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Waffle Boards

Portager

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Messages
1,506
Location
Silverado
No, not forums for the indecisive people.

After the Sleeping Princess trail run a couple of us started talking about getting bridging ramps or sand ladders to help get over a certain obstacle. After some searching I found the most popular option seems to be Waffle Boards. Here is an example :link:.

Waffle Boards are fiberglass reinforced panels with a square or rectangular grid pattern. The best onse have a gritted surface added to the top for improved traction. The fiberglass Waffle Boards tend to be cheaper and lighter than steel or aluminum and tires seem to get better traction on these grids in wet/muddy conditions than steel or aluminum devices.

My concept is to get 2 pairs or 4 total and mount them on cross bars on my roof rails. I can accommodate up to 6 feet in length and 12 inches in width per board. The best Waffle Boards I have found so far are at Paddock Spares :link:. These are 58.4”x 12.2” x 2” and cost $127.87 per pair plus shipping. This will produce a 4 ft x 5 ft “roof rack” area and would allow me to bridge a ditch almost 5 feet across. They should come in hands for getting over boulders also.

Does anyone have any experience or opinions with these or similar bridging devices?
 

ReconH3

Guardian Angel
Messages
2,288
Location
Raleigh, NC
Everything except for steel bridging ladders will break if you use them as such. The brits use them and they do hold up at first but eventually snap. That's with lighter vehicles than our Hummer. If you want to use them as traction devices then they should work out fine. The best ones I've ever tried for traction devices is the Aussie Maxtrax.

http://www.maxtrax.com.au/


Ex Umbris Venimus
 
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Hunner

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,334
Location
Arkansas
Those look like drain grates?
They have some good Hummer pictures under "OKfroading" in the "visitors pic" section! ha ha
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Timgco found a nice set of a competitors's product for Luis at SEMA but unfortunately they were not for sale. http://www.tred4x4.com/
SEMA%202012%20%2847%29-L.jpg
 

twinmill28

Spilled Milk
Messages
1,545
Location
El Centro, Mehico (Way So Cal)
This thread is right on time for another project I've got using almost the exact same item.

Since we've had our travel trailer I've looked for something to put on the ground in camp to stand on, remove shoes, keep your socks dry and keep dirt out of the trailer.

I had an idea two weeks ago to look at expanded metal, or metal grating; more so aluminum to save weight. Looking for ideas, I stumbled on the expanded fiberglass mat like what you show here. I acquired two pieces, 36"x88" by 1" thick, light enough to handle by myself. But, this stuff does not come cheap.

I'm building an aluminum frame to mount under the trailer just in front of the door to slide these mats in and out from under the trailer. My original plan was to secure them on the rear trailer bumper, but too wide at 88" and won't clear the tail lights.

Now---back to using them for traction devices, I'd be interested to see the 1-1/2 & 2 inch thicknesses put to use under my 6600 pound deuce---there's got to be some serious flexing. These are probably better suited to Jeeps and much lighter vehicles.

As I learned in handling these things, they are fiberglass--carrying them with your hands is fine, get careless and rub them on your arms, well, you're gonna be itchy!

The company is called Fibergrate--they have all kinds of cool sizes and thicknesses, here's almost what I've got.....
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/FIBERGRATE-Grating-16U515?Pid=search


 
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Portager

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Messages
1,506
Location
Silverado
My wife mentioned that too. I told her it was cheating

I'm not above cheating! Especially if it saves time and reduces body damage.

I think the aluminum ramps that OK offroad carries http://www.okoffroad.com/stuff-ramps.htm would support a Hummer, but the cost is pretty steep.

I had found Fibergrate and their home page http://www.fibergrate.com/ but I was looking for something that was already cut to size. However, if I could save enough money I’d be willing to cut them down myself.

I've found other forums where smaller vehicles, like Jeeps, were using the 1.5 in thick Waffle Boards successfully. I thought the 2 in thick heavy duty Waffle Boards might work for the H3. For crawling over boulders you could reduce the span by stacking rocks under the middle and increase the weight carrying capacity.
 

MilamJR

Well-Known Member
Messages
805
Location
Alabama
Santa is going to bring me some traction boards. Does anyone know who makes this carrier? Also open to other options where I can carry them on my spare tire.
1536ada1014b5db0a5ad8956a1fc2528.jpg



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JPaul

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,400
Location
Way up north, UT
I picked up a pair of Maxtrax since it's hard to find rocks under two feet of snow, and sometimes it's just sand and more sand. Plus they are more for getting unstuck in soft stuff than for bridging or getting up a shelf.

I could have used them this past summer when I got my Alpha stuck on the side of a road by Bear Lake. The sand was a lot softer than I was expecting and only having 2wd didn't help. Had to have another guy pull me out once I flagged him down.

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MilamJR

Well-Known Member
Messages
805
Location
Alabama
I picked up a pair of Maxtrax since it's hard to find rocks under two feet of snow, and sometimes it's just sand and more sand. Plus they are more for getting unstuck in soft stuff than for bridging or getting up a shelf.

I could have used them this past summer when I got my Alpha stuck on the side of a road by Bear Lake. The sand was a lot softer than I was expecting and only having 2wd didn't help. Had to have another guy pull me out once I flagged him down.

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Any idea of who makes this carrier?


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MilamJR

Well-Known Member
Messages
805
Location
Alabama
Thanks. I called myself looking at their website but I couldn’t find them.


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