The day I gave my Craftsman GT5000 garden tractor a swimming lesson.
For years, I have been clearing our pond each winter to use as a skating rink. Usually I use my garden tractor (a glorified riding mower) with a snowblower. I had never had an incident. One year I even cleared with my NH TC33D (I estimate it weighed 3800# at the time.) Back in 2013, things went a little differently:
Following my usual practice, I chopped a hole to measure ice thickness and check condition. Things looked good (about 6" thick and solid). I started snowblowing, spiraling around the pond, working from the outside in to clear the pond for skating. I noticed a color change in the ice as I got toward the center. I remembered that I had only turned the aerator off a couple of weeks before, which had kept the center open. Just as I thought, "Hmmm, I'd better call it quits and head in", there was a crack and the left rear wheel sank in. I looked back, saw that rear wheel spinning, and thought "no way I'm driving out of this. I'd better go get the tractor and pull this thing off the ice." Before I could move, another crack, and the right rear wheel dropped in. The rear end started settling further as the tractor slowly tipped up.
Things were moving very slowly. My first thought was of the way they always show ships sinking in the movies, slowly tipping up, then sinking beneath the waves. My next thought was to wonder if I was going to be able to get myself out of the water. My wife and kids were inside, and I wasn't sure they could hear me. The machine settled lower. I flashed on a friend who worked for our fire department and occasionally did water rescue. He had described a technique they were taught if they were ever caught and could not get back up on the ice: If your efforts to get out failed, splash water on the ice, then put your arms in it, and let your sleeves freeze to the ice. If you pass out from the cold, your sleeves frozen to the surface ice would hold your head out of the water, hopefully keeping you alive until rescuers arrived.
I had my plan. As my seat reached about level with the water surface, I rolled off, and rolled across the ice. I did not try to get up until I was well away from the hole. I looked back, and the mower had stopped sinking with the seat cushion just barely out of the water. I realized my TC33D was 5 miles away, and would be no help. Ran into the house to change and yelled to my wife to call the neighbor, have him bring his tractor and chain, and HURRY! When he arrived, all that was showing above the water was the snow blower. I asked my wife to grab the camera, since by this time I had settled down enough to know we would want to preserve this story.
When we came back out, this was all that was visible:
I was fortunate that the ice was thick enough to catch the snowblower. The pond is almost 15 ft deep at that point.
The recovery process required breaking a path through the ice with my rock bar (an activity which really warmed be up from my earlier dip):
Outside temperature was about 15˚F (-10˚C). I brought the machine into my garage, and left a propane heater & an electric space heater running to keep things from freezing up overnight. Brought it to the small engine shop the next day. He changed all the fluids, cleaned out the carb, replaced the starter and ignition switch, and it's been fine ever since.
What did I learn from all this? A Craftsman GT5000 is not, in fact, amphibious. At least not without a few changes. Here's a picture from a couple of years later showing the extensive modifications to prepare for snow blowing the pond:
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The SS Craftsman rides again!
