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The Business that Saves Snowmobiles The Business that Saves Snowmobiles

By William Scott

In the small town of Canastota, NY – population 4500 – you will find a very unique business.

Meet Derek Field – the owner of Triple T Towing and Underwater Recovery. What do they recover you might ask – they go under the ice to get – snowmobiles and ATVs.

Yeah – these are what’s left over from the week we had last week. Two 4 wheelers in Oneida Lake. Snowmobile in Oneida Lake. And this one from up in watertown that we recovered

This has been the busiest year for Triple T in their 6 years of operation.

We’ll cut a whole in the ice and send the camera down and try to varify if it’s below us to take the guesswork out of sending a diver down.

They’ve had 7 calls this winter. Including this one on Oneida Lake just last week.

Usually we get 2-3 calls a year with something going in the water. The way the weathers been, the warming up and the rain – the ice conditions just deteriorated over the time of two weeks recently, which would cause us to go and recover some machines that sunk, so.

Now how Derek and Triple T pull off recoveries is absolutely fascinating. You see these airbags? Those are the key to recovering a snowmobile like this.

Yeah that’s exactly how we get em up, we use these airbags. So once they get up, once we get em to the surface, then we’ll situate it. Diver will get out, the machines at the surface, and we’ll start the process of hooking straps on the loops to get it up over the ice, and once it’s up over the ice it’s game over.

Oneida Lake is where Triple T has had the most recoveries. 7 to be exact since they started. It’s also where Dan Jenks and his family are on a fishing trip after making the two hour trek from Buffalo. And look what they brought.

Are you aware that it’s a record year for snowmobile’s falling through the ice?

Yes, very aware of that. In fact – the guy in the Orange there – he didn’t even wanna come down. He’s very leery of what’s gonna happen, but there’s never gonna be safe ice.

Well if the Jenks get into trouble today – they’ll know how to call. For NCC News, I’m Will Scott.

CANASTOTA, NY (NCC News) — In the small town of Canastota, N.Y., you will find a very unique business. 

Derek Field is the owner of Triple T Towing and Underwater Recovery, which has been in operation for six years. Their job this time of year? Recovering snowmobiles and ATVs that go through the ice. 

This has been Triple T’s busiest year ever. Field says they’ve gotten seven calls this winter, which is much more than they are used to.

“Usually we get two-three calls a year with something going in the water,” Field said. “The way the weather has been, the warming up and the rain – the ice conditions just deteriorated over the time of two weeks recently, which would cause us to go and recover some machines that sunk, so.” 

Triple T has received calls from as close as Oneida Lake (15 min from Canastota) and as far as Rochester. Once they arrive, they find where the snowmobile went under, drop a camera down, locate the vehicle, and that’s when they dive down.On the dive, they hook airbags to the vehicle.

“Yeah that’s exactly how we get em up, we use these airbags,” Field said. “So once they get up, once we get ’em to the surface, then we’ll situate it. Diver will get out, the machines at the surface, and we’ll start the process of hooking straps on the loops to get it up over the ice, and once it’s up over the ice it’s game over.” 

Most of Triple T’s calls have come from people ice fishing that decided to take a 4-wheeler or snowmobile out to the lake. They’ve been to Oneida Lake more than anywhere else. They’ve performed seven recoveries there, two of which were just last week.

I decided to go by the lake to scope it out. Sure enough, there were plenty that were ice fishing. Including Dan Jenks and his family, who drove in from Buffalo, and sure enough, brought their ATV. 

Jenks said he knows that this has been a record year for snowmobiles going through the ice.

“Yes, very aware of that,” he said. “In fact – the guy in the Orange there (his brother Matt) – he didn’t even wanna come down. He’s very leery of what’s gonna happen, but there’s never gonna be safe ice.” 

Well, if the Jenks did get into trouble, hopefully they gave Field a call. 

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