Water/Mud - What was I thinking?

[cgm]

Well, I guess I wasn't thinking, well, not thinking well at least!

Don't get much of an opportunity to see mud over here. We were out on a breakfast trip enjoying a warm but casual morning. We had a good bit of rain a couple of weeks before and this was the leftovers in one of the "wadis".

So, there it was, just calling me (really I could hear it calling my name )

What I should have done:

• Checked how deep it was
• Prepared a strap already to the vehicle for quick recovery
• Prepared my mates to pull me back quickly
• Stayed well away and gone home with a dry car

But, cmon I'm an Aussie and you don't get many good opportunities like this in Saudi ...

What I actually did:

• Bailed straight in without any preparation
• Got stuck
• Got laughed at
• Had my pictures taken
• Eventually got pulled out
• Had a *very* wet car - inside and out

If you look at the sequence below, there are a group of pictures of me getting stuck. I got pulled back out (my mates winch wouldn't work, but he could pull me back easily enough because my car was still working).

Now with both me and car wet as a shag, I thought (again not really thinking, but thinking I was thinking!!) "what have I got to lose, me and the car are already wet as shags". So, I gave it another go.

Bad move. This time I slipped further to the left into slightly deeper water. The car stalled and I was in deeper. By this stage it was obvious the engine had probably just tried to suck water. This time one of the other guys had to get the winch and drag me out, coz I wasn't able to assist. That took a long time to get organised and again totally submerged for a long time, this time a little deeper!

I'll update the follow-on in another post.

Here are a few pics:

Attempt 1













----------------------------------------------------

Then:

Attempt 2






Note: You can see some silly guy that likes lying in the mud for everyone to take a photo on the right hand side of the car






Note: Forget the water on the inside of the light, you can acutally see the "water line" (the line of mud) on the outside of the light and see how deep and what angle it was really on

[cgm]

I need to get the next lot of pictures together before I post the real follow-on.

Summary (I'll remove and update this once I get them up, but for those that are wondering in the meantime):

• Got really lucky - Air cleaner was soaking wet, but the engine didn't take any water
• Was able to take out the wet air cleaner, start the car and drive home
• Had to drive home with the drivers window down as it "decided" half way along that down was better than up

Once home it was a pretty big job with some wins and losses.

Wins:

• Riyadh is a really dry place - really low humidity
• After all the interior and carpet was out (including door liners) pretty much the whole car was dry by the next morning, except the carpets and felt on the inside of the door linings
• A fair bit of extra work in removing all the drawer system, 2nd battery, water pump, wiring, etc., but that was just time and a friend helped, so it went smoothly
• Overall put about 25 hours into the cleanup

Losses:

• I bought a Karcher pressure cleaner that I would not have otherwise bought
• Used the cleaner to go to work on the carpets and also the seats
• Amazing how much mud came out of the seats using the pressure cleaner (they dried in about 2-3 days)
• My two-way radio was totally cactus - it was fully submerged and with power still connected started trying to do random things while under water. If I'd had a better presence of mind I should have pull the power out - but ah well
• Lost the compresser (on another thread I had done a build on mounting it under the passenger seat - it was fully submerged)
• The electric window switches on the drivers door (left side here) needed replacing
• Oil in both diffs and gearbox was almost the colour of a nice Latte, but consistency of something AB stepped in that his brother's cat left behind (probably smelt the same too I bet). Took a lot to flush that out.

Overall I got off really lightly - considering.

I did however get a hard time from our local 4wd/touring club. Copped a light hammering on FB, but copped a real good dose at our last monthly meeting before summer break. My achievements will live on in the Saudi Rovers club long after I'm gone - ha ha

The funny thing was I'd done a presentation a few months earlier on safety related to recoveries. I'd tried to reinforce that it can be dangerous, but there is always risk involved, so the key was "common sense".

A few people brought up the "common sense" phrase after seeing the photos.

There was nothing dangerous - it was just stupid. I hope some of you get to enjoy the humour of my incident. I'm certainly laughing now, since I got off so lightly.

Would I do it again? Telling myself not, but got to admit it was really fun ...

Thanks,
Cameron.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Oops, what were you thinking lol.

[cgm]

Thought I better update my signature.

[threedogs]

Awesome ,love it , New sticker coming saying I got bogged in a puddle in Saudi.
Would have thought if water collected it would have a solid base.
Also that high tide mark is now your badge of honour, you have set the bar high for your fellow 4x4ers

[threedogs]

Go figure bogged in Saudi? love the high tide mark, wear it proudly that's your Badge of Honour.
Could always fit these in the floor for any future "brain Fades"

[AB]

Fun times hey mate....lol

[growler2058]

I woulda charged on in as well


Sent from my iPhone using Motorculture mobile app

[Bloodyaussie]

Well that was just silly.... I would never attempt anything like that???? Ba ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the joys of temporary loss of common sense... well done!!!

[Cuppa]

Well that was just silly.... I would never attempt anything like that???? Ba ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the joys of temporary loss of common sense... well done!!!

There speaks an expert!