Around noon on Saturday Dad texted me the picture above and said he sunk his 2016 Can Am Commander in a pond while trouting. He said not to worry one of his buddies was on his way in the country to help.

Around 3pm I got a second communication, a more panicked or concerned phone call from Dad.

Over those three hours Dad and Lloyd managed to get the machine hauled out of the pond and up on level ground. The engine was running fine but the belt drive was full of water and wouldn't move. They planned to tow it out of the country and back to Bay Roberts using Lloyds ATV.

It wasn't an easy plan, the ATV path from the pond up to the main trail was very steep, twisty and quite rough with large rocks and loose gravel, just awful conditions to try and tow anything over. The Commander weighed at least 1600Lbs, probably more loaded up with gear, fuel and accessories.  Lloyd's Can Am bike was no match alone, nor would any other ATV tasked with this job.

I loaded up Project Foreman, an assortment of tools and recovery gear and hit the highway West to Bay Roberts. I met Lloyd at the trailhead and he led the way to the downed machine.

From my experience, even with two Quads available to try and tow I knew the easiest and best way to get the Commander home was under its own power. The trail was so steep and twisty it would be hours of towing, winching and reconfiguring straps & winch lines at every turn hauling the dead Commander up to the main ATV trail.

Some of our past tangly recoveries:

March 2010

September 2012

August 2015

September 2019

Having been through this a few times before I arrived thoroughly equipped with tools to get the machine running and driving. This would have been an easy job except for the OEM Can Am accessory aluminum skid plate. This dealer installed OEM accessory had no provision for accessing the belt drive drain plug and had to be lowered in order to get at it. Other than that pain in the butt draining the belt drive went smoothly, we checked the engine oil and found it fine and the machine fired right up.

We got all the panels back on, started the machine and held it in Neutral at a fast idle for awhile which dried out the belt.

The Commander drove out of the country perfectly fine all the way back to Dad & Iris's place in Bay Roberts, the best possible outcome after a stressful afternoon for Dad.

We emptied out all the storage compartments and spread out his contents to air dry in the garage, all in all not a bad deal considering the circumstances. Although the engine, transmission and diff fluids were all OK, dad had the machine fully serviced as it was close needing a full service anyway. It was quite an interesting day, a fun adventure and I'm sure a lesson learned!

Cheers, MIKE

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