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Campers: Do They Make Good Bug Out Vehicles?
prepforshtf ^

Posted on 02/10/2015 2:25:33 PM PST by Responsibility2nd

There is not a simple answer to the question. Much depends on your situation, your familiarity with campers, geography and type of crisis you would be dealing with. Type of campers would include motor homes, travel trailers and truck campers.

When people think of bug-out-vehicles (BOV) they think of a vehicle that can get them out of a dangerous area quickly. The vehicle is packed with emergency essentials and is ready to go at a moment’s notice. Bugging-out signifies haste, leaving an area that has become hostile, and that means leaving by the fastest and safest means possible, does a travel trailer or motor home fit that description. You can decide that based on a multitude of factors.

If your home was destroyed by some type of a disaster and you had a camper/motor home then you have shelter. However, if the disaster has not struck yet, but if one forecasted or predicted and you feel you would have to bug-out, would you jump in your camper. If you did, would you be able to get clear of the area driving a motor home or pulling a trailer, versus simply getting in your vehicle or setting out on foot, this is the question you need to answer, and can you answer it before a disaster strikes.

Considerations

If you have a travel trailer, this means you need a vehicle capable of pulling the trailer, and keep in mind during a crisis you would probably overload the trailer, which in turn would put more stress on the vehicle pulling it. Tires, engine and transmission all would be under more stress.

Water and fuel alone would take up considerable weight and then there is food, generators, clothing and other essentials, and because of the space, available people would tend to pack more. If you could not leave well ahead of others that are fleeing, you may find the highways are gridlocked, and you would essentially be trapped with all of your supplies in one place.

On the other hand, if you managed to get out of the urban area, you now have a shelter for when you arrive at your bug-location. You do have one of course, or do you plan to pull into a rest stop or camping area, during a crisis.

Rest areas and campsites would be overwhelmed in most cases by others doing just what you are doing and of course looters, and other criminals will go where the valuables are. If the crisis were, a natural disaster, campsites and rest areas may not be ideal places for sheltering.

How would you refuel, if you did manage to get to a bug-out location or any safe haven? You can carry fuel with you but the amounts would be limited. You simply cannot end up somewhere without the ability to leave that area at some point, and have to leave your home essentially and all of your supplies behind.

Truck campers would be better suited as a bug-out vehicle, because they are self-contained but you are limited on space. However, you would have more storage space than a typical vehicle. The truck camper would provide you with shelter, and they can be maneuvered around obstacles much easier than a motor home or travel trailer being towed. Of course, as with a motor home or travel trailer, they would be obvious targets for looters and others.

Campers or motor homes would be ideal for off grid living and in some situations could be used during a crisis if they were set up before the disaster struck. A camper would be the same as having a shelter built at your bug-out-location. Of course, you need a location that is remote and one you had access to at all times, in other words, you would have to own it to ensure you would not be uprooted in the middle of a crisis. Even if you did own a piece of property there are no guarantees you would be able to hang on to it during certain situations.

One of the advantages of having a camper is storage, in particular storage of safe drinking water. This is provided you filled the tank(s) from a clean source. You would need water hoses rated for drinking water and you would have to know the source is safe. Filling the tanks with contaminated water means the water would have to be drained and then the tank(s) sanitized properly and this would take large amounts of clean water.

Mobility would be a problem with any type of camper, so taking to the open roads for any substantial distance would be problematic. You would need more fuel for the towing vehicle, than you would otherwise need when it was not towing a trailer and fuel for the motor home. This could become a problem one that could not be solved easily if at all during some situations.

You may be forced to abandon your camper at some point and if so you would need a vehicle so having a travel trailer would have its advantages over a motor home, because you can unhook the towing vehicle. A pickup camper would make the most sense but you would have to consider its downfalls as well.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: campers; shtf; shtg
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To: RFEngineer

The Soviets already tried EMP. It failed to do much of anything. Tempest in a teapot.


121 posted on 02/12/2015 8:09:36 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you are not part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: archy

Wow. Haven’t seen you in a good while. Hope yer good archy!


122 posted on 02/12/2015 8:20:01 AM PST by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: AppyPappy

Get an old hearse. People tend to leave those things alone.

______________________________________

Are you kidding. People are DYING to get in one.

(Ba doom shish!)


123 posted on 02/12/2015 8:27:13 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (See Ya On The Road; Al Baby's Mom!)
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To: Hardens Hollow

That would be a weekend in Jonesboro where a lot of what modern life there is shuts down and people wander around listening to supposedly famous storytellers tell stories. Some were actually quite good. Meeting the horse that ate cheeseburgers was interesting.


124 posted on 02/12/2015 9:18:25 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: wally_bert

Did you see him eat a cheeseburger?

Is that the Jonesborough south of Johnson City? If so, I’m fairly close. When is it? Sounds interesting. We moved to escape Mexifornia and get to a simpler life. That kind of entertainment would fit right in.


125 posted on 02/12/2015 11:23:04 AM PST by Hardens Hollow (Formerly yorkiemom. I couldn't find Galt's Gulch, so created our own Harden's Hollow. Join us!)
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To: Hardens Hollow

Me and my wife watched two burgers get hand fed to a big draft horse.

My horse nut (in a good way) aunt was shocked when I told her.

That sounds like the place. We stayed in the hotel’s there on the sojourns to the area. Really pretty area. I could handle living around there.


126 posted on 02/12/2015 11:27:49 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: wally_bert

“Really pretty area. I could handle living around there.”

It’s an economically depressed area, which we like for two reasons - house prices are reasonable and it keeps out the liberals and illegals.

We retired early to both quit feeding the fascist beast and to live where we want we are young enough to enjoy it. Plus, when it all implodes we can be fairly self-sufficient here. Most of our neighbors already live that lifestyle because that’s how they were brought up.

So, join us when you can!


127 posted on 02/12/2015 4:20:48 PM PST by Hardens Hollow (Formerly yorkiemom. I couldn't find Galt's Gulch, so created our own Harden's Hollow. Join us!)
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To: AppyPappy

The Soviets already tried EMP. It failed to do much of anything. Tempest in a teapot.

Not true. Read about test 184, which wasn’t even an intentional EMP. What we don’t know today is how big the tempest would be given the present state of technology if an EMP event were to occur.


128 posted on 02/12/2015 4:26:22 PM PST by RFEngineer
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To: Kartographer

I have to go with the ‘get an old Jeep’ people, on this one.

I have a question:

I recently saw a video about storing things like rice or beans in used, food-safe soda bottles; the presenter suggested that the cleaned bottles, with an oxygen absorber, would keep rice very well; and you wouldn’t have to use the mylar bags.

But I’ve never understood how to use oxygen absorbers - how do you know what size to get for, say, a 2 litre soda bottle full of rice?

(I’m asking because we can purchase huge bags of jasmine or basmati rice for cheap; but when we do, before we use it all up, we have bugs in it.)

Another question: Are the bugs in there to start, and then they just ‘bloom’; or do they somehow GET in? We never see any bugs in our house; but sometimes when we have some long-held grain-based stuff in the house, eventually it gets bugs.

I think they’re in there to start with, in some stage-of-life; and they just GROW ;-)

Thanks for any help,

JT


129 posted on 02/13/2015 8:21:41 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630

if you fill them tap them down and fill them some more and tap them down again there shouldn’t be enough to matter, but 100CC oxygen absorber should be good enough to do the job. I put my stuff in the freezer for 48 hours before I pack it for storage to kill off anything that might be in it.

Oxygen absorbers come at a min 100 to a package so be ready to to do a lot of packing quickly as they are activated as soon as you open the package and expose them to the air. if you have a vacuum food storage machine you can reseal the them or if you have the canning jar attachment you can also seal them up in a glass canning jar for later.


130 posted on 02/13/2015 10:23:11 PM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Kartographer

Thanks very much! I will give it a whirl. And, we do have a vacuum packer.

-JT


131 posted on 02/14/2015 2:49:50 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: central_va
Ha! I wondered if the general's EM50 project would come up.

Of course, the Kenworth Dominator is an options as well.


132 posted on 02/16/2015 10:56:09 AM PST by Professional Engineer (You all can go to hell, I'm going to Texas.)
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To: MileHi
Wow. Haven’t seen you in a good while. Hope yer good archy!

Did a year-long trip to Israel with my fiancée, who'd never been there before. In honour of our arrival, some of the neighbors put on a fairly spectacular fireworks display.

133 posted on 02/20/2015 1:07:36 PM PST by archy
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To: archy
Good for you archy! Glad you're well. And congratulations.
134 posted on 02/20/2015 1:12:08 PM PST by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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