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EarthRoamer Luxury bug out

Hard to beat an old deuce & a half. Quite a few guys have 'em around here in private hands. Check out your local 4WD club or website - you might be surprised to see how many are running around.

BIG Army/Navy store about 40 miles south of here always has three or four for sale in his parking lot. Has a BIG website, but NEVER advertises them there - only locally.
 
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Living quarters with ability to stay dry, heat interior, cook & bathe.

Is better served by a trailer.

The limiting factor (before re-supply) isn’t engine fuel, it’s

Water

Closely followed by

Propane

The second factor is a very close runner-up to the first. As one may be able to purify a local source. Then transfer to trailer tank.

Fuel, is the thing.

Solar may be nice for keeping batteries topped up, but a big dollar solar electrical system is reliant on expensive & rare controllers, etc.

Propane may be harder to find, but supply isn’t a limit. Just distribution.

A trailer means that the prime mover can be less than what’s shown in earlier posts. No advantage to vehicles without a support network.

Does NAPA carry the part numbers?

To run to town for supply (carry neighbors, etc) is ideally once every couple of weeks to a month outside if coldest weather.

Really, to park on a rural homestead already occupied by family is AN ideal for a BOV.

Running way back into the wilderness just means an expensive way to die. Isolated.

As a support vehicle for A GROUP the ninja mall warrior thing may have more use. In which case as a mobile genset and/or radio comms wagon.

As to what travel trailer, the benchmark for longest life still holds:

All-Aluminum

Layout would be the space-efficient (front to rear):

Lounge
Kitchen
Beds
Bath

As weight is above axles and plumbing runs shortest. My 35’ has a plumbing run “area” of a ten-foot length (kitchen & bath share a wall)

Weather & Climate take their toll. Water is the destructive force. Typical composite trailers have rubber roofs which delaminate quickly. (A few years at best). Walls and ceiling part ways. Mold & Mildew build long before rain comes pouring in.

A permanent overhead roof (shed without walls, just beams) helps but won’t prevent.

1965-1985 the golden age of these types. Many, many examples remain.

27-28’ best size for extended travel. Larger just means bigger lounge.
(5) persons do well in this size.

Don’t need a truck, either. A van would be better.

Example shown is close to that owned by my parents. Owned it 29-years. Barely any repairs.

The expense when new was comparable to a mountain house or lake home. (Quality = $$$).

The SoCal workforce that built several brands all built the WWII warbirds by the tens of thousands.

Standardization was the hallmark of the period noted. No surprises.

Airstream was the entry-level bargain brand. Lighter construction with SOME more problems. Bought as the vanity line by a major RV builder. Why it alone survived as Americans went broke.

Units 10-15 years old are still new, but depreciation has ended. That’s a sweet spot at which to buy.

F3C96D47-DCBC-4B0E-8FDC-49504EC17BC9.jpeg


A BOV is just a way to get yourself and family away from strife. A transition. Those transitions kill people. Exposure; or, wet, hungry, & dirty. Without adequate rest or food.

A TT in the backyard, today, is shelter when power goes out in The Big House. Much easier to keep dry & warm. Etc.

Hitch the family car and leave. We covered (literally) North America and Mexico.

Solo duty predominates for vehicle spec. Pulling one of these isn’t any challenge. Trucks give up too much with compromised design versus being fuel AND passenger-efficient.

Hiding Out isn’t a plan.

Having “a home” which can be moved, is much, much, closer.

An indefinite lifespan on these. Units 50, 60, 70-years old are on the road.

My parents unit now more than 45-years old and still going. Must have more than 300k miles on it by now.

The typical composite units sold are at 10-years or 75k miles before they can no longer resist the song of the landfill.

Naysayers haven’t submitted their plastic boxes to a moisture meter (with probe) test.

.
 
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The truck in my avatar is a great camper toter. It is a '91 Centurion C350 one ton four door bronco. They literally chopped the back half of a bronco off and put it on the front half of a one ton 4x4 crew cab. This gives it a longer wheelbase than a Suburban, while having the rear axle closer to the rear hitch than any other one ton vehicle. This is as close to a fifth wheel as you are going to get with an SUV. It seats 9 and the back seat folds down into a bed. These were $90K vehicles loaded back in the day.

Mine has 35" tires and no lift, doesn't need it. Just turned over 100k miles not too long ago. With a 7.5L V8 and dual exhaust in front of the back wheels, you get the feeling this is what a truck was meant to be. When I take the top off, the kids fight for the back seat. haha

An Airstream trailer would be SOOOOO nice behind this thing.

http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/board/showthread.php?3394-Centurion-brochures

Centurion-Classic-SUV-Gear-Patrol-Ambiance.jpg
 
The truck in my avatar is a great camper toter. It is a '91 Centurion C350 one ton four door bronco. They literally chopped the back half of a bronco off and put it on the front half of a one ton 4x4 crew cab. This gives it a longer wheelbase than a Suburban, while having the rear axle closer to the rear hitch than any other one ton vehicle. This is as close to a fifth wheel as you are going to get with an SUV. It seats 9 and the back seat folds down into a bed. These were $90K vehicles loaded back in the day.

Mine has 35" tires and no lift, doesn't need it. Just turned over 100k miles not too long ago. With a 7.5L V8 and dual exhaust in front of the back wheels, you get the feeling this is what a truck was meant to be. When I take the top off, the kids fight for the back seat. haha

An Airstream trailer would be SOOOOO nice behind this thing.

http://www.fourdoorbronco.com/board/showthread.php?3394-Centurion-brochures

View attachment 36549
There's one of those around here. I didn't know what it was the first time I saw it. I mean I could tell it was an SUV version of an F350, but I searched online to find more info. Neat truck; no doubt about it.
 



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I would rather have an M1028A1 CUCV with S-250 shelter and M101 cargo trailer. Fresh 6.2 and the best reliability/durability mods. Among other things carried in the trailer, I would have something like a Honda Trail 90 as a scout vehicle.
200px-Chevrolet_K30_Pick_Up_with_box_pic3.JPG
 
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Hard to beat an old deuce & a half. Quite a few guys have 'em around here in private hands. Check out your local 4WD club or website - you might be surprised to see how many are running around.

BIG Army/Navy store about 40 miles south of here always has three or four for sale in his parking lot. Has a BIG website, but NEVER advertises them there - only locally.
my favorite
 
drove many of those
I have one. Actually mine is a 1008, which I really like a lot but the 1028A1 is probably my favorite. The only real difference between a SRW 1028A1 and the 1008 is the 1028A1 has an NP205 'case with a pto, while the 1008 has an NP208. No big deal really; it's an easy swap. Both have the 14 bolt rear with Detroit Locker and Dana 60 front with 4.56s.
One of these days I might swap in an NP205 and SM465 granny 4 speed. I grew up driving and wheeling that combination in a 1969 K20, except the engine was a small block 350.
 
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Forgot to add in my post above that one fuel across the platform is an advantage in some instances.

A pickup that has range extension of diesel via propane injection also gives greater propane “range” to the trailer with mounted tanks.

Occupancy-use of propane is the thing (past water).

There are diesel-fired appliances used by ocean sailors which are attractive. Replacing propane in all but lighting.

Diesel, unfortunately, is not long-term stable like propane. Emergency gensets at airports and hospitals can get it done via tax-money subsidy, but a typical Joe?

You guys want to bounce around the country-side are better off looking at motorcycles and and an ATV with a trailer. Adjuncts to a mothership that ain’t going but a few feet off pavement.

You can have

Range (Time & Distance)
Off Road
Accommodations (small children and the elderly need more)

But not all three in a single rig.

Off-road is least important. Once pavement is abandoned, Range is the province of a motorcycle (Rokon).

In a hurricane evacuation (going back to 1989 records) the average fuel consumption is 3-5/MPG per very high traffic volume. After 150-miles inland from coast, the volume dissipates as services again become available.

Big fuel tank for win.

Afterwards, it’s still overall efficiency.

Rationing, alone, kills off vehicles not capable of 20-mpg at 55/Mph.

Going cross-country on lesser used roads means some stream crossings, rail viaducts, etc, will be barred to use.

The military vehicles have lousy range without support.

And there comes a limit to how much fuel one can carry.

Aim at 400-miles usable per tank. As that covers the good conditions of a full day of Interstate travel today.

Half that should be adequate to aim at the next fuel point where things are lousy.

(2) fifty mile detours plus an advance in map distance.

.
 
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