Kanguro River Crossings

Camel, Sahara, Kanguro, Coguaro
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mgelder
Posts: 136
Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

What happens to the alternator, ignition system and starter when you try and cross a river on a Kanguro / Camel and the engine becomes partly submerged?

I'm just thinking about all that muddy water sloshing round the electrical bits. I'm sure it'd be fine, but has anyone done this?

Yours,

Muddy of Suffolk
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Butch
Posts: 94
Joined: 15 Oct 2016 16:47
Location: Essex
Location: Mid Essex

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by Butch »

I got misled into running a ford that was somewhat deeper than I expected up on the Peddars Way on my Camel last year.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/687920

There was an awful lot of steam, but the bike went through OK and never missed a beat. I guess it is all just kind of OK.

I see you are Suffolk based - You should try the Peddars Way some time if you haven't already. It runs from just outside Thetford to the N. Norfolk coast up near Hunstanton.
mgelder
Posts: 136
Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

Thanks Butch.

A mate and I are 'doing' the Pyrenees next year, me on a Kanguro and him on an AJP 250, a proper trail/enduro bike. He lives up in Derbyshire and does quite a bit of trail riding; I live in Suffolk and... don't.

We've done some off-roading together in the past but every now and then he'll just drop these comments into the conversation and about five minutes later I'll think, "hold on; did he just say something about riding through a river that goes over your crankcases...?"

We're planning to do a few rides together next Spring and we've been talking about doing some of the trails around Thetford Forest, so the Pedlar's Way sounds interesting.
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Steve Brown
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Joined: 12 Nov 2007 23:44
Location: Leicestershire

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by Steve Brown »

I have only occasionally managed that! It didn't do mine any harm and in theory it shouldn't as there are no contacts or switched to short out. Just magnets whizzing past coils etc. It might be an idea if the mud/water ratio was a bit strong to take the cover off when you get home to clean it out and make sure there is nothing harmful getting into the cambelt/toothed wheels though. Also a chance to dry it out before any corrosion sets in?
All donations to the rest home for old Camels, Leicestershire.
mgelder
Posts: 136
Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

That's reassuring, Steve, thanks.

However muddy the water, I can't help thinking that my bike would come out of a river crossing cleaner than it went in... :lol:
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'It must be a .....'
Posts: 365
Joined: 12 Sep 2010 12:25

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by 'It must be a .....' »

Hi, the MkI Camel alternator cover has is a plastic panel fixed inside with 3 pop rivets which blocks off the 5 front air slots.
norbert
Posts: 750
Joined: 15 May 2007 15:15
Location: Lübeck/Germany

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by norbert »

You will have noticed, that sometimes I tried to figure out some diferences of our spares and making some fotos of them. There is no sense doing this keeping it only on my pc.Mostly I published that fotos en La Sterga, our ATG. So here comes some of the stuff I found out about this covers:

I have or once had 4 types of alternator covers (the Camel MK1 obviosly missing): small and bigger ones (for the electric starter) for the street and enduro bikes (the enduro ones in this case are black)
Foto 1.JPG
Foto 1.JPG (71.32 KiB) Viewed 16438 times
There are some other diferences but talking about the air entrance there are three types (plus Camel KM1). The small ones street as enduro have free slots. The big ones for the street models have the slots partly covered. You also can see, that all the samll once separeted the alternator and cambelt section very well
k-DSCI0090.JPG
k-DSCI0090.JPG (47.23 KiB) Viewed 16438 times
The enduro electric start covers, at least the late X3 ones and as far as I know early Camel 501 and Excalibur with Ducati ignicion had the slot much more covered, without closing them.
k-DSCI0094.JPG
k-DSCI0094.JPG (48.08 KiB) Viewed 16438 times
ciao
norbert
mgelder
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Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

Very interesting gentlemen, thank you. Next time I have the cover off I shall inspect my slots!
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mgelder
Posts: 136
Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

Very interesting gentlemen, thank you. Next time I have the cover off I shall inspect my slots!
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3potjohn
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Joined: 02 Jun 2007 13:58
Location: Devon

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by 3potjohn »

A long time ago I fixed some mesh to the inside of the vents with a view to limiting ingress of foreign bodies.I await the mesh coming adrift and shorting across the generator....
Sounds like a good trip,are you intending to ferry down to Santander or Bilbao?

John
mgelder
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Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

Heh. That sounds like the sort of 'improvement' I usually make... :D

We did the ferry to Santander a few years back when we did a similar trip on inappropriate road bikes and while it cuts out a lot of riding, it's also expensive and you're limited to the days and sailing times the ferry companies offer.

This time we're driving down in a van with the bikes in the back, as much for flexibility as anything else, but also because it means we can take tools, tents, spares and so on without having to carry them everywhere with us when we're riding.

We had to think about the kind of trip we wanted to make; was it about the long distance ride down to Spain, the road riding when we got there, or the trail riding. Each of those is a different kind of holiday and this time we wanted the emphasis to be on covering the distance off-road, on bikes more suitable* for that rather than anything else.



*It remains to be seen how suitable the Kanguro will be, but it'll be fun finding out....
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harrymuffin
Posts: 292
Joined: 07 Apr 2014 16:06
Location: west midlands

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by harrymuffin »

As an all weather motorcyclist, I have ridden in winter monsoon conditions on my 500 with no effect on the electrics. I also used to regularly ford a stream that varied in depth between 12" and 18" to and from work rather than get stuck in the proverbial car crated traffic jam, with no effect. The air vent was often under water but the casing would drain freely. I accept that the wires are open soldered to the coils though lacquered, but it is not as though they are submerged under water as some cars have been of late, still with their headlamps lighting up their presence under water. Why not simply suck it and see?
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Ming
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Joined: 01 Aug 2014 16:32
Location: France
Location: Central France

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by Ming »

Water, on it's own, is not a particularly good conductor of electricity - especially at the sort of voltage our generators produce. You may have problems if you try fording salt-water estuaries, though!
mgelder
Posts: 136
Joined: 18 Jan 2011 14:36
Location: Cambridge

Re: Kanguro River Crossings

Post by mgelder »

[suck it and see] Indeed. What's the worst that could happen?

Actually, no, don't tell me.

[salt water] If we're crossing salt water estuaries, we'll be very, very lost....
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