots of bits of information.
I think this is the third thread about it here at Expedition Portal.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Good insight and ideas on the buried spare Peter. Did it work in that particular case - even below the water line?

Can someone help me on why this was particularly newsworthy? Maybe I missed something critical in the article. Certainly a cautionary tale but.... national news?

 

[Joe917]

The skill is when it starts to bog stop. Stay on trails. Read the weather forecast, if it is not favorable wait.
Getting stuck is not an emergency when you have 2 weeks of supplies on board. Going remote then relying on emergency services to get you unstuck deserves a bill for those services. A two way satellite communicator such as InReach would have allowed them to sort things out without the situation being an "emergency".

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Good insight and ideas on the buried spare Peter. Did it work in that particular case - even below the water line?

Did not get to try. Some locals arrange some "help". But I have successfully used it on other occasions.

Can someone help me on why this was particularly newsworthy?

They activated a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) and the rescue authority went into full swing (at the tax payers expense) and there were small kids involved.
And it is NOT Covid
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[waveslider]

OK. I suspect your rationale is probably right on all counts.

Regarding your extraction above, what is your "helper" attached to on your rig to help ensure both halves move simultaneously?

I watched a similar extraction (in my driveway of all places) where a large tractor plucked a trash truck out of the bog. They Attached to the rear axle AND the front axle in an effort to pull equally and I'm curious if you did as well.

 

[Steve_382]

American Graffiti

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

I watched a similar extraction (in my driveway of all places) where a large tractor plucked a trash truck out of the bog. They Attached to the rear axle AND the front axle in an effort to pull equally and I'm curious if you did as well.

The chain was attached to a DIY towbar which was in turn welded to the chassis.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[charlieaarons]

I had a similar bogging in a “dry” lake in Baja in roughly 2008. At that point I didn’t have beadlocks so I couldn’t safely maximally deflate tyres. I’m not sure I had the 3 14000 lb Pullpals I now carry. My 26yo daughter walked to the main dirt road (we were on a side “track” to a beach) and showed up the next day with 3 Mexican Army Humvees.
In that case the most important recovery skill was that we both speak Spanish.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

At that point I didn’t have beadlocks so I couldn’t safely maximally deflate tyres

Never let that deter you from letting the air out. The difference is dramatic.
I happily let ours down to under 5psi to get out of a bogging and have never pulled one off a rim. Just treat them VERY carefully.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome