Water and CVTs don't mix but sometimes the off-road environment makes things that shouldn't blend play together:

https://atvconnection.com/articles/a...belt-slippage/

 

On older Polaris ATVs there wasn't any drain plug. Luckily mine never sucked in enough water to cause slippage for more than a second or two at worst. The way you get the water out if you do get it in an old one without a drain plug is to put it in neutral and rev it up. I think some of the water would blow out if there was a lot of it. Plus friction from the belt slipping will heat things up enough to dry the the clutches out under normal circumstances. When you think it's dry put it in gear and check it. If it's not dry yet put it back in neutral and rev it up a little longer. It's funny how sometimes blasting through a little puddle sometimes causes slippage when riding slowly through two feet or more of water doesn't.

 

In a lot of cases, its probably because the cover isn't sealed up properly. Water shouldn't be getting in there unless you go through water way too deep. I went though water so deep once in my Grizzly that I got water in the air box. It had a drain plug for that too. I pulled the plug and I think I took my shirt and wiped out the rest of the water left in there and kept going a few minutes later. It was pretty deep, water was over the front rack. The air filter itself didn't look wet so I don't think any water got sucked past it. I finally started taking the alternate route on that creek crossing as the bank on the other side got so chewed up that it got really hard to climb even when it wasn't so wet.

 

I've heard of a lot of people having problems with leaky covers but haven't had it happen to me. Not yet anyway. I had water splash straight up into the air intake on one of my older ATVs. I think it was my '97 Sportsman 500 that had the intake shaped kind of like an upside down letter U on the end and it was way over on the side of the gas tank. I hit a puddle too fast and the water splashed up to it and got sucked right into the clutches. I felt the belt slip then catch once or twice but kept on going. I think I had that happen more than one time on an older model. But I've had water up to the rack before without getting the belt wet because I went slow it wasn't splashing. I broke through the ice and my headlights were underwater where a beaver made a dam right next to a trail. I made it halfway across then went straight down. I was just creeping across and didn't get the belt wet that time either but my pants were wet and my boots were full of water for the rest of the ride. If I backed up and got a running start maybe I could have zipped across without falling in but I'll never know.