Protection - Boat Sides

I Have a fue friends in the USA who generaly just drive up and down huge rocks all day long. They have 45" tyres and a host of body protection. One item that they all have is called Boat sides. Basicaly Rock/Tree Sliders that have a thin steel or alluminium plate covering the slider to the chassis.





Personaly I think they look neat and tidy, and are practical, even though there is very little change the Terracan will enter a rock crawling competition, the rock/tree sliders that I plan on making in the future might just sport a set of boat side protcection. It will cerainly protect more of the underside along with all the skid plates etc.

Does anyone on this Overland Forum allready have them? Or are they viewed as "useless" adding more weight.

In my opinion If you have no intention of doing rock crawling why have them, yes just extra weight, unless doing serious of roading, but if going on a overland trip, and the terain is that bad do you wish to damage your only means of transport.

my thoughts.

I would second those comments, they add weight and will be of no use to you, they are of limited use anyway as aluminium is soft and easily damaged with the weight of the vehicle on them, and can end up digging into the side of your vehicle anyway, but thats Americans, superficial image above practicality.

Assassin wrote:

I would second those comments, they add weight and will be of no use to you, they are of limited use anyway as aluminium is soft and easily damaged with the weight of the vehicle on them, and can end up digging into the side of your vehicle anyway, but thats Americans, superficial image above practicality.

I did think that for most peoples needs they are over the top, Ive seen a fue threads on pirate4x4 forum, some insane custom work on there, but I noticed that when they have welded on the boat sides they often just polish the serface down and not paint them like if you reinforced the chassis or axles. But then I suppose the grinding on rocks and the constant high temps of the USA doesn't really call for metal protection with paint. It will either not last long on the trail due to damage or the hot temps won't corrode it that much.
Still a Interesting concept that seems to be mass employed amongst rock crawlers and trail enthusiasts.

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And another question which is abit off topic but does anyone have a preferance to having live axles in the front or IFS? I know its down to personal choice, but is there a common school of thought amongst off roaders and overlanders?
Ive seen many people ground out on their diffs like my friend on our last trip after fishing. On my truck there is around 1" more ground clearance under the front skid plate than there is under the rear diff.
I personaly prefur the front IFS, the handeling is better and there is less body roll on the roads, Its not as good off road, with fairly limited articulation but I think that the pros outweigh the cons.

They make very good sense - IF and only if you intend driving over boulders. Roamingman has it spot on, when abroard you're never going to take on anything that extreme anyway as you always want to get home.

Far better for us and the sort of stuff we tackle would be ... exhaust protection. Everyone, including myself I have to say, thinks of protecting sumps, diff casings, sills and to a lesser extent fuel tanks, but virtually every time I've been to a Pay 'n' Play Day, somebody always returns from the off-road course with a blowing exhaust. Done it myself in fact, the favourite on a Range Rover being the downpipe coming adrift from the manifold by the flange - a weak spot on most motors I'd guess.

How about designing and installing something practical that protects the exhaust from rocks and tree stumps when cresting summits? It would surely increase the 'breakover angle' as well for you would simply slide over anything nasty lurking underneath; just a thought.

Side exit exhaust Tom?? Chassis sliders??


Brendan

4x4overlander wrote:

Side exit exhaust Tom?? Chassis sliders??

If side exhausts were such a good idea, manufacturers would have introduced them as standard years ago. One could think of reasons galore they haven't, but if they could they surely would have - if only to save money on shorter exhausts and simpler routing.

The only time they are ever an option IMHO is on out 'n' out off-roaders for leisurely mud-plugging or competitions.

As for chassis sliders, that's definitely the way to go. Although not relevant for me at present, I will definitely fit something along those lines for my RR camper. Not so much because it's going to be an off-roader, 'cause it never will be, but because the ambulance's chassis was stretched for the fibreglass body, so its break over angle has been compromised.

Tom Mc wrote:

4x4overlander wrote:

Side exit exhaust Tom??

The only time they are ever an option IMHO is on out 'n' out off-roaders for leisurely mud-plugging or competitions.

Our red 110 overland vehicle has a side exit exhaust! It is certainly not an out 'n' out mudplugger!

Reason being the 110 stepped down some rocks in Sweden and severely clouted O/S rear bumperette pushing it upwards.

IF that had happened on N/S I would not have been going anywhere until I had sawn off the flattened end of the exhaust pipe.

Side exit exhaust removed that potential problem. Just my take on it.


Brendan

Fair enough, each to their own, and if it works for you ...

That's what is so darn good about 4x4's, they are sooooooooo adaptable. The phrase "giant Meccano kits" springs to mind, something that has been quoted many, many times before in relation to four-wheel-drives ... love 'em!!!

A friend of mine has a dodge pick up and his right side rockslider with checquer plate step is actualy the exhaust!.
If he allows ill put up a pics.

Terracan Jas wrote:

A friend of mine has a dodge pick up and his right side rockslider with checquer plate step is actualy the exhaust!.
If he allows ill put up a pics.

Has he ever used the right side 'rockslider' in anger?

Ours sometimes see some 'action' and I do not think an exhaust pipe would take the hit so to speak.


Brendan

The exhaust/slider is quite strong. Something like 2.5" tube, 5mm thick. Picked up a dent or two.
Basicaly a shiny scaffold tube thats very loud!

The reason exhausts are not side exiting it to do with the preverbial legislation, and nothing to do with design, it is merely a case of if anything exits the exhaust such as large lumps of carbon, they can hit and injure a pedestrian who has little or no protection, and often a vehicle driver would not know.

In addition an exhaust produced silencing and back pressure, the back pressure is balanced to provide economical running, and the silencing is obvious, the final matter is cooling; exhaust gases are cooled as they travel through the exhaust, this lowers certain emissions so the longer it is, the more cooling ability it has.