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___________________ EVALUATE FIRST 195 |
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dive. If you don't like guessing, carefully and safely explore the bottom by walking. Recommended with shoes.
DON'T SPEED
Besides, your "boat" is too darn full of holes for this bow-wave effect to work. I've donned mask and snorkel, stood on the front bumper and watched with open hood as we sped like idiots through the water again and again. Water rushes up and into the engine compartment from all directions. The frame and suspension trap water and channel it up making it deeper with increased speed. I've got to admit, it's painful to cross a 100-yard wide river at sub-warp speed. But from my experience, it's more productive to go slow rather than think you can just plane across the surface with speed. Let's adjust a couple of more old husbands' water tales. SPLASH GUARD
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Below
the water at tread level, I've encountered the gamut from giant rocks to
sloppy mud. I watched one guy assume the path was totally clear and
blast into a massive, submerged boulder. This invisible, immovable
obstruction took out his entire front axle. That's just one reason not
to speed through water.
Contrary
to what some teach, speed is your enemy. It's believed by some that a
little speed sets up a bow wave that parts the water like Moses. You are
not Moses. Your 4X is not Moses. If you look carefully at the bow wave a
4X creates, it is above water level, not below it. A bow wave only makes
the water deeper!
It's
said you should put a floor mat (or something) in front of the radiator
to keep the fan from splashing water throughout the engine compartment.
Again, this is good Henry advice, but impossible, impractical and mostly
unproductive for our new SUVs.