Microcar instead of a Toad?

[lostagain]

99 % of bus and sticks and staples motor homes use a regular car for a dinghy. Or if using a 5th wheel or bumper pull trailer, the tow vehicle is used to get around.

The reason is that you need it to get around safely at 70 mph to go shopping and sightseeing. It is not always that you are camped in a quiet little camp ground 10 minutes away from the small town on a rural road.

You might be camped on the outskirts of Houston TX and need to drive on the freeway to go see the Johnson Space Center, or near Coronado CA and take the towed to Balboa Park in San Diego. Or camped in Yuma AZ and drive on I10 back to El Centro CA to visit friends. Those are only a few examples of real life touring in the bus. At times we don't tow the Jeep, knowing we won't need it on a particular trip.

But I just don't see a micro car small enough to fit inside a bus as a practical solution to get around. No matter how cute some of them are...

JC

[DoubleEagle]

(But who in their right mind slices and dices a BUS?!!)   
Jim                                                     

An Eagle owner who wants more room. The truss frame makes it possible. Check the books on the subject by Dave Galey.

[buswarrior]

Busnuts worrying about the stability/safety of a chopped car is pretty funny... while riding around in either a home brewed or unknown construction techniques coach conversion?

The softening of America...

Celebrate the ingenuity?
Relish the challenge?
Overcome the obstacle?
Support the individualism?

No?

Instead,

Where's my baby soother?

AMERICA!!!
(religious damnation deleted)
MAN-UP!!!

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Jim Blackwood]

Right On Brother!

I was just thinking, what could be more potentially unstable that a 32 ft S&S with a short wheelbase? You've all seen 'em. Turn corners really great but makes you wonder why the tail doesn't wag the dog.

Jim

[windtrader]

Huh??
Seems pretty clear the difference between a 1200 pound sardine can and a 15 ton hulk of rolling steel. We all know our buses fair quite well when impacting something. I'll put my bank account on a crash derby between a bus and a chopped mini anyway. Where would you like the celebration party, it's on me. lol

[buswarrior]

Busnut construction methods are notoriously UN-crashworthy. That's the joke.

Those cabinets and appliances aren't staying back there...

Laugh at the contradiction/hypocrisy?

Lamenting the passing of "do yer own thing, you don't have to do what the other guy is doing, leave him be to have his fun and/or misadventure"?

This is not how the busnut hobby, nor your country, started out...

Good comedy always has the truth running thru it?

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[lvmci]

My fiat is a great tow and comfortable to drive, except on bad roads of course, lvmci...

[Jim Blackwood]

Hey, I drive an MG. The key to safety is to AVOID the accident.
"Safety Fast"

Jim

[silversport]

For me the short answer is no way, way to many minus already posted and I like that if needed I can pack the tow with more cr..../stuff.

[Jeremy]

No-one has yet suggested the obvious answer, and I've genuinely wondered about doing this myself with a lightweight (but long-wheelbase) sandrail-type vehicle. You could theoretically make the loading into a one-man operation by having a tail-lift on the back of the bus such as are used on race-car trucks and trailers. Still lots of engineering involved though, and bridges to consider.

Jeremy

[Jim Blackwood]

I don't know about that. But here's an idea, maybe a couple of short ramps on the back of the bus and a winch on the roof. Just hoist the dinghey up lengthwise on the back of the bus.

Jim

[Jeremy]

Not sure about short ramps - they'd have to be very very long ramps I think. Also I find calling a car a 'dinghy' hugely confusing because my bus will actually be towing sailing dinghies or small keelboats most of the time - that's why it can't tow a car in the first place!

I have also wondered about carrying my sandrail (or the next sandrail I build - the current one isn't read legal) strapped vertyically to the back of the bus. I've never seen that done, but I have seen horseboxes carrying competition carriages / buggies (not sure of the correct term) like that

Jeremy

[Jim Blackwood]

Why would they have to be long? All they have to do is keep the nose for the Ding away from the body of the bus. Use a curved ramp and I bet it wouldn't have to stick out more than 3 ft. Might even get by with a permanent mount.

Another thought, with a couple pillow blocks and a shaft you could drop two cables, get an even lift and a safety line. Cinch down the bottom corners and go. My biggest concern would be the engine oil, but I bet if you let it sit level for 5 minutes any modern car would be fine. Still would probably be limited to around 10-11 ft of length.

OK, so we all know a Toad is towed, right? Whereas a Ding is carried. Simple distinction there, think of a Yacht.

Jim

[Jeremy]

Ok, we were talking at cross purposes - you were talking about ramps and a winch after my post about how you could get a car up on the roof of a bus

BTW - a dinghy (ding?) is a boat without a keel - nothing to do with it being carried on a yacht. The type of dinghy I race definitely aren't carried about on yachts

Jeremy

Edit: Thinking about it, the maritime equivalent of a toad would be a tender - that's a far better analogy than 'dinghy'

[Oonrahnjay]

...  BTW - a dinghy (ding?) is a boat without a keel - nothing to do with it being carried on a yacht. The type of dinghy I race definitely aren't carried about on yachts

Jeremy
Edit: Thinking about it, the maritime equivalent of a toad would be a tender - that's a far better analogy than 'dinghy' 

       "The English and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language."   Same word, different usage.  If you have a 100 foot yacht and there's a small boat for your cook, housekeeper, and butler to go ashore and obtain food and supplies, in the US it's a "dinghy".  At least, that's what my cook, housekeeper, and butler call it.