Let's play a game: modern day covered wagon?

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich) 04/08/2017 at 00:05 • Filed to: None

0

20

Let’s play a little game here. Let’s suppose we’re 200 years in the past, but we’ve got today’s technology. The western part of what is now the United States has yet to be surveyed and unsettled. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to design the modern day equivalent of a covered wagon, to help you explore and settle the unknown.

What design considerations do you take into account? What fuel source do you use? What suspension setup do yo go for? What do you do for sleeping arrangements? Do you start off with an existing vehicle and modify it from there, or do you do something custom from the ground up?

I’m curious to hear your thoughts. I’ll post mine in a comment.

EDIT: Feel free to post your own idea before reading any of the other comments. I’m curious to see what everyone comes up with.

bob and john > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:11

3

BaconSandwich is tasty. > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:12

0

Because of a lack of fueling stations, my first thought would to be electric + solar powered, with some sort of sterling engine as a range extender. Essentially build a little fire in a box, and it runs a generator to help charge the batteries. I didn’t say it had to be fast. :P Either that, or additional fold out solar panels and charge it up during the day, then pack up everything and drive during the night.

I’d probably go for something with independent suspension on all wheels. As much as I like the idea of keeping it simple and using a solid axle on both ends, part of me likes the idea of being comfortable while driving cross country. Maybe that’s not a great idea, though. When exploring a continent, you’re bound to be uncomfortable. I’m sure there’s lots of room for discussion here.

Speaking of wheels, I’m thinking it’d need 4 wheel drive, plus tow a trailer. The trailer can be used to carry extra supplies (water, spare tires, food, etc.)

For tires, I’d almost be tempted to go with a one of those airless wheels. Something like this:

It’d need side-walls though. You don’t want sticks and rocks getting stuck in there. At least that’d reduce the chance of having to stop because of flat tires.

I’m thinking the main vehicle would have as large an interior volume as possible, and sleep in it. Something not too big, though - maybe the size of a Ford F-150, but more van-like in the inside. I like the idea of fold-flat seats like the ones in the Honda Element. That way you’ve always got a roof over your head, at least for sleeping.

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:14

2

BaconSandwich is tasty. > bob and john 04/08/2017 at 00:14

0

I like it! A Unimog based camper would be an excellent choice.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch 04/08/2017 at 00:14

0

I suppose the idea there is that it’s big enough to carry it’s own fuel? :P

Shoop > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:17

0

You mean a chevy suburban?

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:17

0

It can carry its own biodiesel plant, lol.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:19

1

not for canada - australian in disguise > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:27

1

Has already conquered the Outback, the Sahara, the Kalahari, the Karoo, the deserts of Arabia, and many more. The American West should be no problem. Just put a camper conversion on it, comme ça.

Man I want a campervan 70 Series.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:28

4

Modern-day covered wagon? I think we already have those.

Fuel would be airdropped into specific depots along the route for settlers to use. The initial surveyors would also have fuel air lifted to their coordinates.

Actually check that, the surveying itself would be done via aircraft and 3D scanning.

DipodomysDeserti > BaconSandwich is tasty. 04/08/2017 at 00:51

2

I own one. It definitely rides like a covered wagon. I wish I could take the rear bench out and just let my kids roll around in the back with my dog.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch 04/08/2017 at 02:04

0

Can it really?

If it can, that’s amazing.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Shoop 04/08/2017 at 10:20

0

Ha ha! Probably not far off. Although I wonder how many interior bits would break in a newer one.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 04/08/2017 at 10:21

0

Huh, I guess I hadn’t thought of air drops. That’d certainly help.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 04/08/2017 at 13:16

0

The last bit is what sticks in my mind. There’d be no actual exploration because we would have satellite and aerial maps well before we got there.

Our equivalent of a farm wagon for traveling west to establish homesteads would be an F-150 with a cap. The wealthier people might bring larger and more exotic vehicles that would be more equivalent to a Conestoga wagon, which could range from an F-250 with some kind of cap/topper through commercial vehicles and repurposed heavy vehicles like the Unimogs and troop transporters others have mentioned.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 04/08/2017 at 14:17

0

A half-ton with a cap wouldn’t be large enough to transport enough gear to establish a modern homestead. Or even a pioneering one. The homesteaders would be carrying literally everything. Farming equipment, construction equipment (for building things from locally harvested materials) and quite a lot of provisions. Obviously there would be a small convoy (i.e. wagon train) but still I doubt you’d see many half-tons on the trip.

The other concern is there’s no infrastructure at all, so you’d also need it to be capable of traversing literally every terrain, and an unmodified half-ton is going to struggle. For the cost of a reliable (i.e. less-used) 1/2-ton prepared to handle that, you’d be able to find your military-surplus 5-ton. Like an ox-cart, you’d have several reliable, mechanically simple beasts of a vehicle such as a troop transport or other commercial-grade vehicle in every one of the convoys.

I just moved myself in the back of my long-bed truck, with cap. That’s clothes, tools, etc, for one person and one vehicle for an eight-month period, with the expectation that food, water, gas, etc. could be easily purchased along the route, and that I’d already have a furnished house when I got there. And I sure as hell would not have loaded myself down so much if I didn’t have paved highways between here and there. You’d be seriously hard-put to start subsistence farming off the space provided by pickups.

X37.9XXS > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 04/08/2017 at 15:50

0

Came here to see this

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 04/08/2017 at 16:15

0

That was a theoretical statement, I doubt it.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 04/08/2017 at 16:28

0

Here’s the thing: Most of our ancestors that moved to the frontier did it in whatever basic farm wagon they had. The equivalent of a farm wagon today is a half ton pickup truck. Maybe mildly lifted, but that’s about it. These would be more than sufficient for traveling across the prairies of North America. When rivers appeared that couldn’t be crossed easily, ferries would be built just as they were in the past. There aren’t enough deuce and a halves to go around for a huge migration like that.

Our ancestors that moved to the frontiers did so with a small subset of their belongings. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t just popping up a tent and calling it a day. With tech today, we could pack a tremendous amount of equipment in a basic half ton pickup truck that would put what they carried to shame. Things like chainsaws, cans upon cans of fuel, metal cables, etc. Major items they brought were things like saws, hammers, metal door hinges (which they took with them when they left), stoves (metal - cannot be readily produced), glass for windows, cookwear (similar to stoves), etc.

You clearly have no clue how you go to a frontier. Space exploration and colonizing Mars are probably the closest things we might see in our lifetimes - weight and materials have to be limited, with most materials acquired close to the destination.

In recent generations, people moved west in early automobiles on dirt and sometimes paved roads. Basic half tons and bush planes with minimal payload are still the main way people move into the undeveloped areas of Alaska...

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 04/08/2017 at 19:14

0

You clearly have no idea what it’s like to drive on natural prairie. Or what an animal-dragged wagon is capable of. It’s not a flat, smooth golf course like you’re imagining. It’s also not all solid ground, and when the grass is six to eight feet long it’s not like you get much warning before suddenly you’ve sunk into the ooze of a soak. Or plunge down into a coulee. There’s not much native prairie left in the world, and we’re losing what we have at an alarming rate. It’s very much not appreciated when you go driving through it, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you haven’t. Animal-dragged carts and wagons have a huge advantage over wheel-driven vehicles because hooves pushing against the ground have a significantly more traction. Also, all the modern tech you’re carrying weighs a ton more than the basic hand tools the pioneers had, and a half-ton, even with mild lifts, to get that up loose slopes out of the coulees, or up out of the mud at the bottom of the creek that suddenly became a lot deeper than when you walked through it. And then it rains... have you heard of gumbo?

The push to settle the American West wasn’t the same as some Joe Blow wanting to go live off the grid, either, which is pretty well the only thing going on in frontier Alaska.

You would definitely have a convoy, several families travelling together, but you’d need far more per family than a half-ton. Maybe the five-ton gets split between a few of them, leading the way and then you’d have the rest of the group following up in lighter vehicles. But when you’re talking about people selling their homes and investing the profits in a trip west, there’s gonna be a ton more equipment that the shirts on your backs and a shovel or two.