moving about post SHTF.

a reply to: nonspecific yes I like the old LDV's but unfortunately they are diesel and I'm a recovering asthmatic and the smell dosent agree with me. I run a 7 year old petrol Citroen Berlingo, if I was going for another vehicle I'd go for a Suzuki carryvan, Piaggio Porter van or one of those new Chinese vans DFSK, I would want something small enough to go down the narrow, deep North Devon lanes without having to stop if I met another vehicle, one of those would do it, an LDV is probably too big for my purposes.

I converted a long wheel base six wheel Convoy and lived in it for over a year with the missus. You would be amazed at how much stuff you could get in one, I suppose its the choice between travelling light or traveling with supplies.

I was giong to Ateam the hell out of it camo paint big bull bars ect.

a reply to: bigpaul

a reply to: nonspecific yes a lot of the alternative community when I lived in Glastonbury were living in caravans, campers, LDV's and horseboxes and converted them to "living in", not so bad around Somerset but in North Devon they'd probably get stuck in the lanes on the first bend they came to.

I know what you mean, some of the roads round there you would struggle to walk round.

one road i remeber was like a single lane hairpin with a waterfall on it. I suppose you could get a mk1 shogun and then you could avoid roads altogether. The great thing about a bug out vehicle is that you don't need an mot or insurance, just keep it out of the way sorn and keep up the maintenance.

a reply to: bigpaul

a reply to: nonspecific being over 30 miles from the end of the motorway I tend to use backcountry unclassified roads most of the time, some of those roads haven't been repaired for 5 years or more and probably wont be for another 5, the Berlingo takes it all in its stride, we wanted a "van with windows" and that's exactly what we got.

originally posted by: bigpaul
a reply to: StoutBrouxtrouble is even if you had an older vehicle all the roads will be littered with the abandoned vehicles that no longer work so travel at best will be on foot or on a bicycle.

You can't walk out of that town like Las Vegas, in the summer the heat would kill you.
If you have family to bring along just hope for the best.

That happened to me in 1978, a friend and I had taken a Vegas motel room with AC to get a good nights sleep.
In the morning when we tried to start the car nothing. Overnight someone had knackered the distributor with a drill.

Luckily I noticed they were nice enough to leave me one screw with thread to hold the points in place.
That meant I could loosen the hod down bolt and turn the distributor from Tow Truck to Lamb.

Once we made it to Lamb I didn't know what to ask for, I couldn't remember if there was a Windsor, Cleveland or UFO under the hood. They just pointed at the rows of sand blasted relics out back, I don't think they even charged me for the breaker plate assembly.

Only 9 minutes from there back to cold AC, rehydration and a drill. Still made it to four corners NM to sleep.

a good prep would be to have a few spare parts for your vehicle I know a few preppers who do this. I am usually not very far from home and could walk home in an emergency, as for bugging out I expect the road to be blocked so we will be using bicycles.

a reply to: bigpaul

Paul... I doubt you'll see many cops or Military in a real SHTF deal...

remember it's rather normal to have, smaller events, bad weather, natural disasters...
Here in the US we might have one coming next week... the weather forecasters are predicting another polar vortex to hit the Central States on Monday..

anyway, whenever these things happen, here at least, floods, snowed in, hurricanes... you never see a cop or the military when you need them... why do you think all that looting and rioting is so common when things fall apart...

You'll probably see lots thugs and other families trying to get away... little in the way of law enforcement as their to busy taking care of their own families...
Might help to practice what we military types call Overwatch Tactics

Dam electricals in cars, my mum has one of those flash spaceship no key button starting cars and it costs $1200 just to get a friggin service, she lent it to me and now I can't work out how to start the dam thing, glad the shtf hasn't happened today.a reply to: nonspecific

I lost the keys to my old LDV and after half an hour with a screwdriver and hammer got myself a new key in the form of the handle of a teaspoon. It did the trick and it was such a heap that no one would ever think of stealing it anyway.

a reply to: Cloudbuster

a reply to: HardCorps I live on the edge of a very small very rural market town, we NEVER see a cop now never mind after SHTF, they will be withdrawn and sent to the big cities to keep "order". when we had the flooding in Somerset(next county) it was weeks before the residents saw anybody, the only reason the politicos turned up was it was a "photo opportunity" and they just ended up getting in the way, the troops turned up eventually but it was weeks too late to stop the flooding. in a serious SHTF we all know down here we would be left to get on with it on our own as best we can.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Trail bikes or second best, quad bikes.

Non-electronic ignition (EMP proof), great MPG and small enough to weave in and out of abandoned vehicles littering the roads and or go X-country, gear and supplies can be towed on a small trailer, or strapped to the bike.

if you've got somewhere to go post SHTF then go as soon after the event as possible, but if your hunkering down in place don't expect the roads and road systems to be in much of a state of repair after the first bad storms of the first winter, mother nature will start to reclaim territory as soon as there are no repair gangs to fix any damage, flooded areas, trees down, and general tidying up duties.

Our diesel truck will be a bit easier to scrounge fuel for. Heck, could even use cooking oil if it really came to it (especially as I already have a multiple tank setup).

But, unless we have to haul a lot of cargo, most travel we do would probably be via horseback. It's quiet, we have the horses and gear already, and can easily move through most terrain. Worked for man for many centuries, so no reason not to go back to it post SHTF.

Would have to really be a good return on the investment to burn fuel though. Like bringing back a lot of supplies from a loot location or something. (or taking our garbage a distance away, to burn it at night). I wonder how many preppers never even consider how they will handle something as simple as garbage.

I just wonder how much "garbage" we will have post SHTF, a few tins/cans and a few bottles(could the bottles be reused?) in the old days people used to bury this in the corner of the garden-this was in the days before refuse collections.paper and card can be burnt.

I'd be using the tin cans for tripwire alarms to start the dogs barking.

True though, I guess we would generate a lot less garbage post SHTF. Never even considered that.

a lot of garbage these days is packaging, all that plastic stuff. post SHTF no power, no food in the shops, we wont be buying anything in packaging, we'll either be growing, rearing or hunting it.

There is a thread somewhere on this board regarding the use of railroads for travel post-shtf. (ATS thread here)

Like those axels on a railroad trucks that deploy so the truck can drive directly on the tracks themselves. Apparently there are preppers who have built bicycles and even go-carts that fit on 1 or both tracks. In a disaster when freight trains aren't running, you could theoretically get a long way without interracting with others.

The only tracks near me cross a number of side roads before they go anywhere I want to.

True, but I have to think many others will be using them for navigation as well. Of course, all depends on the disaster scenario....but in any case, roads and highways are likely to be more risk, so many will likely seek the relative safety of navigating by rail.

We're only about 4 miles from a nearby line (which I consider pretty close), so it will definitely be something to monitor post SHTF.

The rail bikes are damn clever though, and hey, they've worked for decades/centuries depending.....

a lot of the branch lines in the UK were closed down in the 1960s(DR. Beeching) and are now cycle paths and horse riding and walking paths, the main lines are way down south of my area (50 miles or more south).