First stream crossing - something hit!

[peahen]

I drove up to Gambrill State Park right behind our house again, Sunday. I often go through the park to get home. It's the long way home. I like the drive, twisting, mountain, streams...there're a couple county roads that are only somewhat maintained, and lots of fire roads. The park ranger told me to stay off the fire roads, but the county roads are ok.

One of the county roads has a stream crossing. The first time I saw it, it was only about an inch or two deep, but I was not ready to even try that. It's still about 3 carlengths across with a rocky hill on the other side. So Sunday, I went with the kids and went down the road to the stream so we'd cross from the hill side. We've had lots of rain, so now the stream is about 4-5" deep and a bit wider and running faster.

I crossed it this time. Cami thought it was hysterical. So we turned around and did it again. This time I bottomed out on something. I think a wheel dropped into a small hole and that made my undercarriage hit a rock sticking up. I was curious if I could avoid it again going the same way I did the first time...so we tried again. Again I hit the rock. I started getting worried I might have messed something up, so I looked underneath.

Something under there is surrounded by a metal tube, and then there's the exhaust stuff. I don't know what I hit with, but I'm hoping it was that tube. I kept checking for leaks, but I never saw any. Everything seems to be fine - X fingers!

You can see from the photo the rutted, rocky road leading from the stream. It's much worse than it appears in this photo.

http://users.ev1.net/~moynihan/hondasuv/gambrill/stream_crossing.jpg

[Alpine]

Wow, that's some river crossing. Did you get any actual action photos of your V going thru the water?

[Omikron]

You probably bottomed out on the gast tank. That is the thing that is under the V surronded by tubing. That's what really takes a chunk out of the ground clearance for the CR-V

[peahen]

Wow, that's some river crossing. Did you get any actual action photos of your V going thru the water?
No! I was the only adult! Maybe hubby will tag along next time.

Something else that happened...about a 4-5" dia. tree limb fell off a tree right in front of us on the road. The limb itself would not have hit the V, but the 'bits' that came off would have hit the hood/windshield/roof for sure. I can't believe how lucky I was!

[peahen]

Well, we tried it again today after having the new, larger tires installed. I didn't hit anything underneath, even after 3 crossings! And we could clearly see the rock sticking up!

Someone sent a link to a video called H2Carnage a while back. It's a video of a guy driving his H2 over some big rocks. He gets his fronts stuck and guns it, and breaks his front axle so the wheels are pigeon-toed! I cannot get that scene out of my mind when doing these stunts!!

[CRIANA]

That looks like a great stream crossing :-) Looks like you've got a perfect place for a meet righ tin your back yard.

Most likely what ever you hit is just fine. I bottomed several times with Bluemonster on one our offroad meets and my V is just fine. If nothing is hanging down, no weird smells, and no weird noises then your probably just fine.