Argo 6x6 on frozen lakes

[mowbizz]

once you go through the ice if you float great if you don't and it sinks with out ice picks or something to pull your self up on the ice you have less than 15 min.The whole time your body is becoming harder to move it is shutting down add clothes and it is faster. If it floats and you step out to set the anchor and slip and fall into hole or break through same thing. If you sit there and wait for someone to come and get you non trained and they die you live with that forever. If we come to get you the machine stays we don't care that it will go to the bottom. If by chance we have to recover your body off the bottom there is no coming back. So is it worth it you make the call I will recover your lifeless body off the bottom we do it several times a year sleds fishing huts boats swimmers it is all the same you are dead. I love argo just as much as the next guy I don't like recovering a body that didn't need to die.

Like anything else, personal responsibility is paramount to safety on a frozen lake. Common sense sometimes goes out the window and we have these deaths but most times the victims have no clue what the condition of the ice is when they’re driving a machine across a lake. There will always be senseless accidents and loss of life in these instances. Tragic, yes, preventable, yes, with common sense and a respect for the possibility for unsafe conditions.
On the lake where I ice fish, the ice is degrading fast and the edges of the ice along the shorelines are opening up. We pulled our ice shack off the lake yesterday and all of he other folks with shacks out there did the same after we did. There will always be people that push the limits of everything they do and some pay the price. Doesn’t mean everyone should stop enjoying the ice.

[ARGOJIM]

once you go through the ice if you float great if you don't and it sinks with out ice picks or something to pull your self up on the ice you have less than 15 min.The whole time your body is becoming harder to move it is shutting down add clothes and it is faster. If it floats and you step out to set the anchor and slip and fall into hole or break through same thing. If you sit there and wait for someone to come and get you non trained and they die you live with that forever. If we come to get you the machine stays we don't care that it will go to the bottom. If by chance we have to recover your body off the bottom there is no coming back. So is it worth it you make the call I will recover your lifeless body off the bottom we do it several times a year sleds fishing huts boats swimmers it is all the same you are dead. I love argo just as much as the next guy I don't like recovering a body that didn't need to die.

For the future and current Argo owner alike, how many amphibious vehicle rescues and fatal recoveries have you seen in the last 5 years? I know I have no lake ice experience, so a little info such as how many and what time of years you're talking. Caution could go along way.

[scimanstev]

For the future and current Argo owner alike, how many amphibious vehicle rescues and fatal recoveries have you seen in the last 5 years? I know I have no lake ice experience, so a little info such as how many and what time of years you're talking. Caution could go along way.

Excellent question. A bit of knowledge can go a long way.

Steve

[reichstall]

no argo accidents to date thank god one snowmobile body recovery last year. I thought the ice was good enough too but it was not. No ice rescue ever in the time I have been with this dive team two recovery from the bottom under ice. So it is a gamble. Have I rode on ice sure . But even with training it would be hard to get out I have done it in full recuse gear and it is hard. I am not saying don't do Just think what if . I also should have noted if the recovery is too dangerous for the team we will wait till the body floats up. Not trying to scare anyone just show our side that has to come to rescue or recover . Ride on

[ARGOJIM]

no argo accidents to date thank god one snowmobile body recovery last year. I thought the ice was good enough too but it was not. No ice rescue ever in the time I have been with this dive team two recovery from the bottom under ice. So it is a gamble. Have I rode on ice sure . But even with training it would be hard to get out I have done it in full recuse gear and it is hard. I am not saying don't do Just think what if . I also should have noted if the recovery is too dangerous for the team we will wait till the body floats up. Not trying to scare anyone just show our side that has to come to rescue or recover . Ride on

Thanks, just curious. A Hydratek sunk about 40 miles from here on a deer on ice rescue, they were floating not a break through.

[reichstall]

yeah it happens I just wish it didn't

[Canadian_Zuk]

A good friend of mine was a Metro dive cop, he saw some horrible things too. He was also my dive instructor in the 90s when I was going through all my certs.

[reichstall]

ok on to happy post

[Coast2Coast]

I thank you for the services you've provided to these families, these experiences have to be a heavy burden to bear on one's mind.

I like to think that in a floating machine I'm at least a little safer than the guys all around me on the lake in non-floating vehicles. It's the reason I use such a slow beast of a machine while everyone else zooms around me on snowmobiles and side-by sides. Although around here when the fishing season closes till summer there is still 4 feet of ice, people still find ways to break through the pressure cracks and sand bars.

[ve1sar]

Hi, hope this info helps. The only way to get an Argo out of water if it breaks through ice is backwards. Argos float down by the front because of the engine weight. So the front of the body will hit the ice and will not allow you to pull it up out of the water front wards. You will need to pull it out backwards using a chain or cable tugger connected to the Argo trailer receiver and a way to cut a hole for a ice anchor, also spare cables. The back of the Argo will float higher so will allow a person to remove an Argo from the water. There are videos some place on this site showing how this is done. Regards Paul.