When the SHTF just beware of bands of roaming Satan worshipers....
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.
Bee trying to find a copy of that movie forever.
Yeah but you would need to do something about soundproofing it and then the cooking smells...
Cap’n Toby’s gonna do some huntin’!
I’d prefer a sturdy vehicle that could move quickly and over rough ground. My ideal bug out location would be far from crowds and stocked ahead of time with everything that I would need.
A camper, imho, would be a liability.
When the SHTF just beware of bands of roaming Satan worshipers....
I like that.
If it has a computer in it, to run the engine - then no good.
The next war will - without a doubt - involve the use of EMP devices.
They are cheap, effective, and if you do it right you don’t even know who hit you until it is too late to find out.
Nobody dies, right away. It’s just that the power goes out - for a year. No car made after 1975 or so will work. No radio made after 1970 or so will work.
Everyone just ends up starving to death and killing each other over what little food is left.
No big deal.
One Second After - William Fortchean. The forward, believe it or not, is by Newt Gingrich.
It will change the way you look at preparing for a SHTF scenario.
I disagree about the 6, in that it is gasoline.
The original chain-driver 4 cylinder “turbo”* diesel is an amazingly tough little engine. It’s the same Perkins diesel found in London Taxis, de-tuned even more. Basically bullet proof.
* it’s barely boosted.
Well, I have 4 mud tires and 4 snow tires.
(It’s the vehicle we leave at our mountain house. Lots of people seemed to figure out they are perfect for leaving up there. Diesel doesn’t go bad near as fast as gas.)
Damnation Alley is on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsKYJdHe4xo
About a decade or so back, I wound up at the national storytelling festival in TN a few times.
On the way into Jonesboro at a little garage sat a jeep commando that no one did anything with.
I have a 65 Willys Jeep that I swapped in electronic ignition. It runs really good when it runs which has been a while.
The 82 cj7 needs an engine and I am looking at a jasper this summer assuming the shekels are there. The engine is locked and taking a chance, a remanufactured has less risk.
I would like to frame off restore but I would be paying for that for years. I wish I had a proper building to do real work. An open carport in the burbs is what’s available.
WOW I have never seen one of those.
I’m familiar with the 4 cylinder, 85 HP Perkins used in construction equipment, and it’s pretty good on diesel.
Some do...mine is a WAAG. Fastened really well and shouldn’t fold. Bumped a deer...bumped, didn’t hit hard...and have pushed a couple of vehicles with no serious damage.
My fog lamps are Hella. I posted that wrong.
Not saying it isn’t fixed well. I think what they were talking about is the bars that kind of go up around the grille, the unfixed part, that in a crash, get folded down back into the grill and get crushed into/onto the hood.
Dad has a 225 v6 jeep and that little motor has a lot of get up and go when it runs.
buy a used ambulance..
can convert to a camper real easy, and if the lights and siren work, it just might give you the little extra edge you need to beat traffic
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