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How to avoid getting your motorhome stuck in the mud!
Getting stuck in the mud is a
rite of passage for all motorhome owners, and we did it on our very first
outing in Bryony! Best to get it out of the way immediately, eh?
It did lead onto an
interesting discussion about why we had ended up getting stuck and so in this
post we try to explore what you can do to get yourself out of the mud,
what equipment might be useful to help you do this and how you can safeguard
against getting stuck in the mud in the first place.
Thanks to our Dartmouth
adventure, we can blog from the basis of some experience! (See our November
2020 blog post about our first trip out to Dartmouth, for more details). In
fairness though, having driven 4 x 4 vehicles off road across Costa Rica and
assorted countries in Africa, between us we have had some previous experience
of extracting ourselves from mud, sand, deep ruts, deeper holes, soft verges
and rivers! And, we have thus far managed to avoid ‘ditch diving’, unlike one
poor couple we met in Costa Rica, who in their attempt to avoid a collision
with a poorly driven local bus, swerved across the road and ended up with their
4 x 4 sideways down a 5’ deep ditch. (They were rescued, unharmed, by another
bus driver who carried chains – for that very purpose – rescuing tourists!)
Sadly though, all our past
experiences counted for naught at Dartmouth, where in the exhilaration and excitement
of our first trip out in Bryony, we drove thoughtlessly onto a grass
pitch, forgetting everything we had ever learned from previous travels!
So here are our thoughts
about getting stuck in the mud, and as always, if you think we have missed
out something vital, share with us your comments, suggestions and tips in the
box at the end of the post.
So, what should you do if you
get stuck in the mud or on the grass pitch?
Well, firstly try to avoid
doing so!
o
When you arrive on site, if the
weather has any chance of being inclement, use a hard standing!
o If you can’t get a hardstanding, then
walk and inspect the ground before you drive onto it and if you aren’t happy,
request another pitch location. (Questions to ask yourself – is it hard
enough to support your weight and then the 3.5T weight of your Moho? Is rain
forecast for any part of your stay? Are there any dips in the ground that could
become potential bogs or swamps? Does the pitch point downslope anywhere so
that you could position your vehicle to take benefit of this i.e. potential to
roll off the pitch?)
o
Failing all that, if you have
to use the pitch, then put down your mud mats first and drive onto these. It
helps to know in advance, whether your motorhome is front wheel or rear wheel
drive at this point. Drive onto the pitch very slowly and if you
feel your motorhome beginning to sink, reverse off slowly. Hopefully your mud
mats will spread the weight of your tyres and give you a better chance of
moving off the following morning! Another tip, is to position your drive wheels
as close as you can to any solid surface surrounding your pitch.
Ok, so it’s too late and you
are stuck in the mud, now what?
o
“Remain
calm, count to 100 and think before you do anything rash”. Well that is the instruction one of us
receives telekinetically from his long-suffering spouse in any situation like
this!
o
Take things slowly by keep
revving to a minimum and if possible, when the time comes, moving off in second
gear.
o
Avoid creating ruts under the
wheels, so on no account allow the wheels to spin.
o
Bring the clutch up slowly to
its bite point, keep low revs so avoid touching the accelerator and pull away
under tick-over. Once free, keep moving until you reach solid ground.
OK, so that didn’t work – so
what things can you use to help you get out of the mud?
o
Tyre
traction mats – we use the Milenco Giant
Lattice Mats and can confirm they do work, sort of! The idea is the tyres grip
the mat and so give you traction. The mats don’t grip the mud however and so
there is a danger they can fly out the back end; as happened to us at
Dartmouth! We were way too deep in ruts for the mats to even be placed under
the wheel edges! (In hindsight, we might have had a little more success if
we had pegged out the mats so that they were anchored. However, having never
tried this before, we are loath to recommend it here – but if anyone has done
this with success, please do let us know via the comment box below).
o
If using the tyre mats, dig
out the mud at the rear of the tyre to get the mat under the wheel and then try
reversing out. Of course, under duress on our first outing out in a new
motorhome, we didn’t think of doing that!
o
Some people use the bases of
cut down bread baskets from supermarkets (never managed to obtain any!) or 4 x
4 waffle boards (plastic mesh strips around 5cm thick, which sink into the mud
under the wheels. Sand texture coated the tyres grip their surfaces really well
and the boards rarely shoot out the back if wheels spin slightly. They are
thicker and heavier and take up more room in an external locker though).
o
As a last resort, I have seen
old carpet, bundles of sticks, rubber car interior floor mats and wooden planks
used under wheels. All come with serious health warnings – DO NOT stand beside
the wheels or behind the motorhome if you are using these – you risk being
decapitated or having your legs removed if they suddenly shoot out the back or
to the side!
o
Tow
rope and a friendly 4 x 4 owner –
this was our last resort on our first trip. Know where your tow eye point is on
your motorhome in advance and where to find the tow eye in your Moho. Beware
using someone else’s tow rope. I have seen too many used on slipways in the
past, which have suddenly parted under duress. I also prefer tow straps to tow
ropes, just a personal thing, but I’ve yet to see a tow strap part!
o
Deflating
tyres – best one I’ve ever seen was
in Tanzania, when a bus I was travelling on got stuck in huge muddy ruts. The
driver got us and our luggage all out, jacked the bus up, deflated the rear
tyres, removed the inner tubes and then proceeded to get every passenger to go
cut and collect huge bundles of grass, which he proceeded to stuff back into
the empty tyre interior. Back on the rims went each tyre and lo and behold, he drove
the bus out of the mud! The tyres deformed to spread the weight of the bus! If,
anyone had told me this story, I’d never believe them, but I helped cut the
grass and saw it happen with my own eyes.
We are not advocating this particular
approach for your motorhome as deflating the tyres is a very last resort (but should you decide to do it, it spreads
the weight of your vehicle a little better and you will need to deflate the
tyre to around 15 – 20 psi. It goes without saying, but we are going to say it
anyway – if you do this – make sure you have a 12v air compressor to pump the
tyres back up again before going back on the road).
And there we have it. Maybe
we have missed something useful above or not fully emphasised the importance of
something we have mentioned. If you
have any other tips, advice, comments or suggestions on what to do if you get
your motorhome stuck in mud, do let us know via the comment box below.
In the meantime, stay safe,
take care out there and have fun motorhoming.
Steve and Maggie
If you are interested in finding out more about us you can visit these posts at:
https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/10/welcome-to-our-blog.html and
https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/11/who-are-main-characters-in-our-blog.html
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Hi, we always look forward to hearing your comments, tips and thoughts. Drop us a line or two below. Take care now. Steve and Maggie