Sand flag?

Twinklz

Forum Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Messages
551
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Car Year
2008, 2009
Car Model
D22 Navara 2.5 CR ST-R, Impreza R-spec
Transmission
5 Speed Manuals
I'm thinking about fixing a length of orange pvc pipe to a flexible antenna base I have in my garage and bolting that to my roof rack (with the triangle flag obviously) what do you guys think? What do you guys use?
 
Yeah I did, but I also said I'd stop drinking, never followed through on that either!:-P
 
^ :lol:

If the PVC is not stable enough it may crack is an issue I have seen before.

I use an old AM CB antenna that's about 2m long & attached to my roof racks. Some areas e.g. Simpson now have very specific requirements as to the positioning on the vehicle, the height of flag from the bulbar or rooftop and the dimensions and type of flag.

Pretty soon I believe they will also regulate the size and shape of your poo and we'll all need sphincter transplants to comply! :iconwink:
 
Kevin said:
^ :lol:
Pretty soon I believe they will also regulate the size and shape of your poo and we'll all need sphincter transplants to comply! :iconwink:
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Ha. Isn't that just the quote of the day! I heard a friend of ours explaining to his wife at the beginning of their 12 month journey around our beautiful country to be prepared. There will be plenty of days we WILL break the rules, and you're just going to have to be prepared for that! I must relay the sphincter transplant message to them :rotfl:
Best regards,
 
Gidday Twink

Twinklz said:
I'm thinking about fixing a length of orange pvc pipe to a flexible antenna base I have in my garage and bolting that to my roof rack (with the triangle flag obviously) what do you guys think? What do you guys use?
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That orange PVC is electrical underground conduit. It is as tough as all get out, mate.

I had to remove some recently, and hitting it repeatedly with my 6 foot long octagonal crowbar only marked it up a bit. Didn't even break it. Eventually I cut it with some long-handled garden shears - the sort that will chop through a 2" diameter branch pretty easily ... .

The only problem with it is that it is intended for use underground, so may not be UV stabilised. Otherwise it is extremely strong. It will probably whistle a bit. An old fishing rod would probably work better, but the best thing to use is what you have got, not what you haven't got ... :poke: :iconwink:.

BTW, that's a beauty, Kevin. I would never qualify, but I won't go into that ...
 
Hahaha awesome, so how long does it have to be and can I use an orange rag or does it have to be a flag?
 
I'd say that it can be anything, as long as it's highly visible and the right shape ... :rotfl:
 
And it can be anywhere on the car as long as it's 2M+ high?
 
Twinklz said:
And it can be anywhere on the car as long as it's 2M+ high?
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You might as well comply with the Simpson Desert regs, chances are they will come in for other areas as well:
Safety Flags, Simpson Desert - NPSA

Safety flag requirement All vehicles must be fitted with a safety flag as detailed below when travelling in the Simpson Desert Conservation Park or Simpson Desert Regional Reserve.


Flag:

  • Minimum 300mm wide by 290mm high
  • Made of fluorescent materials, red-orange or lime-yellow in colour

Vehicles:

  • With front bulbar - flag pole attached to the bulbar, with top of the flag a minimum 3.5 metres from the ground
  • Without front bulbar - flag pole attached via bracket at the front of the vehicle, with top of the flag a minimum 3.5 metres from the ground; alternatively flag pole attached to the front of the roof rack, with top of the flag a minimum 2 metres from the roof of vehicle
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I would use a red flag as it would stand out against both the sky & sand better. You could make this from a red safety vest & connect it with cable ties :biggrin:

Cant believe how difficult that was to find lol :lol:
 
Thanks Nacaluva. Thats not something I could leave on my car in the city!
 
NachaLuva said:
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I would use a red flag as it would stand out against both the sky & sand better. You could make this from a red safety vest & connect it with cable ties :biggrin:
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Except in the red centre :iconwink:
 
PVC makes a great sand flag IMO and mine didnt fail after 6 weeks of continuous abuse.
I used a length of orange PVC not the smallest size but the next one up (30mm ish diameter) I sleeved the bottom 50 cm with a reasonably thin walled steel tube (part of an old furniture trolley handle) with the top cut like this https://www.autospeed.com/cms/gallery/article.html?slideshow=0&a=112913&i=6
to lower stress concentration at the joint. I also sleeved it with the next size down conduit for the bottom meter. The sleeving stops the weakening that kevin was talking about as it makes the pole bend gradually and not just at the point where it attaches to the car.
I found that this setup was ridged enough to be stable and not bend to much in the wind yet flexible enough to allow the pole to be bent back to the windscreen when going under low trees.

Not sure about the antenna base idea as i think it may not be strong enough to support the longer pole of the sand flag and you might find that it is constantly falling over....

There are some pics of the sandflag on my tassie trip report
https://offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=5180&page=2
 
Orange conduit is not uv stable hence why you are only allowed to use it under ground (electrical). The grey stuff is. I use a length of 32mm with a flag on top.
 
I didnt even think about the UV thing when I bought mine just that orange was more visible. I am yet to see any deterioration in the plastic of my pole but its probably only seen 2 months of sunlight so far.
 
For the purpose of a sand flag that you might put on once every now and then the orange conduit will be fine. Just watch it for signs of cracking and brittleness.

The uv issue is only because conduit installations are for decades or longer in permanent sun, which this sand flag will likely never see.
If youve got it, I dont see any harm in trying it. Better than paying 300 bucks or something stupid.
 
I'm buying 4M of orange conduit, as an experiment I'll leave one length on my roof for the next 10 months and the other 2M in my garage underneath a cloth, and I'll see how they're going week by week
 
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