Motorhome on the Oodnadatta track

[080646]

Is a Motorhome suitable to travel the oondanatta track

Regards
Diplo

[Frank & Brenda]

Short answer YES
2 years ago we along with 3 other vehicles, did the track up to willoam creek, we have a full hardtop caravan, there was one small semi off road, a camper trailer and a 4wd on its own
We had a great run as the grader had been through just ahead of us and it wasnt till 5km before William creek that we had bad corrugations, let your tyres down and take it easy and you'll be right
We let the car tyres down from 38 to 32 and yhe van from 40 to 32 a couple of time we had to slow to 30kph but most of the way was at 60-70kph and even some places we were on 100kph for 15-20km at a time, the camper trailer vehicle was up front setting the pace, knowing i had an onroad van
We are currently looking at possibly going up the silver city hway to Mt Iza in about a month

[dieseltojo]

Many of the Motorhomes are also able to be fitted with a limited slip diff ......For the more adventurous.

But speaking from experience, the better equipped, the more capable the truck..... the further you can get stuck in the mire.

[Old Techo]

Is a Motorhome suitable to travel the oondanatta track Diplo

G'day and welcome Diplo

We completed the Oodna just before Easter. You will find most of the story here... http://www.candm.com.au/forum/viewtopic ... 85#p197385

Dunno which direction you had in mind but we travelled from Marree, north/west.

From Oodna there are 3 roads heading towards the Stuart Highway. The actual Oodna track is the one to Marla, here... https://www.google.com.au/maps/dir/Marr ... !3e0?hl=en

The Oodna Marla section grading had just begun whilst we were there. We wanted to go to Coober Pedy and of the 2 roads there one is direct from Oodna. The other road is from Oodna to Cadney Park and we took it. Perhaps the worst of the 3 options. However we made the whole 700 kms of unmade roads towing our 2400 kg bitumen-only van without any hassles.

I think a motor-home would cope well enough with the Oodna Track based upon our quite recent experience there. It would be important to drop tyre pressures. I dropped the Prado from 40 to 25 and the caravan light truck tyres from 50 to 30. I have no idea what tyre sizes are fitted to motor-homes nor common standard pressures.

[Lance]

Is a Motorhome suitable to travel the oondanatta track

Regards
Diplo

Sounds like a great drive.
What size and type of M/home will you be venturing in ?

[nsgnomad]

A few days ago I watched "The Last Cab to Darwin". Now I know that movies can make something look completely different, but the impression I got from the segments in the movie, was that the Oodnadatta Track looked like a fairly good wide graded gravel road. Not at all what I had imagined. Of course they must have ensured it was graded just prior to filming.

[Old Techo]

I didn't report it as people only want to know the worst bits of road.

It is absolutely true there are sections of the road that are like a 4 lane gravel highway. We came across road works with graders and the like re-making the road and twice as wide, or even more, than the old width. It was beautiful. We thought it was a waste of time and money with this massive improvement. It was only a few kms long. Other sections had been routinely graded and they were good too.

The various sections of road we came across that had corrugations did no more than reduce our speed to 20 kph worst case.

What worried me the most on this trip was a puncture or destroyed tyre. This concern was elevated when we arrived at Coward Springs. Here is a quote from my earlier post in my Oodna topic....

When we left Marree and arrived at Coward Springs, only 130 kms, there was a couple in an Apollo hired smallish motor-home who had also driven from Marree. They were changing their second tyre on that short trip. One was punctured and the other destroyed, all in that 130 kms. Needless to say I became a bit worried as we had another 500 kms to go and carried only 1 spare for the van and 1 for the tug. We had twice as many tyres on the road to be punctured as Mr Apollo. So cutting to the chase we completed the entire trip without any tyre incidents.

My wife asked them if they had reduced any tyre pressures before hitting the gravel. Answer no.

[nsgnomad]

......

My wife asked them if they had reduced any tyre pressures before hitting the gravel. Answer no.

And why would they know any different? They would not have briefed about that when they picked up the vehicle from Apollo because AFAIK the rental agreement does not permit them to go on unsealed roads.

[Old Techo]

And why would they know any different? They would not have briefed about that when they picked up the vehicle from Apollo because AFAIK the rental agreement does not permit them to go on unsealed roads.

Upon arrival at camps said wife generally wanders around and talks to people. That's when she spotted the Apollo people fiddling with tyres. She asked them about pressures of her own volition. When she returned with this info I explained that as a hire it was probably not supposed to be on these roads. I didn't know or care. I was only concerned about the fact they had 2 fails in such a short distance.

Next morning after we packed up I went looking for the Apollo to make further enquires but I couldn't find them. They must have been early starters. So at no stage did I see the Apollo so I relied entirely upon wife's description.