Inventive West Midlands dad turns car into amphibious vehicle by fitting 5ft snorkel

A West Midlands dad has fitted a 5ft-long snorkel to his car so he can blast through deep puddles.

Charlie Burns spent £80 buying parts to turn his 1996 Peugeot 405 into an amphibious vehicle - nicknamed 'The Pugmarine'.

The 32-year-old bought a metal pipe which is attached to the engine and welded onto the outside of the car, with the end above the roof line. The pipe, known as a snorkel, moves the car's air intake above water so that the engine isn't filled with water during underwater driving. Charlie, from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, said the vehicle is the ‘perfect car for the job’ given the non-stop rain.

He said: “It’s the perfect car for the current climate. If it carries on like it is, I’ll definitely need it for day-to-day driving. The weather’s been appalling.”

Earlier this month, Charlie drove to a flooded road in Leicestershire - dubbed Watery Gate Ford - to test his design. The Pugmarine passed with flying colours, and the dad-of-three is now hoping to drive into water deep enough so just the pipe is exposed.

Charlie, a scrapyard owner, said: “When I saw the Peugeot come on sale I thought ‘I’ve got the job for you’. I did a lot of work to get it back on the road, all with the goal of driving it into a river. It’s got a bomb-proof old diesel engine, there’s one wire that makes it run. Other than that, it’s all mechanical - it’s the best car and the best engine to do it with.

“I’ve got 4x4s, and we often play with 4x4s in the water, but doing it in a car - you don’t need such deep water to make it look entertaining. And it’s a bit more fun to be honest, there’s a bit more risk involved and more of a thrill.”

After buying the car in November 2025, Charlie spent £80 on a metal pipe to make his snorkel. It then took just a couple of hours to weld the device to the car - which he now uses for off-roading, exploring, and green laning - where motorists take their vehicles on unsurfaced roads.

He said: “The end goal is to drive a car into some water, the car disappears, you just see the pipe go along for a little while, then the car reappears. That’s my main goal in life, to be honest - I’ve been aiming for that for a while. I nearly managed it a couple of years ago in a Land Rover, but there was about two inches of roof sticking out. I’m just striving to see no car and just the pipe, really. Everything up to now is just practice.”

The experienced mechanic has urged others not to try to emulate his behaviour, saying he is familiar with the stretch of water where he made the attempt and had calculated the risks while modifying his car.

The Peugeot isn’t Charlie’s first attempt at making one of his cars more amenable to the water. In 2019, he bought a Volkswagen Polo and converted it into a working canal boat - all while it remained road legal.

Dubbed the ‘Boatswagen’, he’s since taken home multiple awards for ‘most eccentric boat’ at the Henley-on-Thames Traditional Boat Festival, and he has taken it cruising on canals.

The dad, who got into motors from a young age after taking an interest in his grandfather’s scrapyard, said he tries to include his three children, aged five, three, and one, in as much of his antics as possible.

He said: “It’s a very, very busy life. I try to incorporate the kids into it as much as we possibly can while keeping them safe, of course. That’s what life’s about - sharing what you can with the world, and especially the children.”