Lake Erie -- stuff on the bottom

[Randy43068]

Who knows this??

With the onset of fall, winter is soon to follow (an understatement). We at work were talking about people who ice fish and traverse Lake Erie over to the Canadian side when the lake is frozen, but sometimes don’t make it across. We also talked about people who drive out on the ice with their SUVs, and get stuck on the ice flows. Helo’s will rescue people but leave the vehicles behind. We know from the news that some of those SUVs that were on the ice flows ended up at the bottom of Lake Erie. Are those vehicles salvaged? Or are they still there? I’d think it would be fun to dive on these things if we knew where they were. Even the hunt for ‘em could be fun.

So, does anyone know if these things are salvaged??

 

[Laser]

I know that in the western basin where it's generally pretty shallow, the Coast Guard will give you a certain amount of time to get your vehicle out of the lake, before you start racking up fines.

 

[Tavi]

Also In western NY the DEC will fine x amount of Dollars per day until the vehicle is removed.

 

[Randy43068]

That explains that.
I thought it would be fun diving on some of these vehicles if we could find 'em.

But... they won't be there.

 

[SwimJim]

That explains that.
I thought it would be fun diving on some of these vehicles if we could find 'em.

But... they won't be there.

That ain't necessarily so. The recent ones were salvaged. But consider this. Man has probably been going out there since the Model T, long before Do Nothing Right was invented. I'm sure there are many vehicles laying around from years gone by. Thats the upside. The down side would be locating them. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
If you fish as well as dive as I do and have a graph, keep an eye on it and mark suspicious lumps with a GPS. I have found a bunch of cool stuff this way. Who knows, you might run across that 1929 GMC that great Uncle so and so converted into a portable ice fishing shanty. The odds are not particully in your favor though. Have fun with it.

Jim

 

[wb416]

Who knows this??

With the onset of fall, winter is soon to follow (an understatement). We at work were talking about people who ice fish and traverse Lake Erie over to the Canadian side when the lake is frozen, but sometimes don’t make it across. We also talked about people who drive out on the ice with their SUVs, and get stuck on the ice flows. Helo’s will rescue people but leave the vehicles behind. We know from the news that some of those SUVs that were on the ice flows ended up at the bottom of Lake Erie. Are those vehicles salvaged? Or are they still there? I’d think it would be fun to dive on these things if we knew where they were. Even the hunt for ‘em could be fun.

So, does anyone know if these things are salvaged??

Randy,
It's not easy to find these things, even when you have witnesses to the sinking. A few years ago a sailboat went down in race around the islands. Even though they knew approx where it was, we spent several hours one particular night using side scan sonar to no avail.

Yes, the western basin is shallow, but finding stuff across hundreds of square miles of water is still a daunting task.

bob

 

[Randy43068]

Randy,
It's not easy to find these things, even when you have witnesses to the sinking. A few years ago a sailboat went down in race around the islands. Even though they knew approx where it was, we spent several hours one particular night using side scan sonar to no avail.

Yes, the western basin is shallow, but finding stuff across hundreds of square miles of water is still a daunting task.

bob

Hi Bob,

No doubt these things are extremly difficult to find, and I knew they would be. But it would be fun trying to locate 'em anyway.

While doing some wreck diving in June I wondered how many small boats we were "driving" over just to get to the bigger ones. I know it'd be really difficult to pick 'em out of the noise, but if we could, they'd sure be fun to dive on.

 

[Randy43068]

That ain't necessarily so. The recent ones were salvaged. But consider this. Man has probably been going out there since the Model T, long before Do Nothing Right was invented. I'm sure there are many vehicles laying around from years gone by. Thats the upside. The down side would be locating them. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
If you fish as well as dive as I do and have a graph, keep an eye on it and mark suspicious lumps with a GPS. I have found a bunch of cool stuff this way. Who knows, you might run across that 1929 GMC that great Uncle so and so converted into a portable ice fishing shanty. The odds are not particully in your favor though. Have fun with it.

Jim

Very good idea.

 

[wb416]

Hi Bob,

No doubt these things are extremly difficult to find, and I knew they would be. But it would be fun trying to locate 'em anyway.

While doing some wreck diving in June I wondered how many small boats we were "driving" over just to get to the bigger ones. I know it'd be really difficult to pick 'em out of the noise, but if we could, they'd sure be fun to dive on.

The problem with Erie is the silty bottom..... it swallows even the large wrecks at times, especially when it mounds up over the sides, kinda like snow drifts.

Ya almost need a magnetometer to find the steel ones.... not sure what you'd use for the wooden or fiberglass ones to "find" them in the silt.

I was on a boat with some friends once that found a known, but unmarked steamer that had exploded and burned. We were using side scan sonar, and dove to find charred wood remains and ballast stone, and a small chest that may have contained tools or something (we didn't open it). It was exciting, but after 6-8 hours of side scanning, the monotony was a bit overwhelming (although the race to get back to port when the storm whipped Erie into 6 footers after being glass all day was a real adrenaline rush).

On the other hand, the payoff can be pretty cool when guys like Dave Trotter and crew perservere to find the big deep wrecks in Huron and Michigan and then give really cool presentations of them at the Shipwreck shows in the fall and spring.

bob