EASY ESCAPE

WE EXPLAIN HOW TO USE RECOVERY BOARDS TO EXTRACT YOUR VEHICLE FROM A STUCK SITUATION, WHEN YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN

- DEAN MELLOR

IF YOU ever go off-road driving by yourself, you’d be mad not to carry at least one pair of recovery boards with you; they are, without a doubt, one of the most effective vehicle recovery tools you can carry in your 4x4. And not only are they effective, they are also affordable and easy to use.

WHAT IS A RECOVERY BOARD?

RECOVERY boards are nothing new and have, in fact, been around for as long as the wheel itself. In its most basic form, a recovery board is simply a flat object such as a piece of wood that can be wedged underneath the wheel of a stuck vehicle – whether that be a wheelbarrow, a horse-drawn cart, a car, a truck or, more relevant to us, a four-wheel drive – to get it out of its stuck situation.

Recovery boards have developed over the years from lumps of wood to lengths of steel or aluminium, and interwoven bits of rubber or rubber mats. Prior to the development of modern recovery boards, the most common type used for vehicle recovery since WWII were manufactured from aluminium, due to their combination of strength and light weight, and these were commonly referred to as sand ladders.

But sand ladders have their drawbacks; they are bulky and inflexible, and as they have a smooth surface, they don’t allow tyres to gain easy purchase.

Four-wheel drive guidebook author, Brad McCarthy, developed the first ‘modern’ recovery board manufactured from engineering grade reinforced nylon. Called MaxTrax, he launched the product in 2005 after four years of development. His inspiration? Researching for a book, Brad found himself bogged on a remote beach in Queensland; he spent six hours recovering his vehicle with a hand winch, and afterwards he thought to himself, “There’s got to be an easier way.”