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Family rescued from flooded pajero

I like this!

He said: "My 4x4 is like a monster truck, stands about 7ft (2.2m) high and is fitted with a snorkel exhaust". :wtf:

We'd already driven through some flooding, but as I went into this I thought 'It's deep' so put the car into reverse.

Is this a story of misadventure... on his insurance claim form? Sounds like an admission of undue care and attention, in the circumstances...:think:
 
This is just down the road from me. There was no doubt about it, he drove into stupidly deep water with small children in the car. that video doesn't show that it goes under a railway bridge and you can see quite clearly how deep the water was. another pleb that thinks his car can go anywhere because "its got big tyres on and a snorkel"

just my little rant for today.
 
Rant away Joe, these guys give us all bad publicity. :icon-evil:
 
Moron a snorkel doesn't make it a submarine , if he's local to the area he should have known the depth in which case he should be locked up for stupidity , and if he's not a local and so didn't know what depth to expect , well he should be locked up for stupidity .
While working as a digger driver the rule was always walk it before you drive it when the path ahead was obscured by either water or overgrowth . I've seen more than a few fella's lose their jobs for not doing that and causing serious damage to very expensive machines as a result . But with kids in the car FFS!
 
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Moron a snorkel doesn't make it a submarine , if he's local to the area he should have known the depth in which case he should be locked up for stupidity , and if he's not a local and so didn't know what depth to expect , well he should be locked up for stupidity .
While working as a digger driver the rule was always walk it before you drive it when the path ahead was obscured by either water or overgrowth . I've seen more than a few fella's lose their jobs for not doing that and causing serious damage to very expensive machines as a result . But with kids in the car FFS!

The "walk it before you drive it" motto is a good one in any circumstances IMO.

I got a SWB series landover stuck on a site long time ago and a guy in a Cat 830 (?) a big wheeled dozer shovel anyway, came to rescue me. I told him to take care because the ground was wet peat.

He came rushing over with a long chain and "nothing stops this beast" attitude. Cutting the longer story short, the D8 that got stuck pulling him out, was rescued by 2 D9's with a bridle chain set-up, where they could pull without getting tracks in the peat.

The foreman was so pissed that 4 of his most expensive bits of kit had spent 4 hours for nothing. I was a bit embarrassed, but he was right.
 
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Our 4x4 Response group get a lot of callouts due to water, or snow (which becomes water), and a section of our induction day is spent on assessing the situations.

We also use an example of a greenlaner who was imprisoned after a passenger died on a deep water crossing.

If the driver in this case was on dry road he should have stayed there, entering the water shouldnt be attempted without other checks first, if you are safe, why put yourself at risk.

Pete
 
Our 4x4 Response group get a lot of callouts due to water, or snow (which becomes water), and a section of our induction day is spent on assessing the situations.

We also use an example of a greenlaner who was imprisoned after a passenger died on a deep water crossing.

If the driver in this case was on dry road he should have stayed there, entering the water shouldnt be attempted without other checks first, if you are safe, why put yourself at risk.

Pete

Absolutely Pete, that's why I was so surprised at his admission. Yeah, it looked deep but I still went in! Lucky for him his kids were rescued before the truck went under. That would have been an epic tragedy, and it was so close!
 
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How does that snorkel work? By the time the water is somewhere near the snorkel entrance the car is already floating??

Frank
 
He had no excuse, he is a local man so has probably been that way many times. just pure stupidity :angry-banghead:

It wouldn't even enter my head to drive through something that deep especially with kids in the back.

I went out for a drive to canvey island in my landrover 90 only to collect my father inlaw, his bungalow had flooded out so stayed at ours for the night. The amount of cars i see stranded or chuffing out steam where they has driven through water that was clearly too deep. i really do believe aliens live among us, stupid ones at that.
still at least i can help pay for all of these idiots next time i have to renew my insurance.

Im off to a calm place now:lol:
 
Frank have a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP7vWSY7H-Q

it just raises the intake but doesnt mean you can go to that height unless you have your scuba gear on. the deepest ive ever been to when i had a discovery with snorkel was level with the windows and that was deep enough and killed my stereo and alternator.
 
Frank have a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP7vWSY7H-Q

it just raises the intake but doesnt mean you can go to that height unless you have your scuba gear on. the deepest ive ever been to when i had a discovery with snorkel was level with the windows and that was deep enough and killed my stereo and alternator.

It's one of the reasons I've never fitted a snorkel. I'm of the opinion that too many fit a snorkel as the first mod, then wonder why they're having starter motor, alternator and clutch problems.

OK, I accept that Ben does some pretty extreme stuff and loves it, but when you look at the damage he's had from wading, it makes you wonder if its worth it.

I go through water, but not deep enough to come over the bottom door shuts on a lifted 80. If I went in that deep, I'd just reverse out and find another route. Too many unprotected components on my car to do deep wading, without having to repair everything over and over. Only my opinion of course.
 
if you look at what the military (marines) do to prep their vehicles it's quite an eye opener. It includes waterproof covers for the electrics (including alternator) and dash, putting in wading plugs and a whole lot more besides, it's actually quite time consuming and it all has to be removed when the obstacle has been passed.

Snorkel is really a misnomer, these attachments are raised air intakes, not snorkels.

It amuses me when I see people on expeditions using a ram air type attachment facing forwards, following another vehicle and sucking in all the dust that vehicle produces.
 
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I remember as a kid (goodness, some 50 years ago I suppose) we were on a family holiday on the beach at Appledore.

I remember being very impressed watching the Army maneuvers on the beach, which they used as their training ground. They had what I suppose were half tonner Landrovers kitted out with long air intake and exhaust extensions which floated on the surface of the sea with the aid of buoys. They were driving the vehicles into the sea (the drivers were using SCUBA equipment), going right under the water (no special provisions needed to let the water into the cars I presume :lol:) and all we could see were the orange buoys moving around on the surface of the sea. They travelled a lot in all directions before returning up the beach with water pouring from the door "seals".

I can imagine that they would have had to seal everything that would normally have let water in, starter motors, alternators (probably dynamos in those days) electrics generally and the like.
 
I can imagine that they would have had to seal everything that would normally have let water in, starter motors, alternators (probably dynamos in those days) electrics generally and the like.

My first 4x4 was an Austin Champ with a 3ltr Rolls Royce engine, the whole engine system was totally sealed and could be driven under water, although I think there was a detachable snorkel that could be fitted but I never had that. I never attempted driving under water. :eusa-naughty:
 
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It's one of the reasons I've never fitted a snorkel. I'm of the opinion that too many fit a snorkel as the first mod, then wonder why they're having starter motor, alternator and clutch problems.

OK, I accept that Ben does some pretty extreme stuff and loves it, but when you look at the damage he's had from wading, it makes you wonder if its worth it.

I go through water, but not deep enough to come over the bottom door shuts on a lifted 80. If I went in that deep, I'd just reverse out and find another route. Too many unprotected components on my car to do deep wading, without having to repair everything over and over. Only my opinion of course.

I do enjoy wading through deep water but I am careful, as my latest trip report will show when I get it up. :icon-wink:

But I haven't really had any problems from deep water. Deep dirty muddy sandy bog hole water Yes! But not clean(ish) river water. :think:

I've had water half way up the windscreen and will again, but only if the current isnt too strong. For me the speed and current the water is flowing at is more of a concern than depth. :icon-twisted:

We fit a hell of a lot of snorkels at work. I have to go to Safari Snorkel HQ and pick up 20-30 every month.

I do wonder why some of the vehicles we get in are having them fitted though as most of them look like they never go off road. I'm sure some of them only have them fitted because everyone else does. :?

Nearly every other 4wd on the road here has a snorkel and bull bar fitted. :icon-cool:
 
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My first 4x4 was an Austin Champ with a 3ltr Rolls Royce engine, the whole engine system was totally sealed and could be driven under water, although I think there was a detachable snorkel that could be fitted but I never had that. I never attempted driving under water. :eusa-naughty:

Blimey Chas, you've just reminded me that in 1999 (2 yrs before I came to Romania) I almost bought an Austin Champ! I knew nothing about them except that it had the RR 3 liter engine, and that was the only reason I considered buying it. Funds were non existent at the time, and he wanted 2k for it.

Thanks for the memory jog!

Was it a good truck? If I remember correctly, it looked like the older Austin Gypsy, but maybe bigger. :think:
 
He also describes exactly what we describe to our members - the four flotation devices at each corner have lifted the vehicle off the road and he's lost traction.

Pete
 
Blimey Chas, you've just reminded me that in 1999 (2 yrs before I came to Romania) I almost bought an Austin Champ! I knew nothing about them except that it had the RR 3 liter engine, and that was the only reason I considered buying it. Funds were non existent at the time, and he wanted 2k for it.

Thanks for the memory jog!

Was it a good truck? If I remember correctly, it looked like the older Austin Gypsy, but maybe bigger. :think:

It was a great truck, I only sold it because a good friend of mine needed something to tow a caravan he bought to go and live in North Wales. I think it was a 1971 or that may have been the year I bought it, I seem to remember paying £250 for it. I drove it for about six months before I noticed the front and rear number plates had different numbers got it sorted buy the seller though.

Austin Champ wading;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VLTlMr7qYk
 
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I've had water half way up the windscreen and will again, but only if the current isnt too strong. For me the speed and current the water is flowing at is more of a concern than depth. :icon-twisted:

We fit a hell of a lot of snorkels at work. I have to go to Safari Snorkel HQ and pick up 20-30 every month.

I think Ben's spot on; the current etc is the bigger problem with spate water, rather than the depth. Water has some funny characteristics; for example where is the fastest flowing bit? (I'll let you know later on)

Even when the water is low I'll often walk it, especially if I'm not sure what the surface is below it, as much as anything to find what is in there that might give me problems and an idea of the egress. If in doubt, check it out!

I've worked a fair bit (and been trained in safety) on white water over the years, and have a first hand appreciation of the dangers of spate rivers (I nearly killed myself in a weir, having missed the last chance eddy) as well as the techniques for crossing it safely; given that in a kayak or a canoe, you can use the flow (at the right Speed and Angle (SPANGLE)) to push you across without dropping any height it's not a surprise that a 4x4 gets washed away. Over here it's more often a ute that gets washed away as the back end is so much lighter than a wagon. Watch a duck move on the river; they're a really good demonstration of ferry gliding.

I do wonder why some of the vehicles we get in are having them fitted though as most of them look like they never go off road. I'm sure some of them only have them fitted because everyone else does. :?

I know that up here, and further west, the big problem is dust rather than water, although when it rains it does flash flood here. The air that is higher up is often a bit cleaner, and can be cooler. Some of the magazines reckon that a snorkel gives you a fuel economy boost as it draws cooler air into the engine.

Nearly every other 4wd on the road here has a snorkel and bull bar fitted. :icon-cool:

Having just driven down to Tamworth today (120km each way) there were 10+ roo's and wallabies splattered on the New England Hwy, and seen 3 cars that have hit them it's not a surprise. I intend to get a bar as soon as I get the money together, because driving to our friends property is a bit interesting with the number of roo's there (and cattle as they are on a stock route, but they aren't as much of a problem... they're big, but they're slow)
 
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