I friend wants to ride his '97 Formula III on the lake. What we'd like to figure out is an easy way to get the sled back to shore if(when) it sinks. We'll have two waverunners at our disposal to pull it to shore.

Our thinking is that if we can get enough flotation to keep the sled somewhere near the surface of the water then we can drag it back w/ the waverunners.

Any ideas?

At the least have an empty plastic 4 liter milk container (some sort of plastic container with the lid would work) tied to your sled so when it goes down the jug will float and you will have no problem locating it. Then you just have to dive down and tie a rope to pull it out with.

Can't help but wonder why?
Oh yeah, forgot what it's like to be young and energetic. :D

PS
Make sure you take care of the possible fluid contamination problems.

We're going to tear the engine down and rebuild it anyway. We'll take the guages out and if we run into any other water related problems I have a nearly complete parts sled.

No, there is no good reason to do the ride he is planning on doing other than fun and to be able to say he did it.

We will leave minimal fuel and oil in the tanks.

The only major concern is getting the sled back to shore without major headaches.

I'm hoping for some clever ideas for keeping the sled off the bottom of the lake for towing. (I figure it will tow much easier if it isnt dragging along the bottom of the lake, which is deeper than 10' in very few spots).

Hate to admit it, but it sounds like fun. Amazing how time and responsibilitys changes your perspective in life, this from an ex drag racer. Don't forget to put vegetable oil in your chaincase ( and a few worms if you like Bass fishing! ) :D

well the milk jug idea for locating the sled sounds like good advice.

what you could do is use the same ropes you intend to tow the thing with to attach the milk (or other) jug to the sled. Make sure they are SECURELY attached and when you go to get it, MAYBE you will be able to pull the sled up a little off the ground and suspend between the waverunners. This could even be accomplished just be driving in a V pattern with the waverunners.

Now keep in mind that I have no idea about how much the waverunners can handle and whatnot, but ... in theory this idea COULD work.

Myself, I would just find someone who has a boat, get some sort of winch, and pull the sled nearly to the surface and drive it to a dock somewhere where you can winch it fully out of the water.


WeaSiL

P.S. I REALLY hope you plan on taking a digital (or other) camera along for the adventure to .... document it :)

take off your seat to. best would be to find harry potter or something but that probably isn't going to happen. replace the seat with a tube or something so then the back end will float, maybe if you pull up from the front it may come up with the back and come back to shore fine.

Here in WI everybody builds a tripod on a pontoon boat with a boat winch on it,then when you sink your orange tide bottle will float up with a minimum 3/4 inch rope which is attached to the base of your handlebars ,you just winch her up and drive to shore.
Then pull the rest of the way with a four wheel drive ATV , tip sled on it's side pull sparkplugs ten pull over about 20 times after you have drained the gas tank and carbs .
put everything back with some fresh gas and a little water remover and your ready to go again.


have fun!!! :D

TRY THIS ONE. THE TIDE BOTTLE IS GREAT SO YOU CAN LOCATE THE SLED.
TAKE TWO PORTABLE 20 GALLON AIR TANKS WITH LONG HOSES ON THEM. NEXT TAKE FOUR DEFLATED LARGE INNERTUBES WITH ROPES ATTACHED. SWIM DOWN TO THE SLED AND ATTACH THE TUBES THEN TAKE THE HOSE DOWN AND FILL THE TUBES THIS SHOULD ATLEAST GET TO FLOAT OFF THE BOTTOM. IF YOU TAKE THE SEAT OFF AND REPLACE IT WITH A TUBE YOUR HALF DONE. HOPE YOU CAN HOLD YOUR BREATH. HAVE FUN

or strap a couple large jerry tanks to the tunnel and use them as a seat and as a life jacket for the sled as well. i'm sure they would help slow it down during sinking or even make the sled float. i was gunna do this but said screw it and just went and did it without anything.

Would the WaveRunners have enough power to pull the sled??

here is my set up. fortunatly I have never hade to use it yet.. but a few of my buds have. Just an empty water bottle 100' of floaring rope . I use a bucket to coil the rope up in but most of the guys just let it feed out of the seat comparptment. if he sinks tell him he has lots of time to get his float in the water .. sleds sink slow we use 3/8 line too so that we don't have to dive in. just haul it up with the rope the flote is on.
has worked fine on all sunken sleds since we started to use it.
And My sled has been names the LONGLINER.. LOl but she skimms as good as the short tracks


http://www.sled-headz.com/101_0120.jpg

Originally posted by CORY9@Aug 3 2003, 07:20 PM
Hate to admit it, but it sounds like fun. Amazing how time and responsibilitys changes your perspective in life, this from an ex drag racer. Don't forget to put vegetable oil in your chaincase ( and a few worms if you like Bass fishing! ) :D
why use veg oil. that would do more harm than good on a long run. as for leaking if you sink . I have never seen a sled leave any oil slick when sunk. we wuished they would some times. Like the 8 weeks they spent looking for my buds Rev. but they all don't leak anything

Originally posted by mx_462@Aug 4 2003, 08:15 PM
Would the WaveRunners have enough power to pull the sled??
easy the sled weighs verry little under water. one person hauled up one of my buds revs and hauled it a mile to shore with no prob. they only get heavy when yo try and take them out of the water.. LOL

Try this: Wear a good floatation device. Next use about 5' of good strong rope, tie one end to family jewels other end to bumper. Just the thought of what will happen will keep sled on top. :D :thumbsup:


P.S. Rope works best if tied in small hangman's noose to jewels. :hallo1:

ah frigg, seen some sweet places this weekend for some water skipping. really wanta try it out for fun that is, not when i have too. Too bad my sled was about 500 miles back home. :(

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming.

Here's a map of where he plans to go. He's going to start at the green dot and plans to finish at the red dot. It's about a twenty minute drive by car, not sure how far by boat.

Thats quiet the distance!!! I wish you all the luck, and with some of those retrieving sudgestions I think you are in for an interesting adventure. :p

Here (http://www.jtwfloat.com/) you go.

ouch they are expensive...... I think My rope and float works just fine.
LOL

Originally posted by JETRep@Aug 5 2003, 01:20 AM
Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming.

Here's a map of where he plans to go. He's going to start at the green dot and plans to finish at the red dot. It's about a twenty minute drive by car, not sure how far by boat.
not a problem in good water conditions. if the water gets rough than he will get wet.. LOL


One of out guys mental Mike is planing a 37 Mile skim..... he might want one of those floats all the same .. water is 250 feet deep in places.. with a nasty currant.

Originally posted by JETRep@Aug 3 2003, 06:57 PM
We're going to tear the engine down and rebuild it anyway. We'll take the guages out and if we run into any other water related problems I have a nearly complete parts sled.

No, there is no good reason to do the ride he is planning on doing other than fun and to be able to say he did it.

We will leave minimal fuel and oil in the tanks.

The only major concern is getting the sled back to shore without major headaches.

I'm hoping for some clever ideas for keeping the sled off the bottom of the lake for towing. (I figure it will tow much easier if it isnt dragging along the bottom of the lake, which is deeper than 10' in very few spots).
I just re read this one.... for that distance you better have a full tank of gas. and oil. because they are savage on fuel on water. trust me ... It don't take long to burn a full tank. I would even wonder about making that distance on a full tank.

Originally posted by Fuzzy@Aug 4 2003, 09:22 PM
easy the sled weighs verry little under water. one person hauled up one of my buds revs and hauled it a mile to shore with no prob. they only get heavy when yo try and take them out of the water.. LOL
I guess if the water didnt make it weigh less it would be very hard to tow. Just thought i'd ask.


SWRules

Just Tie a rope to it with a boat, it will make a great anchor!

Just ribbi'n ya. Have fun with it. :hallo1: