Commander Gatti's "Jungle Yacht"

[Mex-Busnut]

Dear Friends,

In spite of all the extensive research I have done on various modes of RV'ing, I had never heard of this one. Check it out.

http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/images/jungleyachtadv.jpg

http://1940s.org/history/commander-gattis-jungle-yacht-and-african-expedition/

I cannot figure out how he turns the trailer, as it appears to be totally integrated with the International Harvester Corporation truck cab. Nor can I understand why he needed a "streamlined" rig for going slowly through the jungle.

But anyway, when he got there, he had five air-conditioned bedrooms, a full ham radio station and a photographic darkroom at his disposal.

[Oonrahnjay]

Very strange.  They must have had at least rudimentary roads.  Even if they couldn't go fast, they must have had at least clearings and prepared pathways to get these things through.  Fuel must have been a saga, too.

[eagle19952]

http://www.allmanufacturedhomes.com/

http://www.rvhotlinecanada.com/history/history_0110.asp

[artvonne]

  Maybe streamlined for driving through thick brush? I dont know how it steers either, but the one pic shows what looks like a 5th wheel trailer being offloaded a ship?? Maybe the artist got confused.

  Any idea what year this one from??

[Jeremy]

The photo of the fifth-wheel trailer shows it to have a convex semi-circular front (and presumably the truck had a matching concave rear), so it could be very close-coupled and still pivot. The illustration of the unit then takes this further and reduces the gap between the truck and trailer down to a mere line drawn up from the rear wheelarch of the truck.

It's obvious that 'artistic license' was flowing freely that day by comparing the illustration of Mrs Gatti with her photograph.

I'm guessing that the expeditions weren't quite of the Darian Gap variety in terms of difficult driving, but it certainly must have been an ordeal with those heavy and cumbersome trailers


Jeremy

[TomsToy]

Look at the second picture on the left side of the first link of the trailer being loaded onto a ship.  It looks like a fifth wheel that was faired into the truck.

[somewhereinusa]

These are cool, I found an article written by Mr Gatti in Popular Mechanics that has a couple of pictures that show the truck/trailer combo more clearly. Very interesting reading
http://books.google.com/books?id=VNkDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA34&ots=EhLXlbraD5&dq=gatti%20jungle%20expedition&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=gatti%20jungle%20expedition&f=false

I like the window shades, the article also states that each truck (2 or all 5) carried a 1500 watt ac generator.

From another article I found "The 5 vehicles combined traversed 66,000 miles, almost none of it on pavement, and only experienced minor breakdowns, totaling $38.00. "

I don't see the artistic license with Mrs Gatti, it looks like two photographs taken at different ages to me. Who know, maybe just the beginning and end of one trip

[Jeremy]

Here's a photo from that article:-

The underside of those trailers must have had good protection against damage caused by high-centering in this kind of situation.




Jeremy

PS. BCM - Here's an article for you! Clearly a subject of interest for bus converters. But don't rely on someone volunteering to write the article for nothing - pay someone to do the job - writing and research - professionally.

[Charles in SC]

I bet that the streamlining helped keep tree limbs from hanging up on the front of the trailer, but it looks like the chairs on the observation deck would be a problem. I thought I had a lock on fender skirts.

[bowmaga]

streamlined for brush on sides, and i bet those side panels behind tha cab are hinged and swing out when the trailer swings out.   Soon you'll see f-250's with this option when they are pulling the 36' fleetwood 5th wheels....haha...hahahahahaaa......but maybe.

[belfert]

Streamlined for brush yet it has window awning that will catch on all the brush anyhow.

[Jeremy]

I think they're streamlined because it was the 1930s and that's how they made stuff look modern and exciting then. It they were being built now those trailers would be ugly square boxes with unnecessary power bulges, big wheels and fancy tail lights.

Having said that - back in those days genuine hands-on metalworking skills were alive-and-well and widely practiced - not just the panel-beating itself but also the knowledge of how to shape metal to give natural strength and stiffness to a panel - I bet the roof of that trailer for instance is almost entirely unsupported - compared for example to the flat roof on any new bus being built today, which will have probably 200 feet of steel tubing underneath it. I saw a piece on TV once about the design of the Citroen 2CV - everyone laughs at them now, but every aspect of the design was thought about incredibly carefully, and they achieved remarkable strength and utility from surprisingly little steel - and in doing so solved problems which cars today don't even address.

Jeremy