Human Powered Vehicle - Trekking Cart Build

saw those on a military history site......they are very valued by collectors.

thats pretty much the design im building, except a longer boom bar and extended handles facing forward. (and 26 - 29" wheels)

 

Yea they are cool. I have owned 3, sold them all but they make life much much easier let me tell you. That’s why I think your build is fantastic.

 

MOCK gear layout on the kitchen/shop/engine rebuild table, to get an idea of width and length of cart platform required.

Not much room for the critters..............my plan was a 3' wide x 3' long x 3' high cage for them......... hmmm......i'd have to make the cart almost 6' long......

anyways.....can always hire a caretaker for them.

only have 1 x 20 liter Nato jug right now (blue on the right) . Got lots of 10 L nato cans for water though (tan on left) .... could also easily go with 4 x 10 L nato cans...2 on each side. COG would be slightly lower



massive Burmese/Maine cross Miss Copper Cat for scale. 25lbs of floof




no the vice will not be mounted to cart hahaha Lanterns would be on curved arms extending rearward from the cart.


the two Front Runner Wolf Pack cases. Love these cases...the inside walls are completely flat unlike Rubbermaid action packers. You can pack a LOT of kit into these. And they nest on top of each other.


could also build a single aluminum rectangular box with locking lid, and put dividers into it.....but that would increase the materials costs big time.

 

Very cool build! “Watching” this thread for sure.

 

ah ok i see what you mean.....i'm old school mountain biker, tubeless meant GLUING the old style racing tires to the rim (not fun 200 km into a race when the cyclo-cross bike was covered in mud. )

I'll look more into the new tubeless fat bike tires.

 

some more cart drawing, showing the rear of the cart with two Dietz lanterns. 2 x #80 kerosene lanterns run 36 hours each on a fill, and actually LIGHTER when full than a comparable set of LED red taillights, 12V battery and solar panel charger.

 

Agreed. 29+ would be pretty ideal for something like this, with great rollover and good floatation, without the overkill of full fat tires. There are also some 29x2.8" and 29x2.6" options that might be worth exploring, too.

Tubeless is the only way to go anymore, imo. Check out the recent trip report I posted - 6 riders, over 360 miles of 90% dirt, incl. lots of rough, sharp rocky terrain, cacti, etc, and not one of us got a flat in 8-1/2 days of riding. All of us were running tubeless.

Looking forward to seeing how this evolves!

 

this is why i don;t want any tire width UNDER 5"....these guys were running 3" wide tires....and you can see how much the tires sink in. I got no problems going to 29" diameter ,( aside from a complete lack of availability of tires anywhere but major cities in BC....) , but i'mnot going to diverge from fat tires. Remember......walking speeds here......not mountain biking speeds......the wider the tire the less PSI exerted onto the ground = less digging in = easier rolling


11:04-11:09 is where you can see the tires digging in. They had to lash cargo straps to the wheels to get flotation. That is the kind of terrain in Lytton and area

 

these guys are across the railroad tracks from me. They have built some pretty insane stuff for the movie industry here.

http://falsecreekfabrication.com/

more and more i'm leaning away from "adding" storage boxes (Front Runner, Pelican, Scepter etc) to a cart....all the storage boxes are heavy...............to making the cart itself a multi compartment rig with built in internally baffled (prevents surging and sloshing) water tank, two compartments for gear and dry food, rear "cooler" compartment with 2" rigid insulation inside. Lidded, lockable (rodent/bear/2 legged theft proof) , and a small custom roof rack on top of the water tank.

the Pelican cooler is heavy.......by simply adding 2" rigid foam into a thin wall box, i can reduce the weight big time.





water tank details

 

Also for your cooler use frozen gallon jugs of water for you ice can last a few days to a week depending on factors and you have clean water to drink after. This is how I built large coolers for reenacting when I would feed 20 guys for 4 days in the field. Look at lining your styrofoam with thin metal will prevent the styrofoam from absorbing moisture as nad and falling apart. Also on the baffles the military water buffalo trailer had those if you need design ideas.

 

cardboard mock up of the main compartment. Sure had to enjoy a few 8 packs of RED TRUCK CLASSIC LAGER to get the materials for the rough mockup



decided to recess the internal water tank and filler cap.....that space between the tank and the lid will allow for the micro 12V pump, water filter, and collapsible water bag (to transport water from creeks to the tank)


LEFT TO RIGHT (rear of cart to front) cooler section, internal water tank, canned /dry food/ camp kitchen & finally shelter /clothing / misc section

not to scale thinking rough cart box dimensions of 32" wide x 48" long x 14" high

 

That will be a good size, I like the compartment idea, if you have a lid it can be cocked to help with bears and raccoons etc.... coming together nicely I think. Are you doing 1 solid axle? One thing I liked about the WWII carts was each tire had its own little axle and you had a lot of clearance because of that.

 

there will be lids...see the drawing a couple posts up.

individual axles.

 

I missed the lids, my bad

 

Stans No Tubes wheels ....wow......I could buy a very good used truck for the price of two front wheels.

you guys down in the USA need to remember everything is triple the cost up here , exchange rate, duties, taxes, import fees, shipping costs.

 

Someone just needs to hand delivery some stuff to you

 

hahahaha.......i needed that laugh...thanks

mountain bikes and components are horrendously expensive up here. Hence why i was looking south.....

I was at several bike shops today getting quotes for basic tubeless fat bike rims, tires, front hubs, labor costs etc. Even with generic brand components, average quote was $700- $1000+ CDN .


I'm going to keep my eyes open in the next 8 months or so for deals on ebay/craigslist/kijiji etc


on a different note.......

decided that the entire Bio-Lite grill/power package would be the way to go for cooking, grilling, boiling and power needs. Seems to pack up quite compact to. I figure nothing would beat a couple grilled steaks or burgers or smokies after a days tramping.......

The grill section would actually nest perfectly on top of the water tank, in the recess under the lid. Teh rest fits into the boiling pot it comes with and takes up less than 8" x " x 12" space. That would tuck nicely into the gear compartment and still leave me tons of room for the tarp, mat, sleeping bag, and clothing etc.