Prepping for some cold weather riding at Sand Mountain

| December 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

Winter is definitely here in northern California, and one of our nearby dunes in Nevada is going to be even colder. Forecast for after Christmas are for highs right around freezing and lows around 15. Brrr! We are still planning to go, so it was time to make sure we didn’t turn into icicles while riding in out Polaris RZR S.

EMP Half Windshield with Quick Connect Clamps

Short of a full cab with heat which is a must for Minnesota UTV owners, I decided to try to do a few simple things to take some of the edge off the cold on our 2010 Polaris RZR S.

First up is the eliminate some of the wind chill effects. I also visit southern California during the winter months where it can be 70+ degrees. I wanted something that I could quickly mount and remove depending on temperature. I found that Extreme Metal Products (EMP) makes a half windshield with Quick Connect Clamps for the Polaris RZR. When installed the clamps remain on your cage at all times. It allows you to quickly and easily remove the windshield without any tools. Simply, unscrew the thumbscrews and remove the windshield.

The EMP Half Windshield is made from 3/16 inch thick scratch resistant polycarbonate so it won’t scratch as easily as an acrylic material. The half windshield is tall enough so my kids are completely below the top, and I sit high enough so I can see over the top. Half windshields are a good alternative to a full windshield in muddy and dusty conditions when a full windshield would become dirty obstructing the drivers view.

12V Heated Seat Cushion

The top of the windshield has a kick to it that helps direct more air up and over your head and the bottom has a nice rubber gasket that help seal against the hood and protect it from scratching.

On some of my other UTVs where I have suspension seats, I also have heating elements that were installed when the seats were made. I highly recommend adding them if you buy new seats as they don’t add that much more to the cost, don’t take that much power and are so nice for cold weather riding.

On our 2010 RZR S, we have the factory seats so I decided to look into heated seat cushions that I could install and remove. After doing a few Google searches I found some from a company called Wagan. Prices varied from $20 – $30 so I decided that I would give them a try.

Twin USB/DC Cup Holder Adapter

The only problem was that I wanted one for each seat and the RZR only has one 12V DC outlet. Well I searched a bit more and found that the same company makes a DC splitter that fits in a cup holder. Hmm. The RZR has two cup holders and routing the wires would be more out of the way if I didn’t have to go from both seats to the dash. The splitter also has a battery level indicator light which will help monitor power consumption. Best of all the DC adapter was less than $10 so I figured it was a no-brainer to at least give it a try.

I got the heated seat cushion and the twin DC adapter the other day and installed them in the RZR. The DC adapter fits perfect and the battery level indicator has low, medium and high. It would be nice to know what each light relates to for voltage, but it is better than nothing.

The seat cushions have some decent straps around the back which hold the cushion pretty well, but there are small clips with tiny elastic for the seat that I don’t see lasting very long. We’ll have to see how they hold up.

I started up the RZR and the battery indicator sat at low with no heaters on. I waited a moment, and then the stator kicked in and the level went to high. Cool. Next I turned both seat heaters to the “high” position. Battery indicator back down to low. Hmm. I switched to “low” and the indicator went to medium. OK, we can work with this.

If all goes well, we’ll be headed to Sand Mountain Recreation Area in Nevada after Christmas. I hope these few upgrades will make the riding more tolerable for us!