Will the G-wagen float....?

[Fernweh]

After distributing the loaded weight almost perfectly, the one question remains:

Will the sealed off G-wagen float?

http://up.picr.de/5619855.jpg

To follow us on our next incredible Adventure please visit:

http://www.pointedthree.com/disc/forums/showthread.php?tid=17313

to get the details.....

:smiley_drive:

[UK4X4]

considering your fine german engineer installed drain plugs in the foot well's


I'd say not for long !

Mind you a couple of bilge pumps and some carefully apllied mastic may extend your sail

[Mamontof]

Will the sealed off G-wagen float? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMSoTDAz9s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5m2cKu0IU

[Ron B]

I think most any vehicle will "float" for a short period. But floating is usually bad, right? I'd want to keep the tires contacting the bottom for traction otherwise, for the short time you may be "floating", you might be pushed sideways down the river/lake/wherever by the current instead of moving forward. I think for most military vehicles the doors are opened to allow water in so it will stay on the bottom and keep moving forward.

[brushogger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMSoTDAz9s&feature=related (http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMSoTDAz9s&feature=related)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5m2cKu0IU

Gives new meaning to the term "high flotation tires"!

[Ron B]

My post was made on my phone so I didn't notice the motor on the spare. Nearly pee'd myself when I saw it on my laptop!

[otiswesty]

Maybe he should have rolled up his window?

YouTube - A submarine Gwagen gets drowned!!

[The Swiss]

After distributing the loaded weight almost perfectly, the one question remains:

Will the sealed off G-wagen float?I'd say like an anchor :elkgrin:

[zimm]

you sure do like to hang the weight off of those hinges/bolts.

[ben2go]

I had a 1979 F100 with 18.5/44-15 TSL Swampers and I floated it 100 feet down a river dragging the front end all the way.It was the sickest feeling I ever had when the front dropped in and the rear floated.I tired to back out but I didn't have lockers and the current swept me down stream onto a gravel bar.

[K2ZJ]

Like this?

YouTube - BBC: Challenge to cross The Channel in Car Boats! - Top Gear

or this?

YouTube - Bigfoot swimming

[Eaglefreek]

Those videos remind me of when I used to live in south Florida and see on the news the different contramptions the Cubans would come up with. Some pretty good engineering. http://www.floatingcubans.com/

[raicar]

According to this movie the G is a sinker:

www.ggwc.at/Fahrzeuge/Heinrich.mpg

raicar

[4x4abc]

of course the G floats.

search "Volker Lapp (http://www.volker-lapp.de/frameset.html)", he is one of the earliest Camel Trophy guys (1980 Brazil).

He developed floating devices for the G and took it even on the Yukon of all rivers!
Could not find any good pictures (was way before digital) but maybe someone has an old stash of pictures.

Also, his book on how to survive in the wild is one of the few truly helpful books for overlanders (and no its not in English). Maybe I'll create an English version for him.
book (http://www.amazon.de/Wie-helfe-ich-drau%C3%9Fen-Expeditionsratgeber/dp/3613505991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292268828&sr=8-1)

[Fernweh]

My post was made on my phone so I didn't notice the motor on the spare. Nearly pee'd myself when I saw it on my laptop!

Ok, we didn't want to try out that floating feeling.

Here's the real reason for the outboard on the spare:

http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=17367

[4x4abc]

by the way, Karl has a good point:
go somewhere!
have a destination

driving the Rubicon ten times gets kinda old
even though late in the game, there are many lat/long confluences still unvisited/undocumented

I did one a few years back
took some planning
and then you drive/hike where few have been before

read some of the reports where people have been climbing over fences in Cuba to reach a confluence
climbing fences in Cuba could land you in jail for some time
could land you in a morgue too

but be quiet about your plans
I had mentioned to some guy while on the phone (I have never met him) that I had plans to visit the last remaining confluence in Baja
you guessed it - he went there a week before
fair play? not in this world!
what a bastard!

[Canada G]

I remember seeing in old german 'mercedes g gelaendewagen magazine' that there was a picture of a G with a construction with a air tub on each side. They removed the back door and installed an outboard motor in the back and there were navigating on the river. But it was sure not practical. The construction was very big so you were not able to put it on a trailer and you had to inflate those big airtubes and what you do with the back door?

[4x4abc]

Canada G,

that's the Volker Lapp construction.

It worked fabulously and he sold many.
Impractical? Probably
but there is always this engineer's dream to drive, fly, swim, dive, mountain climb with one machine.

[zimm]

Canada G,

that's the Volker Lapp construction.

It worked fabulously and he sold many.
Impractical? Probably
but there is always this engineer's dream to drive, fly, swim, dive, mountain climb with one machine.


gun it off the edge of the grand canyon and you may just achieve all that in 57 seconds.

his machine came close that day. mountain climbing in 737's hasnt ended well in practice though.