Water Crossing... Would you do it?

[Stefaansie]

Dagsê Manne,

I was faced with a daring decision this passed Saturday when I picked up SWAMBO from Mangwanani Spa, River Valley. Right next to the Hennops. The gps suggested this route as the fastest:

Hennops Rivier.JPG (208.79 KiB) Viewed 10708 times

I don't know the depth of this drift but I would guess roughly 400mm and was flowing at about 3-5m/s.

What would you have done?

[Jules]

Would have tried to walk it first and if to strong would have had a few Klippies and river water and then reverse through

Shalom

[Grant]

Andre,


Would have called her to tell her I am waiitng for you and then

[jan.dup]

I kinda think it would be taking a chance to do that (even to try and walk to see how strong the flow was). When I'm alone I have the motto - IF IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT !!! No use risking your troll and maybe your life ........ I've seen it too many times that people underestimate the power of a current. Just a dip in the road somewhere where you can't see it and youre a gonner.

If the current/water flows underneath the Trol its still ok, but as soon as it flows deeper and up to the body, the area of resistance becomes much larger and the risk escalates substantially. Still standing/slow flowing - go for it, but in this case

[ricster]

ha ha....that river water is strong stuff to drink .....

Stefaansie... this is my general thinking on this....

Question to ask ones self first.... do I need to drive through it... or is there a safer option. Doing this type of crossing on your own is not advisable..... but should you want to do it....

I would first fasten a rope to myself and let someone feed rope out to me as I go further in/across. That water looks like it is moving at quite a speed. Look at the water.... is there a lot of debris in the water? Will the water travel through the rims or will debris slowly block the holes in the rim building a wall for the water to push on. The more debris stuck against the wheel the better the chance of being pushed sideways by the water.

Know your vehicle's limits and parameters !!

Wading depth for our Patrols varies on suspension lifts..... But we have all been through water higher than 400mm.... question is at what speed and direction the water is moving head on or from the back... easier to do .... from the side.... whole different ball game. The water can now catch the running boards, making a nice area to allow the water to force the car to the side. Patrols have a bit of weight to them, so a little water over the running boards would probably be ok.....

If the water was around the 400mm mark, and I had no other option but to drive through, I'd consider using the winch, but then you cannot speed up slightly to get through the water at a safe speed.... its a tough one this

[LSnyman]

judging from that little roadmarker board bottom right of the pic it was fairly deep and flowing strong.....no i would have chickened out

[Peter Connan]

I would have walked across, once in each wheel's track. If it feels like the water is about to push you off your feet, don't try it. If the bottom is slippery, don't do it. If the bottom is loose, don't do it.

If you can walk across easily without feeling like you are about to be swept off your feet, you should be OK.

However, looking at the pic the flow was probably too strong. I have a feeling that is the crossing where a woman and her child in their Range Rover were swept off and carried downriver last year or the year before. They survived, but mostly due to luck.

[marakasmalan]

400mm would mean the water is runding underneath the car, no risk of floatation and the force will only be excerted on the wheels - you should be fine, if not you should be found, later and downstream. But you do not KNOW for sure. 400mm is getting risky at. That doesn't look like between 11 and 18 km/h, looks somewhat more.

The problem with walkng through is that it is risky to do so as in fast flowing water it can be fatal too loose your footing and not a lot of fun when you are halfway and a big log comes washing down. For slower flowing waterI usually sends the dog through, and if it can walk through it the patrol certainly can cross. If it has to swim I must go and have a look. If the current is too strong and the dog washes downstream you somtimes have to wait half an hour before it comes back and during this time you cannot cross as you have no idea on which side of the river it will show up. crossing by yourself, you will reach a point when you can't walk through anymore but the patrol will still be completely at ease.

We once got to a crossing with fast flowing water, and did a 4 person crossing to test, ala BMG training, but about to meters in we realised it is to risky, we will simply get washed away. So we abandoned the "investigation" and just drove through, taking a calculated risk that there was no big drop of a bridge if we did wash away and an unhappy event would be fairly docile.

The best however is not to cross if not really really required, as you cannot always walk through and hence you cannot know what is going on - the question should be what is at stake, and somehow we always perceive our petty schedules and desires to be too important. Stop, make lunch/ dinner and wait for the water to settle. Look on the map and establish the draing basin size by looking at contours and tributaries and you will have an idea how long it will take to run down. But it is like kettle boiling, it feels long if you look at it while you wait. Else take a detour and find a bridge. Last resort get a new destination on your side of the river.


Regards

[Tinus lotz]

I have driven over that brigge plenty !!!!!!!will I do it like that no!!!
I did most of the electriaal work at magwanani and saw may a car going down river after a storm
Take the detour that brige sometimes washes away at the end
Safety first

[Tinus lotz]

On that same brige saw a 8 ton truck pushed off by tree that was washed lose not good