Waffle boards- Different types

[elbekko]

53 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Conversely, Jez found driving mouse with the lockers OUT including the centre lead to less tearing of the surface exactly as Mike describes, of course you have to tread gently to avoid spinning a wheel too.

Interesting. Guess we never got far enough to see that part of it. I just remember floating nicely, hitting a soft patch with one front wheel, and it just instantly digging in - game over.

I think the MaxTrax are lighter than a waffle board? Never held one though, but my back aches just thinking about the 50mm waffles.

[miketomcat]

I have 50mm waffles. Yes they are safely located in the workshop where they stay unless I need a ramp.

Mike

[Escape]

9 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Conversely, Jez found driving mouse with the lockers OUT including the centre lead to less tearing of the surface exactly as Mike describes, of course you have to tread gently to avoid spinning a wheel too.

Now you tell me! 🙂

[landroversforever]

2 hours ago, Escape said:

Now you tell me! 🙂

Just have to get her back and have another go 😆

[elbekko]

9 hours ago, Escape said:

Now you tell me! 🙂

Maybe we would've sank closer to the trees

[Peaklander]

19 hours ago, elbekko said:

my back aches just thinking about the 50mm waffles

I recently bought a new pair of 50mm boards for about £50. When I saw the delivery guy trying to carry them towards me, I had a moment. They are way to heavy to carry as I had planned, on the roof rack of an Alucab lifting roof. Fortunately I sold them the same day for the delivered price, to a guy wanting something for some boggy ground near his 'shed'. Time to think again of a lighter solution or a different place on which to mount them.

[landroversforever]

There’s a massive weight difference between the 38 and 50mm ones too

[Peaklander]

I think those 50mm ones were 9Kg each when clean.

[Nonimouse]

21 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Conversely, Jez found driving mouse with the lockers OUT including the centre lead to less tearing of the surface exactly as Mike describes, of course you have to tread gently to avoid spinning a wheel too.

 

Back on topic - I've seen a lot of the US overlanding crowd buy Maxtrax and from what I can make out they're one of those shopping channel products you "never knew you needed" but are in fact less flexible than a simple waffle board. Their main selling point seems to be they're bright orange so you can strap them to the roof/sides and advertise to everyone how rufty tufty you are but their size/shape seems less useful/versatile/stowable than a plain flat waffle board.

At least you can use waffle boards as a table or workbench in a pinch.

I always thought 'Meh', then used a set, and thought 'Wow!'. So bought a set, never used them, and then gave them away to a friend, who uses them a lot. Last weekend I could have used a set - but had to go to the phaff of actually towing somebody out.  The draw back of doing off tarmac recovery is the need to actually get off one's arse and do stuff

[Nonimouse]

16 hours ago, miketomcat said:

I have 50mm waffles. Yes they are safely located in the workshop where they stay unless I need a ramp.

Mike

I use mine to keep engines off the floor

[L19MUD]

4 minutes ago, Nonimouse said:

I always thought 'Meh', then used a set, and thought 'Wow!'. So bought a set, never used them, and then gave them away to a friend, who uses them a lot. Last weekend I could have used a set - but had to go to the phaff of actually towing somebody out.  The draw back of doing off tarmac recovery is the need to actually get off one's arse and do stuff

I take the wife to rig the tow rope/winch rope so I don't have to get out 😁

[Escape]

I'm using a pair of 50mm boards as loading ramps for the car trailer. Lighter than the steel alternatives and a lot cheaper, but they have suffered when loading the skidsteer.

[elbekko]

1 hour ago, Escape said:

I'm using a pair of 50mm boards as loading ramps for the car trailer. Lighter than the steel alternatives and a lot cheaper, but they have suffered when loading the skidsteer.

And from how much those bend and crack when using them to load a car on a trailer, I'm not sure I'd trust a 38mm for bridging...

[Escape]

I've used the 38mm ones to bridge a ditch to be able to 'escape' with my Defender when they had just poured the concrete in front of our house years ago. They seemed to cope just fine. When loading the trailer, we're using the full 1.5m of length of the 50mm boards, the 38mm ones are only 1.2m (I think), so the bending forces are lower. The sides of a ditch or similar also have a bit more give than concrete and the trailer, makes it all a bit easier on the boards.

[Mossberg]

Folks thanks very much for the replies. Your discussion about breaking the layer over soft ground is very enlightening about how little off-road experience I have. I will get stuck into my Tom Sheppard "Off-roader driving" book to try and give myself a bit of education. I will have to see if I can get a bit of tuition off more experienced folk as theory and learning are great, but nothing beats hands on experience - but I have no desire to rip up the moor to learn, in fact quite the opposite.

I picked up the waffle boards also last night but have not really had a chance to have a look at them. As the truck will be used more in a semi working role rather than general transport, I actually think the waffle boards at 1220mm long could make a suitable shelf for in the back. I will just have to make some spacers for the ends or they could potentially slide and one end fall between the wheel arches (if thats the right term in this case?). They will also just fit into the back lengthways in the 90.

Thanks for your help and also highlighting the issues of driving on a delicate surface.

Mick

[Nonimouse]

Nothing beats a bit of decent training. It should be the first thing a 4x4 owner invests in.  Problem is that there are a lot of truly carp trainers out there, most of whome simply want the money. If you were further South West, I would offer a day of my time, for free. But you aren't. If however you are down this way, let me know

[David Sparkes]

9 minutes ago, Nonimouse said:

Nothing beats a bit of decent training. It should be the first thing a 4x4 owner invests in.  Problem is that there are a lot of truly carp trainers out there, ...

I can buy into both comments.

Decent training is good, although can seem expensive.

Training people is a specific skill, whatever the topic. Just because some can handle their car doesn't mean they can pass on that skill to the trainee, especially if the trainees car is not similar to the model the 'trainer' is used to.

Regards.

[Nonimouse]

21 minutes ago, David Sparkes said:

I can buy into both comments.

Decent training is good, although can seem expensive.

Training people is a specific skill, whatever the topic. Just because some can handle their car doesn't mean they can pass on that skill to the trainee, especially if the trainees car is not similar to the model the 'trainer' is used to.

Regards.

Perfect example is LR Experience, training the EA (who drive Isuzu Dmax). They used a range of D4 and D5 

[Daan]

38mm thick ones I have always used, now 2 are used in the garden as walking path across our vegetable patch.

Not sure I get the bit of not using lockers when the ground is soft. But then, I am not able to switch off my lockers.