Flying Solar Panels

[mikerezny]

Hi,
anyone on this forum who has solar panels or anything else mounted on their roof or bits and pieces attached to the rear of their van might be interested to read this article:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05...een-avoided-if-not-for-cannabis-use/101069790

Short story: solar panels were glued to the roof of a van. The adhesive gave way and the panels flying through the air killed three people.

take care
Mike

 

[Boots in Action]

@mikerezny , very frightening indeed. All adhesives, no matter how good, and subject to UV and the weather will eventually fail. The big question is when to check and how to gauge its remaining strength of adhesion. Always better to have some positive mechanical fixing for panels on the van roof I believe.

 

[Drover]

A follow up on last years story, dont often see that........ The hail damage replacement on Big Mal was glue and screw by the panel fixers, my latet additions the same, marine adhesive used but have heard of brackets stuck with just roof and gutter...

 

[rags]

Looks like Kedron use good silcone

 

[poor but proud]

Looks like Kedron use good silcone
View attachment 68264

did you read the rest of the story that went with this photo ? police are quoting that on average recently 3 out of 5 accidents in rural areas involve caravans, and they have had 5 caravan pile ups in 14 days, not really a good look for caravan drivers in general, they quote fatigue, overloaded, badly loaded ,and the gem no driver training before they leave on a journey, bring back the cruise ships then some of these knuckle heads might just park up their new toy and get off the road, sermon over amen

 

[Boots in Action]

Looks like Kedron use good silcone
View attachment 68264

Also looks like a case of "the tail wagging the dog" The Kedrons are a large and heavy van, and if heavily loaded (over-loaded???) or badly loaded with too much weight beyond the rear axles, that is an incident (accident??) waiting to happen especially for the inexperienced.

 

[poor but proud]

Looks like Kedron use good silcone
View attachment 68264

can you make out what the tug was??

 

[Hitting the road]

Looks to be a later model Landcruiser when the photo is enlarged.

This sort of loss unfortunately is going to become far more prevalent I think...loss of control and roll over. Vans and Hybrids are getting much heavier with all the standard extras demanded by consumers, but the average consumer sadly often isn't up to the task of understanding the dynamics and physics of towing these bigger rigs safely.

They must get lulled in to a false sense of security because the manufacturer says their brand new Landcruiser, or dual cab ute can tow 3500kgs! So off they go and buy their dream 3 tonne plus retirement caravan, hook it up to their new tug, both loaded to the gunwales with their stuff....and head off in to the sunset.

I certainly don't feel much confidence about some driver's abilities when they struggle to reverse their pride and joy in to very large space when parking up...

 

[poor but proud]

Looks to be a later model Landcruiser when the photo is enlarged.

This sort of loss unfortunately is going to become far more prevalent I think...loss of control and roll over. Vans and Hybrids are getting much heavier with all the standard extras demanded by consumers, but the average consumer sadly often isn't up to the task of understanding the dynamics and physics of towing these bigger rigs safely.

They must get lulled in to a false sense of security because the manufacturer says their brand new Landcruiser, or dual cab ute can tow 3500kgs! So off they go and buy their dream 3 tonne plus retirement caravan, hook it up to their new tug, both loaded to the gunwales with their stuff....and head off in to the sunset.

I certainly don't feel much confidence about some driver's abilities when they struggle to reverse their pride and joy in to very large space when parking up...

thought the same, could be a very expensive road trip,as insurance companies have been known to reject claims if they find the combination was not inside weight limits, glad that they walked away in this case

 

[BJM]

Very expensive for others as well more accidents more insurance companies will increase premiums.Same old story
good drivers subsidise the the bad.!In reality the powers to be should be checking for overweight vans more
often.No use the police stating accidents caused in part by overweight vans when a few more rig weighing checks
in say Qld would certainly reign in a few of the idiots.! The Nomads bush telegraph would be working overtime.!
You know somethings wrong when on any number of caravan forums there are posts saying people have purchased a new van and ask the question will my present vehicle tow it legally or at all!

 

[LB_77]

They had a segment on The Project tonight (channel 10) about caravan weights, loading, overloading, licence requirements etc and it also had the driver and crash footage of the Kedron and Cruiser shown in the picture a few comments earlier in this thread. Quite scary indeed.

 

[Drover]

It will get a heap of political lip service and vanish again for awhile i suppose ............ As for flying solar panels, its just one of many things that regular road users have happen, esky's, jackets, buckets, ladders, dogs, tyres, wheels some with axle still attached, kayaks, lawn mowers and boats are some of the things I have dodged over the years not forgetting the 12 pallets that flew off a truck at me just south of Bowen once, dodged most and ran over about 3, no staked tyres and must missed my steering plumbing by mm's, if I wasn't in a truck but a car, be deaded for sure, RC again I thought but many have died because of poor workmanship, loading skills or slack maintenance not just van but all vehicles on the road...some caused by the moron that thinks it will be funny to pull the pin and unhitch a trailer in the car park, only for it to come adrift later down the road.............. I would chop their hand off myself as a reminder.