Hi All--

I was invited to go out on the ice with an old friend Don, sunday afternoon.
We were going to try prior but it was only half frozen, so we headed to Spring lake in the south metro. we got there and found it completely froze over.
Don opens the trailer and pulls down his ATV? Car? Boat? It is called a Wilcraft.
I know that there are a few vehicles made that can go in the water, but this one had my interest because he said you can go through and drive back up on the ice. I had to see it to believe it. We drove out on the ice and it was thicker in the bay, 4 inches, once we got out a ways from the landing it thinned down to just over 2 inches! It seemed to do just fine, making some crack noises and all.
I gave it a try and it was easy to get the hang of. I drove around a bit, til I saw a big crack up ahead! I decided to let him take the stick for that. We drove over it near shore and crossed it fine, I doubt someone could cross by foot though! water came up through when we did it.
We turned around and I egged him on to go back across in the same spot, i wanted it to break some ice, i figured since we were close to shore, if it didn't work I could at least jump in and wade safely to shore.
We got almost across and down we went! I dont think I am scared of water or thin ice, but the suddenness of it almost took my breath away!
it took a little work but we were able to get back on the ice! whoo hooo it works!
I was satisfied that it does what they say it does so I said lets stay away from those cracks!
We decided to go arounfd the lake near shore over to the winter access and take a few pics and mabye even try fishing.
We were almost there when without any warning down we went! This time I was a bit more concerned, we were in about 20 feet of water surrounded by thin probably unwalkable ice, plus in full few of a dozen houses on the shore. I was also worried one of them would call 911 thinking we were gonna sink!
But Don did a good job of getting us out of that one. the Wilcraft floats well and is sturdy, but doesnt go too fast in the water, you would have to put an electric trolling motor on it if you wanted to go anywere far on open water.
We got up halfway about four times only to break through again, finally we were out all the way, I took a pic of the big black hole we left, but I did not enough battery power in my camera to take a video of that part of the adventure!
Thanks for the fun outing Don! Mabye next time we might even wet a line!

I took some Movies, check em out...
http://mtbucket.blogspot.com/2008/12/water-ice-and-land-vehicle.html

Sounds like quit a ride. Thanks for the story.

and ruined some ice making process too it sounds...

Ya we broke a little ice.
It isn't gonna delay anyone from getting out on that lake by even a day.

Great report Mike. Looks like that ice on Prior has a ways to go yet.

Note to self, ice thickness varies on lakes, especially after a wilcraft has been there.

That is cool Mike, thanks for sharing.

It would be a good idea to bring some markers in case of an unplanned plunge like we had, to mark the hole like a spear fisher does.

I drove past a guy on 494 heading north yesterday morning that had a trailer with that wilcraft sticker on it. Those things are awesome!

so that is what is making the plowed out sections on the local lakes in the south metro,,,if someone had not seen the broken out strips of ice before it snowed and knew to avoid it, they would have been in big trouble and swiming

btw- nice blog, lot's of great pictures, looks like you have a lot of fun!!!

Won't delay anyone getting on the ice???? How you figure.....thats just what we need is some open holes out there that only you guys know about! Sure it was cool and all, but couldn't you do that on a swamp or a lake that people don't fish? You do realize a skim of ice and just a 1/2inch of snow and those now thin spots will become death traps. Just my 2 cents be safe everyone!

C'mon you guys lighten up! The ice making has barely even begun there is still plenty of time to recoup and yes snow is a concern but he has every right to go out and do that on a public body of water. Just take a couple of deep breaths and relax.

People are always trying to put the blame on someone else instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. No ice is safe ice.

Well said G.D.

Bavaria?