Stupid question ATV?

[Ed Michrina]

If the atv 4x4, hits open water, will the tires keep it from hitting the bottom?

I was thinking of strapping a life vest to the front and back? Its nice to have them out there for friends that don't have a survival suit on anyway?

The weight of it is only 550lbs or so. I don't care if it flips, tires up. I just don't want to get a diver, to get a tow rope to it?

[plugger]

I know for sure that some of the older quads woul float, they were a lot lighter though than many of todays quads. A peice of 4 indh pvc pipe with caps on both ends fastened to the front and rear racks will add alot of flotation.

[polarbare21]

Just about everything now will sink... if they do float they will want to float upside down...... :fish: :fish2:
The head light will stay on for quite sometime under water
Carhartts will freeze shut-zippers froze. :sick: You will shake uncontrollably. :SHOCKED:
If you are lucky enough to get to a couple of propane torches, or acetylene :help: ,
you will make acouple of new best friends.
Take it from a new best friend,
voice of expirience here.

[Ed Michrina]

Polarbear , been there done that lol. I now wear a mustang float suit. I was just thinking of keeping my recovery easier. we have gas pockets in LSC 10" of ice and all of a sudden you have a 10 foot by 10 hole.

PS The CG and EMS don't know how to get frozen Carhart off ;) trust me I know :rolleyes:

[shadow7663]

Hey Ed get a couple 55 gallon drums and fill them with that expanding foam, seal em up good them strap one to the front and one to the back....... I know I know I have been watching to much of the show Monster Garage......lol:lol: but it would work then you could put a kicker motor mount on it and troll if needed..lmao All for way less than the cost of an ARGO

[Ed Michrina]

true shadow but I would have to invest in a bow and stern light and put a yhat club flag on front. I was thinking more about a 1/4 barrel in front and back but I'm not sure if beer floats :yikes:

[Ed Stringer]

I saw a web site with an air bag gizzmo. Kinda like a survial suit , I'll see if I can find it again.


Eddie

"Gino's home to Jolopy Perch"

[shadow7663]

Hey Ed the quarter barrels will help float it as long as we empty them while we are on the ice

[WDGibby]

Glad you two are still around to give us first hand reports! Safety first guys.

WD Gibby:)

[skid]

Here is a site that can help with quad flotaion devices. www.co.dane.wi.us/shrf/ice.htm I purchased a Honda Rancher AT this year and I don't want it to see the bottom of LSC.

[Ed Michrina]

Thanx Skid I'll check it out. you live in my old home town mad. hgt. 12 and John R.

[shadow7663]

Thanks for posting that site and now it has me thinking of putting something together for my quad and trailer also. I guess you cant be to safe out there.

[Houghton laker]

in one of the older ice team magazines there was a guy who did a lot of deep water perch fishing...He had on either side of his 4-wheeler....6in pvc pipe that ran approx. 5ft. with caps on it and mounted to the sides of the 4-wheeler....would act like pontoons and keep it afloat if it broke thru!! nice when fishing in 60 ft. of water!!! I heard, but hope I never get the chance to find out....that my 125 honda 3 wheeler would float because of the tires and lightnest of the bike....1 person can toss it around like nothing!

[Sturge]

ED this might show you what could work to keep you from sinking.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/538/5133scan_photo_11-28-med.jpg

Tom

[Houghton laker]

Thats the one i was refering to sturge!! Thanks!!

[shadow7663]

that looks like a pretty good design, I was thinking of a box on the front and back racks but I think this would be a much more stable design, My thing is if I am going to do the quad I should go ahead and do the trailer too!

[Ed Michrina]

I know I won't get that into it. but I may drag a 50 foot tow strap behind. It would make it a lot nicer to get it off the bottom. We have used a rope for the front walker to pull him out. I guess it kinda the same thing.

[skid]

That looks real nice. I would like to make some pantoons like that. Do you know where to purchase the plastic pipe? I looked at Home Depot with no success, will try Lowes. Maybe Warren pipe. Tim

[Capnhook]

Tractor Supply (TSC) carries that pipe and all the end caps.Capnhook

[skid]

Thank you Capnhook. Will have to check on the cost.

[mike h]

Do you know who makes these floats or how i could find them.. :help:

[Houghton laker]

Warren pipe carries all the pipe you would need!! I would try schedule 40... 6 or 8 inch.....it is the white sewer pipe....all you would need to do is glue on 2 end caps and there's your pontoon!! Looks like a struggle to crawl over them though to get off!!...........I like the idea of dragging a tow line!!

[adjusted3]

Having fished Lake Erie in the winter for years, I found that many of the ATV operators zip-tie a milk jug to the rear or front racks of their ATV's. In the milk crate goes a 100' of rope tied to a gallon milk jug and the other end is tied to the ATV. the thought is that if the ATV goes thru, the jug float to the top and you have a retreive line to get it out. Just a thought

Mark

[shadow7663]

I am really thinking hard about this but not sure just how I would mount this to the quad. Like HL said it will difficult to get on and off the machine but I dont want my new $5000.00 machine at the bottom of the lake even if it does have a tow rope attached.

Maybe I will stop in at warren pipe tommorow since its only a mile from my house.

BTW does anyone know how many pounds of floation 1 foot of 6inch pvc will get you? and should it be filled with foam?

[Fish Whisperer]

For what it is worth, I located these sites. The first is for pontoons that mount to the quad to let you drive through lakes like an argo. The second is for a air bag device that deploys upon submersion. Both Pricey in my book since I just bougth a quad, FL18 and buddy heater. So I may borrow the first ones design to build my own.

I worry that the front and rear racks could fail trying to support the hanging weight of the ATV if this is where they are fastened as depicted by some of the pics from the Dane Co web site. I was thinking you could run two iron pipes between pontoons/foam filled pvc pipes and used straps to pull it up under quad frame. If it goes though ice the quads frame will be resting on pipes between pontoons. In addition, you could easilly unstrap it and disassemble when you were done for transportation. Let me know if anyone sees any flaws in this plan.

http://www.godrifters.com/

http://www.skynorthplanes.com/access2/nebulus.html

Fish Whisperer

[shadow7663]

those godrifters are pretty neat and wouldnt hard to duplicate at all. I do think the price is very steep. Can probobly do it yourself so less than half the price

[FishTales]

BTW does anyone know how many pounds of floation 1 foot of 6inch pvc will get you? and should it be filled with foam?

Shadow has brought up a good point here.
Let's say you make up two tubes, 6 inch diameter x 5 ft long.
Do you cap the ends and make them airtight or do you fill them with foam
flotation material.
Which would give you better flotation to weight ratio for the atv, with or
w/o the foam.

[shadow7663]

After thinking about it some more I would have to think it should be filled with foam so incase the tube gets punctured it will not fill with water and still float!

After more research a 6 inch tube would have to be 61inches long to provide 1cubic foot of floatation which will support 60 lbs.

So it seems the it would take alot of 6in pipe to float a good amount of weight and doesnt seem very economical to use. You would have to use a much bigger diameter pipe to achieve a goal of say 300lbs so its not sticking out several feet past the quad.

What also seems would work good is building yourself 2 boxes both 4 cubic foot each and then you could use foam in there or foam blocks to achieve 480lbs of floatation.

Only problem with this is the engine will be below the water line if you mount the boxes on the front and rear racks but you will not sink the machine either.

[FishTales]

They make air bags for cars, maybe someone could invent air bag floats for atv's. If the ice starts to break, have a panic button to set it off.
They make inflatable pontoon drift boats with weight capacity up to 600 lbs, of course the pontoons are 16 in dia x 12 ft lg. Maybe Sospenders have an extra, extra large size. :yikes: :lol:

[Houghton laker]

That is one thing nice about having a $500 3-wheeler......you don't sweat that much about it going thru the ice :yikes: Up-north where my Honda Foreman is there is usually at least 1 ft. of ice and by mid winter usually more like 2-3 ft. :p After looking at those amphibious floats though.....man those would be nice for a nice machine down here!!!