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Floating Islands

swampjet

Well-known member
There seem to be a lot of new airboaters on this forum, so it seems this would be a good place to talk about floating islands. Some sub-topics to start the conversation: 1. How to identify a floating island. 2. How to get your boat off a floating island. 3. What not to do! 4. Which lakes in Florida have floating islands to watch out for.

I know there's a lot of experience on this forum. Please share.
 
if you're talking about floating turf (compilation of dead grass and mud with live grass growing on top), i have tons of experience with it. i've seen 454's hang up on the stuff. it has no water under it (at least in my marsh). it usually forms from silt deposition where water used to move but no longer does. i've been hung up in this stuff for hours at a time. the original technique to get out is to gas it, wait a few seconds and let it settle. then try it again. i've found the best way to get out is to stack all the weight on one side of the boat almost sinking it, and then gas it. be sure to even out the weight once you clear the turf. i was hung for an hour until a guy almost fell out of my boat and grabbed my seat stand and almost pulled the boat over. as soon as he did, my boat took off all the way through the turf for like 30 yards. just my experience......
 
Lake Kissimmee is full of these floating islands. Especially up near the north side. I prefer the gas it and wait...gas it and wait...technique but I guess there is no wrong way until you sink it. As far as ID'ing them...I just learned to know where there is "land" where there was none last time. I know that doesn't help but I think experience is the best teacher with this subject.

Adam
 
Last October - in fact on a certain airboating guide's anneversary - a group was up on the Ridge at Lake Kiss. The Marine decided to cut the corner from the Ridge to the back trail towards the Bus. He hit that notorious tussett at WOT and found himself dead in the middle and looked like a crow in the middle of a cut corn field..

All efforts to break him loose fell short. We started trying the blackpowerscout remedy. Over two hours, we "pushed and paused" a trail through that tussett until we got to him. Each time, we would break a piece loose that was about twice the size of the boat and we would push that plug out into the lake.

Patience was the key.
 
Around here we call them floating mud tussles. I laugh when I see a green horn get out to try too pull and they fall right thru up to their neck. I owned a few 220GPU boats and aircrafts that would get stuck for hours in them I can't believe nobody has drowned from falling thru. I haven't been stuck in a tussle while on one my car motor boats but I have pulled next to somebody with a 0540 that was buried in a tussle. I just kept pushing the tussle and both boats until it broke apart. The guy who was stuck looked like he was going to die from shock. Mud Tussles or Floating Islands are with out a doubt one of the toughest things to run thru or over.
 
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Matt, be careful or you'll poke right thru...!!!

They are bad. I haven't been on one in a while. The last time I was on one it was either go over the tussuck or get stuck in some BAD mud in the trail. I almost made it across but I got stuck about 15 feet from freedom. It took me about an hour to get off. Sometimes they'll have cattails and stuff growing on them. At first glance or at night it looks like land. If you come to the Lake Kissimmee area you'll see more than enough to poke a stick at.... :D

Adam
 
Your boat just sinks into it. So you must keep rocking or moving your boat to get it back on top of the mud. I prefer horsepower and just plow thru it. I have plowed hills of the stuff over 4ft high it just keeps balling up in front of your boat if you sink in it. So the trick is to stay on top of the mud or have enough power to push thru it. But if you must get out to push or pull never let go of the boat you can fall thru it. It's kinda like a frozen lake there is free flowing water under it.
 
Swampjet was up at Orange Lake a few months ago when some other airboaters, who weren't familiar with floating tussocks, got stuck on them. One of the boaters actually put his wife and 2nd passenger out to try to lighten his load, and Swampjet had a hell of a time trying to get to the ladies to get them off the tussock and onto our boat. Very scary moments for them!

Mrs. Swampjet
 
I will never forget a 4th of July weekend. I was running the river with a friend who had a 16ft Apache hull belt drive with a 383 Chevy. I warned him a 100 times to avoid the mud tussles. Well he seen me run thru one and tried to follow me he made it 9 feet max. It was 20 more to get thru it and backing it out wasn’t an option. I spent the night trying to get him out. I took his wife and kids home later that night and came back with a few buddies, three boats and two sheets of plywood. We got him out around 2:00 the next day. What a miserable 4th of July weekend that was. Most of the guy's fell right thru we had to Army crawl around to keep on top the mud if you stood up you broke thru.
 
Don"t forget the Fire Ants that seek refuge on them also, they will eat you alive!!!!!! Been there done that..............
 
Mud Tussles - Now Waterthunder you are describing something I don't know anything about. That sounds interesting.

We have floating grass, in places, large expanses of it. If you are a light weight you can walk or run on it. Sort of like waterbed. We use the stop and rock the boat back and forth to make the mat settle building water up under the hull. Then stomp it.

I would agree with Waterthunder, HP seems to be the key. The hull seems to be second. That Kline will slide across it if I have her maxed out. But when she stops, it can be tough to get moving. Seems to be not as bad as heavier hulls since she doesn't sink in as much. But there is nothing as embrassing as having someone pull up and stop, take your passengers, bring them to safety and come back to help you.

One thing that I have seen work on occasion is running past the stuck boat on either side a few times. Of course you had better have the rudder tied down and a good operator. It will sometimes get enough water on top of the floating mat to get the other boat moving.

I have seen a few boats on top of water hycinth or lilies. A thick mat that was grown together and they jumped up on top. The wide leaves stick to the bottom and it stops sliding. Opps. Now you are moving an island.
 
A buddy of mine weighs around 280Lbs and runs a fuel injected O-540 airboat he tried running across a mud tussle. He was stuck as you can get he tried getting out to tug on his boat while his wife steered it. It was hilarious he sunk in the mud right up to his head. He freaked out and grabbed the side of his boat. He said he felt the water under the mud running around his legs. Me being the smart ass I am I told him to kick his legs hard he said he wasn’t moving I told him I know but all the alligators are looking at your legs now. Well it worked he pulled so hard on the side of the boat it almost went under he got out of the mud in a hurry. I couldn’t stop laughing until I realized I had to get his boat out. Just like you mentioned I kept driving around his boat breaking up the mud about an hour later he was out. My wife took some hilarious pictures of us pulling on his boat and crawling around in the mud.
 
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