Rising water alert device for river camping

[Eric Esche]

We talked about devices like this back when one of our own nearly got caught on a gravel bar by rising water at night while solo tripping when it rained a lot up stream on the Buffalo. Alan survived thanks to his faithfull and wonderful dog Coochie waking him.

I was in Home Depot tonight and bought one for $19.95 - a Water Detector Alert by Doberman Security. Uses 2AAA batteries, and has a 100 decibel alarm. It is about 3"x1.5"x1" and weighs about 4 ounces, so it is not something too big or too heavy to use, and at $20 it would make a good stocking stuffer for Christmas for someone you do not want washed away. How well it works, probably will depend on how and where you rig it in relation to where you are camped and how fast the river rises, but I thought I would give it a shot.

I plan on carrying mine as group gear when we have water to campout with again. It has an ON-OFF button with a red LED to let you know it is armed. I will try to let the group decide where the alarm is located.. Sensor is about the size of 5 pennies stacked up and it hangs down about a foot or so below the alarm. I'm going to glue some hooks on my alarm so I can rig it where I want, like on a tent stake.

They are made to stick near something that could have rising water or a leak. I will cover mine with a plastic food tub like sour cream comes in, so rain would not set it off, and then stake it/ tie it off, so that rising water would set it off, but not wash it away.

Thought that I remembered some of us saying that we would get one if it was carried locally, and the price was right. I will demonstrate it on our next river campout (well before bedtime) if anyone wants to see what it is like or decide if it is worth getting, or wants to know what to listen for after dark.

And please, no setting it off as a joke after dark. Boy who cryed wolf might get a bucket of water dumped on him or her.

Anybody ever notice where I pitch my tent on our trips - about as far back as the gravel bar goes without climbing the hill. I might still could get washed away, but I'd be among the last to be swimming, rather than the first. So maybe it needs to be below the lowest tent,

Eric Esche

[Richard]

Eric, thank you for posting this. Just one problem. The rain gods are nowhere to be seen.
Now if this device will also find the rain gods, I think we ALL need to get one. I would be willing to get two

One year the Ozark Society got rained off the river on one of their annual floats. Lost a bunch of gear in the process.
Afterwards, as a gag, someone rigged a system using a toilet flush system attached to an alarm. But it worked

In all seriousness, Eric has a great idea. I think I am going to get one. . . even if we don't see the rain gods again.

[okieboater]

This is a super idea.

Couple years ago on the lower canyons of the rio grande, I just happened to be awakened by the sound of rushing water in the middle of the night. We had put the kitchen and canoes on a gravel bar but put our tents up on the bank.

Had to wade out in knee deep water to rescue canoes that were floating and seconds from washing out into the main stream flow. Rescued canoes and carried chairs, tables etc on the bank with not much time to spare.

We were just seconds away from disaster as later on that night, the storm blew in with day long snow. Had the canoes washed away, we would have been in a bad situation.

Eric, thanks for the research and posting same. Depending on Eric's test results, this will be on my buy list for future trips.

[panicman]

Cool idea but you would probably need to come up with some sort of waterproofing of it. Usually when you get a river rise it has been raining and not sure how well that thing wold hold up sitting out in the rain all night.

[Deuce]

Cool idea but you would probably need to come up with some sort of waterproofing of it. Usually when you get a river rise it has been raining and not sure how well that thing wold hold up sitting out in the rain all night.

Shouldn't be too difficult since the sensor isn't integrated into the unit. Eric's idea to cover it should do the trick. Alternatively, maybe place the unit into the smallest dry bag available with the sensor sticking out of it.

[Richard]

Since this is designed to deal with indoor flooding, I wonder if rain would set it off. The whole thing could be attached to a rainproof pole that could be rammed into the gravel bar with the sensor next to the gravel and the alarm attached a foot or more above that. A plastic bag would be all that is necessary to keep it dry.

Is the device similar to this?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046V ... UUXZ8KC49B" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shark Attack]

While paddling with a group of northerners on Jacks Fork I asked what the heck the small brass bell with a 12" string attached to the ringer and a nail attached at the bottom of the string was all about.... Tie it to a branch below where the tents were pitched....no batteries required.

[Eric Esche]

Richard -the model you show from Amazon looks very much like it (at half the price) with the exception of the one I bought having an LED to show it is armed and the ON-OFF button being a membrane push button on the front, below the LED. Think a thin snack bag would waterproof it with out muzzleing it much.

What I had planned on doing was placing a plastic bowl over the sensor to keep it dry from rain or heavy dew, but allow rising water to set it off. I'll try it out here at the house the next time we get a rain storm to see if I can get it not to go off accidentally. We have a ditch out front that fills up if we get enough rain, so that can be my rising water test area.

Looking forward to being out on the water with y'all again.

Eric