Carl Huntes Experience

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=85 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="179b9551egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Arial Black" ><B>Travelvans</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Travelvans"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0aa97d90.jpg" border=0 width="151" height="217" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Travelvans"><U><B>Home Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="travelvans.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Notes from the Author"><U><B>Note From the Author</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Comments about the Book"><U><B>Comments about the Book</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="travelvans3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About the Book"><U><B>About the Book</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Links Page</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="travelvans6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=395 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="13b76733.png"> <div> Carl Hunter's Experience</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carl Huntes Experience"><U><B><IMG SRC="17d8e0a0.jpg" border=0 width="398" height="266" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> I am one of the contingent that did the Silk Route/China 2002 trip last</div> <div> year. Our internet leader Stephen Stewart has put your site on our club site</div> <div> so I thought I would respond.</div> <bR> <div> As Canadians living in Vancouver, my wife and I added to the China 2002 trip</div> <div> by driving around-the-world trip between March and November, 2002. We</div> <div> crossed the US in March to ship to Germany, and returned to Vancouver via</div> <div> Long Beach, California after shipping from Hong Kong. From Turkey to Hong</div> <div> Kong, we traveled with the four other vans that made up the "English</div> <div> speaking contingent". It was a great trip, the only down side was my</div> <div> decision to return to North America from Hong Kong (to achieve the r.t.w.</div> <div> objective) rather than go through Tibet, Nepal and back to the UK.</div> <bR> <div> The vehicle I made, the "Bigfoot Overland Camper" or "Bigfoot" for short,</div> <div> turned out to be the almost perfect overland vehicle for the trip. Based</div> <div> upon feedback from our group, comments since our return, and recent tests</div> <div> we've conducted on logging roads near Vancouver, the design is good value</div> <div> for money. The chassis is a Mitsubishi Fuso FG, with standard 4 cylinder</div> <div> turbo diesel, 3 ton capacity, 4WD and stock tires. The camper portion is a</div> <div> "Bigfoot" series 1500 (13 feet of cabin), foam-core fibreglass trailer,</div> <div> mounted on the chassis. The combined package worked like a charm, and was</div> <div> absolutely trouble-free for the 36,000 km trip.An extra fuel tank gives</div> <div> 1,200 kms range and a jerri-can rack between the cab and the camper provides</div> <div> an additional 500 kms reserve. What is equally important, where time is of</div> <div> the essence, it was conceived, designed, purchased and on-the-road in 90</div> <div> days.</div> <bR> <div> I realize that this not everyone's solution, but it is tough, reliable, and</div> <div> if I do say so myself, fairly good looking. I believe that the Bigfoot</div> <div> concept is a good solution for North Americans who want an overland vehicle</div> <div> and cannot access many of the European based chassis. Further, any chassis</div> <div> less the 25 years old are virtually impossible for North Americans to</div> <div> import.</div> <bR> <div> Over the next few months I plan to assemble some design basics use by others</div> <div> interested in a similar conversation. Mounting the light weight trailer unit</div> <div> on a very flexible 4X4 chassis needs some imagination, design skill and</div> <div> luck. The luck part was the audacity of starting out with not more than one</div> <div> day of paved road driving as a shake-down test!</div> <div> Best regards,</div> <div> Carl Hunter</div> <div> West Vancouver, British Columbia</div> <div> V7V 3X1 Canada</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mailto:bigfootoc@telus.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:bigfootoc@telus.net"><U><IMG SRC="17e24190.gif" border=0 width="36" height="25" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>