A pal of mine is an outdoor journalist, and uses his motorhome on a daily basis. Earlier this week he parked up on a wide grass verge, without first checking conditions underfoot, and returning from a 24 mile walk for which he was writing an article, found he was well & truly stuck. With respect to him, he is not very motoring savvy, and had a long wait for the recovery services to tow him off. When they eventually found him.
Can you get mats, or similar, to put under the wheels to help in these circumstances? The obvious answer is never to park on a wide grass verge in a heavy old camper van, miles from anywhere, but the nature of his job means that he invariably has to do so.
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Any old carpet will do.
However if he wants flash, snow ladders.
www.amazon.co.uk/Vehicle-Escaper-traction-tracks-ladders/dp/B004C1AI1E
put them down and park on them
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>> Any old carpet will do.
Yep, had to resort to using the footwell carpet mats to get the car moving again after getting stuck in a grass field exit after a bit of late night courting several years ago.
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Normal road tyres are all but useless on grass and verges are usually very soft underneath.
Short of going for full offroad tyres there's not a lot can be done and no guarantees then that the vehicle won't sink to the axles as it won't have the ground clearence.
www.sportslawn.com/portatrack/roadroll.htm
This sort of product might be an answer, several companies offer similar fairly lightweight solutions, will probably be expensive, but the idea might prove useful in putting something similar on the ground just in front of the wheels and driving onto the 'tracks' before parking up.
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Don't forget to tie the mats/tracks to the vehicle so you don't have to stop to pick them up.
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>> Don't forget to tie the mats/tracks to the vehicle so you don't have to stop to pick them up.
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You beat me to it.
In the old days it was no problem - tie em to the door handle or bumpers easy.
Today?
A bit of rope through the door /window and tied to the rear seat belts or ?
Mmaking sure yoy do not snag the rope is another challenge.
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>> Can you get mats, or similar, to put under the wheels to help in these circumstances?
Probably not a long-term solution, but he could try experimenting with a few bits of wood - either 2ft squares of old chipboard or possibly offcuts of scaffold planks - to help spread the load across the soft ground when parked. Of course that assumes there's somewhere in the motorhome to store muddy bits of wood in between times, bike rack on the back possibly?
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Fri 21 Oct 11 at 11:12
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The problem is getting the mats in place after you have already got stuck. You really need an assistant to feed the mat in front of the spinning wheel so that it gets pulled into the hole.
Alternatively you have sufficient carpet to lay down first to drive onto, but that's a bit extreme because you don't know in advance whether or where you are going to lose grip.
It's probably best to reconoitre on foot first before venturing off-road. Or to try to park in a field entrance so that you can keep the driving wheels on firmer ground or the road.
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reconoitre?Thats a newby to me Cliff you mean check it out stamp on it.;>)
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Or to try to
>> park in a field entrance so that you can keep the driving wheels on firmer
>> ground or the road.
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Tipper or bus driver in a previous life CP?, if there's a 400 acre parking area 20 yards away they often park in the entrance..;)
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>> Or to try to park in a field entrance so that you can keep the driving wheels on firmer ground or the road.
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Excellent way to get towed away and parked in deep doo doo by a grumpy farmer.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 21 Oct 11 at 13:30
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Well, take your choice then. Park on firm ground tucked into the gravelly splay at an entrance, trying not to block anywhere that looks as if it's in use, or take a risk on a soft verge. It's a risk either way. I'm just suggesting options.
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Stuck on a grass verge. Again! - Zero
