All my off roading is done in the deserts of UAE, and from time to time, we get stuck in soft sand, even after airing down it is still possible, on one such occasion, one of the chaps from Australia, suggested we put his kids sKate board under the wheels.. after the laughter died down, we thought why not, what have we got to loose...........it worked, and then he was the only one laughing at us...

So needless to say we all went out and bought skate boards, and have tweaked the design to assist in the recovery, so far with mine, Ive recovered myself (JK) and also a ford experdidition... still plan on refining the design a touch, going to remove the remaining wheels and put a 4x2 block in place, also more bolts, and a short rope, these boards currently have a tendancy to dig in, however these are still easier to dig out of the sand than a JK.......

 

wow, what a great idea! After spending 3+ hours recovering a JK out of the sand last weekend, I can see how that would totally help - give you a place to grab with those bolt ends and then drive up and over the sand on the end of the board.

Very clever idea!

Have you thought about maybe putting a triangle shaped block, long end down, towards the bottom - mounted on the bottom - to help keep the board from diggin in. Almost like a sharks fin on the bottom. Just throwing ideas out there for ya.

 

Already looking at "next generation" boards, I drew some sketches up, and are looking at having some made up, instead of skateboards, now looking at shuttering plywood 18mm thick, (at first there was some thoughts on if the weight of the vehicle would snap the boards, but instead it pushes the board onto the sand, giving it full support.

Re stuck in sand, my thoughts were always to dig out, however we dont have many deserts in the UK, so it was interesting to see how the many different nationalities in Dubai manage to deal with the problem,

The europeans, americans dig out. - I used to, but in desert heat, its hot.

The arabs have a couple of tricks up their sleeves, jack their vehicle, and back fill, then drop the air pressures to approx 6psi. OR, with steady revs, turn the steering wheel from lock to lock, I worked out that the rotation of the tyres cuts an arc in front of the tyres, and eventually helps drive it out. Now my prefered method, as you can stay in the cool.

The Indians (native to India) pour water on the sand, and drive out the way they came in......... saw a big offroad truck backed out this was, however they did have to use gallons of water, the water binds the sand together. Suspect this was discovered after it rained here, when the sand is so firm, its possible to drive in 2wd.

 

Jackmac, no photos of your stuck?

 

I wasn't the one stuck - we had a fellow JKer, Parrothead, blew out his clutch and was unmovable. We had to haul him across a lot of sand to pavement. It was quite a chore, but we got him there. Pics here: https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-trails-tales-71/12-13-2008-little-sahara-ok-64877/

Anyway, yeah - be sure to post what you come up with. Could be a nice tool to keep around here state-side for the occasional sand trip.

 

That's an awesome idea

I've been looking into bridging ramps and sand ladders to assist in situations such as this as well as when there are washes onteh trail you can't get around. So far I've only found one place that seems to sell them for a half way decent price, but they are still expensive. I liked this one as it seems to do both.

http://w w w.okoffroad.com/stuff-waffleboards.htm

 

Looked at the link, very kool pics mate.

will keep you posted on sand board design

 

Those waffle boards are a great idea, but $300 is a ton!

 

cheap skate boards, a handful of nuts and bolts a few bits of scrap ply and a hour or so worth of work.... 300USD ouch......

 

Yea, but not really a way to make a cheap bridge unless you carry 50+ lbs of wood each ramp bolted together with some sort of non slip covering. In AZ we need something to work for sand, mud and to bridge washouts, so $300 really isn't that bad xonsidering others are 500+