Boarding ferry

P

POH

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Pilote 740c
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Hi, how bad is the rear end scraping when you board and disembark might have to put something on rear bumper to help ease the damage.
 
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We have rear air following grounding typically on turning into an incline, not ferry related

I am yet to board a ferry where they didn’t look out for overhangs

We have on many occasions had boards or thick ropes laid under our back wheels to lift the rear

A lot of our experience has been small Scottish ferries, but they might be the worst for grounding , one even held us back till last then drove the ferry several metres further up the ramp to help us 👍
 
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It hard to judge as it can depend on the state of the tide. The IOM ferry can be tricky but they can put sacks at the bottom of the ramp to help if needed.
 
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Depends on things like the tide at that time of day as well as how long's your overhang? - but can't say we've ever had a meg problem with it happening, cross channel. Now the day we used a BAC to cross the river to Anouville Amberville not far from Rouen, I closed me eyes and held me breath ...
 
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Cross channel ferries no problem, only place we have had a problem was on a Portuguese estuary had a huge hump where the ramp joined the ferry after the drivers step grounded I reversed off.
 
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+1 for air suspension, if you re on a fiat chassis DIY kit to replace the bump stops.

The other way is where possible go over the ramp at an angle (not straight) this can make a big difference.

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Bognor Saint said:
I'd be interested in these. Access to our driveway is very difficult and they may help. No price quoted on website and how DIY are they. Anyone have experience of them?
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You’ve got to have the strength in the rear overhang to take the forces that will be transferred into it.
 
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Stealaway said:
It hard to judge as it can depend on the state of the tide. The IOM ferry can be tricky but they can put sacks at the bottom of the ramp to help if needed.
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The Ferry is bad enough sometimes but the real tricky one is the Link span at Liverpool (PierHead) at low tide. The ferry docks onto a pontoon and the pontoon is linked to terrra firma by a moving bridge. Seen a few motor homes come to grief on this.

We are generally OK. The Carados don't have the low chassis, so despite our overhang we normally have good clearance. Its made even better with the 16" alloys. I still hold my breath sometimes though. I have seen them hold vehicles back for a couple of hours and I saw one poor chap (in a particularly low slung motor home) make it passed the critical point with considerable scraping, only for him to lose his nerve and reverse back for another go!.
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POH said:
Pilote 740 Evidence
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Nice van ;-)

If it's built on the light chassis variant with the rear chassis extensions fitted then I would not use any form of skid wheel or skid protection etc

Not only would such an addition reduce the ground clearance further but any extreme pressure placed on the skid wheels would likely fracture or bend the light alloy chassis extensions.

Go for air-only as the other guys have suggested.
 
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Bognor Saint said:
I'd be interested in these. Access to our driveway is very difficult and they may help. No price quoted on website and how DIY are they. Anyone have experience of them?
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Probably OK on an Iveco chassis if the ladder chassis goes all the way to the rear.
On a Fiat or Al-Ko chassis you will bend the chassis and do a hell of a lot of damage.
 
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When we went Orkney, they asked all MHs to reverse on. They took care to prevent grounding by adding planks of wood to lift the rear wheels appropriately.
 
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Blue Knight said:
Nice van ;-)

If it's built on the light chassis variant with the rear chassis extensions fitted then I would not use any form of skid wheel or skid protection etc

Not only would such an addition reduce the ground clearance further but any extreme pressure placed on the skid wheels would likely fracture or bend the light alloy chassis extensions.

Go for air-only as the other guys have suggested.
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All the skid wheels are going to do is avoid the dents and scrapes that you would get from the concrete.
They are not going to add any additional stress to the chassis.
They also only add a few mm to your ground clearance.

They are specifically designed for Alko chassis, chassis extensions and for fitting on tow bars.

Whilst we all agree that avoiding grounding would be best, most of us have done it at some point by accident, so either you grind your chassis on the concrete or add these little wheels.

I have a pair on my shopping list
 
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Revolvor said:
When we went Orkney, they asked all MHs to reverse on. They took care to prevent grounding by adding planks of wood to lift the rear wheels appropriately.
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Was it the Gill's Bay crossing?
If so, same for us. Boards laid down to lift the rear wheels so tail didn't ground.

Picture of before they laid the boards.

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Gellyneck said:
I see you didn't think much of the Pentland Ferries crossing to St Margaret's Hope then!:rolleyes:

You'd rather have went NorthLink on Scrabster - Stromness!:rofl:
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Actually loved the ferry! Going across the Churchill Barriers was interesting. Stromness just had a lovely atmosphere. It was also lack of traffic that was noticeable. Drove from Kirkwall to Stromness, and only saw 10 other vehicles.
 
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Revolvor said:
Actually loved the ferry! Going across the Churchill Barriers was interesting. Stromness just had a lovely atmosphere. It was also lack of traffic that was noticeable. Drove from Kirkwall to Stromness, and only saw 10 other vehicles.
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Even better on an open top bus which, being of a resident of a certain age, was free!

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Hi there. I have been aware of this problem for some time. We have a tow bar fitted and so I have made up a simple bracket to hold two rollers. The rollers are from a pallet truck, and have a 20mm bore bearing. I bought a length of HT stud - 20mm diameter, so now if we do catch, we roll.
I hope this helps.
Total costs, rollers £20 for the pair, studs and nuts, £20. I made and plastic coated the bracket from ‘stock’ lying around the garage.
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Revolvor said:
When we went Orkney, they asked all MHs to reverse on. They took care to prevent grounding by adding planks of wood to lift the rear wheels appropriately.
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The reversing on was simply to allow them to drive off; cars drive on and are parked in a big U shape that allows them to drive off at the other end. They can’t do that with MHs and lorries.

As you say, they are always ready with blocks of wood to put under the rear wheels to raise rear overhangs.

Ian
 
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We had a scrape getting on off one of the smaller inter island Scottish ferries. I fitted air assist,[ for an upgrade] which will help.
The only unknown is, having a derier perilously close to the ground, will I still be able to load the bikes on the back rack now its a couple of inches higher 🤷‍♂️
Mike.
 
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We nearly dragged the “studland” ferry out of the water disembarking last year. Good old tow bar took the brunt.
Will drive round next time. ::bigsmile:
 
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POH said:
Hi, how bad is the rear end scraping when you board and disembark might have to put something on rear bumper to help ease the damage.
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It should not be a problem unless you are very low.
 
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POH said:
Hi, how bad is the rear end scraping when you board and disembark might have to put something on rear bumper to help ease the damage.
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For peace of mind we have had fitted rear air suspension (raises rear a few inches) as well as a pair of jockey wheels attached to the chassis (cost of jockey wheels including fitting 3 years ago approx £250). Our vehicle is a 2.28 M Burstner Ixeo time Sovereign
 
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