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Old 04-09-2014, 03:42 PM   #1
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The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Alright... so here it is: The most insane truck ever built. The subject doesn't really do this article justice. How come my dad didn't build this for me??!

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/worlds-biggest-rv/

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Old 04-09-2014, 04:41 PM   #2
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Dang!!!! The amount of tech in there is mind boggling. I think a unimog in and of itself is amazing! That would be even better than a vanagon
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Old 04-09-2014, 05:20 PM   #3
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeC
Dang!!!! The amount of tech in there is mind boggling. I think a unimog in and of itself is amazing! That would be even better than a vanagon
It's pretty awesome... but I would choose the Vanagon for undisclosed reasons.
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Old 04-10-2014, 08:35 AM   #4
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Sorry, not impressed. A lot of Skoolies are more practical for traveling and living, and almost as electronically capable. Even though I see a little bit of my own mad scientist in this guy, we are not twins separated at birth.

First, the trailer/living unit.
- You can't use the living or working space while driving, the trailer has to be deployed.
- It takes set-up time - if you notice, it is a high-low design. You have to slide the top section up ("Roof Raise!") before you can swing out the kitchen and bathroom modules at the rear. With a Skoolie or RV, you just walk back into the living area, even while someone else is driving.
- Some of our skoolie kitchens are better prepared to cook gourmet meals than his swing-out kitchenette.
- I'm guessing that the trailer upper section walls aren't that thick to allow the slide up, hence poor insulation.
- All his special materials for extreme heat and cold will likely not be repairable at the local truck shop after any untoward event.
- I think his best-case estimate of 2000 highway miles on 170 gallons of diesel isn't going to hold up when he opens the throttle on that heavy wind-catcher.

Next, the comms and electronics, which appear to be the "Gee-Whiz" factor.
- He threw every technology from short wave to satellite into the unit. It looks like he just checked every box on a shopping list, instead of having a real plan.
- He is connecting all the terrestrial comms to what appear to be military-inspired "one size fits none" broadband antenna designs, which work equally poorly at all frequencies. These are necessary for the military, who must be able to operate anywhere, any time without tech support on the line. Hams, business and Public Safety would instead use antennas optimized for the frequencies they use.
- The comms antennas are down low on the cowl, blocked by the vehicle in most directions
- The direction finder radome is too small to have doppler-effect dipoles spaced apart enough to work most efficiently at VHF. Either this is a UHF/microwave unit, or a military unit which uses uber-computer processing power to make up for more subtle doppler information. The article mentions using it to find locator beacons. I expect it is a single-purpose unit designed for a particular beacon type.
- All his comms appear on a "glass cockpit" control wall. They appear to be set up to be managed by a single operator. (California Highway Patrol several years ago was looking at a touch-screen system to manage 4 single-band radios in the trunk, I don't know if they deployed that system or not.) If the vehicle will be loaned out for research, you usually would have a couple of operators working different "nets." They would need "elbow room."

I will give him that FLIR (Forward-Looking Infra-Red) cameras are cool. So are inflatable masts, but they are not that rare. See if a local TV station is scrapping a news van. You can buy small scout drones for a couple hundred bucks. You can buy personal satellite beacons that pair with smart phones for text from anywhere for another couple hundred bucks. You can (as he did) buy a satellite phone handset if you feel you need it, and can get a car kit to use it as a console. You can get satellite internet with an automatic dish for a thousand or two. You can perform shortwave ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) with a standard PC-controllable radio and some computer software, without needing a NATO radio.

Come on, Skoolies, we can (and do) do better than that for much, much less!

Edit: Skoolie Jerry Campbell posted a video of his campsite taken from his drone at Nomadicista.
You can see the more efficient short-wave antennas on the roof of his Crown.
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Old 04-10-2014, 10:25 AM   #5
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Meh, I get what all you are saying, but I think it's obvious he has money to burn and gives no shits. Sounds like there are things he could have done differently, and I agree with some of the things you pointed out, but the rig itself is still incredible, and I bet it will serve his purposes just fine. I suspect that this project was more just something for him to play with, show off a bit, if you will. Maybe it's just his prototype, to see what he wants to change for his next one

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
It's pretty awesome... but I would choose the Vanagon for undisclosed reasons.
Well, they do have a kitchen and a bed. What more do you need?!
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Old 04-10-2014, 11:30 AM   #6
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redbear
- I think his best-case estimate of 2000 highway miles on 170 gallons of diesel isn't going to hold up when he opens the throttle on that heavy wind-catcher.
I was thinking the same thing. He's expecting ~11-12mpg in that thing. Seems optimistic considering the wheel and wind resistance. Perhaps it's light enough, though.
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Old 06-13-2014, 04:36 AM   #7
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

He's got bucks to burn, I find his equipment a bit over the top.
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Old 06-13-2014, 09:54 AM   #8
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

If I had shits to give I still wouldn't build anything that complex. I can barely figure out my smart phone some days lol
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Old 06-13-2014, 10:17 AM   #9
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by pictureLOVE
If I had shits to give I still wouldn't build anything that complex. I can barely figure out my smart phone some days lol
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Old 06-13-2014, 04:10 PM   #10
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by pictureLOVE
If I had shits to give I still wouldn't build anything that complex. I can barely figure out my smart phone some days lol
If I had the money to buy something that awesome, I would also employ someone to run it for me. Hahaha. A chauffeur, of sorts. I don't think I'd be parallel-parking that thing myself. I guess you could just "monster-truck" over the other cars, though. Hahaha. On second thought, I do believe I will TRY parallel-parking...
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Old 06-13-2014, 04:59 PM   #11
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
If I had the money to buy something that awesome, I would also employ someone to run it for me.
If I had that kind of money to burn (and some shits to give) I'd buy an island and start a skoolie resort... LOL
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Old 06-13-2014, 06:04 PM   #12
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Wait. Thats a better idea. I'm down. Let's make this happen.
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Old 06-13-2014, 07:50 PM   #13
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
Wait. Thats a better idea. I'm down. Let's make this happen.
Let's google this guy's gmail and ask him to put up the funds. lol
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Old 06-14-2014, 01:03 AM   #14
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by pictureLOVE
If I had that kind of money to burn (and some shits to give) I'd buy an island and start a skoolie resort... LOL
I thought DasMel was the only one planning on driving her Skoolie to an island . . .
The biggest problem I see is that he is spending all his time on the opposite coast building this "gift" for his daughter, losing time that he can never recover, rather than spending time with her . . . .
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Old 06-15-2014, 10:41 AM   #15
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by pictureLOVE
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
Wait. Thats a better idea. I'm down. Let's make this happen.
Let's google this guy's gmail and ask him to put up the funds. lol
I feel like it could work. Hey... you don't know until you ask, right?

I always wanted to live on a houseboat somewhere awesome. Maybe I could make my skoolie amphibious...? It's like a houseboat, but more awesome because if I don't like living on the water, I can move to land. I have to figure this out. Practical? MAYBE. Haha.
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Old 06-15-2014, 11:29 AM   #16
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
I always wanted to live on a houseboat somewhere awesome. Maybe I could make my skoolie amphibious...? It's like a houseboat, but more awesome because if I don't like living on the water, I can move to land. I have to figure this out. Practical? MAYBE. Haha.
There's always this-


Besides, if you've got a pusher, the intake should be high enough. Just need to mod the exhaust so you're not sucking in water.

We got lucky when we shut down after we blew the front pumpkin while awaiting recovery. The angle prevented the muddy water from getting sucked into the block.
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Old 06-16-2014, 08:49 AM   #17
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Wowsers. Yep. That's exactly what I would be going for. Why stop with an amphicar? Why not an Amphibusbadassmobile?!
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Old 06-16-2014, 11:45 AM   #18
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sara
Wowsers. Yep. That's exactly what I would be going for. Why stop with an amphicar? Why not an Amphibusbadassmobile?!
Some one find me a DUKW (pronounced "duck") hull to put my bus on.
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Old 06-16-2014, 02:05 PM   #19
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Re: The Most Insane Truck Ever Built

I shall move this thread to the "Classifieds / Wish List" section. Haha.
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