Inskip Point; you don’t need to get bogged

If you’re going to Inskip Point in a 4WD, there are two words that you need to remember; Tyre Pressures. Get these right, and you’re laughing. Get them wrong, and you have half the country laughing at you, literally.

It must be an Aussie tradition in the 4WD world to find a bit of an obstacle, and to set up chairs and drinks, and watch the pandemonium going on. This is exactly what happens all the time at Inskip Point, and there’s even a Facebook page set up called ‘I got bogged at Inskip Point’.

For years, I watched these videos, and wondered how it was possible so many people got bogged at Inskip Point, and then struggled to get going again, and it all comes down to tyre pressures.

What is Inskip Point?

For those who don’t know, Inskip Point is a beautiful part of the Queensland coastline near Rainbow Beach (and not far from Gympie), where you can either camp along the beach, or you can hop on a barge to take you across to K’gari/Fraser Island.

The bitumen road ends with a few car parks, and there’s a short section of beach to drive on before you can get onto the barge. There’s two tracks, and they lead out to a sand bar, with a total distance of somewhere around 400 metres.

In that distance, there are more bogged 4WD’s every year than you’ll find just about anywhere. Some are just normal, unloaded 4WD’s, and others are vehicles towing big caravans, or jet ski’s, or even boats.

Why is it a problem area?

Again, I’m going to say tyre pressures, but when people don’t bother (or don’t understand) letting their tyres down, it chews the tracks out, and then you get lower vehicles who struggle for clearance, and the offset holes start to grow.

In warm weather, when the sand is dry and hot, it doesn’t take long for the tracks to get chewed out, and for people to struggle even more. Eventually, you end up with dozens of people stuck (and sometimes all at the same time), with vehicles going around trying to recover each other (and also sometimes ending up stuck).

Being a heavily used route to get onto K’gari, with limited alternative access (only one way out and back), it’s a recipe for disaster, and people literally pull up chairs for the afternoon and watch the chaos.

What do you need to do?

Anyone with decent beach driving experience will find this a walk in the park. You need to ensure the below:

You’re in low range 4WD, with the hubs locked

Traction control is turned off completely

Your tyre pressures are let down properly

That’s it. Seriously. With everything I’d seen, I wondered if it was going to be hard or not, and erred on the side of caution. I went down to 12 PSI on the front of our Dmax, 16 PSI on the rear, and 25 PSI on our 2.3 tonne Hybrid Camper.

I put it in low range, turned traction control off, and then drove through in second gear, at barely more than walking pace. Yes, you can give it the herbs and plough your way through, but this is totally unnecessary with the right tyre pressures and when the track is in decent condition.

Yes, its soft in sections, and yes, I can see how people get stuck, but if we can tow a heavy trailer through with a very ordinary 4WD, then anyone can do it, and realistically there is zero reason to get stuck on this section of beach.

Have you been bogged at Inskip Point? Let us know below!

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