Finally home from Maggie

After taking an unexpected exit from I-40 in Crossville, TN, we got home safely last night about 8pm. Last Sunday we left Maggie Valley with rain looming in our horizon. We ran into some rain in Knoxville with the worst to come as we headed to Nashville. We ended up being caught in a torrential downpour with no exit, slowed from the highway speeds as the downpour increased. I think we were traveling at about 50mph when the Slingshot lifted up on the water and squirreled around then settled back down as I kept reducing speed. All of a sudden the Slingshot lifted again, shifted to the right and we were on our way to our exit!! And it was not gentle, the ditch was cut deep into a "V", so it looked like we were heading down into a frontal impact! I was able to steer the Slingshot into an angle as we went into the the ditch allowing the front right wheel to absorb the initial impact, then the entire Slingshot bottomed out and shot up out of the "V". Next was the fence along the frontage road as the grass, weeds and small trees all landed in our laps. The fence was woven wire bottom with a lone barb wire on the top with steel fence posts. My wife Mavis ended up getting the worst of it as the barb wire rode up on the hood and fenders to the windshield, ripped off the Air Wing, continued towards her. The barbs hit her in the face, across her nose and below her right eye! Thank the Lord she was wearing clear safety glasses and a helmet which kept the barbs from taking her eye out. The wire continued to rip the seat beside her head, road up over the roll bars. The barb wire did not break as the woven wire became stretched and mangled bending over two steel post in the process. Finally we came to a stop on the frontage road in front of Reeds Towing. After getting my wits about myself and seeing my wife's bloodied face and assuring her we will be OK, I got out of the Slingshot as the rain continued to dump on us, surveying our situation. We were sitting in the middle of the frontage road and I could see an area where I could get off the road provided the Slingshot would start and move on its own. Jumped back in and it started, as it moved I could hear a lot of scraping, but I got off the road and in a safer spot. I got out the cockpit cover and installed it so we could ride out the rest of the storm. As I sat under cover in the pouring rain I began to see where we were on my iPhone and called Reeds Towing as we are now right in front of their locked gate. This is now about 1pm Sunday. I called Reeds and explained to them what had happened and they said they would send someone over. While we were waiting the rain started to subside so I crawled out to look over things when an older gentleman(Bill) stopped and asked if we needed help, I explained to him that Reeds where on their way so he handed me a card and told me to contact him if I needed anything. The guy from Reeds unlocked the gate, I drove the Slingshot in behind the fenced area and went to their office where he offered to take Mavis to the ER for some medical care, he left me there by myself as I started to unload the Slingshot of items to get to a place to stay for the night so I could sort things out. Well I decided to call "Bill" as he had offered to help and I was a little stressed from my situation and I thought he was sincere in his offer. I will have some more additions to this thread later, just wanted all to know we are home safe.

PART II

As I had mentioned I called Bill and he came by Reeds Towing to help me out. Once he got there I told him that my wife was in the ER and I needed to get her and get to a motel for the evening. He told me to get my stuff I needed and jump in his truck. As we left Reeds Towing he said he had a an apartment above his garage and he would take me there to see if it would work for us for the night. I initially felt a little weird about it but agreed to take a look, well it was right next door in a very nice neighborhood as we came to his place on the lake I was shocked that this gentleman made such an offer. I went in and agreed to stay in the apartment, moved our stuff in and we proceeded to the ER to get Mavis. Now, still feeling a little weird about the offer for our accommodations I needed to explain all this to my seemingly shocked scared for life wife. I can't explain the look I received from her as I assured her it would be fine. I just made sure I did not use the words "trust me" in that conversation or all would had been lost.

We stopped at Subway for some eats and then back to Bill's place and settled in while dealing with reports with the Tennessee Highlway Patrol and my insurance company. Got cleaned up and put our sore body's to bed being thankful that we weren't hurt any worse. Next morning a got Enterprise to bring a car over then took Bill out for breakfast and a great conversation where Mavis was warming up to him a little. In the meantime my insurance got ahold of me and gave me the go ahead to work on the Slingshot myself to see if it was roadworthy. So Monday afternoon I was back at Reeds Towing to take the front lowers off and look over the wheels, tires and such before giving it a test ride. All went well and the Slingshot seemed to ride fine. Next was to get the mud, grass, etc. cleaned from the undercarriage and inspection for damage. Just getting it cleaned up took 2-3 hours as my back was sore and stiff. The mud and grass was packed in the battery location all the way over the battery like when you hit a snowdrift that fills you engine compartment. With the Slingshot up on stands I was able do a thorough inspection of the frame, all the welds, suspension, rotate the wheels for straightness, and check tires for cuts or broken belts. Other than scrapes on the frame and some rash on the right wheel from the fence posts all looked fine for the unbelievable trip we indured. I say that the space frame of these Slingshots are well built to endure such an incident. By the way the fender buttons held in place also.

Quote from harleyujoe

Glad to hear you made it home.. Hope wife will mend and get back in SS ??? I know what that feels like after last year falling in S.D on BMW with wife.
Wish you both well and hope you can mend SS also without costing a fortune..
Get Well and glad you survived.

I talk to Polaris staff after Diner @ Maggie about this with SS and the hydroplaning.
Ask about them looking into 2 narrow round tires for rear in place of 1 wide tire for doing long distance.
I know I would purchase such a tire rim for travel to avoid hydroplaning.

Get well

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Well, Mavis got back in the Slingshot and we rode it home from Tennessee, mostly back roads enjoying the ride and avoiding bad weather on the horizon. Thanks

Quote from Cameron Roberts

@mniron You can add crash and torture tested to your hood button set up now! So there's a bonus. Frankly, your commitment to making sure your product is durable and worth installing may be a tad extreme.

Agreed! It was a little extreme! I am not going to try to top it. Thanks

Quote from harleyujoe

Looking at your SS damage and I am not a fan of the huge tubes for roofs of the SS but looks like it may have stopped the cable from hitting wife in face ????
And are you both using standard seat belts or other belt system??

What are your thoughts about driving SS in rain and making it more safe to drive ??

I know going down to Maggie Valley we were doing 65 in heavy rain and no puddling and then all of sudden puddling and felt lifting and slowed to 55 mph and still
felt some out of control and slowed to 45 to 50 and felt more comfortable but on edge whole time wondering if this is still safe speed.
Surely not a good feeling not being able to see with windshield wet on both sides and had to rip my visor off and wipe interior side of windshield just to see some distance.

This was one thing since I experienced it with SS that I told Polaris Reps they may need to address it with more SS's hitting the road and making a rear tire to at least
help with this problem..
I know I would change tires for traveling vs home driving if they were available.

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There is a lot of what-ifs, in this case a Twist top or a Bullet V-Back would have save some personal injury. We actually talk about the subject over morning coffee today. We have stock seat belts and we also discussed whether a four point harness would had been better or worse in this situation, at this time our feelings are mixed as Mavis felt maybe it would had held her more upright and then what? Her cracked rib is a result of being bounced around in the cockpit which was caused by a thermos bottle in the forward cup holder.

As for driving in the rain, light rain still would not bother me but I am sure Mavis will not ride with me even in light rain, I would definitely never ride in and heavy rains. The major problem even in light rain would be puddling which quickly could be disastrous. Best would be to avoid rain all together but not always avoidable.

Part III

When I got the Slingshot ready to leave Reeds Towing I stopped by their office to see what I owed for storage and taking Mavis to the ER the day before. The response was "Ah, nothing". I told them that was to kind and asked again, same reponse. Was not acceptable to me so I gave the guy $20 and told him to at least give that to the gentleman that took Mavis to the ER. Tuesday, I took the front lowers that I removed apart saving the hood bumpers, bolts, brackets, red wings and Assualt grill. Loaded all the parts including the front lower frame and black spoiler in the trunk of the rental car and headed to the recycling center for disposal. Bill directed me to the recycling center and told me the gal's name at the center was Betty. As I drove in, Betty came out and greeted with an evil eye and ask what I was doing there all the way from Michigan thinking that I was dumping off junk in her facility as I was opening the trunk to the rental car with Michigan plates. I told he that Bill warned me about her and he was sitting the passenger seat. After she saw Bill she soften right up and all was fine! From the recycling center we went to the UPS Store to send the salvaged parts back home to Minnesota.

On the way back to Bill's, I stopped at Walmart to get some Keurig coffee singles to replace some of what we used the last couple of days. I placed them in his cupboard without his knowledge much to his delight after we were gone. I got things packed ready to get back on the road while Mavis washed the towels and linens to leave Bill's apartment as it was when we arrived. The laundry took a little longer than expected so so I helped Bill repair a high pressure concrete driveway washer and straighten up his garage while Mavis tidied up the house and apartment. This was the least we could do for Bill who was so kind and relieved us of so much in a stressful situation.

Bill is an 80 year old man in liver failure along with other ailments who lost his wife 10 years earlier. Much to Bill's delight I gave him a cap from SSITS and offered him a ride before we left for Minnesota. I really think it was special to him. Bill is a special friend of ours.