Has anyone ever sunk his aatv?

[rdr]

Actually, i was at my aunt/uncles lakefront property, it was a very calm day out..... untill i sank...... relatives just laughed and laughed4 of us got a rope and pulled it in good thing i had more aatv's,lol

coolllllllllllllllllll way to go amp

[ygmir]

I was thinking about a folding sort of outrigger, that would run pretty flat against the roll bar, maybe even fold over the top in a two point hinge arrangement, then, fold out as you enter the water. It'd stabilize and add passive flotation, especially if a person made it adjustable............probably one on each side, so, you could choose how much flotation and where
If a person were really smart.............
they might be able to make one, or more, of the braces from a roll cage hinge and pin, so, it'd add the protection while on dry land, and, fold down in the water, since, the cage isn't really needed there..........

Just some random thoughts.

Henry

[carrant]

I sunk my RI Buffalo the second weekend I had it out..

Sad story. The Buffalo was a bit overloaded for water crossings ( 4 adults, one 13yr old, backpacks, guns, ... ). We'd already crossed several large creeks/flooded ditches and were making our way over the last flooded ditch.

After crossing about 60 ~ 70 feet into it the Buffalo heavily listed to one side, the guys in the bed jumped to the other side ( which probably caused our downfall ( no pun intended ) ). Once the guys were on the other side it listed below the waterline. In a few seconds she was sunk.

No bobbing or floating, just straight down. The water was ~5ft deep. The only part of the machine out of the water was the top few inches of the roll cage.

We were about 70ft from the end of the flooded area. Luckily the winch pulled us out without a problem ( we had to use two or three anchors to finally reach dry ground ).

Now comes the fun part... The engine was still running when we went down ( it was literally a couple of seconds and we were swimming with the fishes - so no time to react ), so it was flooded.

After popping out the drain plugs, we took out the spark plug, cranked the engine MANY times and watched the pretty water spray that ensued. After all the water was evacuated, we dried the plug off, screwed it in and cranked it again to the delightful sound of a dead battery.

After a few choice words, we let it sit for a few minutes; one last crank and VIOLA she fired up. After that we high tailed it back to camp for some dry clothes and the commentary from the other guys ( which I still get to this day :-) )

Once back home the real fun began... Water in the oil and water in the transmission. Three back to back change cycles later and all that remained of the Buffalo sinking incident were memories ( and the deer camp ribbing that comes with the memories ).

After that incident I'm a bit skittish on any deep water crossing.

chris

[philipatmaxfour]

That sinking feeling!

It is great to hear a first hand account. It removes all the theories like"it will turtle but IT WON"T SINK". Such a shame that when things really go wrong, everybody is too busy to get a picture. When I get wet there always seems to be ice in the water.