Winch & Ground Anchor

[Aus Alzubaidi]

Good morning Team,

What is your opinion about using a winch  and a ground anchor in the sand to manage a solo rescue without relying on another car? beside the manual labor, any other drawbacks/risks? 

[M.Seidam]

Hi Aus

i am not expert honestly in those. But what I think that ground anchor needs a solid ground and we are doing sands mainly . I have seen ideas in you tube of digging a hole in the sand and letting the spare tire in and Berry it as anchor to the connected strap to the winch . I think@Gaurav and @Frederic can give specific opinion for the indications about it . 
 

cheers 

 

Edited December 15, 2020 by Mohamed Seidam

[Gaurav]

Very good observation @Mohamed Seidam in sand finding a solid ground or anchor like tree is tough. Digging huge hole to burry spare tire or sand anchor is what I have heard too, but never tried or seen anyone trying in my 14 years of off-roading in UAE.

Learning a self recovery to extreme can help in such solo drives (although not advisable to go alone).

Below are the videos from our Recovery Champion course, where we teach lot of self recovery scenarios.

One of the most difficult crest stuck where all 4 wheels are free, so no diff lock, no low gear will ever work.

 

Self recovery within 15-20 mins of shoveling and throttle control.

[M.Seidam]

@Gaurav really I didn’t open the video . I want to guess or think , shoveling from under the car front or back depends on the inclination to let the sand fall toward you ( sand under tire not to touch in order not to loose balance  , now we have all tires on ground and after that we start what ever is available  low gear or diff lock ... etc

[Gaurav]

1 hour ago, Mohamed Seidam said:

 

 

 

This FJC was also buried in sand till axle (purposely) to learn self recovery.

[Aus Alzubaidi]

4 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

 

This FJC was also buried in sand till axle (purposely) to learn self recovery.

Brilliant, thank you @Gaurav

[M.Seidam]

@Gaurav please is there a specific indication to the winching? 
I agree 100% that learning to acquire the skills of self recovery is number one , but it’s good to know them as well. 

[Frederic]

For solo offroading the winch with an anchor (this is a big and heavy item btw) might only work in firm sand. If you are really stuck, or crested, the anchor will not bring any solution.

Secondary, solo offroading risks is not just about getting stuck, but your car can break down, you can start to feel unwell, or many other possible scenarios are possible so rethink if you really want to go out alone.

Burying your spare wheel in soft sand will take a very long time, and the climate in UAE is unforgiving.

 

[Alexander Alcala]

I have a recovery device for that (that I have not use yet).  It's called the "deadman", and it is basically a big tarp to be buried at least 1 meter deep and use as an actor point.  I haven't used it yet, but I have seen videos where it seems to work pretty well.  And the advantage is that you don't have to deal with the weight of the spare tire and also it folds to very little space in your car.

[Ahab Shamaa]

Hey guys, this is my humble take in this, as a winch owner 😀
@Aus Alzubaidi, @Mohamed Seidam, @Frederic, @Gaurav, @Alexander AlcalaIf you are in the unfortunate situation of being stuck alone with no anchoring points, you can get still yourself out with a good winch and a ground anchor, no matter how soft the sand is.
The Deadman soft anchor is a good option in that it’s light, and saves space. The spare tire is a good option also, if you have no dedicated anchor. I’ve seen people try to anchor their winches with HiIift Jacks, Maxxtrax, etc.; basically, anything they can burry under the sand to use as an anchor.

Needless to say, all those options are very labor intensive and you’d be digging for a while (especially if you’re really dug in). Probably the same time it’ll take you to dig yourself out with a good shovel and left-right maneuvers 😀

There is a type of anchor that might be more suited for sand however, and that seems to require less work (there are many brands of this type of anchor, RedRock ARB or AnchorRight for example). This type of anchor is ideal for the desert self recovery using a winch. These types of anchors have come a long way in terms of weight and compactness.

I hope this helps!