People go a little nuts when it comes to bug out vehicles. What do think you are going to do with that giant jacked up truck with all the gear that gets 8 mph? Expecting to go play road warrior? Think of a bug out vehicle as a single use item and budget accordingly. What are you going to do when the gas or diesel runs out?
I used to convert diesels to run on waste veggie oil. Over the years I had two Mercedes diesels, a Ford F250 with the old 7.3 and a converted ambulance with the new 7.3 power stroke engine. Those were good bug out vehicles. Back in the day it was possible to go behind a lot of different restaurants and pump grease right out of the bins. Then someone figured out that “waste” had value and a bunch of laws were passed. I had a good relationship with a local restaurant and still had a good supply.
Those days are over. The newer diesels don’t run very well on waste veggie oil -if at all. You can no longer get free fuel for the cost of pumping it out yourself. Things change. Even my local supply is no longer there as the restaurant closed. I miss those days as I saved thousands of dollars on fuel costs and the flexibility to use alternative fuels.
I think your bug out vehicle has one job. Get you to your bug out location. You should be able to do it with the fuel on-board. If you are smart about bugging out you’ll leave before the majority of people realize there’s a problem. If you do that your bug out vehicle could easily be something like a Prius. I used to go deer hunting in the backwoods using a front wheel drive Mazda hatchback economy car. The little car easily got around obstacles that big trucks could not avoid. If it did get stuck it was light enough to be pushed out.
During these interesting times what you should be doing is living at your bug out location already. That way you don’t have to worry about how you’ll get there in a crisis. If you find yourself stuck in the big city because of your job -maybe you should rethink your life. I’ve new folks down the road who’s jobs are located in New York City but they work remotely from out here in the woods. They bugged out during the early days of covid. I find them to be good people and smart too.
-Sixbears
might i suggest....
ReplyDeletea 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive pickup with a 6 cylinder engine....
a topper on the bed to hide....
a large propane tank, yes the engine will be converted to run dual fuel...and...
a large pickup bed fuel tank...50 to 100 gallons, more if you can...
for use on long trips/bugging out only..
use the fuel for the first 700-1000 (YMMV)miles
then the propane(it never goes bad so no fuel stabilized needed). this setup should allow you to bugout half way across the country.
use it for those long distance vacations/trips to keep the gas tanks rotated and fresh.
That could work. It would be an interesting trip through a country in chaos.
DeleteAn inexpensive windowless 'plumbers model' van, painted to blend in would make a good 'steel tent' to crash in semi-permanently when gas supply is gone for good. A few metal cattle panels to form an overhead lattice for cover would be easy to carry on top of van.
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