severe limitations nobody mentions about our amphibious vehicles

[JoeMeg]

Why don't you stop off here on your way out, could be the answer


[ATTACH=CONFIG]10479[/ATTACH]

When I was younger, we would start in a metropark aprox 3 miles south of the shore and float in innertubes down a creek of the same name,all the way to Lake Erie. THOSE were the good ole day's.

Joe.

[flippy]

Yes I do realize a 4 wheel atv would not even be able to enter the water.I just need more experience.Its actually good to hear that I am not the only one to experience this.I would rather be stopped dead in the water than be sunk in the water!-I will go again and bring a colapsable pole.Its almost a better story due to the fact that I had a problem,the wife and I laughed about it later.

[Rusty-Gunn]

Thanks to this thread I'll have to watch where I come out when we cross a few creeks this summer. Its good to learn something before it happens.

[scotty.rodgers]

small trolling motor with a back up battery should get you through and not add too much weight, plus you wont have to worry about the water pump.

[PlumCrazy]

So I take my 6x6 with myself and my woman and 6 new at101 tires down the bank through the cat tails and fragmites on to the 2 1/2 foot deep canal-once in the water yes the 6x6 floats fine and swims well-yet slowly-now time to get out-the slow momentom of the 6x6 is not enough to push down the fragmites and cattails-so I am stuck with tires spinning in the water and the 6x6 not moving because the catails are acting as a road block.The water is deep enough that the tires dont touch the bottom to grab mud.Anyway a guy fishing got his truck-I stepped out of the 6x6 had to walk in the knee deep muck get out and he pulled me out.Embarassing yes-If I had a large oar then I could have pushed the 6x6 through the cat tails-maybe.This is just my experience that I have not read about on here.Seems silly that I have to find a nice clean shore area with no 4 foot high thick vegetation in order to get out of the water.What did I do wrong and If I have to carry an oar then I better just stick with a rowboat-And the canal is barely deep enough for a small outboard and if you use a small gas outboard the soot and muck will get sucked up into the water pump and burn the outboard up!Any opinions?

Hey flippy, which ramp are you using, sounds like the South River Road ramp.
I play around in about 10 acres of Phragmites at the house on Lake Huron and I can tell you that Phragmites is tough stuff.
I have hung myself up a few times also, I get out and push or use my winch and move the 6x6, some people carry a small Danforth/Fluke anchor they can hook to their winch.
Drew is right, safety in numbers, especially if you have not been through there before.

[flippy]

Not using a ramp-Going through a small field thats for sale and it has water front property -well whats left of the canal that I grew up at.This canal used to be about 6 or 7 feet deep 35 years ago but now its only about 2 .The lake levels being so low,The canal leads out to lake st clair.Cotton road and jefferson area.Pretty sad owning a 20 foot boat that I have to launch at the dnr launch site.My mom still owns and lives in the house I was raised at.Nice backyard with a seawall,but the canal has not had enough water in the last 10 years.I remember houseboats and 30 foot boats going down this canal as a kid-everybody who lived on the water had a boat.Now its just like a large ditch .Everyone who had nice boats got sick of having them drydocked so most of them sold the boats and bought harley's.Just hoping the water levels come back up.Good time to buy canal or river front property.

[Bazooo guy]

A pair of hip waders and a tree to winch yourself out.
AATVing ..... you gotta love it.

[rodp]

Not using a ramp-Going through a small field thats for sale and it has water front property -well whats left of the canal that I grew up at.This canal used to be about 6 or 7 feet deep 35 years ago but now its only about 2 .The lake levels being so low,The canal leads out to lake st clair.Cotton road and jefferson area.Pretty sad owning a 20 foot boat that I have to launch at the dnr launch site.My mom still owns and lives in the house I was raised at.Nice backyard with a seawall,but the canal has not had enough water in the last 10 years.I remember houseboats and 30 foot boats going down this canal as a kid-everybody who lived on the water had a boat.Now its just like a large ditch .Everyone who had nice boats got sick of having them drydocked so most of them sold the boats and bought harley's.Just hoping the water levels come back up.Good time to buy canal or river front property.

??? How come the water level is so low ? Man made problem or natural ?

[thebuggyman1]

??? How come the water level is so low ? Man made problem or natural ?

That's a good question, and in typical fashion the politicians argue, point fingers, and do NOTHING!
The Great Lakes have been down for years. Is it global warming, long term drought cycle, changing weather patterns or the other states bordering the water selling it off (stealing it)??? I suspect it is a combination of all factors. Alex (flippy) and I are about the same age, and I remember things being very different as a kid also. I doubt the water level has really gone down 6', but I'd believe 1-2' and the canal will naturally fill in with sediment if not dredged regularly.
I could poke fun at him and say he was small back then so the water seemed deeper, and now too old to remember correctly. But I am a couple years older than him.....so what does that say about me

[PlumCrazy]

I remember the Mt. Clemens/Harrison Twsp./Chesterfield Twsp. canals being dredged in the 60's & 70's, as Jim eluded to, natural sediment must be removed. Winds out of the east (from Canada) push the water into the canals and leave the sediment they pick up in the canal bottom. I had a 1962 25' Lyman open skiff with a 389 tri-power in the mid 70's and occasionally dragged bottom with my jack shaft skeg.

The chart below shows the cyclical fluctuations of the St. Clair water levels since 1900.

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/w...ot/StClair.jpg

I DO carry a pair of hip waders and boots in the MaxIV.

[thebuggyman1]

Cool info Ed. Snow melt=water levels. As it turns out, all the snow I remember as a kid, may have been historically unusual. The link shows water levels were high in the 70's, and fairly close to normal now.

[rodp]

Water levels seem pretty average now. I suppose it's growing up that causes most of the doubts, I seem to remember EVERY winter having several feet of snow for sledging and EVERY summer being blistering hot and dry. Now it's just cold and wet all year round.
I doubt it was like that, I just remember the good times.

[jtb51b]

I ran into a similar situation just yesterday. A pond I used to frequent with a small boat has now been blocked off (well swamped off) to the point that nothing but a AATV could get you in. I drove a few miles to fish this pond so I wasnt going to let a few cat tails and grass clumps stop me! Getting in was easy. After fishing for a couple hours (trolling motor a 24M battery) I attempted to exit the same place I entered, tough to get out to say the least! I was almost to the point of using the winch when the stars lined up and out I came. I do carry a very large homemade treble hook that I can hook to my winch and throw on shore to snag something if needed, this would not be near as easy without synthetic winch rope, I think every winch should come with this stuff! Bottom line is that I could not have gotten anywhere close to the pond in any other type of vehicle, so I am just glad to have the opportunity to get to those spots. I have always thought that anything that does 2 jobs can't be the best at either of them!

Jason

[bikelizzard]

I think the best times happen when you get stuck with friends,usually ends up -everyone is muddy,drinking beer and having fun-great memories when you get to gether agian.

[PlumCrazy]

Hey flippy, you going to Ashtabula next week?