Drive On Boat

Surely on foreign shores, maybe he is importing American know-how?? or picking up dropped containers from the sea - whatever it is he is definitely not forthcoming in his desire and purpose -

 

Let's hear it! What's the plan?

 

Lots of landing craft of everyshape and size throughout the world - marines of everynation use 'em for amphibious warfare, am looking out of the window earlier at several of them -small Landing Craft Utility, medium Landing Craft Tank, Large Landing Sip Logistic - in the main they all have one very important statistic Flat Bottoms to land on beaches; its what they do!

I think in the first instance you should ask WHY? do you want a caravan on a boat? boats are very good caravans without the wheels, the roads are normally less crowded too!

the Walrus

 

I take it the marines that mackid068 are talking about are the noisy lot from Paris Island who tend to operate in very large noisy groups! Not the super efficient small but lethel units of what was once known as "the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Foot Soldiers'

:!:

the Walrus

 

United States Marines: Boisterous marines (amphibious assault soldiers) who are efficient killing machines.

Again, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THIS BOAT?

 

Perfection.

 

And good cannon fodder, but they are the BEST [if that's the best Lord help the rest!], Total irreverance from a guy who knows were you can get BETTER Marines - not many, but better! ROYAL ONES (that'll stir up the melting pot a bit, why did this guy want a damn LC anyway?

the Walrus

 

Perfection of a drive on vessel? They've already done that! LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushioned ie HUGE MILITARY HOVERCRAFT!)

 

Yes!

But damn noisy (OK it's how you "Leathernecks" operate, bit like our "airborne" just can't help being boistrous, that's how you take large casualities!) damned expensive too! Something else the Brits invented (and ditched, primarily for the above reasons) you just can't do a 'sneaky beaky ' from one of these

the Walrus

 

I'm not a Marine, but I do like the LCAC. Well, this LCAC would be perfect for this drive on boat. It goes at high speeds (certainly well over 30 kts.) and can carry a 70 ton Abrams M1A1 main battle tank along with dozens of soldiers.

 

Drive on boats available

Did anybody post this website to this discussion?
http://www.billmunsonboats.com/

Small containers definitely do-able!

 

Very cool, Jonathan. I like those boats.

So Shakey, a few questions:
-What exactly is the payload? A Winnebago? A bus? A shipping crate?
-Where would you be running the thing? Ocean crossings? Lake hopping? How much weather does it have to take? What kind of range?
-What kind of speed, stability, strength, ability to get pounded to bits?
-Will you be beaching to unload? Crane off a pier? Roll-on from the stern?
--
So from what I gather with all this silent fast hovercraft talk, we're looking for something along the lines of a 60-foot verson of Captain Picard's dunebuggy-carrying shuttlecraft?

 

Hey, another Trekkie, or so I hope

 

A couple of places to look

http://www.billmunsonboats.com/3240packcatphotos.html <--perfect

http://www.smd.com.au/Projects/Types/Landing%20Craft/LC.htm <--good designs, you could make it work

http://www.marineimaging.com/Resources/newlook2004/HTM/Landing%20Craft.html

http://www.lifetimer.bc.ca/Landing%20Craft.htm

This design sounds very doable. Any of these designs can be modified to add a "garage" per se that would secure and protect a car or truck from weather and spray. The problems you're going to face, I think, are Cost, fuel efficiency (if you really want to make it ocean-going for long treks), and stability. Still I think there's nothing impossible about this...but anyone who reads my posts knows the undoable is my forte!

This last link is EXACTLY what you want, I think. You just have to be prepared to pay...thats always the trick in our world though, isn't it?
http://www.commercial-boats-for-sale.com/commercial_boat_type_Landing+Craft_page1.aspx


Good luck!

-Tom
Brasstom

 

Not exactly what you asked for, but I've always liked these - http://www.winninghoff.com/phoiv.htm - maybe you could scale one up for your container!