DiscoHere Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Hi Guys Recently I had occasion to cross a river in spate. The torrents of water coming down were quiet large and moving very rapidly. The water was 3 inches above my doors. The dept did not worry me at all but the speed of the current did. I chickened out on crossing it as i was worried that it might be too deep and carry me down river due to boyancy. I was lucky in so far as my frind was with me in a Defender and the water was only up to his doors so we crossed in that vehicle. Question is how deep would the water have to be before it would lift a Disco sufficiently to move it with a current? Thanks Hugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 that entirely depends on the strength of the current, the weight of your disco and the condition of your door seals and/or bodywork. if it is relatively light, and really well sealed, its likely to be taken by a strong current, providing the depth is enough. if its a heavy disco, with holes in it and bad seals, some water has a chance of entering the cockpit weighing it down some more.. either way, if it looks like a strong current i wouldnt cross deep fast flowing water unless i had a winch or another truck and long tow rope, to act as a safety line (EDIT) i would however go for a crossing if the surface was not slick and the water was 3 or so inches above the bottom line of the door, keeping plenty of power available to try and drive against current if it were too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovernut Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I doubt buoyancy would be an issue in any landy as the door shuts are so hit and miss. The speed of flowing water would be of greater concern even if fully submerged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I did river crossing in Africa once with what looked like a gentle current, but my god did it nearly finish us off! The danger is once you start going sideways, it's really easy to overturn - which was heavy on my mind when I remembered the river had crocs in it! My car weighed just over 3 tons then and was plenty leaky enough, but that doesn't help in deep fast water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Rule of thumb = never above centre of hubs. Drowning all too common., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Rule of thumb = never above centre of hubs. Drowning all too common., That is a very sensible rule for most standard vehicles and poeple who havent really had chance to do any wading. of course, if youre not sensible like me, you will at some point end up dunking your whole bonnet under water momentarily causing an oops moment. luckily, the few times this has happened it has shallowed out again pretty much instantly. a land rover will drive through top of wings/bonnet deep water with a standard air box if you know how to maintain a decent bow wave. although its not always possible especially if you loose traction and stop. I doubt buoyancy would be an issue in any landy as the door shuts are so hit and miss. The speed of flowing water would be of greater concern even if fully submerged. i beg to differ, i have experienced a discovery floating, in a still water body on a pay and play, so no chance of it drifting off, but i dont neccesarily mean floating either, the amount of effective weight on the water crossing's bed will be reduced by more than you would think, this obviously affects grip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 granted i have a snorkel, but ive waded with the water coming 1/8 of the way up the windscreen. i must admit to getting slightly nervous at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 This is the sort of moment where I always think - I should buy a snorkel: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Big difference to up and over the bonnet in still water as opposed to a river which the OP was asking about ..... The side of a Disco presents quite a large flat surface for the water to push against. So it's dependent on how far the water is above the door bottom, speed of the water, how flat/slippy the river bed is and the angle you are crossing the river at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 That picture is a River - though seldom has a strong current. Apologies I was just chipping in on the general wading depth rather than the dangers of a current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 My apologies Anderzander, it did look like a lake in the picture. My point that I quite poorly tried to make was every river crossing should be taken on it's own merit, all will be different, even the same crossing on the same day can change quite rapidly. I wouldn't want to say to someone that they will be fine at a certain depth without standing next to the river at the time and actually knowing the particular crossing. Wading is good fun, but when it goes wrong it is at best embarrassing to call out the fire brigade to rescue you .... at worst you may not get to make that phone call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I agree with all of that. I always err on the side of caution. I believe I drove Strata Florida a very short time apart from that Discovery that horrifically was swept away killing one of the occupants. Very sobering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovernut Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I once saw a Suzuki Vitara float downstream during a river crossing. I have to say that I didn't follow. Maybe it was the fact that the organisers of this outing had put a safety diver in the water and the water was up to his chest. Mind you I think the Suzuki floated because it didn't instantly start filling with water Quite funny if it wasn't so dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoHere Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Thanks everybody............i am kind of glad i didnt try to cross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddychris300tdi Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Water crossings can be very unpredictable and can all go wrong very quickly. While green laning a couple of years ago we came to a river crossing. None of the group were from the area so didn't know the river. We agreed it look safe so the first vehicle went, a Disco with a 4 inch lift and a set of 38's. The water was under his sill and he made it across fine. Next motor was a 110 with 2 inch lift and a set of 265/75, the water was 2-3 inches up his doors. By the time he was a couple of meters in you could see the force of the water trying to push it down stream. With a bit of power he made it to the other side at a bit of an angle. We decided it wasn't safe the other motors to cross and we took the 5 mile route by road to meet the other end of the lane. It only takes that 2-3 inches of body work to have a big effect. It's better to be safe than sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I'm with Dr.Rob - if the level is over the axles - dont, secondly walk/wade over the river first !!!! it may seem shallow but it cound have deep holes that you could get bogged down in. and while you're wading over take your winch cable over with you and fix it to a suitable tree or rock should you need to use it to extract yourself. oh, and if you're in northern Queensland or the Northern Territory get your partner to sit on the roof with the 30.06 loaded and cocked should a 2-3 metre long "salty" decide you look a lot like a possible snack !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticbadger Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 The other thing to consider is the electrics if a late 300, v8i or Td5. I waded my Td5 at over bonnet depth and other than discovering the snorkel wasn't fully water tight I did huge damage to the electrics. It failed to start and still has issues 13 months later (see my thread on here). I too have experienced a disco float, one with a total of about 11" lift (37's, 4" suspension, 2" body lift). Luckily it was a 200tdi, so it sunk by flooding through the seals regaining traction so I could drive out. Stupidly I walked 90% of the crossing and missed a 5 foot deep hole just before the far bank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 No, thats not stupid at all that's what happens, especially in murky water where you are'ne able to see the bottom. I try to zig-zag as I wade over to cover just that sort of eventuality but we are only human (well I am) and cold deep water doesnt lend itself to excessive wandering through rivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Noisy Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Discos, even rusty/badly sealed ones float really rather well in anything more than about 3 foot of water, often this hinders progress! Corwen car wash gives me a challenge when it is at higher levels, with floating and sideways driving/scrambling being the order of the day. Even still water bodies can be impassible if the balance of floatation/grip/water resistance isn't in your favour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Errrr Noisy, do you realy wash your Disco ???? I thought that was what river, creek and ford crossings were for seriously though as the old addage goes, still waters can run deep, On our way out of the Great Victoria Desert in last late November it rained 36mm the day before in an area that normally only gets 150mm in a year and some sections of the track were covered by 500mm deep of water anything up to 600 meters in length and trust me water on top of normally very soft sand can be a nightmare, even worse are flat salt pans, the "salt" turns to grease and its like you are driving on black ice, loose traction and get ready for some real fun winching your truck out !!!! 8 weeks later and I'm still power washing red dust and compacted sand out of the chassis rails and underside of the Disco luckily Julie likes the red terracotta look of the driveway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuskar Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Good decision a U turn when in doubt. A few years back a girl in a disco was carried nearly a miles down a flooding river in Co. Wicklow . Luckily disco got hung up in a tree and she survived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Noisy Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 haha iain, well as it happens yes i do wash the disco, but no 'Corwen Car Wash' is the biggest legal river crossing in our region, it is in Corwen, Wales but the size of the river crossing has given it the 'car wash' name! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 LOL, in 2011 when Julie and drove out to see Lake Eyre in full flood (this occurs only once - maybe - ever 50 or so years) we went up the Birdsville track from Maree to Birdsville and the Coopers Creek - normally a dry river bed - was 5 kilometers wide - and no, we were not allowed to try to ford it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 The MOD deep wading kit for defenders includes props to hold the tailgate open to let water in & out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Again, very harsh.all the openings into my Disco are sealed with only one water-proof gland for the cables that go to my custom made relay/fuse panel, the only opening remaining being the gear sticks (very hard to seal!!) and while I dont go looking for them the deepest river crossing Julie and I crossed was just below bonnet height and the Disco did fine - but it was very slow moving water and I did tie up the winch to two stout trees on the opposite bank before we ventured over - just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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