Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Buy an Older RV |
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Posted: February 19 2006 at 6:33am |
If you're really worried about how far services losses will go, buy an older RV and park it in the drive way. Add solar panels and you have a small self-contained system that will also provide extra storage. With fuel prices so high there are some screaming bargains to be had and you can use it this summer if the flu fails to show up. Most type A or C RVs have gensets, water tanks and pumps, propane heat, cooking, reefer and water heater. Most also have grey and black water tanks as well. You may have to replace the house batteries and add an inverter as well as the solar panels but a complete system isn't hard to do based on an RV. You also have big propane and fuel storage and a good bug-out system if needed. |
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That's a really good idea. Add a motorcycle.
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Two wheels BAD, four wheels good! Zuki Samurai follows me everywhere in the RV. Edited by corky52 |
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TNbebo408
Adviser Group Joined: December 10 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 295 |
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If I were looking for a RV for a BOV, I would hunt a bread van or delivery type van, or a small box truck. Build some folding cots or racks in it. Put me a SMALL wood heater in also.
It would handle the load better than a bulky RV. If I meant to stay put, I would just set a RV or camper trailer in the drive as Corky says. |
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Bebo, Skill to do the conversion would mean you had the skills to do the same to you house. I'm pointing out a nearly ready made fall-back that is very cheap if compared to having it done to your house. BOV capabilities of an RV are just a small possible bonus. |
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TNbebo408
Adviser Group Joined: December 10 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 295 |
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Yeh I agree with you on that Corky, I didn't mean to disrespect your post, I was only adding another point to it.
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Didn't see any disrespect at all, just didn't want the less mechanically skilled to be put off. I've modified the hell out of my RV and found lots of fun doing it, but even as most of them come they offer lots to someone who can't modify or build things. My 1988 28 ft type A is second cousin to a bread truck and first cousin to a UPS truck. I did add a 502, Allison 5 speed tranny and Thorley headers to make it a little less civil. |
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TNbebo408
Adviser Group Joined: December 10 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 295 |
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Damn a 502, you have a RV on steroids. Did you have to make a ratio change on the rear for the Allison?
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Bought the Allison and rear-end from a burned up 2003 RV, just bolted them both right in. I did have to have the drive shaft cut down and rebalanced. Industrial 502 bolted in in place of the dead 454 and wasn't even much more money than a crate 454. Does have enough poop to move through your hills right smartly. If you google "Barth" you'll see why I put the effort in to this rig! |
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Rocky
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 07 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 219 |
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Any ideas??
We have no separate room in case someone becomes ill. We are located in mountains of N Central WA on 60 acres. We lived in a 1400 sq ft country home, main floor and half upper loft. Ceilings come to various peaks 25 ft up. Only lowered areas is the small eating/kitchen area, small mudroom where food is stored (which has a door), and small bathroom on main floor with shower, bathtub, sink, and toilet crammed together...this room has a door. The bathroom and mudroom are the only places that have a door. I can't see how we can alter anything to make any kind of segregated sick room. Upstairs open loft has our bedroom area, office area and a sink and a toilet. Adult kids WILL PROBABLY be coming here if the SHTF, one from 6 hours away and one 3 states away. So many unknowns. If it is just the 2 of us, guess the entire place will be a well/sick area. I don't anticipate either of us going out into the public to require quarantining of that person. An old, inexp RV would be great for a quarantine area, if necessary. But even if we could afford one, it would be some months before we could get it here, due to high elevation, snow, late spring mud. Roads are all gravel and one mile maintained by us with our snowplow/old truck. At this time, nights get to zero or lower. In summer, it gets hot! Any thoughts about an inexpensive, livable shelter for a quarantined person for a week. Could be very minimal in what it offers. I am assuming the quarantined adult kids have to come one at a time. Guess it would not work to quarantine them together. Thoughts regarding problems if one is exposed and one is not. Is separate quarters and a lot of space between them the only answer? We could supply fresh water and food, waste management wouldn't be difficult in our environment. Problems would be maintaining personal disinfection when going from inside/outside the shelter and taking care of a large dog segregated from our dogs. Also, of course, heating the shelter, possibly a propane heater? If summer, it would have to rely on open door/windows and fan. We have masks of various kinds, gloves, goggles, shoe protectors, tamiflu, etc. I am making plans for daily walks in a specific area to exercise our 3 dogs and to keep us sane. Must approach hubby re making an outdoor, covered run for dogs. He is not on the same radar screen yet for this possible pandemic, so that makes it difficult, as many of you know. Making some kind of quarantine quarters and doing something about a sick bay would have to be presented by me in a vary logical and do-able manner. My thoughts are if we could just have all of the materials here for some of these possibilities, we could perhaps make something for the above circumstances. Of course, the road problems make transporting large stuff here for the next few months a real challenge. Some imagination, ideas, staged possibilities would be so welcome. This is so hard for me to hold together and I know that is probably true for most of us. Dealing with all the unknowables: 1. is there going to be a pandemic of a "killer" flu 2. when 3. for how long 4. will we be able to restock our supplies during waves 5. will the kids come, can they make it, will they be sick coming from large cities, will we have enough food? and on and on. Thank you everyone for your encouragement and great thoughts. This kind of brain storming would be invaluable for many of us with similar problems. Rocky |
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Rocky |
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corky52
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 168 |
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Would an old pickup camper or a small trailer be able to be brought in? Older 16 - 20 travel trailers are very cheap and small enough to throw a tarp over if you find leaks. If all you need is a heated room you can get conversions for the cheap Coleman catalytic to run off of bigger propane tanks if the built in heater doesn't work! Cardboard or heavy visquene for skirting around the base makes for even more snugness. I'd also make sure I had some of FRS/GRS radios around if you're going to have a sick person out of ear shot. I'm getting over a broken leg and for the first two weeks the radios gave my wife the peace of mind while she worked in the yard out of ear shot of me. I'm mobile now, soon will have a cane to whack things with, but for a while the radios were sanity savers. Remote hovering! Edited by corky52 |
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Rocky
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 07 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 219 |
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Thanks. Possibly, but really need 4 wheel drive for a while. Will look into it,
tho' . Maybe someone can haul it in for us. Rocky [QUOTE=corky52] Would an old pickup camper or a small trailer be able to be brought in? Older 16 - 20 travel trailers are very cheap and small enough to throw a tarp over if you find leaks. If all you need is a heated room you can get conversions for the cheap Coleman catalytic to run off of bigger propane tanks if the built in heater doesn't work! Cardboard or heavy visquene for skirting around the base makes for even more snugness. [/ QUOTE] |
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Rocky |
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How about something simpler. Buy one or two of the inflatable beds and a manual pump. Quarantine the sick person upstairs. The price of the beds has come way down, don't take up much room and you have sleeping quarters for your family. How large is the office area? Is there room for a single bed? Also, get some plastic sheeting so you can set up a quarantine area. Easy to spray down. Hope this helps.
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Rocky
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 07 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 219 |
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Good idea, but would it be any kind of protection for the rest of the family.
would just make enough of a barrier so that the virus wasn't circulating inside the entire house area. The door could be double sheeted to make some kind of semi-clean area before moving second sheeting. Just doesn't seem like it would be secure enough. Would love some more input. Thanks for the idea. Rocky
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Rocky |
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flick
Valued Member Joined: February 18 2006 Status: Offline Points: 52 |
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Rocky, I plan to use the garage as a quarantine area . We already have a small a/c unit hooked up for summer use (it gets really hot in there in the summer) and a space heater for winter. I have a Roll away bed I use for company so that will go in there. We have a small fridge left over from my daughter's dorm days also. Add a small tv and it's good to go. The bathroom in the master bedroom has a door that leads to the laundry room which is located in the garage, so those facilities will be available for the quarantine area. I have protective gear so I can enter the quarantine area if I have to and a system in place for disinfection in the master bathroom. Food delivery is easy enough. I was pondering the idea of how to seal it all off ,but the Visqueen idea settled that and is easy enough to do. (thanks for the suggestion Femvet!) The only person I plan to admit if pandemic arrives is my daughter who will be sheltering here. I think she is too young to stay where she is alone,not to mention the danger of being a young female on the outskirts of a large city post pandemic. I have discussed this with her and she said 10 days in the garage after her arrival home is a good idea, just in case. She has grown up knowing about our lifestyle of prepping and is prepared to leave her town (97 miles away) the minute I say "Go"! She can be home in about two hours if she drives ,taking the back ways which she knows how to do. It takes a little over an hour if she takes the major highway home. Her B.O.B is already in her car so she can leave from anywhere, anytime. I would suggest that you make sure your kids away from home have a kit in their cars also. Put it together and mail it to them if you have to. The bug out bag has a detailed map with various routes to get home, in the event she can't get home in her car.72 hour food kit, etc. She knows to keep her gas tank full and her cell phone with her at all times.
As we are a Railroad family, she has the option of catching the train . The station is half a mile from her house,which was no accident, we purposely found her a rental house close to it. As we live close to the station here, getting home after she got off the train is feasible. The biggest challenge as I see it to get her home safely is when to tell her to leave. I am watching very carefully and hope I am on the ball. As she is graduating in May, I think we have a good shot at beating the whole evacuation scenario all together,but you never know. As far as restocking between waves ,I am not counting on it. If I am able to it will be a bonus. I fully expect Katrina - Like conditions, as so many people just don't seem to get the gist of what Pandemic will do to this country.
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Enumclaw,WA
Adviser Group Joined: January 31 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 67 |
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You could get a fan that mount's in a window. Walmart has them. This would cause air to be removed to the outside from where the sick person is and keep germs out of the rest of the house. Just an idea.
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RB
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That is a really GOOD idea!! I'm going to go out and get a fan, this weekend. Thank you Enumclaw,WA
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