ODG Centaur

The Centaur is an eight-wheel-drive amphibious all-terrain utility vehicle built by Ontario Drive & Gear Ltd (ODG) of New Hamburg, Ontario, the company best known for the ARGO amphibious ATV. ODG pitched the Centaur at commercial users rather than leisure buyers: utility companies (it was used for fibre-optic cable installation), natural-resource management, oil and gas exploration and pipeline work, the public sector, defence, lodges and outfitters, agriculture and forestry.

Design

Unlike the ARGO's skid-steer tillers, the Centaur has conventional car-style steering wheel, brake and accelerator, with an 'H'-pattern lever for high, low and reverse. Its drive train combines ODG's CVT 'Centaurmatic' mechanical transmission with a Sundstrand hydrostatic power pack steering a dual-differential transmission, giving a zero turning radius. The V2003DT model used a liquid-cooled three-cylinder Briggs & Stratton Daihatsu turbo diesel of 31 hp at 3,600 rpm, mounted mid-ship; a 31 hp petrol engine was also available.

The driver and passenger sit in an insulated, fully enclosed roll-over protective cab with front and rear windscreens. Behind it is a cargo area that doubles as a platform for specialised equipment, with options including a power winch, dump box and snow plough. Payload on land is 1,500 lb (about 680 kg); afloat it can carry about 700 lb (350 kg) including occupants across small lakes and rivers with little preparation.

It runs on eight 25 in (635 mm) Goodyear Rawhide low-pressure tyres; with optional 15 in multi-purpose or 22 in snow tracks fitted, ground pressure falls below 1 psi. Ground clearance is about 8 in (200 mm) and a full-length skid plate protects the underside.