On a long trip with a friend of mine, I came up with a sort of cool idea. It involves taking an old piece of crap and making it crappier, but cool.
The plan is to get a Diesel Volkswagen Van, and convert it to run on Vegetable oil. My friend, Matt, said he would be able to do it himself and it'd cost about $150 in materials and whatnot. After that, I plan to attach two large pontoons (large enough to support the van when loaded.. so, pretty large) in some way that they could be raised above the roof for traveling on roads, and lowed near the wheels for traveling on water. Also, in some way, attach paddles to the rear axles and rudders to the front wheels, or create a different steering system altogether. After this is done, and it's got a neat paintjob, we have a semi-cool vehicle that can travel on both water and land for dirt cheap (insurance, as long as we don't stray too far from McDonalds).
So, other than "That's really stupid", can anyone think of any flaws with this plan? Would it still be street legal after attaching the pontoons to the top? Is there a smarter way to get the van to be propelled or steered across water? Want us to pick you up when we drive through your state?
Well, you'd sink. You'd have all kinds of ballast issues, and I'm pretty sure you'd need to pay a lot of money for boating licenses and insurance.
Quote from: rabbit on July 30, 2007, 08:45:27 AM
Well, you'd sink. You'd have all kinds of ballast issues
That's what I was thinking. It would fall over in the water pretty much instantly, unless you managed to get a very low centre of gravity, somehow. But I'm pretty sure that's not possible.
Not only that, but the VW is very front heavy.
Don't listen to them Joe. YOU CAN DO IT! Post pics of the car sinking too if you can
It took 5-10 expert mechanics on Monster Garage and probably somewhere near $50,000 to convert a VW Bug into what you're thinking. They also had to attach a giant fan on the back for speed. It also started intaking water half way through, so they had to pull it out. Good luck.
Sounds like a perfect Joe-death.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=sgR&q=Top+Gear+Season+8+Episode+3&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv
I sort of didn't think about top-heavyness. Front-heavy wouldn't be that big of a deal as long the support is closer to the front, though. I'm not really worried about speed, since I'm definitely doing this to draw attention to myself.
If you want attention, then why bother with floatation devices at all? Just spraypaint it in bright colours and drive it into the ocean.
GREAT IDEA, iAGO!
Anyway, frontheavyness is a big deal. Putting pontoons nearer the front will push the back down, making it backheavy. You have to find a balance point. Also, you have to make sure you don't get owned by the Bering Sea, which is one of the worst seas in the world. And if you go by the Pacific Ocean, you've got a LONG trip ahead of you (not to mention it's no cakewalk either).
Finding a balance point shouldn't be too hard, since it's not exactly advanced math / science. Just need to put the center of buoyancy at the center of mass. You're right though, about waves making straight travel very difficult, as well as top-heaviness, however if we get enough people to come with us that should add more weight to the bottom.
Then you won't be able to move [around inside] without disturbing the balance.
Give it up, there's no way that kind of thing would work!
Quote from: Joex86/64] link=topic=9891.msg126112#msg126112 date=1186022776]
Finding a balance point shouldn't be too hard, since it's not exactly advanced math / science. Just need to put the center of buoyancy at the center of mass. You're right though, about waves making straight travel very difficult, as well as top-heaviness, however if we get enough people to come with us that should add more weight to the bottom.
Did you not read what I said?!? If 5-10 expert mechanics with a $50,000 budget couldn't do it, you can't either.
I don't think he reads a lot of what people say -_-.
I think he reads it, I just don't think he cares....