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Recently got back from a bit of an epic road trip from Karratha to Perth and back…. About 3100km In about 3 ½ days. Friggin nakkered now.
The purpose of the trip was to be present for a water test for a boat I was considering buying. As it turns out, all was good so I bought the boat and towed it back.
Day 1, left K-town at about 1045am. Delayed at the Fortescue bridge due to a car and caravan rollover- apparently everyone got out ok so that’s good news.
Ran out of fuel about 20k before Carnarvon, I was trying to push the tank too far (however, I wasn’t being particularly economic!) but that wasn’t a big deal as I had a couple of jerries with fuel. Decided to continue south after fuelling up and about half an hour later it was dark. Only came across 1 roo right in the middle of the road, he got out of the way well before I got to him fortunately- glad I have the spotties, they were fantastic! Took it nice and easy during the darkness.
Pulled into Geraldton about 20mins past midnight. The back seat of the Paj is quite comfy to sleep on! Having worked in the morning before hitting the road, it was a massive 20hr day and the snooze was needed!!!!
Departed Gero the next morning about 6am, got to Perth and waited at the boat ramp for the owner and mechanic to arrive. Test completed, deal done. Had to find an auto shop to get a replacement trailer plug to suit my car, that was a bit of a pain to do in a sidestreet! However once that was done the boat was hooked to the Paj and off I went.
Then caught up with a mate at a nearby pub, had a couple too many to drive and missed out on a room at the pub so slept in the back of the Paj again. She never lets me down!
Saturday morning departed Perth with the aim of Carnarvon. A slow trip as I havnt done a lot of towing before, and also primarily didn’t want to risk anything going bad with the boat/trailer! Sat on about 90 for the majority of the way. A bit of daylight left on arrival in Carnarvon, so continued on and spent the night in a roadhouse at Minilya.
Sunday morning, back to K-town.
And having said that, the fun began about 80km from home- one of the trailer tyres blew out. Quite surprised at how stable it was; it didn’t sway around or anything like that, no directional control issues just a bit of shudder from the tyre disintegrating. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it might have been, however I was only doing about 90 at the time, and for most of the trip just in case shit happened!
Never experienced a blowout before (but have had things deflate though ) and towing my new boat well, that aspect was a little worrying especially with the car/caravan rollover I went past a few days earlier!!!
I thought the little hiccup wouldn’t be much of a problem. Pulled over the best I could given the location I was in, it was crap with near no shoulder and the dirt sloped away rapidly. Grabbed the spare, the Paj’s jack, wheelbrace and set to work………….
The jack didn’t work. Its practically new, only used once in the last couple of years- it had run out of oil yet there was no sign of such. I probably should have checked before the road trip, but I expected it to be fine. Lesson learnt there.
However by the time I found out I had a buggered jack, a couple of fellas pulled up and asked if I was ok- "I was until my jack didn’t work" , "bugger, try ours". We lifted the boat up, got the wheel off only to find out that the previous owner has given me the wrong spare wheel with the wrong bloody stud pattern!!! When he chucked it in the boat I only made sure it was 5-stud like the trailer, didn’t think about the pattern (mind preoccupied a little you could say!) ARGH!!!
Frantic phone calls to many, many people. I had dad calling a roadhouse not far away to see if they had tyres that might fit my wheel, they didn’t. A mate calling people he knew and dropping by their places to see if anything might fit- nearly had him knocking on a few of my neighbour’s-with-boats front doors! Got onto my mechanic to see if he knew anyone but at the time that wasn’t going to work easily. A colleague headed out and checked a mate’s car (who was away) because he has a Holden I may have had holden hubs on the trailer, but his wheel/tyre combo was too big anyway. Got onto another colleage with a boat whose spare "may" have fitted. They were kind enough to come out and try. Fortunately (thank f***!!!!) it fitted and I was on my way again. Wasn’t far from getting a flatbed- I had called the RAC to get something in the system and have somebody possibly ready and waiting for a call- I was hoping I would have saved time if it came to that. Fortunately it didn’t need a tow.
2 hours after the blowout, I was back on the road. Plenty of people stopped and offered help- gotta love that, there are some good people out there.
I was a bit skeptical about the trailer tyres anyway and before I left Perth had made plans in my head to change them pretty soon after getting home. I wasn't sold on their load rating, i thought that it was barely enough to really give it adequate 'margin'. Tread looked good, but i'm not too sure how old they were. The tyre upgrade on the trailer is now happening much sooner than planned, going well and truly overkill now- and it will be complete with 2 new galvanised wheels which will leave me with the original steelies as a couple of spares.
I had to laugh about the whole thing- otherwise I’d cry. All part of the adventure I suppose!
Fuel consumption on the way south-
Karratha-Carnarvon – 14.69ltrs/100km @ about 105kmh
Carnarvon-Geraldton – 12.91ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh (took it easy during the dark)
Gero-Perth – 14.29ltrs/100km no real average as it included city driving.
And back north, towing the boat
Perth-Gero – 18.51ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh
Gero-Carnarvon – 18.58ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh
Carnarvon-Nanutarra – 17.32ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh (some slower stuff at night b/w Carnarvon and Minilya, about 80kmh)
Nanutarra-Karratha – *****figure to come*****
I missed a couple of fillups in those lists, but the figures include that data.
Im not disappointed by the usage, especially towing. Its dragging about 750-800kg as a rough estimate and not exactly aerodynamic either as the boat sticks up above the vehicle’s roofline and out from the sides a little.
Paj performed beautifully, towed like a dream. Very happy in that regard. Didn't meet Skippy either so that was a bonus.
The road trip was great, although tiring. Time was a bit awkward for the whole trip and I couldn’t really afford anything to go badly wrong! Didn’t have much fat in the system having to be back at work Monday morning.
Now just gotta get it out on the water! The boat that is… She still needs a name, I have a few things in mind but yet to decide.
Some happy snaps……….
Bored, so I did some self-portraits.... In deep thought, trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe....
Deal done, ready to tow home! My Paj and my Boat. I'm in love :-)
And my big smile!!!
Some posing
The culprit!
And the bastard 'spare'. At least it was put to use to steady the boat whilst on the jack so if it got knocked off by a passing truck, it would help cushion the fall.
And finally, safely tucked away at home.
The purpose of the trip was to be present for a water test for a boat I was considering buying. As it turns out, all was good so I bought the boat and towed it back.
Day 1, left K-town at about 1045am. Delayed at the Fortescue bridge due to a car and caravan rollover- apparently everyone got out ok so that’s good news.
Ran out of fuel about 20k before Carnarvon, I was trying to push the tank too far (however, I wasn’t being particularly economic!) but that wasn’t a big deal as I had a couple of jerries with fuel. Decided to continue south after fuelling up and about half an hour later it was dark. Only came across 1 roo right in the middle of the road, he got out of the way well before I got to him fortunately- glad I have the spotties, they were fantastic! Took it nice and easy during the darkness.
Pulled into Geraldton about 20mins past midnight. The back seat of the Paj is quite comfy to sleep on! Having worked in the morning before hitting the road, it was a massive 20hr day and the snooze was needed!!!!
Departed Gero the next morning about 6am, got to Perth and waited at the boat ramp for the owner and mechanic to arrive. Test completed, deal done. Had to find an auto shop to get a replacement trailer plug to suit my car, that was a bit of a pain to do in a sidestreet! However once that was done the boat was hooked to the Paj and off I went.
Then caught up with a mate at a nearby pub, had a couple too many to drive and missed out on a room at the pub so slept in the back of the Paj again. She never lets me down!
Saturday morning departed Perth with the aim of Carnarvon. A slow trip as I havnt done a lot of towing before, and also primarily didn’t want to risk anything going bad with the boat/trailer! Sat on about 90 for the majority of the way. A bit of daylight left on arrival in Carnarvon, so continued on and spent the night in a roadhouse at Minilya.
Sunday morning, back to K-town.
And having said that, the fun began about 80km from home- one of the trailer tyres blew out. Quite surprised at how stable it was; it didn’t sway around or anything like that, no directional control issues just a bit of shudder from the tyre disintegrating. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it might have been, however I was only doing about 90 at the time, and for most of the trip just in case shit happened!
Never experienced a blowout before (but have had things deflate though ) and towing my new boat well, that aspect was a little worrying especially with the car/caravan rollover I went past a few days earlier!!!
I thought the little hiccup wouldn’t be much of a problem. Pulled over the best I could given the location I was in, it was crap with near no shoulder and the dirt sloped away rapidly. Grabbed the spare, the Paj’s jack, wheelbrace and set to work………….
The jack didn’t work. Its practically new, only used once in the last couple of years- it had run out of oil yet there was no sign of such. I probably should have checked before the road trip, but I expected it to be fine. Lesson learnt there.
However by the time I found out I had a buggered jack, a couple of fellas pulled up and asked if I was ok- "I was until my jack didn’t work" , "bugger, try ours". We lifted the boat up, got the wheel off only to find out that the previous owner has given me the wrong spare wheel with the wrong bloody stud pattern!!! When he chucked it in the boat I only made sure it was 5-stud like the trailer, didn’t think about the pattern (mind preoccupied a little you could say!) ARGH!!!
Frantic phone calls to many, many people. I had dad calling a roadhouse not far away to see if they had tyres that might fit my wheel, they didn’t. A mate calling people he knew and dropping by their places to see if anything might fit- nearly had him knocking on a few of my neighbour’s-with-boats front doors! Got onto my mechanic to see if he knew anyone but at the time that wasn’t going to work easily. A colleague headed out and checked a mate’s car (who was away) because he has a Holden I may have had holden hubs on the trailer, but his wheel/tyre combo was too big anyway. Got onto another colleage with a boat whose spare "may" have fitted. They were kind enough to come out and try. Fortunately (thank f***!!!!) it fitted and I was on my way again. Wasn’t far from getting a flatbed- I had called the RAC to get something in the system and have somebody possibly ready and waiting for a call- I was hoping I would have saved time if it came to that. Fortunately it didn’t need a tow.
2 hours after the blowout, I was back on the road. Plenty of people stopped and offered help- gotta love that, there are some good people out there.
I was a bit skeptical about the trailer tyres anyway and before I left Perth had made plans in my head to change them pretty soon after getting home. I wasn't sold on their load rating, i thought that it was barely enough to really give it adequate 'margin'. Tread looked good, but i'm not too sure how old they were. The tyre upgrade on the trailer is now happening much sooner than planned, going well and truly overkill now- and it will be complete with 2 new galvanised wheels which will leave me with the original steelies as a couple of spares.
I had to laugh about the whole thing- otherwise I’d cry. All part of the adventure I suppose!
Fuel consumption on the way south-
Karratha-Carnarvon – 14.69ltrs/100km @ about 105kmh
Carnarvon-Geraldton – 12.91ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh (took it easy during the dark)
Gero-Perth – 14.29ltrs/100km no real average as it included city driving.
And back north, towing the boat
Perth-Gero – 18.51ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh
Gero-Carnarvon – 18.58ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh
Carnarvon-Nanutarra – 17.32ltrs/100km @ about 85-90kmh (some slower stuff at night b/w Carnarvon and Minilya, about 80kmh)
Nanutarra-Karratha – *****figure to come*****
I missed a couple of fillups in those lists, but the figures include that data.
Im not disappointed by the usage, especially towing. Its dragging about 750-800kg as a rough estimate and not exactly aerodynamic either as the boat sticks up above the vehicle’s roofline and out from the sides a little.
Paj performed beautifully, towed like a dream. Very happy in that regard. Didn't meet Skippy either so that was a bonus.
The road trip was great, although tiring. Time was a bit awkward for the whole trip and I couldn’t really afford anything to go badly wrong! Didn’t have much fat in the system having to be back at work Monday morning.
Now just gotta get it out on the water! The boat that is… She still needs a name, I have a few things in mind but yet to decide.
Some happy snaps……….
Bored, so I did some self-portraits.... In deep thought, trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe....
Deal done, ready to tow home! My Paj and my Boat. I'm in love :-)
And my big smile!!!
Some posing
The culprit!
And the bastard 'spare'. At least it was put to use to steady the boat whilst on the jack so if it got knocked off by a passing truck, it would help cushion the fall.
And finally, safely tucked away at home.
.
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