deuce swift water crossing stats.

[Blueduce]

I have offered my assistance to the local FD. In case of any natural disasters, emergency's or zombie uprisings. The local Chief remembers the deuce well and it's firefighting abilities. He welcomed me and my deuce and will put us on the contact roster as FD "resources".

One of the things he states is that they have a lot of flooding at certain times of the year and due to our towns location the closest "assets" are 30 min away in the next town. I told him of the trucks fording abilities and he was impressed.

One of the questions he had for me was did I know what the trucks "Swift water crossing statistics" are. I looked through the TM's and could not find any info.

Does anyone have these statistics or know where I might find them or do they even exist.

Thanks for the help.

 

[RedbeardTheZombieHunter]

Being a deuce owner of 6 months tomorrow, I've wondered about this myself. Just how high and fast does water have to be going before my green beast starts to get light on her feet?
Enquiring minds want to know!
opcorn:

 

[emmado22]

The military doesnt test vehicles for those conditions. You wont find stats about that coming from the military

 

[Blueduce]

The military doesnt test vehicles for those conditions. You wont find stats about that coming from the military

Wow, thanks. I thought the Military tested for everything.

 

[sigo]

Run your own tests and post the results! Don't forget to take video.

 

[Blueduce]

Run your own tests and post the results! Don't forget to take video.

My MVCC club will be heading up to the Bridgeport, TX OHV park on the 20th of Oct for our first annual trail ride. If they have a river I will test. What would be the beat way yo measure the water flow. Any hydro-engineers out there.

 

[m16ty]

All I will add is the current doesn't have to be very strong at all to wash away a large truck.

If the water was very deep and had any current I wouldn't try it. Water is very powerful when it's moving.

 

[KsM715]

Ask the fire chief what they rate as "swift water"? I bet what they call "swift water", you would not want to enter with any vehicle.

 

[jaxsof]

USACE considders any current greater than 5 fps to be "swift". 3-5fps is moderate, and <3fps is slow. In moderate current maximum fording depth for trucks and truck drawn artillery is 2 feet

(ref. FM5-36 Route Reconnaissance)

 

[emmado22]

I admire your willingness to help, but who is responsible when something goes wrong?

 

[m16ty]

I admire your willingness to help, but who is responsible when something goes wrong?

More than likely, you.

That's what you get into with things like this. You go in and rescue a truck load of people from the flood, on your way out the truck is swept away in rushing water, and several people drown. You will have your pants sued off and the FD will claim they never knew you.

The only way I see around this is if you are a active member of the FD and you and the truck are covered under their insurance. This may involve a written "lease" agreement for your truck.

I'm not saying don't do it, just make sure you know what you're getting into.

 

[fireman5199]

As a swift water rescue tech and SWR boat operator I would not recommend driving into moving flood waters or any water you can't see the bottom. There are many hidden hazards plus the force of water on the truck.

From what I have found on-line the military doesn't rate for swift current because they don't do it because of safety concerns.

https://safety.army.mil/Knowledge_Online/Portals/february2012/Crossing_The_Gap.pdf

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a481302.pdf Fording Test Procedures Page A-1 letter f

A definition of Swift Water found in Ventura County CA Search and Rescue Manual is water 2 feet deep moving at 3 knots.

To figure speed measure out a distance in feet. Use a float, oranges work well. Toss float in just up stream of measured area and time it from point A to point B in seconds. Divide distance by time. D/T=V 3 knots is about 5 feet per second

A rule of thumb is 1 foot of swift water exerts about 500 foot lbs on a car and can float about 1500lbs. Bigger tires more area to act on and more floatation.

I would set rules for the rig if used in any water. Everyone on board wears a USCG Type V PFD and NO turnout gear or helmets on firefighters.

 

[ratat98]

Run your own tests and post the results! Don't forget to take video.

Hey! Hold my beer, and watch this!!

 

[emmado22]

I'd go ask the Chief about the insurance aspects of this. Everything is all good until it is not and the lawyers get involved.

 

[rickf]

I agree, it takes very little water to move a vehicle. I have had water slide a 40,000 lb. bulldozer sideways! The water was only halfway up the tracks and not moving fast enough to create whitewater around the machine. That was an effort to drag a heavy rope across a flooded section of road, I was only a third of the way in when that happened. I crabbed back out and that was the end of that try. NOW, If you are totally crazy and have a death wish then watch this.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1-Dh5rrVCU[/media]

 

[m16ty]

Actually,the dozer will move easier than a truck in current. The way the tracks are made the whole side of the machine is getting pounded by the water where a vehicle lets some pass underneath. Also a dozer doesn't have much traction sideways, especially on hard surface.

 

[Blueduce]

Thanks fellas,

I obviously need to put a bit more thought into this endeavor. I strongly agree with the insurance issue put forth. I was just trying to help out I didn't think this might devolve into an insurance issue. What a sad world we live in.

Fireman, thanks for the useful info and the mathematical conversion.
m19ty, I agree. Maybe they have some kind of auxiliary unit I could join. There's no way mo old broke a** could pass any physical for a volunteer fireman.

I'll go talk to the big Chief tomorrow and present him this new info. Maybe they can use my truck to get oversize kitties out of trees or something.

 

[wreckerman893]

Another thing you have to consider is wash outs.....in swift flood water the roadbed may have eroded or been cut through completely.....you drive off in the shallow water and all of a sudden your front end drops off in a deep cut.....very bad juju.

When I was at Fort Campbell many years ago we lost four soldiers from our unit when they drove into what they thought was just water over the road. The car was washed way downstream and none of them got out.

 

[Big Z]

Bad news bears. I run a deuce on our VFD and I would not risk certain maneuvers with it, for my sake and the truck's. Let alone, my own personal deuce that I would have to pay for damages on. When you're helping somebody else, your first priority should be your own safety.

 

[NMCShooter]

No good deed goes unpunished........and NEVER volunteer