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How Not To Launch A Boat

I would say the beach sits on a rock shelf and so he was probably only in a foot of water when he reversed off the edge . The front wheels are still on the shelf thats why the trucks at such an angle . An incoming tide will double the depth in minutes .
 
It does appear to be the case, but it still begs the question why he went out so far without knowing what was underneath. Either way you've got to laugh.
 
Easy mistake to make i reckon almost everyone just assumes the sea just gets deeper gradually the further out you go . When its that close to shore though its a wonder there isn't warnings as that could very easily have been a kid or non swimmer just going out for a paddle .
 
You would think he would of felt some sort of ridge when the trailer first hit the shelf. but like you say very easy to find yourself like this and sand is crap to recover in.
 
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there is absolutely no way I would drive my vehicle into the sea to try and rescue a vehicle like that.

Reckon the silver ones a write off anyway. Salt water will have infiltrated all the internal panel spaces, it will smell for ever, and it looks as though the engine wasn't running so he's probably hydaulic'ed water up the exhaust as well.
 
grant
as the water flows up the exhaust it will end up in the engine but the exhaust manifold would need to be under the water.


I saw a good one in Moz this year.
Brand new ranger about £37k over there I think. boat on the front they went flying down the steep beach and stamped on the brakes.
boat shoots out through the 4ft surf with sharks about, nobody on the boat!! or line attached.
they then swim after the boat everybody in the party with life jackets on trying to front crawl.
when they then realised that the ranger was sinking in to the sea and had waves crashing over the roof. they then got a hilux to do a snatch recovery up the steep beach using his metal winch cable.
I could not believe my eyes with how stupid these people were.

the next day when the same people turn up I had my camera in had but they did seem to have learnt from yesterdays episode.
great fun
stu
 
Is that just if the engine isn't running? I'd always presumed that the exhaust gases flowing out would always keep any water out.
 
yes moggy was talking about if the engine had stopped
 
yes, if you stall the engine. it can still happen with the manifold above water level. The engine stalls. engine, exhaust and gasses cool rapidly with water splashing around, causing negative pressure forcing water back up the exhaust. Add in water pressure, as the exhaust in that case was about 3-4feet under and the effect of wave action (or current if you were in a river) forcing water even harder up the relatively narrow tube of the exhaust and fairly easily you can have water up the exhaust and into the engine.

This can happen even with the engine running if your deep enough and you let the revs drop too much, so always keep your revs up when fording. Low first is best to maintain revs but not create too much bow wave.
 
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This can happen even with the engine running if your deep enough and you let the revs drop too much, so always keep your revs up when fording. Low first is best to maintain revs but not create too much bow wave.

The engine would have to stall first, and really things like the baffles in the exhaust and already shut valves in the head would slow the effect down dramatically, giving you chance to re-start the engine if it did stall. If hydraulic-ing up the exhaust was a real possibility everyone would be running raised exhaust systems as well as snorkels. The practice in Russia during the wet months is for HGVs to tow 4x4s through very deep and fast flowing crossings - they switch the engine off first so as they don't pull water in through the air intake if the snorkel goes under.

The shelf in the vid will most likely have been caused by a recent storm. I doubt it's a rock shelf else, as mentioned, it would probably be sign posted.

As an aside, I know a bloke who once got his Daihatsu stuck launching his boat in an incoming tide. He failed to recover it before it got too deep so went back the next day after it'd been underwater for 10 hours. He dragged it out with a tractor, and after pulling the plugs and turning the engine over a few times/filling the bores with WD40 and turning again, he put it back together and drove it home. He valeted it that week and part exchanged it for his next car! I pity whoever ended up with it!
 
I guess all those 'experts' telling you to keep the revs up must be wrong then!!

tell you what, try it sometime with your motor. take it into a river upto the bonnet with a nice hot engine, then deliberately stop the engine and see what happens!!

The reason for switching the engine off before dragging it through is also so that if the engine stalls water isn't sucked up through the exhaust, but it needs to cool first. Personally, I would be inclined to run the engine at high revs using the hand throttle.

When I drowned my SJ410 in the sea many years ago I pulled the plugs out and turned the engine over sea water spat out of the bores!! I did manage to start it again after a few turns by hand. A couple of days later I dropped oil through the plug holes to try and clean the bores up. that was just from the exhaust being about a foot under water.

The rust caused by such antics was pretty terminal after just a couple of years though. Salt water got into places you couldn't wash it out of.

One of the things that often gets overlooked when wading is you also need to think about other components such as diffs, axles , gearbox and transfer box. If they are hot then the same negative pressure effect will cause water to be sucked into them as well, so if you are fitting a snorkel with a view to wading you should also fit axle and gearbox breathers.
 
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If i was unfortunate enough to sink my truck in salt water i think i would be inclined to repeat the whole thing again in fresh water as water itself is harmless to mechanical parts whereas salt is an acid . The second sinking couldn't add to the damage already done but in the long term might actually do some good .

Google "Grand Bend Ontario" and you will see the shelf is a permanent feature (possibly man made ?)
 
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