Extraction from a frozen river Ontario, Canada ... Sunday
Jan, 16, 2005:
The Argo is a great machine but the winch on it is a must
have!! I was out with a friend, Jeff Page, on Sunday going
up and down the Holland River when we broke through the ice.
The Argo floated and we didn't get wet. It was 4 pm. I moved
the floating ice around the Argo out of the way by forcing
it under
the stable ice and as able to bring the machine right up against
ice I could get out and standon. Fortunately we were about
half a mile from my house so I could walk home and get what
I needed toget the machine out. The front winch cable was
too sort to reach a tree and the rear winch needed a
second battery to run on and the remote control female jack
had ice init so I couldn't plug in the controlswitch to make
the rear winch work.
The front winch cable was too short and only powered by the
smallbattery in the machine. I first went home and got a 15000
lb tow cable and hooked it up to the front winch to a big
tree. The front of the machine was lower in the water than
the rear because of the engineso when I started winching the
front of the boy came over the top of the ice but the tracks
weretrapped under the ice ... the winch drained the battery
and the Argo would no longer start.
I went back to the house to get another battery (deep cycle
marine, real heavy), some flashlights(it was dark now) some
gloves because my hands were continually wet and cold. I was
thinking if all else fails I can
go back in the morning and get it out but we would try once
more tonight. We had some coffee and while chatting my friend
told me he had turned on the bilge pump when I went to get
the rope from home and that a lot of water had come out and
the Argo might have a leak. It became apparent that I had
to get it out tonight or risk it sinking and becoming a bigger
recovery problem. I had to get the back winch working so I
could pull the machine out and I had to get the machine running
again so the tracks would
grip the ice and help not to mention getting it back to the
house.
It was snowing when we started back with the battery, a propane
torch to de-ice the winch connector, some WD40 (I don't know
why) and a set of booster cables. I dragged the heavy battery
across the ice
with some nylon straps hooked together. when we got back to
the Argo it was lower in the water and I was panicked thinking
the engine might be flooded. I got in and there was water
in the machine. I tried to
start it and to my amazement it started and I was able to
use the bilge pump to empty it. Now I knew I had to do something
to get it out or stabilise it so it wouldn't sink. I thawed
out the connector on the rear winch but I had broken parts
of the housing on the male end of the connector with efforts
before
and now I had to figure out which way the connector went together
.. my frozen hands didn't help much. I went to the front of
the machine and had my friend slide the heavy battery to me
... I had to lay across the front of the machine to try and
pick it up but lost my grip and it went through the ice and
into the river.
I now thought of breaking up the Ice in front of the machine
with sledge hammers and pulling the machine with the winch
towards the tree. Went home and got sledge hammers and life
vests ... it didn't work, the ice was too thick and hard to
break. I had to get the rear winch working so I went back
to the house and got the battery out of my van so I could
hook it to the winch, It was around 8:30, we were getting
tired and after several glove changes my hands were sore and
very cold. We got the battery back
to the Argo and I was able to fit some marine connectors to
it and hook up the winch. The remote control connector was
still a problem, I prayed some WD40 in it and it thawed it
out some more and I was able to hook up the ten foot long
remote control line with the trigger switch on it. The trigger
switch has two switches on it a trigger to stop and start
the winch and another switch that controls the winch in and
out. The controller had fallen in the water and the switches
were now frozen and inoperable. I couldn't
believe my predicament and my bad luck. It was snowing, cold
and my friend didn't trust the ice he was standing on. I sprayed
the switches with the still warm WD40 and the controller started
working!!
Thank God ... and I did very sincerely!! Now we had to break
some ice around the Argo and point the rear of the machine
towards the tree. My friend slid the sledge hammer to me across
the ice and I started
breaking up the ice but the handle on the sledge was coated
with ice and I lost it in the river too. We managed to get
the Argo turned around by hooking up a couple of cables from
the rear winch to the tree
and pulling it sideways in the hole in the ice. We deployed
the front winch cable out across the ice in front of the machine
just in case the machine some how sank we would have another
hook-up point. The
rear was now lined up and the cable was under tension but
the extra cables I had attached were a problem and I had to
let the winch tension off. The control switch was again froze
and it wouldn't let the winch cable out and the connector
was flakey so I didn't know what the real problem was. I played
with the connector and sprayed the control again and finally
it started working.
I was now set up to do the pull and it was near 10 pm. My
hands were aching with cold but this had to work! I started
the Argo engine and ran the bilge to get rid of the excess
water. The Argos rear end would come out on to the ice at
about a 45 degree angle so I had to make sure the front end
of the machine didn't go under the water because water would
quickly fill the machine through the hood and vents. If anything
went wrong at that point the Argo would sink and I would get
very wet! I started the pull and I knew once I started it,
the Argo had to come out or I'd nosedive back into the hole.
I put he machine in reverse and started winching. The Argo
broke through a couple of times but then grabbed solid ice.
I was now at a weird angle to the water and worried the winch
cable would snap or let loose and
tear my head off! To my relief everything went as it should
and the Argo popped out of the water and I rolled back under
the Argos power. The machine performed as it should have ,,,
excellent! It was me
that made the errors through lack of experience. The rear
winch was the thing that saved the machine and no-one I have
spoken to has heard of an Argo with a rear winch!!
How was your Sunday??
PHOTO
Chris Lauzon
